Chinese higher education system

Abstract

The present book focuses on the higher education quality assurance system and its impact on institutional transformation in China. This chapter outlines the Chinese higher education system, with the aim of providing background information for the study of quality assurance systems. Firstly, the historical development of higher education in China is reviewed. The reforms and restructuring of the higher education system occurred in two phases—before the beginning of the 1980s and afterwards—are presented, respectively. The next section of this chapter depicts the status quo of the Chinese higher education system as a result of these reforms and restructuring, including the types of higher education institutions and their numbers.