Equity in Access to Higher Education in China

Abstract

The Chinese higher education system has experienced a dramatic expansion in student numbers since 1998. Along with the rapid expansion in student numbers came the introduction and rapid growth of nonpublic degree-granting institutions, including the private and the so-called independent institutions. In this context, the study reported in this article aimed to answer the following question: What is the impact of the different types of institutions on students' access to higher education? The study concluded that the government's general subsidies to public institutions may have been regressive in that they more often benefit students who are in less need of them, and that although the establishment of new types of institutions has created new opportunities for accessing higher education, it has also led to new inequalities in terms of the relative cost and prestige of education at different types of institutions.