ABSTRACT

This chapter traces post-1998 developments in higher education, analysing the reasons for massification, and its subsequent implications. These include a wave of institutional mergers, debt-fuelled expansion, and official efforts to manage the unforeseen consequences of rampant commercialisation. At the same time, there have been significant continuities in policy towards the system's 'commanding heights'. Persistent inequalities in access to colleges and courses have been a feature of the expanded system, with less-privileged students concentrated in less-prestigious institutions, while family background seemingly continues to influence not only enrolment patterns, but also post-graduation employment prospects. The chapter focuses on issues of governance – of universities as institutions, of faculty, and of their students – discussing control over both curricula and personnel. It concludes by considering briefly how the development of universities has reflected, and contributed to, the 'professionalisation' of society – and what that has meant in the Chinese context.