This paper probes into the development of internationalization of higher education in China from ancient times to modern times, including the emergence of international connections in Chinese higher education and the subsequent development of such connections, the further development of internationalization of Chinese higher education, and the regularization of internationalization of China’s higher education. The discussion centers on the issue of internationalization of Chinese higher education in a chronological order by using some official statistics and documents for demonstration. Through the discussion, we may find that China has made great progress in the internationalization of higher education; however, as to Chinese higher education, there is still room for improvement so as for the country’s higher education system to keep pace with the advanced education system in the developed countries.
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.1978 was a year of historical significance when it comes to the student enrolment of China's higher education. In that year, the central government decided to focus its attention on economic development, implementing the reform and opening-up to the outside world policy which gave a great impetus to the reconstruction of the country's ideology in the first place, economy and education as well. Against the background, the reconstruction of China's higher education was brought to a high agenda. The reform was practiced in the enrolment of higher education. The enrollment policy enacted in the past ten years, the one by which students were selected mainly according to their family backgrounds and political beliefs saw a turning point. Thousands of young people attended the nation-wide college entrance examinations, but the enrolment rate was lower than 5 percent. According to the statistics, only 280,000 students, that is, 4 percent of the participants, were admitted to universities and independent colleges. China had been confronted with a great demand for resources in higher education. The change in the enrolment policy was a preliminary step for the development of higher education. People all regard the year of 1978 as a watershed of higher education in China.
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