The Changing Nature of China’s Higher Education

Abstract

This paper discusses the changing nature of China’s higher education by turning to the changes that happened to China’s higher education system brought about by implementing different government policies of higher education. The implementation of the policies, the restructuring of universities and independent colleges in 1952, the enrolling of workers, peasants and soldiers as college students, the turning from “elite” education to “mass” education and etc. results from the fact that China’s higher education is by nature susceptible to changes, some of the changes being politically-driven, some economically-driven. Because of the changing nature, China’s higher education is now a handy tool in the hands of those in power with which to realize their Utopian or egalitarian dreams and then a “powerhouse” generating knowledge as power pushing the country down the road to prosperity.