Chinese students speak about their favourite teachers and university reform

Abstract

China is trying to develop better outcomes for students, build world-class institutions and ascend global university rankings. Beijing also wants to jettison the notion it is the workshop of the world and embrace a culture of innovation. Peter Jarvis thinks the world would be a better place if ordinary people were given convivial spaces wherein they can learn and play together. But discourse constructing Chinese universities hardly ever concerns day-to-day life as experienced by students and conviviality is not a priority. This study was a modest attempt to rectify this problem. Students at Chinese universities were asked about their favourite teachers and ideas for university reform. Data were collected in Yangtze Delta universities and in the Beijing region. Students mostly recall their favourite teacher as warm and kind-hearted. Regarding university reform, they want fundamental structural adjustment, democratisation, internationalisation and better integration with society. Chinese government efforts to develop universities are almost entirely located in functionalist notions of globalisation (with ‘socialist characteristics’). In contrast, student preoccupations are nested in humanist and radical humanist paradigms. Tsinghua and Peking universities are now in the ‘top-100’ on Shanghai Jiatong global rankings. However, there is a political chill in China and not much chance of student preoccupations being heard.