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Adoption of clean electric energy depends not only on administrative regulations, but also on public support, in particular, the public is willing to pay for environmental improvements. However, the increase of solar photovoltaic power generation willingness to pay (WTP) associated with higher education attainment and the identification of their causality has been missing. Present paper used the enactment of the Compulsory Schooling Law as an instrumental variable to solve the causal relationship between education and willingness to pay for photovoltaic power generation. The results are as follows:Heckman two-stage model and instrumental variable both confirmed that higher education has a positive impact on WTP for solar photovoltaic power generation. For each level of public education in the east, the WTP of photovoltaic power generation will increase by 7.540 CNY, 8.343 CNY and 8.343 CNY respectively, the central public will increase by 9.637 CNY, 10.775 CNY and 11.758 CNY, and the western public will increase by 12.723 CNY, 15.740 CNY and 17.993 CNY respectively. The positive influence of education level is smaller among the people who know the ladder price better, but it is bigger among the people who are male, older than 45 years old, healthier, higher income and stronger awareness of safe electricity use. The total socio-economic value of photovoltaic power generation is significantly different in eastern, central and western region China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Collecting feedback from students through course, program and other evaluation questionnaires has become a costly and time consuming process for most colleges. Converting to data collection through the internet, rather than completion on paper, can result in a cheaper and more efficient process. This article examines several research questions which need to be answered to establish that results collected by the two modes of administration are equivalent. Data were gathered for a program evaluation questionnaire from undergraduate students at a university in Hong Kong. Students were able to choose between completion on paper or through the internet. In six of the seven Faculties the number of responses through each mode was roughly the same. Students in the Engineering Faculty favored the internet. Scores on the 14 out of 18 scales in the instrument showed small differences by mode of response, which became smaller still with controls for pertinent demographic variables. The main response question addressed in the study was whether there was any difference in the way respondents to the two modes interpreted the questions. The study demonstrated the equivalence of the two data sets by showing that both could be fitted to a common model with structural equation modeling (SEM). Five levels of tests of invariance further confirmed the comparability of data by mode of administration. This study, therefore suggests that changing to internet collection for course and program evaluations will not affect the comparability of ratings. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The argument of my paper is that higher education in China is going through a process of totalitarianization and democratization at the same time. On the one hand there are organizational controls and ideological indoctrination of students and cooptation of the faculty by the Party-state. On the other hand, there are democratic breakthroughs on the part of both students and professors. Whatever happens in the ivory tower inevitably affects what happens outside of it. Whether the Party-state is going in the direction of totalitarianism or democracy depends on the result of the tug-of-war between the forces of totalitarianization and democratization in both state and society. My analysis is based on an examination of the available data in research from a perspective of the sociology of higher education. I hope that a better understanding of what happens at the university and the role of higher education in China's development will help all the stakeholders of higher education in making wiser policies and practical decisions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The rise of China as a scientific research superpower has been frequently discussed in media and literature. However, past analyses are usually based on the geographical database and they ignore how the millions of emigrated Chinese students, who are now being considered the major research workforce in many countries, affect their academic outputs. Here we quantitatively analyze the contribution of Chinese scholars in physical science around the globe by their publications in a country's papers from 2010 to 2021 as well as their citations. Contrary to common perception, we find that increasing the number of Chinese scholars does not correlate with the net publication growth or decline in their host countries before the Chinese population exceeds a critical value. On the other hand, increasing Chinese authors in a paper improves its citations. The phenomena, though anomalous, are observed in many subfields of physics across the globe. Our analysis suggests that although Chinese scholars do not change the perceived publication capabilities of many countries but may have reshaped their research culture as well as workforce distributions. The results would be valuable for R&D, higher education, and immigration policymakers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Connotative development of higher education is of great significance in China. To promote this endeavor, this paper has established a connotative teaching system based on the Kano model and has applied it in the teaching of statistics. Guided by the fundamental demands of students, this system is built from the four perspectives, including students, third-party evaluation institutions, schools, and morality and law. It also takes the advantages of the Kano model, featuring the three dimensions of essential demand quality, expected demand quality, and charismatic demand quality. The paper also describes a two-year experiment to test the effect of the Kano-model-based connotative teaching system. It has collected more than 200 effective samples and compared the performance of students in private colleges. The results are as follows: the connotative teaching of statistics guided by the Kano model can meet the demands of students in private colleges and improve their comprehensive scores. This model shows remarkable performance and will promote the reform on connotative teaching. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The implementation of China's Education Modernization Plan 2035 has signified the Chinese government's commitment to advancing the quality of education. Recent studies have shown that the prioritization of instructor continuous professional development (CPD) through the Ministry of Education mandates has positively affected talent development and student achievement at the K12 level; however, examination of the reform's impact on Chinese higher education is limited. This paper explored the effect academic optimism, institutional policy and support, and instructor self-efficacy had on instructors' CPD within Chinese higher education institutions. This study collected data from 456 Chinese higher education instructors, employing a structural equation model to examine the relationship between the independent and dependent variables. Findings indicate academic optimism and institutional policy and support have a significant positive effect on CPD, β =.645 and.2, respectively, while instructor self-efficacy has nearly no effect on CPD, β = −.031. Institutional policy and support have a significant, influential effect on academic optimism, β =.652; however, there is nearly zero impact on instructor self-efficacy, β =.032. The implications of the findings indicate that institutional leadership is crucial in developing an academic culture that promotes and supports continuous professional development; however, individual drive to pursue CPD is limited. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With regard to the development of colleges and universities, ensuring the quality of education is the fundamental goal and main task of teaching daily management. With the continuous improvement of the application level of the Internet and other information technologies, the construction of smart campus in colleges and universities in China is rapidly advancing. This paper studies the construction and innovation strategy of the public sports quality monitoring system and discusses the changes in college students' sports quality after the introduction of smart campuses from the perspective of artificial intelligence and the creation of smart universities. In this paper, the field survey method and other research methods are combined to study, and in the process of data storage, SQL Server database platform is used to store the data. This study shows that the proportion of each element of physical state management has changed significantly before and after college entrance. According to the data, since the introduction of smart campus real name system identification, tracking data, and evaluation functions, the number of college students' physical exercise has increased significantly. The number of students with exercise plan in school 1 has increased from 70 to 222, and that of school 2 has increased from 49 to 199. Before the introduction, the students were very satisfied with the learning effect of physical education, which was 40.12% and increased to 45.70% after the introduction. Before the introduction, the students were very satisfied with the sports equipment, which was 30.12% before the introduction and increased to 35.24% after the introduction. Therefore, building a system for monitoring the quality of public sports in universities is very important for improving the quality of education in public sports in universities and plays an active role in promoting the physical and mental health of students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

With the rapid development of information technology, the integration of multimedia technology and traditional institutional systems is increasing. However, at present, the establishment and construction of the higher education system in China are not proportional, the function is vague, and the communication efficiency is not high. The reason for this phenomenon is that the traditional higher education management system has been unable to meet the needs of information society and information integration and it is unable to meet the increasing demand for higher education. Therefore, based on the above reasons, it is very important and has long-term strategic significance to establish an efficient and convenient higher education management system based on today's Internet multimedia technology in a timely and reasonable manner. This paper analyzes the current status of the higher education management system and the problems that are arisen and proposes a three-dimensional integrated management system based on the innovation of Internet multimedia technology. At the same time, aiming at the urgent needs of the current lifelong education of higher education, a reasonable system of higher education diversion is established to focus on solving the phenomenon of imbalanced proportions, ambiguous functions, and low communication efficiency. In the final practical part of this paper, the system model of the three-dimensional integrated education system and the corresponding practical solution to the education diversion are given. After discussion, it has practical application value. The results of the research have shown the effectiveness of the proposed study. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, China has comprehensively carried out and implemented the "national fitness campaign." Sports have been integrated into everyone's daily life. As a place for cultivating talents, colleges and universities have also begun to reform the physical education teaching mode and cultivate a number of talents with strong competition ability, teaching ability, and adaptability to the society. With the deepening of the reform of physical education teaching mode in colleges and universities, some colleges and universities have introduced the theory of multiple intelligences. By analyzing the concept and content of the theory of multiple intelligences and comparing it with the traditional physical education teaching mode, it fully reflects the advantages of the theory of multiple intelligences in physical education teaching. This paper uses fuzzy mathematics and fuzzy set algorithm to build a teaching model based on the theory of multiple intelligences. Moreover, we study the innovative methods of college physical education teaching, take college physical basketball teaching as the research object, and analyze the students' sports technology, students' teaching practice ability, and students' thinking ability based on the theory of multiple intelligences. Experimental outcomes show that the teaching method guided by the theory of multiple intelligences was designed for the intelligent characteristics of the students in the experimental group, and the teachers and students communicated with each other during the teaching period, which significantly improved the students' thinking ability. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The exponential growth of African students’ mobility to China has become a cause célèbre in China-Africa relations. As of 2018, the African students occupied 16.57% of the international students in China. Against this backdrop, it is imperative to understand the drivers and motivations behind their continuous influx to Chinese higher education institutions. This paper goes beyond the commonly used ‘pull-push’ model and approaches this trend from a holistic perspective provided by Bronfenbrenner’s ecological systems theory. Through a mixed approach, we explored the impact of the students’ multidimensional environment on their decision-making of mobility to China. Data from a survey of 375 participants and 15 interviews showed that the macrosystem had the utmost influence on choosing China as their study destination. It also shows that the economic factors and the pursuit of better education amalgamate the ‘why’ and ‘how’ in the students’ decision-making process. Although they opt for quality education, African students tend to carefully weigh the yearnings and earnings of mobility to China through self-bargaining and self-negotiations. The implications on international students’ mobility are discussed in this article. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Artificial Intelligence (AI) assisted educational institutions extensively utilize electronic learning context to guarantee improved teaching and learning experiences accompanied by educational activities. E-learning or online learning plays a significant role in Chinese higher education. There is a challenge to implement e-learning in China's higher education to improve course resources, student learning style prediction, teaching quality, and service support. Hence in this paper, Artificial Intelligence based Efficient E-learning Framework (AI-EELF) has been proposed to overcome the challenges faced by China's higher education while implementing e-learning modules. The collected student data can be efficiently utilized and exploited to progress in an adaptive learning environment. The proposed AI-EELF method introduces multiple learning models to enhance teaching quality and predict the student learning style. The experimental results show that the proposed AI-EELF achieves high performance, prediction ratio in determining students' learning style and improves teaching quality compared to other existing methods. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper constructs the 6E evaluation index system, a comprehensive index including the dimensions of economy, effectiveness, efficiency, equity, earnings and equality, to measure the sustainable higher education development of the 31 provincial regions of China by utilizing the information entropy weight-TOPSIS method. This paper then makes a spatial and temporal analysis of the coupling coordination relationship among the dimensions of sustainable higher education development by using the coupling coordination model. In addition, this paper proposes specific and applicable countermeasures for sustainable higher education development. The results show that the comprehensive degrees of sustainable higher education development in most regions are not high, and the coastal regions and the Central-south China regions have higher grades; in addition, for most regions, the coupling coordination degrees mainly remain stable, with mild growth in the respective classifications, and the gap between the west and other regions is declining. The improved method is applicable to measure the sustainable development of higher education and to propose detailed and appropriate suggestions for further development. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper showcases the Filipino program in Chinese universities and research on the Philippines in China. The first part introduces the universities in China which has already established or will establish the Filipino program and explain why universities in China is establishing the Filipino program in recent years. Roadmapping of Filipino program development strategies in China was contextualized in the Internationalization of Higher Education. Filipino programs in China was also discussed in connection with the teaching of Filipino language and culture in other parts of the world. In the second part, the paper presents the history of Philippine research in China and the important accomplishments of the research, including research on Philippine history, Philippine culture, the economy, society and politics of the Philippines. The final part highlights the shortcomings that can be developed in Filipino language teaching and research on the Philippines in China. Roadmapping of Filipino program development strategies in China was conducted. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The development level of higher education (HE) is an important indicator of the development level and development potential of a country. The HE-related document is the mirror to reflect the develop process of the HE. The research of high education (HE) has been developing rapidly in China, resulting in a huge number of texts, such as relevant policies, speech drafts, and yearbooks. The traditional manual classification of HE texts is inefficient and unable to deal with the huge number of HE texts. Besides, the effect of direct classification is rather poor because HE texts tend to be long and exist as an imbalanced dataset. To solve these problems, this paper improves the convolutional neural network (CNN) into the HE-CNN classification model for HE texts. Firstly, Chinese HE policies, speech drafts, and yearbooks (1979–2020) were downloaded from the official website of Chinese Ministry of Education. In total, 463 files were collected and divided into four classes, namely, definition, task, method, and effect evaluation. To handle the huge number of HE texts, the Twitter-latent Dirichlet allocation (LDA) topic model was employed to extract word frequency and critical information, such as age and author, enhancing the training effect of CNN. To address the dataset imbalance problem, CNN parameters were optimized repeatedly through comparative experiments, which further improve the training effect. Finally, the proposed HE-CNN model was found more effective and accurate than other classification models. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Scientific expenditure and distribution of higher education drive the sustainable and stable development of regional economy. Currently, China faces an imbalance in the allocation of higher education resources. To solve the problem, it is necessary to study the spatiotemporal difference of higher education development. Therefore, this paper explores how higher education varies in time and space and measures how the spatiotemporal difference and input of higher education affects regional economy. Firstly, the authors divided the influence of spatiotemporal difference and input of higher education on regional economy into four aspects. Next, the spatiotemporal differences of higher education were examined in detail. Based on the four aspects, an equilibrium model was established for regional economic development, and the law of evolution to equilibrium was analyzed. Experimental results verify the effectiveness of the established model. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Kann eine Lehrmethode weltweit eingesetzt werden oder muss sie jeweils an lokale Bildungskontexte angepasst werden? In diesem Beitrag wird ein Forschungsprojekt von 2015 bis 2016 vorgestellt, in dem die aus Deutschland stammende Methode „Lernen durch Lehren" an der chinesischen Zhejiang-Universität getestet und evaluiert wurde. In der Methode „Lernen durch Lehren" (LdL) erarbeiten Lernende eigenständig Unterrichtsthemen und vermitteln den Lehrstoff in der Rolle der Lehrkraft. Aus den Forschungsergebnissen der Studie geht hervor, dass die Methode auch mit TeilnehmerInnen (TN), die geringe Erfahrungen mit kommunikativer Didaktik haben, erfolgreich angewendet werden kann. Insbesondere in den Bereichen Sprechfähigkeit und Hörverstehen konnten erhebliche Erfolge verzeichnet werden; der Sprechanteil der TN erhöhte sich im Pilotprojekt ebenso wie die Lernerautonomie und Informationskompetenz der TN stark. Jedoch führte die Unterrichtsvorbereitung zu einer hohen Arbeitsbelastung für die Studierenden, denen es an didaktischer Erfahrung mangelte. Auch kulturelle Konzepte wie der Gesichtsverlust und ein durch das chinesische Schulsystem geprägtes Verständnis der Lehrerrolle beeinflussten die Implementierung. In diesem Beitrag wird die Hypothese aufgestellt, dass das Implementationsdesign der Methode LdL für den Einsatz in China kultursensitiv angepasst werden muss. Can teaching methods be applied globally or do they have to be adapted to fit the specific cultural environment of the classroom? This paper discusses a research project at Zhejiang University where the method learning-by-teaching (LBT) was applied and assessed in the context of Chinese Higher Education in 2015/2016. In LBT classes, students take over tasks that are traditionally performed by teachers: They explore content independently, find ways of teaching the subject matter and enable student learning by correcting other students or giving them feedback. The project at ZJU revealed that learning-by-teaching can be beneficial in the Chinese context, even though the learners had little experience with communicative methods. LBT showed positive results especially in promoting speaking and listening comprehension, by enhancing autonomous learning and creating an active and collaborative learning atmosphere. But in the case study, the participants described problems understanding student-taught grammar sections. Generally, they found it hard to comprehend other student-teachers. As the students lacked teaching experience, they faced an increased preparation time. This paper suggests that the previous learning experience of the participants in the Chinese school system and their exposure to Chinese cultural values (regarding teacher roles for example) had an influence on the results of the study. Consequently, the implementation design of the method should be adapted culture-sensitively if used in China. However, the quick progression of the learners in terms of speaking and listening comprehension contradict the wide-spread idea of a static Chinese type of learner and show the potential of the method in the PRC. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to investigate the scientific productivity of China's science system. This paper employs the Malmquist productivity index (MPI) based on Data Envelopment Analysis (DEA). The results reveal that the overall efficiency of Chinese universities increased significantly from 2009 to 2016, which is mainly driven by technological progress. From the perspective of the functions of higher education, research and transfer activities perform better than the teaching activities. As an implication, the indicator selection mechanism, investigation period and the MPI model can be further extended in the future research. The results indicate that Chinese education administrative departments should take actions to guide and promote the teaching activities and formulate reasonable resource allocation regulations to reach the balanced development in Chinese universities. This paper selects 58 Chinese universities and conducts a quantified measurement during the period 2009–2016. Three main functional activities of universities (i.e. teaching, researching, and application) are innovatively categorized into different schemes, and we calculate their performance, respectively. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

India and China have made sizeable growth in publishing science and engineering research papers in co-authorship with international institutions and patents granted in collaboration with foreign inventors during the period 1997-2012. However, the growth in case of China is much higher in comparison to India. The pace of growth in publishing research papers in co-authorship with international and domestic institutions is more or less the same in case of China, whereas India has shown higher growth in publishing research papers in co-authorship with international institutions in comparison to those with domestic institutions. The share of India and China to research papers published in co-authorship with international institutions increased from 1.8% and 4.1% respectively, in 1997 to 3.5% and 14.7% respectively in 2012. China's share to patents granted in collaboration with foreign inventors increased from 0.94% in 1997 to 13.68% in 2012, compared to an increase of 0.56% to 7.39% in case of India. The analysis shows that China has harnessed the fruit of its international cooperation in S&T to its advantage, as reflected by significant increase in research papers co-authored with international institutions and patents granted in collaboration with foreign inventors in comparison to India. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In recent years, with the expansion of university enrollment in China, the cost of running a school is getting higher and higher. Under the circumstance of insufficient state investment in higher education, the education charge paid by students has become an important source of the university income. It has become a hot topic of social concern to formulate a reasonable charging model to enable more students to enter higher education institutions. In this paper, we mainly put forward the basic differential equation models describing the problem of higher education charges in China. Through the qualitative analysis of these two basic models, we draw several conditions for universities to maintain or stabilize their education charges and give some suggestions on macrocontrol of university education charges in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The ongoing pandemic due to SARS CoV2 is really a big one, which would never welcomed from any countries anytime, but knocked the door all of a sudden! The SARS CoV-2 first appeared in China in late December 2019. The virus isolated on January 7, 2020; the disease named as COVID-19 afterwars. Since this was a SARS virus not an influenza, nobody seem to expect it as a pandemic agent, spread so fast and so globally. But actually it did spread to many countries and declared as a pandemic by the World Health Organization on March 11, 2020. The pandemic hit the universities hard. The most important topic for universities during the pandemic was of course distance and remote learning, which become widespread already. The pandemic will cause profound impacts and changes on the higher education system around the world in terms of education-teaching methods, research, internationalization and mobility. The response of Council of Higher Education of Turkey to pandemic could be evaluated in four phases: 1) Close monitoring, 2) Preparing, 3) Action, 4) New normalization. In this paper we will review the response of Turkish higher education institutions and Council of Higher Education to the COVID-19 pandemic. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The framework of outcomes-based education(OBE) has become a central issue for global university education, which is benefited to drive the education development by a series of assessments for historical teaching data, especially student course score, and employment information. The issue of how to timely update the talent training plans for computer major in a university has received considerable critical attention. It is becoming extremely difficult to ignore the requirement of fast shortened update cycle in IT area. One of the main obstacles is that the teaching inertia and the fixed awareness of a major training plan may delay the feedback of teaching problems. There is still a contradiction between the plan rationality and the real-time needs of contemporary IT enterprises. Hence, this paper puts forward a novel data-based framework to evaluate the relevance between the major courses, employment rate, and enterprise needs through the decision tree expression, thus providing reliable data support for systematic curriculum reform. On top of that, A recommendation algorithm is proposed to automatically generate the computer course group that satisfies the staff requirements of IT enterprises. Finally, teaching and employment data of Xihua University in China is applied as an example to undertake course optimization and recommendation. The consequences have an obvious positive effect on student employment and enterprise feedback. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper explores the lived experience of the initial two Chinese professionals, competitively selected by a Traditional Chinese Medicine university, to attend and graduate from the Creighton University entry-level Doctor of Occupational Therapy (OTD) program. The process and challenges facing implementation of an international, inter-institutional collaborative relationship between a Jesuit institution and a public higher education institution in China is discussed as well as the challenges facing international students immersed in Jesuit health care education. A review of Jesuit education in China provides a historical background to identify the differences between Eastern and Western higher education. The Chinese professionals' experential perspective as students is iterated based on interviews focused on learning styles, learning environment, spirituality and academic support. The graduates' perceptions of the value of their Jesuit education and experience in occupational therapy, a developing profession in China, and their reflection, integration and impact of incorporating the Ignatian values into their current professional employment as occupational therapists is also discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Whereas there is a large literature evaluating the impacts of education, most of the focus has been on getting to universal primary enrollment and understanding the returns to basic education; but it misses the major shifts toward higher education in many fast-growing parts of the developing world over the last 20 years. In this paper, I study the returns to higher education in China using the reinstatement of the National College Entrance Examination in 1977 as a natural experiment, investigating the causal impacts of higher education on later life outcomes and well-being. Through a combination of regression discontinuity and difference-in-difference methods, I find that cohorts that were more likely to complete high school and obtain a college education as a result of the reform were no more likely to be employed, but were more likely to have a high-socioeconomic (SES) occupation in their early 30s, and lesser of the same in their 40s. Cohorts with higher education work for fewer days in a week, and, on average, earn a higher monthly income by 56 percent in their late 40s. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• HE-D and DE-D were stable; most regions showed a relatively concurrent development of DE and HE. • D of the two subsystems differed in different regions with "high in the east and low in the west." • CCD fluctuated relatively steadily with differences of "high in the northern and coastal regions". • "HE benefits" and number of academic papers are the primary influencing dimension and factor in HE. • "DE input" and popularity rate of mobiles are the primary influencing dimension and factor in DE. Analyzing the coupling coordination interactions of higher education (HE) and digital economy (DE) to achieve sustainable growth is crucial. Thus, we constructed the coupling coordination interaction mechanism and the comprehensive evaluation system of the two subsystems to measure their coordination interactions; then, we processed the temporal-spatial analysis of the development status and the coupling coordination degree (CCD) in the case of China. Furthermore, we used the gray correlation model to determine the primary influencing factors and proposed differentiated policymaking suggestions. We found that: (1) the development status of higher education (HE-D) was more stable than that of the digital economy (DE-D), which showed a slight upward trend; besides, there were noticeable spatial differences for HE-D and DE-D. (2) The temporal changes of CCD were not noticeable. (3) Expenditure on research activities in HE and the number of patents were the significant factors affecting DE; the popularity rate of mobile phones and the number of employees in the DE industry were the significant factors affecting HE; besides, HE's output benefits and DE's input was more influential in the coordination relations. Furthermore, we also put forward targeted, specific, and differentiated policymaking suggestions, which can guide policymakers to formulate regional sustainable development policies. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract The paper discusses how the intercultural knowledge is enhanced in a technology-enabled learning environment. We developed a comparative reflection approach, for an undergraduate course participated by three groups of students, who were globally distributed in the US, Mainland China, and Taiwan. Made possible by the videoconferencing technology, the approach included two group-based tasks of describing, comparing, analyzing, and reflecting on everyday activities and cultural practices. To evaluate the design effectiveness, we conducted a discourse-based ethnographic study to examine the knowledge construction stimulated by the task design. We identified that, while all the three groups constructed cultural-specific knowledge on the first task, some constructed deep cultural knowledge and insightful cross-cultural interpretations on the second task. As student groups undertook the two progressive tasks, they worked through various levels of understandings, hence moving from surface to deep learning. Highlights • Three globally distributed groups of undergraduate students were connected via the videoconferencing technology. • The three groups participated in two progressive tasks to describe, compare, analyze, and reflect on everyday practices. • All the three groups constructed certain cultural-specific knowledge, while two constructed deep cultural knowledge. • The learning gap highlighted the necessity of task clarity and appropriate scaffolding in the teaching and learning design. • The groups also constructed understandings about the presentation format by learning from the best practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Baidu, the most popular Chinese search engine, monitors what their users are currently searching and provides top 50 search terms, called trending search terms, in descending order of popularity ranking. The paper focused on predicting the popularity ranking trends of this top trending search terms in Baidu. Based on the data analysis, two issues were identified that could affect accuracy of using the ranking data for predicting the popularity of trending searched terms. Firstly, all trending terms are disappeared from the top 50 terms list when the popularity is getting lower. However, there are several trending terms that reappear to the top 50 terms list after they disappeared. New distinct search terms can be differentiated from reappearances of old terms so we proposed the term distinction model by using the related news articles of a trending search term provided by Baidu. Secondly, it is necessary to handle the missing value when the term is out of the trending term list. To achieve the goal of this paper, we collected top 50 trending search terms from Baidu engine and its related news articles hourly for 6 months (from 1st March 2013 to 31th August 2013). Based on the proposed model, we found that the optimal disappearing interval can be 9 h, and using rank 51 for the missing values was the most successful. We conducted evaluations by using 3 months data (from 1st September 2013 to 30th November 2013), and four machine learning techniques where compared to evaluate the most accurate for predicting the popularity rank of trending search terms. Feed Forward Neural Network was achieved 78.81 % the most highest prediction accuracy, and achieved 85.55 % accuracy in ±3 error range. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Social media platforms are very common in modern education system everywhere, especially in Chinese universities. The purpose of this paper was to identify the behavior of use of social media by students at Wuhan University in China. In order to investigate the concerns of students in using social media in relation to personal context, the study was carried out. Major concerns of students in using social media can be categorized into two types of phenomena; socio-economic factors and demographic factors. Accordingly, the research focused on eight socio-economic and political factors related to the use of social media and factors are affecting international students' and local students' cognition of social media. Random sampling methods was utilized for selecting the participants. The questionnaires were distributed among international and local students and 425 responses were received. The 216 international students and 209 Chinese students responded with an effective recovery rate of 86.4% and 83.6%, respectively from each group. The results of the current study endorse a number of previous studies which examine different influencing factors in the use of social media. The research found that there is a huge impact of affecting factors on the use of social media by local as well as international students. Although, all factors mentioned; legal risk etc. seem to have affected both groups of students very effectively. Some factors seemed prominent among local students and some others seemed prominent among international students. On the whole, it was proved by the result that there was a significant influence of all factors on the use of social media. The main concerns in using social media are privacy and convenience. On the contrary, copyright and legal issues are often ignored by both international and local students. The level of concern is affected by the number of years of living abroad, local language proficiency, study level and experience. Among the variables, social media experience obviously inflecting the levels of all related influencing factors. As international students and local students depend heavily on social media for their learning, research needs as well as their daily life in today's digital environment, it is important for university administrators to integrate media literacy education into academic training and professional development programs for both international students and faculty. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Purpose – After the official definition of Open Educational Resources (OER) at the Forum on Open Courseware for Higher Education in Developing Countries in 2002, the concept was soon introduced to China and popularised among scholars, practitioners, and educators. After ten years of proliferation, it is important to explore the landscape of Chinese OER research. The paper aims to discuss these issues. Design/methodology/approach – This paper adopts social network analysis (SNA) to analyse the network defining the citations of 133 OER journal articles published in China. Findings – The findings illustrate that the academic circle of OER in China is small, which leads to restricted innovation. Most publications are produced by researchers working at comprehensive universities and normal universities (teachers colleges). Research limitations/implications – In these universities, a number of active OER researchers are emerging, but no OER research team can be identified from their citation networks. Currently, most OER research is still descriptive research, and only few case studies are being to gradually be conducted. Practical implications – As the Chinese OER research is still in the initial stage, more research projects in OER need to be explored to construct higher quality and more influential open content to achieve deep openness. Originality/value – In the literature, no one has adopted the SNA to analyse the citation network of Chinese OER research. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: Sustainability is receiving increasing amounts of attention in higher education in terms of how it can best be integrated with university curricula. Sustainability is closely related to complexity, innovation, and interdisciplinarity; therefore, it requires alternative approaches rather than traditional, lecture-based pedagogy. This paper reports an educational initiative and research project based on collaboration between Beijing Normal University, China and Aalborg University, Denmark: developing a sustainability curriculum using the methodology of Problem and Project Based Learning (PBL) in a Chinese context. A theoretical framework is established to understand and analyze the culture's change toward a sustainability curriculum that employs PBL methodology. Empirical work is drawn upon first year results from the implementation of this methodology in an engineering and science curriculum. Data generation is based on multiple collection methods, such as survey of students' feedbacks, interviews with students, and analysis of students' project reports and reflection essays. This paper summarizes that a sustainability curriculum as proposed in this research can attract students' interests in not only mastering relevant knowledge, but also in developing necessary skills and competencies. PBL as a teaching and learning method can successfully facilitate participative learning, critical reflection, systemic thinking, creativity, and cultural awareness, which are the core values of sustainability. However, implementing a new curriculum with new teaching and learning methods can be more complex than expected. Many issues impact the implementation process and are therefore remain challenges to further development; for example, how to change the existing grading system, how to provide both teaching staff and students' with prior knowledge about the new PBL methods, how to gain institutional support, and how to change the broader societal and cultural values. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Background: Research capacity is scarce in low- and middle-income country (LMIC) settings. Social determinants of health research (SDH) is an area in which research capacity is lacking, particularly in Asian countries. SDH research can support health decision-makers, inform policy and thereby improve the overall health and wellbeing of the population. In order to continue building this capacity, we need to know to what extent training exists and how challenges could be addressed from the perspective of students and staff. This paper aims to describe the challenges involved in training scholars to undertake research on the SDH in four Asian countries - China, India, Oman and Vietnam.Methods: In-depth interviews were conducted with research scholars, research supervisors and principal investigators (n = 13) at ARCADE partner institutions, which included eight universities and research institutes. In addition, structured questionnaires (n = 70) were used to collect quantitative data relating to the courses available, teaching and supervisory capacity, and related issues for students being trained in research on SDH. Simple descriptive statistics were calculated from the quantitative data and thematic analysis applied to the qualitative data.Results: We identified a general lack of training courses focusing on SDH. Added to this, PhD students studying related areas reported inadequate supervision, with limited time allocated to meetings and poor interpersonal communication. Supervisors cited interpersonal communication problems and student lack of skills to perform high quality research as challenges to research training. Further challenges reported included a lack of research funding to include SDH-related topics. Finally, it was suggested that there was a need for institutions to define clear and appropriate standards regarding admission and supervision of students to higher education programs awarding doctoral degrees.Conclusions: There are gaps in training for research on the SDH at the surveyed universities and research institutes, which are likely to also be present in other Asian countries and their higher education institutions. Some of the barriers to high quality research and research training can be addressed by improved training for supervisors, clearly defined standards of supervision, finances for student stipends, and increased use of information and communication technology to increase access to teaching materials. Increased opportunities for online learning could be provided. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper examines how opportunity structures for learning, income, and status emerge in a global space shaped by local stakeholders aspiring for strategic positions in international competition. The case-study of Hong Kong suggests that moving up the pyramid of college and university degrees provides opportunities for higher income and reduces turbulence in times of global recessions and layoffs. However, low socio-economic status students are more likely to sustain their upward movement if their learning experiences are enriched with boundary-crossing competencies provided by studies abroad, foreign language training, cross-disciplinary programs, etc. While outbound mobility enhances opportunities for upward mobility, it also challenges the established cultural patterns of learning. This paper discusses the tensions and ties between outbound and upward mobility by analyzing local-global disequilibria in human and institutional agencies of higher education working across social, economic and political boundaries. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The objective of this paper is to provide a general overview of the aspects that define the strategic relationship between Europe and China, centered on the scientific cooperation and mobility promoted by the European Commission and the Chinese Ministry of Education in recent years. The shared vision of China and the United States in terms of scientific mobility and exchange programs is necessary, as migration flows of Chinese origin have always been primarily destined for United States soil. The objective of Sino-European cooperation is based on reforming the higher education system to do away with the "brain drain" that has had a dramatic impact on the Asian nation and member countries of the European Union. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In 2012 all Hong Kong universities will be extending the length of the undergraduate degree from 3 to 4 years and adding General Education as a degree requirement. This reform initiative represents a unique case of comprehensive organizational change of higher education on an unprecedented scale. This paper examines several of the most significant contradictions and tensions facing this initiative-the current structure of higher education based on the British system and the prevailing culture of teaching and learning in Hong Kong. The nature of these pre-existing conditions, and their contradictory relationship to the substance and purpose of general and liberal education, are outlined. The contradictions and tensions generated by the general education initiative are situated within the larger organizational tension between theory and practice, and structure and action. The paper delineates some of the strategies developed to address the existing and emerging tensions. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper describes an exploratory study on the perceived value of higher education by Chinese students in Macao SAR, Guangzhou, Shanghai, and Taipei. Using responses from 316 students, we find that the Sheth-Newman-Gross Theory of Consumption Values explains how students perceive the services offered by higher education institutions. Students have different opinions on the value items, which we group into two functional values (the usefulness of a degree and the experiential aspect), social value, emotional value, epistemic value, and conditional value using factor analysis. A stepwise multiple regression analysis shows that students' satisfaction depends, to a large extent, on two functional values-the experiential aspect and the usefulness of a degree. Moreover, when comparing value judgments based on gender as well as other demographic and social variables, the results show no significant differences between the mean scores in perceived values. Implications for delivering effective educational services in higher education conclude the paper. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper presents a perspective on the capacity of colleges and universities during past and present economic shocks. The main argument is that the environment of the global recession-an Asia far more economically integrated than during past economic shocks, with more unified aspirations to be globally competitive and socially responsible-no longer delay reforms in higher education. In fact, the global recession has become an opportune time for higher education in Asia, specifically developing countries in eastern (East and Southeast) Asia, to continue reforming governance and administration, access and equity, internal and external efficiency, and regional collaboration. Economic shocks have accelerated reforms in higher education, especially those for promoting innovation in their economies, though more is needed in improving governance and access for underserved populations. This paper examines the cases of China, Mongolia, and Vietnam as examples of how the global recession and regional integration are growing forces in shaping their higher education reform and development. The paper also identifies a series of measures for increasing the resilience of higher education systems in serving poor and vulnerable populations during economic recessions. Responses to the global economic recession by nations in eastern Asia are likely to improve the global shift in economy and human capital. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper gives a brief introduction to Chinese higher education and the current situation about the development of digital learning resources in China. The author, from the point of view of an education publisher, analyses the existing problems in the market of digital learning resources. Based on the practice of Higher Education Press, the paper introduces current research works about standards, development mode, digital learning environment, resource sharing mechanism and other related factors. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper centers on the expansion from elite to mass higher education in China and its effects on China's economic development. These effects are twofold, including both the immediate influence of expanded enrollment in higher education on China's economy, and the human capital accumulation for the long term. The paper first provides a description of key changes in the Chinese higher education system during this radical expansion. This is followed by an analysis of the relation between higher education expansion and economic development both in terms of short and long term goals, using the Keynesian economic principle and human capital theory. The analysis found that it is premature to conclude whether the expansion policy has revitalized the economy or not in the short term. China is achieving its long term goal of accumulating human capital; however, the mounting unemployment of postsecondary graduates is jeopardizing students' private returns. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The credit allocation system, a prevalent element of American higher education, is designed to further general education. This paper assesses the success of transferring this American component into a Chinese context. After a general discussion of higher education and credit systems in their American and Chinese environments, the paper presents a case study. It explores from both a cultural and pedagogic perspective the employment of the credit system at Shenzhen University in southern China. Cultural, environmental and structural factors contribute to the transfer's ineffectiveness. Without systemic and structural changes, the educational reforms discussed will be unlikely to accomplish their stated goals of active learning and individualistic curricula. The narrowness of curriculum is likely to continue, unaffected by the credit system. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates the return to university education in Singapore using a new estimation strategy related to Chinese traditions where children born in the Year of the Dragon are believed to be superior. Because parents might time the arrival of their offspring on a Dragon year, this causes the Dragon cohort to be larger and university entry to be more competitive. First, we find evidence of a negative 'Dragon effect' on university educational attainment. Then, using it as an estimation strategy, we find that university education has a ceteris paribus effect of raising earnings by at least 50% on average. ( JEL I21, C26, J30) [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper investigates quality assurance in Chinese higher education by looking at the Evaluation of the University Baccalaureate Programmes Project (EUBPP) conducted in China. It analyses factors that bring about tensions between policy and practice in this area through a study of two contrasting tertiary institutions. The results show that the aims of the EUBPP have been partly achieved through the interaction of policy-making and implementation. In the process, contextual factors connected to institutional status and stages of development have led to varying degrees of tension between policy and practices. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Abstract: The higher education is experiencing a rapid development in China, with the sharp increase of energy use and the low level of campus facility operation. Meanwhile, with the responsibility for knowledge transformation, sci-tech talents cultivation and technical innovation, universities are of great importance in the development of the sustainable society. The initiative of green campus has attracted great attention from both the society and the universities themselves. Therefore, it is very meaningful to get a full understanding of the current status of green campus development in China, and make the feasibility planning for the next step on this base. In this paper, the progress of green campus development in China is summarized, including all the initiatives to conduct the energy and resource efficient campus, and the current status of upgrading the energy and resource efficient campus to the green campus; the problems occurred during the development are analyzed, and the possible approaches and the action plan are explored accordingly, to promote the green campus development. It is found from the analysis that the development of energy and resource efficient campus has been expanded in a large scale in China, mainly aiming at the energy efficient technology application and campus energy management, and all these initiatives are strongly promoted by the national government with policy support and financial funding. With these great endeavors, an upgrade from the energy and resource efficient campus to the green campus is on progress, which expands its scope to sustainable education and the initiative of low-carbon life on campus. However, many problems also occurred during the progress, such as the lack of a good top-level design among different national ministries and the collaborative innovation among different departments in the university, and the need of a practical propulsion mode and a long-term mechanism to guarantee green campus development. Hence, some suggestions are made in terms of the administrative management, propulsion approach, evaluation standard, and action plan. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

Abstract: There has been an increasing level of attention to sustainability issues in higher education by academic leaders, students and by policy makers and the public, at large due to significant impacts of university activities have upon society environmentally and socially in the short and long-term. The last decade has witnessed the promotion of “Green University” in China with an aim of fostering sustainable development in higher education. This paper was developed, based upon research designed to investigate the awareness of faculty, alumni and student's parents on sustainable development and their perceptions on the ‘Green University’. A large-scale questionnaire survey was conducted with representatives of each of these three groups of stakeholders in the Shandong University, one of the largest academic institutions in China. The main focus of this study was placed on exploring the most important factors that contribute towards achieving ‘Green University’ goals from different stakeholders' points of view. These factors were broadly grouped into seven categories, i.e. management systems, environmental sustainability, sustainable curricula, research and development, staff development and rewards, student opportunities and social responsibility. This research compared the perceptions of these three stakeholder groups with those of the student's perspectives, which were also researched several months earlier at Shandong University. Implications on the ‘Green University’ development are presented. The research findings provide a useful reference to improve both the sustainability performance in higher education at Shandong University as well as for ‘Green Universities’ more broadly throughout China and other parts of the world. [Copyright &y& Elsevier]

This article examines how and why the Chinese second-generation middle class, who are unable to obtain admission in China's premier universities, turn their back on other public universities and instead attend private universities in their country. It finds that their parents capitalize on their privileged guanxi (connections) to send their children to private universities and then study abroad to secure a generational reproduction of their class status and mobility. The Chinese new middle class families look upon joint-partnership private universities as the stepping stone for overseas study. In addition, this article examines how extant Western class theories, including Weberian, Neo-Weberian, and Bourdieuian theories, cannot provide an adequate account of class formation and the generational stratification in present-day China. To explain this reproduction of class in contemporary China, this paper explores how and why the Maoist social institutions of danwei (work unit) and hukou (household registration) still matter in post-reform China in determining middle class's life chance. Seen in this light, the progenies of cadres and skilled professionals are the main beneficiaries of economic reform. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Through organizational case studies conducted at Guangdong University of Foreign Studies in China and Central European University in Hungary, this paper examines academic culture and citizenship in societies transitioning from communist to market-driven social and economic structures. The article presents a new model of citizenship, representing types of citizenship along the dimensions of locally informed to globally informed and individualist to collectivist. Implications emphasize the hybridization of academic culture and a reinterpretation of cosmopolitan professional identity in faculty life, expanding the concept from Gouldner's focus on disciplinary loyalty to commitments in a global sphere. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This essay studies the University of Nottingham Ningbo China and Xi'an Jiaotong-Liverpool University-the two Chinese campuses established respectively by the University of Nottingham and the University of Liverpool. They represent successful models of globalization of higher education in China; however their rationale, strategies, curricula, partnership, and orientation are very different. Through a comparative analysis, the paper reveals their unique development and offers a template for studies of globalization of higher education in China and elsewhere through branch campuses. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

All Hong Kong universities have been actively influencing education in China since 1997. The major methods include: running an independent university in one case, and managing and transforming four colleges in another; training many mainland students in Hong Kong who upon graduation return there; and serving as a home base on the doorstep of the mainland from which academics can influence their colleagues across the border. This paper shows how all these methods transfer a new set of academic norms prevalent in Hong Kong to the mainland. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

While China has a long history of private institutions of higher learning, they disappeared almost entirely after the founding of the People's Republic of China in 1949 and did not re-emerge until the 1980s. Their reappearance is one of the ramifications of economic marketisation and privatisation in China. But private higher education institutions are now facing new challenges and competition in the education system. Approximately 500 of them were shut down between 2000 and 2009 for financial, legal or other reasons. Looking through the theoretical lens of organisational ecology - a sociological theory that applies ecological principles to organisational studies - this paper traces how the social and economic environment induced the re-emergence of private universities in China and how it has had an impact on their non-linear pattern of development. Using a number of relevant theory fragments from the overarching framework of organisational ecology as tools, the author then explores possible strategies for turning around low-performing private universities in China. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This study extends the theoretical perspectives in policy studies on the issue of educational equality by analyzing the influence of cultural values on policies and policy processes. The present paper first teases out the key cultural values regarding education and equality, and then explores how these values shape the institution and policy making in the Chinese context. The policies of expansion, reform in governance and finance, differentiation of provision, and their consequences on equality in Chinese higher education are examined through the lens of culture. The context of close family bonds and strong commitment to education in the Chinese society has bolstered the policies of cost-sharing, privatization and concentrating resources in selected universities. Confucian bureaucracy and hierarchy shaped the strong state and top-down policy process; collectivism and elitism coupled with utilitarianism legitimized the paramount goal of development and strengthened the hierarchy of the higher education system; meritocratic tradition mediated the public demands and state's policies on provision, and buffered the debates about inequality. The idea of minben (people are essence of a nation) in Chinese tradition served as a counter force to balance the pursuit of development and equality. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

China became the second-largest economy behind the USA in 2010. While there is quite some macroeconomic research documenting the technological catching-up of China as a nation, there is only little research studying how individual Chinese firms are catching up. This paper draws on the open innovation perspective to explore how Chinese firms improve their innovative performance. Our empirical analysis is based on a sample of 91 native Chinese firms in high-tech industries. The results indicate that Chinese firms widely implement an open innovation approach to strengthen their innovative performance. These firms use: 1) technology in-licensing agreements to obtain access to technologies; 2) long-term alliances with foreign partners to access state-of-the-art technologies; 3) collaboration with local universities and R&D institutes to broaden their technological strengths; 4) collaboration with the local industrial community to deepen their technological skills. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]