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In 2017, China released its building list of First-class Universities and First-class Subjects (Double First classes), which should get great support for development for many years into the future. This paper examines the academic performance of eight universities that are currently listed as having First-class Subjects of economics, in international papers and domestic papers, and compares their academic performance with another eight non-listed universities. The comparison shows that in general only three listed universities have obvious advantages among the 16 sample universities, while four listed universities do not show advantages, with one of them unexpectedly lagging behind. In contrast, several non-listed universities perform obviously better among the sample universities. In addition, several other aspects of this Double First-class list are also found to be less objective, scientific, or rigorous. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Government spending on higher education is a perennial research theme, but empirical evidence from China is relatively rare. Based on panel data of local higher education institutions in 31 Chinese provinces from 2003 to 2016, this paper investigates the determinants of general appropriations and quantifies their relative contributions in consideration of socioeconomic, political, and higher education variables. The results of two-way fixed effect modelling reveal that province GDP per capita, government size, percent of education spending, total enrolment, and tuition fees are five major determinants. Further, the results of Shapley decomposition show that these five determinants jointly contribute to 56.793% of total R2. Drawing on Chinese practices of higher education expansion in the last two decades, this paper concludes with policy implications for sustaining higher education funding. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Theoretical ideas about globalization and internationalization of higher education emphasize the tension among different ideologies of higher education. According to literature, a competition among states, economy, knowledge, and status generates this tension to drive higher education development. This theoretical understanding not only shapes our global imaginations but also permeates the organizational behavior of universities. In this paper, we focus on the institutional logics that motivate universities in Kazakhstan to engage with China's ambitious Belt and Road Initiative (BRI). We investigate the ways that Kazakhstani higher education interprets and responds to China's vision of a global order. Based on interviews conducted at 10 higher education institutions (HEIs) in Kazakhstan, we argue that Kazakhstan's engagement with the BRI circumvents the cultural connectivity and global cooperation that are embraced by Chinese policy discourse and perpetuated by academic literature. Rather, institutional leaders in Kazakhstan operate with a utilitarian logic that seeks revenue generation, links with industry, and opportunities for students in employment and further education. The pursuit of these strategic outcomes demonstrates a bilateral engagement with China rather than the multilateral cooperation envisioned by policymakers. In a higher education system dominated by the state, the institutions in our study exhibit partial agency to accrue pragmatic benefits rather than concede to isomorphic pressures or mimic internationalization from neoliberal contexts. The discrepancy between policy discourse from China and policy reception in Kazakhstan raises questions about the rhetoric of a multipolar global order and the realities of international cooperation in higher education. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

International student education in China has been continuously changing in response to the rapid social transition since the People’s Republic of China was established in 1949. Adopting a historical perspective, this scholarly paper begins with an analysis of characteristics of international student education in China in terms of rationales, role of government, and international students. Several challenges are then identified and this paper concludes with observations on future trends of international student education development, with a special focus on the implications of “the Belt and Road”. This paper contributes to a better understanding of China’s role as an emerging host nation of international students. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The Business English discipline in colleges has developed into a new phase since it was firstly granted by the Ministry of Education in 2007. The paper aims to investigate the status quo of Business English discipline in universities in Shanxi Province in China on the basis of the results of the investigation and tries to find the existing problems. The suggestions for the future development are accordingly made. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The performance of scientific research system is a key element in the assessment of higher education institutions (HEIs). The scientific research system mainly be constructed by two sub-systems: scientific research achievements production and the transformation of these achievements. Different from prior literature, this paper attempts to evaluate the performance of scientific research system of HEIs from a view of goal congruence. Specifically, it examines how and to what extent such two sub-systems are consistent with the goal of overall scientific research system. To this end, this study employs data envelopment analysis (DEA), a non-parametric frontier analysis approach, to present a goal congruence model which is used to measure the degree of both the overall goal congruence and the internal goal congruence. Then, the proposed model is applied to evaluate the performance of scientific research systems of 40 "first-class" universities and 62 "first-class disciplines" universities in China. Results show that only the scientific research systems of Tsinghua University and Central China Normal University achieve the goal congruence. Finally, both higher education policy recommendations and implications are discussed. • This study examines how to evaluate the performance of Higher Education Institutions (HEIs)based on goal congruence theory. • A two-stage network framework for HEIs is built in the context of high education transformation of research achievements. • A new DEA-based model is proposed to measure the degree of goal congruence between sub-systems and overall system for HEIs. • The real data from 40 "first-class" universities and 62 "first-class disciplines" universities in China are used to empirically validate the proposed model. • Both theoretical implications for performance evaluation and practical implications for HEIs development are discussed. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The 2010s witnessed unparalleled policymaking and development in international higher education in China. Whilst research has shed light on the broader historical spectrum of China's international higher education policies, few studies have focused exclusively on those of the 2010s. This study builds upon the theoretical perspectives of wenjian zhengzhi and institutional logics to offer a timely and comprehensive analysis of the dynamics between Chinese policies on international higher education, practices of higher education institutions, and macro-societal orders. It examines two research questions through in-depth analysis of policy documents and scholarly literature: what institutional logics underpin China's international higher education policies of the 2010s? How have Chinese higher education institutions negotiated multiple and sometimes competing institutional logics in response to these policies? Findings show the ways that the state, market, corporation, profession, and community logics are embedded in the international higher education policies of the 2010s. Two specific areas of HEI practices are discussed to illustrate how higher education institutions blend and negotiate the competing logics in a search for compatibility. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Copyright of Higher Education Quarterly is the property of Wiley-Blackwell and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)