ABSTRACT
This chapter examines the related perceptions of Chinese university leaders by looking at Huazhong University of Science and Technology (HUST) efforts to create a world-class university, including relevant data from interviews with the president and a dean of that university. HUST is the first institution in China that started to reform after the Cultural Revolution. Since the mid-1980s, China has implemented a reform effort focused on decentralization and autonomy. University rankings are still a new phenomenon in the world. Ranking is an external recognition of the level of university development. The 985 Project aims to build up a number of world-class universities and internationally renowned high-level research universities. Therefore, the focus of government policy has moved from expanding the scale of the system to improving the way institutions are run and the quality of the education provided.
