ABSTRACT
This chapter discusses a conceptual framework similar to the one used by X. Yang and L. Yang and B. McCall to examine how education finance policies, basic education, and population characteristics have influenced higher education access in 86 countries, not including China, due to missing data. It examines the influences of economic growth, education finance policies, the educational system, and demographic changes on college access in China. The major historic, economic, and social background of China's economic development is its integration into the world economic restructuration. The transition toward a global manufacturing center and involvement in world economic competition are two major global forces that have fostered large-scale higher education expansion in China. The regional inequality in access to higher education is a direct result of increasing economic disparities between eastern and western areas. The chapter discusses the relationship of four factors—the secondary tracking system, secondary expenditures, gender differences, and population characteristics—on college enrollment in China.
