Bringing the State Back In: Privatization or Restatization of Higher Education in China

Ka Ho Mok, The Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong & Zhejiang University, China 

Tuesday 13 March,  Room 642, 15.00 to 17.00.

 Abstract

 In the last few decades, the Chinese government has concentrated on promoting rapid economic growth to improve the livelihood of its people in order that the political legitimacy could be restored, especially when the post-Mao leadership confronted the three faith crises and unstable political environment after the Cultural Revolution in 1977. Being instrumental about economic growth, the whole country has engaged in rapid economic growth along the line of classical market economic approach, while social development and human well-being issues had received less attention. Before the Hu-Wen leadership was formally installed, the previous administration under Jiang-Zhu’s leadership had tried to adopt ideas and practices along the line of neo-liberalism to reform the social service delivery mode and social policy provision. It is against this policy context that major social policy areas like health, education and housing have been going through the processes of marketization and privatization, thereby people have to bear heavy financial burden for meeting these welfare and social policy needs. After privatizing and marketizing education for a few decades, the Chinese government has repeatedly confronted with criticisms for the government in failing to tackle the problems related to ‘new three mountains phenomenon’ (namely heavy financial burdens for meeting health, education and housing needs) in recent years.

This presentation outlines briefly the wider policy context, and examines the social and political consequences after education is privatized and marketized. The speaker also discusses what major policies and strategies that the Chinese government has recently adopted to bring back the state in education provision and financing in order to address the negative consequences of the privatization of education. Moreover, this presenation also critically examines major policy implications throughout the processes of major reforms taken place in higher education in mainland China.

Ka Ho Mok is Chair Professor of Comparative Policy, and Associate Vice President (External Relations), Dean, Faculty of Arts and Sciences and Director, Centre for Greater China Studies of the Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd). Before joining the HKIEd, he was Associate Dean and Professor of Social Policy, Faculty of Social Sciences, University of Hong Kong (HKU). Being appointed as founding Chair Professor in East Asian Studies, Professor Mok established the Centre for East Asian Studies at the University of Bristol, UK before taking the position at HKU. Professor Mok is no narrow disciplinary specialist but has worked creatively across the academic worlds of sociology, political science and public and social policy while building up his wide knowledge of China and the region. Professor Mok has published extensively in the fields of comparative education policy, comparative development and policy studies, and social development in contemporary China and East Asia. In particular, he has contributed to the field of social change and education a variety of additional ways not the least, of which has been his leadership and entrepreneurial approach to the organization of the field. He has been awarded the First Annual CIES (Comparative and International Education Society) Higher Education SIG Best Article for the academic year 2008-2009. His membership on numerous editorial boards, commissions, in key scholarly societies all contribute to the recognition that he is among the best in his field. He is a founding editor of Journal of Asian Public Policy, Journal of Asian Education and Development Studies and Comparative Development and Policy in Asia Book Series (published by London: Routledge, Taylor & Francis Group). In the past few years, Professor Mok has also worked closely with the World Bank and UNICEF as International Consultant for comparative development and policy studies projects. Since January 2010, he has been appointed by the Ministry of Education of China as Changjiang Chair Professor and served at Zhejiang University, China to promote internationalization and regional collaborations.

Attendance at this seminar is free, but places should be reserved in advance via llakesevents@ioe.ac.uk