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examined publications in the field increased visibly. Researchers (Bie and Peng
2008 ; Ding and Zhou 2009 ; Fan and Gao 2010 ; Gong and Ye 2006 ; Han 2009 ; Pan
and Li 2009 ; Pan and Liu 2006 ; Tang 2010 ; Zhang and Sun 2009 ; Zhong et al. 2009 )
chose themes, methods, researchers, and research institutes as analytical units to
map out the field of HER in China from the quantitative and qualitative knowledge
production disseminated through Chinese journals.
Accompanied by the expansion of the field, traditional institutes of higher educa-
tion in the comprehensive universities initiated organizational upgrading from a
research institute to a school of education during this period. For example, the
Institute of Higher Education Research at Peking University was upgraded and
renamed the Graduate School of Education in 2000. The institute in Xiamen
University was renamed the Institute of Education in 2004. Another flagship com-
prehensive university, Tsinghua University, established their Institute of Education
in 2009. The phrase “higher education” was deliberately omitted in their new names.
This signifies their research expertise under the new organization moving beyond
higher education as a subfield under education. At the same time, the status of a
school indicates that the field of higher education research within the university is
symbolically equal to other fields as social sciences, arts, and humanities.
Features of Higher Education Research in China
In the following section, we outline the features of higher education as a research
field and an academic community in China.
An Independent Academic Field
Unlike in other contexts, higher education research in China is a legitimized inde-
pendent academic field under the general discipline of education. The status of an
academic field or a discipline in China needs to be approved and conferred by the
state in accordance with the Catalogue of Academic Degrees Awarding and
Education (xueke shouyu he rencai peiyang xueke mulu), an authoritative official
regulation document which was issued and authorized by the Ministry of Education
and the Academic Degrees Committee of the State Council (ADCSC) in China.
Universities do not hold the authority to grant their own degrees. It is the state that
governs and authorizes academic degree conferral to respective institutions.
Recognized as an independent academic field, higher education research has not
reached a proper disciplinary status as enjoyed by other social science disciplines.
For example, there has been a classical and lasting academic debate about whether
higher education is a field or a discipline in China (Hu 2003 ; Wang 2004 ; Liu 2011 ;
Gong 2011 ; Yan 2011 ; Guo 2011 ; Liu 2011 ; Yuan 2011 ; Zhang 2011 ).
L. Hu and S. Chen