ABSTRACT
In the last two decades, China has experienced signifi cant economic transformations and social changes. The economic reforms which started in the late 1970s have unquestionably enabled some social groups to become wealthy, but the same processes have also widened the gap between the rich and the poor, as well as intensifi ed regional disparities in China (Keng, 2006; Weil, 2006). Most signifi cant of all, embracing the market economy has led to the growing prominence of ideas and strategies along the lines of neoliberalism in reforming not only the economic sector, but also public sector management and social policy delivery (Wong & Flynn, 2001; So, 2006). Having been infl uenced by the global trends of privatization, marketization, and commodifi cation of education, China has appropriated neoliberal policies, and far more pro-competition policy instruments have been adopted to reform and restructure its education (Min, 2004). As depending upon state fi nancing and provision alone will never satisfy the growing demands for higher education, China has therefore increasingly looked to the market/private sector and other non-state sectors to venture into education provision, hence diversifying education services and proliferating education providers.
