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J. Jung et al. (eds.), Researching Higher Education in Asia, Higher Education in
Asia: Quality, Excellence and Governance, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4989-7_7
Chapter 7
Higher Education Research in China:
An Independent Academic Field Under
the State
Lifang Hu and Shuangye Chen
Abstract This chapter outlines higher education research (HER) in China devel-
oped as a well-recognized independent academic field in the unique national and
historical contexts. The rise and formation of higher education as a research field in
China have been closely related with the substantive growth of the higher education
system itself. Higher education research in China is characterized by strong institu-
tional basis, an obvious orientation toward policy and practice at the macro- and
mesolevels, and support from and legitimacy by a strong state. Knowledge produc-
tion in the field is currently characterized by being increasingly outward looking
and through support from the state.
Introduction
The development of the study of higher education in one region is closely related to
the size, scale, and substantive growth of its higher education system (Clark 1996 ;
Tight 2007 ; Pan 1995 ). Given the size of the population who received and is receiving
higher education in China, the Chinese higher education system is currently the
largest in the world. Like its economic development, China’s higher education
system has expanded rapidly since 1999. In the latest official educational statistics
released on the website of the Ministry of Education (MOE) in China (n.d.), there
were 2560 higher education institutions in 2015, accommodating 2,369,326 aca-
demic and administrative staff, 1,911,406 postgraduate students, and 26,252, 968
This chapter is a modified and updated version mainly based on our journal articles published in
2012 (Chen and Hu 2012 ) and partly from Chen ( 2015 ).
L. Hu (*) • S. Chen
School of Education, Renmin University of China, Beijing, China
Institute of Curriculum & Instruction, Faculty of Education, East China Normal University,
Shanghai, China
e-mail: [email protected]; [email protected]