ABSTRACT
Th is chapter aims to outline the higher education accountability schemes in China. Accountability is a growing concern in Chinese society accompanying the reforms in public sectors since the end of the 1990s. In particular, the HuWen New Deal was initiated to build a political accountability system from 2002 (Li, 2003). In the fi eld of higher education, although universities have never been released from the requirement of external accountability (Hoecht, 2006), higher education has never drawn this much attention from the public in China. Set in this context, many eff orts have been made to establish eff ective accountability schemes, such as quality assessment and performance rankings. Nevertheless, the debate and criticisms seem more and more fi erce (Du, Zhou, Li, & Xia, 2006). Th us, it is necessary to examine these accountability schemes from a global perspective. With the help of international comparison, one might be able to understand more clearly whether these problems are common, originating from the essence of accountability schemes, or only confi ned to China because of ill-designed programmes or the specifi c political and cultural background.
