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It is essential to establish a multi-dimensional postgraduate quality evaluation system for student assessment and training. This study aimed to explore the construction of the multiindex and hierarchical comprehensive evaluation system for postgraduate training in science and engineering based on the Context, Input, Process, Product (CIPP) model using Analytic Hierarchy Process. It involved 756 postgraduates in physics and engineering who were randomly selected via the Internet. Data were collected from the questionnaire about postgraduates' basic information. After collection, Factor Analysis was used to verify the rationality of the design of second-level and third-level indicators, and adjust the corresponding weights. On this basis, Cluster Analysis was used to classify the training quality of the postgraduates based on their scores on academic ability, basic quality, and social ability indicators. The results revealed that the index system includes 4 first-level indicators,12 second-level indicators and 36 third-level indicators, and different weights being assigned to the indicators according to their influence on the training quality of postgraduates in science and engineering. This study also provides some reference for the quality of science and engineering postgraduate training in Chinese universities by proposing relevant measures, which could be interesting also for international audience.

Corporate mission, a core part of corporate culture, plays an important role in the development and competition of companies. The study of mission statements is beneficial to both companies and stakeholders. This paper explores corporate mission from the perspective of linguistics on the basis of speech act theory and adaptation theory and reveals that assertives account for a large proportion with a small proportion of commissives and zero proportion of directives, expressives and declarations. Some skills can be used to polish the language of mission statements, like pun, personification and parallel structures. And some high frequency words are summarized. Several characteristics and writing skills are summarized about mission statements. The criteria of judging whether the mission statements are good or not are given in this paper.

This research paper investigates the intersection of the maker movement and educational innovation, using the China-U.S. Young Maker Competition as a foundational example. It examines how maker education, fueled by hands-on learning and a curiosity-driven approach, can evolve and influence. The study explores the roles and impacts of Human-Computer Interaction (HCI), Design-Driven Innovation (DDI), and Cross-Cultural Perspectives (CCP) within maker education. It highlights HCI's connection of technology with learning, DDI's focus on user-centered solutions, and the significance of CCP in enhancing cultural collaboration, vital for fostering an innovative and creative future. This paper offers a detailed perspective on the current state and future potential of maker education. It proposes a roadmap for the coming decade, emphasizing collaborative learning and creative endeavors, all set within the engaging environment of the competition.

Simple Summary: In this study, we ask whether the invasive paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) has a competitive advantage over neighbor trees in a native area. We determined the competitive capacity of paper mulberry in three deciduous broad-leaved forests using structural indices including the mixing index, the tree–tree interval index, and the diameter/height differentiation index. It was found that the reference paper mulberry had a slight competitive advantage over neighboring trees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. Such a competitive ability may play a significant role in the ecological invasion of paper mulberry. Our findings not only help to reveal the invasion mechanism of paper mulberry, but also provide an important reference for the management and utilization of paper mulberry in invaded areas. Paper mulberry (Broussonetia papyrifera) is currently an invasive species on several continents. However, little is known about whether paper mulberry has a competitive advantage over its surrounding trees in its native distribution range, subtropical regions of China. Here, we determined the relative intraspecific and interspecific competitive capacity of paper mulberry in three subtropical deciduous broad-leaved forests using the indices of structural diversity including the mixing index, the tree–tree interval index, and the diameter/height differentiation index. It was found that more than 80% of mingling index values were not greater than 0.25, suggesting a stronger competitiveness of paper mulberry relative to other tree species. The tree–tree interval index values ranged between 1 m and 2 m, suggesting a strong competition between paper mulberry and its neighbors. Moreover, more than 60% of the height differentiation index and diameter differentiation index values were positive, suggesting that the reference paper mulberry had a slight competitive advantage over neighboring trees in both the horizontal and vertical planes. These collectively suggest a competitive advantage over other tree species in the native distribution range, which may play a significant role in the ecological invasion of paper mulberry. Our findings not only help to reveal the invasion mechanism of paper mulberry, but also provide an important reference for the management and utilization of paper mulberry in invaded areas. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Global science is set to experience different times in the 2020s. China surpasses the USA in terms of the number of scientific papers in 2020 in most scientific databases. This scenario is expected to have implications not only in East Asia but also beyond the region. Against this backdrop, this paper investigates the scientific influence of the US-China competition on six major Muslim-majority science systems. Multiple data sources are used to collect data for the bibliometric analyses, which include the trend analysis of collaboration patterns, discipline-based collaborations, authorship patterns for responsibility in collaborations, and citation premium of collaborations with the USA versus China. All the analyses consistently demonstrate that the USA is losing its scientific influence on the selected Muslim-majority science systems to China. Analysis results indicate an astonishing increase in collaborations with China-based scientists in the last decade. Half of the selected Muslim-majority science systems collaborate more with China-based scientists, whereas the other half collaborate more with the USA in 2021, indicating a fifty-fifty split. The collaborations with China-based authors garner higher citation premiums for the selected Muslim-majority science systems than the collaborations with the USA.

The terminology of "Chinese characteristics" (zhongguo tese) is ubiquitous in China's political language, but its precise definition remains elusive. This study focuses specifically on the mobilising of the idea of Chinese characteristics of China's science evaluation programme: the China Discipline Evaluation (CDE). Implemented as an instrument of the higher education reform since 1978, it still plays a vital role in China today. This paper is structured into three parts. It begins by laying out the broad landscape of the science evaluation systems across several countries including China, to distil the distinctiveness of the CDE. Then, it moves to focus on the CDE and locates it in its historical and social-political context. Finally, it investigates the origin and use of Chinese characteristics, suggesting that this terminology functions as a rhetoric modality which describes, labels, and legitimates seemingly self-contradictory phenomena exclusive to China. It also emphasises the idea of Chinese exceptionalism that is touted as irreducible to other cultural forms. Based on these considerations, it proposes three dimensions of the Chinese characteristics of the CDE: (i) the paradoxical status of the evaluation agency, (ii) the co-existence of contradictory values embedded in the objectives and criteria of the evaluation, and (iii) the promotion of the visibility of the idea of China at the international stage. Overall, it shows that while the CDE may appear to be a decentralisation instrument, it is in essence a "hegemonic project" and "hegemonic apparatus" to fulfil the party-state's ambition in securing domestic stability and pursuing international competitiveness.

Significant collaborations with research partners in China are seen in many Western countries. With increasing US-China geopolitical tensions, governments, research institutions, and individuals in established scientific systems are increasingly required to address a proliferating array of risks and challenges associated with collaboration with China. Academic researchers are only beginning to describe how countries are responding to the ongoing need for global scientific collaboration amidst intensifying geopolitical competition. Several studies have examined the securitization of scientific connections with China in the USA, while others have documented developments in nations such as Australia, the UK, and Sweden. However, there is limited comparative research on approaches to international science amid geopolitical tensions. This paper bridges the gap, illuminating the key dimensions of variation in country-level responses by comparing the cases of Sweden and Australia. The questions we ask are as follows: Who responds to the challenges? By what means? And to what ends are responses directed? Swedish government have been largely passive, but Swedish funding agencies have developed "responsible internationalisation" guidelines that aim to induce proactive reflection by institutions and individual researchers. Australia's approach, by contrast, has centred on legislation, the exercise of ministerial powers, along with sector-wide enactment of expanded due diligence protocols. The comparison highlights key differences in the actors, methods and goals of responses to the intensifying geopolitics of scientific collaboration.

Purpose: In the domain of shadow education (private supplementary tutoring), Denmark and China may be placed at opposite ends of a spectrum. Denmark has a recently emerged, small, and high-cost sector that mostly serves low achievers, while China has a more industrialized sector with a long history and economies of scale. The paper juxtaposes the two to shed light on each. Design/Approach/Methods: The article is a personal narrative of the author's research experiences. She grew up and had initial education in China before moving to the Nordic realm for 2 years. This provided a set of initial lenses, which were subsequently deployed in research partnership from her current base in China with colleagues in Denmark. Findings: The juxtaposition raises questions that might otherwise not have been asked and provides insights that might otherwise not have been gained. Danish families hesitate to use shadow education for advantages in the egalitarian society, in contrast to Chinese patterns that stress competition and achievement. These facets have implications for the modes of shadow education and even the names of tutorial companies. Originality/Value: The paper has a methodological value in addition to its substantive insights on the trajectories of shadow education in the two countries.

This paper examines the relationship between the concepts of humility and competition in Confucianism and Daoism, and discusses their relevance to contemporary education. It argues that while both philosophical traditions value humility and caution against excessive competition, they do not outrightly reject competition; instead, they advocate for a harmonious balance between humility and competition through yielding (rang) and showing reverence (gong) or acting through non-action (wei-wu-wei) to resolve conflicts and promote healthy competition. The insights gleaned from this exploration carry significant implications for the moral development and mental well-being of students, particularly in the context of high-stakes testing cultures in China and other countries. They also offer valuable support in nurturing students' qualities such as openness to learning, humble leadership, and appreciation of diversity and multiculturalism essential for success in a diverse and interconnected world.

"Global Engineering Education Accreditation" (GEEA) is an internationally accepted quality assurance system for engineering education in universities, and technology competitions for college students are also considered important approaches to achieve the educational objectives and meet graduation requirements of GEEA in practice aspects. In this paper, the competency of guiding teachers of technology competitions for Chinese college students is evaluated through a case of "National Competition of Transportation Science and Technology for Students" (NACTranS). Firstly, 7 theoretical hypotheses of the modified "structural equation modeling" (SEM) for competency were developed by concentrating on some principles pertaining to the key concepts of GEEA. Secondly, competition results were set as the dependent variable and 3 dimensions of competition (topic selecting, works producing and team managing) were set as the independent variables under the modified SEM. Meanwhile, both administrative ranks and regional locations of universities where guiding teachers work were set as intervening vectors so as to explain the formation mechanisms of competency. Thirdly, a case study of NACTranS data from 68 universities in China's mainland was done through modified SEM calculating. The conclusions indicate that competency of guiding teachers is not only represented by 3 dimensions but also indirectly manipulated by 2 intervening vectors. According to the case calculating by modified SEM, the determinant of guiding teachers' performance in topic selecting is the administrative ranks of universities, whereas their performance in works producing is dictated by the regional locations of universities. Various improvements on the competency of guiding teachers can be carried out in schools of engineering in Chinese universities, such as sufficient academic communications, efficient industry-university-research cooperation and so on.

The object of this study is to assess the potential for the development of the Russian market for educational services as a component part of the present-day process of internationalization of science and higher education in the countries of Eurasia, above all China and Russia. The paper describes Russia's and China's unique unifying and coordinating role in the development of a common educational space, which must result in the creation of a Eurasian research-and-education ecosystem. The authors conducted an analysis of the current structure of the ecosystem. The authors conducted an analysis of the current structure of the education ecosystem. The authors conducted an analysis of the currents structure of the sector of joint Russian-Chinese education institutions. The paper describes the current state of affairs regarding, and prospects for, the development of the government's digitalization program that is based on the concept of Digital 4.0, a paradigm that is increasingly becoming a natural environment for society to function and develop in. The authors explore some of the key trends and risks inherent in the development of the global market for educational platforms. The paper provides a rationale for the need to create a joint Russian-Chinese educational platform -- one can hardly overestimate its role in the implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative transnational project. The study employed a set of traditional methods of research, including classification, comparative analysis, summarization, juxtaposition, and forecasting. In addition, it incorporates a sociological survey of students at Russia's leading universities. The authors made use of data from the Ministries of Education of China and Russia and various open-access statistics websites, as well as data from a sociological study of their own. The authors' assessments of the current potential of and trends exhibited by the Russian market for online education, as well as the fact that Russian students are interested in and prepared for active participation in online projects, helped put together a set of recommendations for boosting the competitiveness and efficiency of the Russian market for educational services and those for developing an international educational platform as part of the Eurasian educational ecosystem.

Under the pressure of globalisation, both China and Europe have active strategies to internationalise their higher education systems. This paper explores the cultural and institutional constraints of these strategies in both territories, analysing their impact on the cooperation and competition among higher education institutions. The article focuses on the historical and current practices of internationalisation in Europe and China, the strategic goals underlying these practices, and the implications of internationalisation strategies in constraining the choices and actions of academic leaders in Chinese and European higher education institutions. This article contributes to the literature on Chinese and European cooperation in higher education by analysing the points of conflict and opportunities for growth. Despite differences (e.g., centralised vs. decentralised systems, top-down vs. bottom-up decision-making processes, and the roles of leadership in the governance of higher education institutions), there is a common interest in promoting economic competitiveness, developing a knowledge-based society, advancing research, attracting and retaining talent, and reducing regional inequalities. The paper concludes that cooperation is possible in specific areas in which neither China nor Europe can succeed alone with the same impact that would be possible with cooperation.

This study investigates the current process of internationalization of higher education in the countries of the Asia Pacific region (APR) through the example of China, the Republic of Korea, Japan, and Russia. The article aims to familiarize the reader with the experience of internationalizing higher education in APR states against a backdrop of global trends. The authors examine the major strategies for the internationalization of education, such as taking a coordinated approach, attracting qualified manpower, focusing on deriving profit, and expanding the potential. The paper analyzes the traditions, strengths and weaknesses, and general traits and characteristics of the above states' national systems of education, as well as the major forms of international partnership and key dimensions of education internationalization in APR states. The authors show that over the last few years APR states have been increasingly active in entering into agreements in the area of education internationalization, which has facilitated the division of spheres of influence and zones of responsibility within the educational area, as well as the steering of educational approaches along a common course. The paper employs traditional methods of research, such as classification, comparative analysis, generalization, juxtaposition, and forecasting. The study suggests three possible scenarios for the future development of the process of higher education internationalization: sustainably diverse internationalization, convergence in the direction of the liberal model, and the triumph of developing economies. The paper also describes current trends in this area in APR states. The authors come to the conclusion that we are in for considerable changes in the international market of educational services, such as the reconsideration of spheres of influence and redistribution of key players in the market, dynamicity and heterochrony in development being among the key traits inherent to today's market of educational services.

As an imprint of Confucian culture, China's education intersects state governance in making and governing educational subjects as 'talent', an official translation of the Chinese term 'rencai' (literally, human-talent). Whereas the English word 'talent' itself denotes '[people with] natural aptitude or skill', 'talent' is currently mobilized in China not only as a globalized discourse that speaks to the most aspired educational subjects for the 21st century but also as a re-invoked cultural notion that relates to Confucian wisdom. Drawing upon Foucault's biopower hypothesis and Confucian thought, this paper leverages upon China's unique manipulation of 'talent' as certain skills and human subjects, both cultivable through education, to problematize China's talent making and governing in two dimensions. First, it unpacks the various technologies of power entangled in China's talent making and governing within its 'state governance' paradigm. Second, it unpacks Confucian thought as an archaeological prototype for China's present talent appeal, meanwhile explicating their divergences in defining 'human', 'talent', and the human-talent interpellation. In so doing, this paper makes two arguments. First, the linguistic notion of 'talent' functions as a Foucauldian apparatus of biopower, making (up) new kinds of people and normalizing a certain population as the objective/object of China's state governance. Second, CPC's re-invocation of Confucian talent discourses is more of a rhetorical strategy than an authentic cultural renaissance gesture.

This paper aims to broaden the conceptual approaches to understanding the complexity of student mobility in higher education (HE) across the Taiwan Strait, thereby exemplifying a contradictory mix of collaboration and competition that involves interplay among the various forces associated with global, regional and national settings. To achieve this goal, the paper provides an abstraction of 'trichotomisation', which explains the significance of the concepts of globalism, regionalism and nationalism in understanding cross-Strait student mobility, and thus shows its threefold nature. Specifically, it considers the intensification of cross-Strait student mobility in HE and the counter-reaction as a manifestation of globalism, a form of regionalism, and an expression of nationalism.

Based on an analysis of policy documents, questionnaires and interviews, the paper discusses the experiences of Chinese young academics on tenure-track contracts. Findings suggest that young academics perceive tenure as a managerial solution to governance reform. Meanwhile, a population-resource imbalance and the uncertainty in career progression interactively and collectively create an involuted culture where overwork is normalised for self-adaptation. While young academics are experiencing insecurity and anxiety, the study found that they adopt a wide range of strategies to actively adapt into the context. Drawing on the competitive nature, the tenure system is interpreted as both a managerial approach and a training mechanism. This competitiveness and its related precariousness seem to remain, however, uncharted in social perception. An analysis of these issues illuminates tensions and conflicts in the implementation of the tenure-track system in the Chinese context, which have important implications for future managerial policies and practices.

This paper investigates the strategies of governance in the language policy "Chanting the Chinese Classics" (CCC) as deployed by State authorities, schools, and local communities. It highlights the strategy of 'viewing' as a nexus between language policy processes and traditional Chinese governing philosophy. To examine the connections between macro-level language policy and local educational and communicative processes, an ethnography of language policy was conducted at a weekend community school. We argue that language policy governance in Chinese language policy implementation mirrors Confucian philosophy. To further this strategy, State authorities organize nationally televised events at which school children compete in chanting competitions, which serve as exemplars for educators, parents, and students, who are encouraged to memorize vast quantities of classic Chinese literature. Results reveal that the appropriation of the CCC policy by teachers and parents encourages self-government and aligns with language policy ideology. While the CCC policy effectively encourages thousands of children to memorize Chinese Classics, it simultaneously promotes cultural confidence and nationalism.

Competitions and related activities are an essential part of mathematics education for gifted students. China has been one of the most successful countries in recent decades in the International Mathematical Olympiad. To illustrate the Chinese experience of mathematics competitions, in this paper we first present a historical sketch of Chinese mathematics competitions, then provide a comprehensive description of its pyramidal selection and training systems, including the introduction of main competitions for high school students, some examples of competition problems, and the training of students and tutors. Furthermore, to investigate the influence of mathematics competitions on contestants, an empirical study of 372 former contestants was conducted and is reported. The results showed that most of the contestants majored in mathematics or areas closely related to mathematics. Nearly half of the contestants intended to do mathematics research or work highly related to mathematics. A majority of the contestants held positive attitudes toward their mathematics competition experiences and affirmed the value of these experiences in cultivating personal interests and developing mathematics abilities. Some negative influences of competition experiences on contestants are also identified. Finally, problems existing in the development of Chinese mathematics competitions and future research directions are discussed.

This paper explores Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) teaching and curriculum development across disciplines, based on a case study of a newly established Cultural and Creative Industry (CCI) programme at the School of Modern Languages, Cardiff University, UK. It illustrates how different academic values and goals influence styles of teaching and curriculum development, and it considers how this drives disciplinary evolution. As CCI increasingly attracts international students, in particular from China's middle-class market, this paper questions the direct 'import' of western CCI for Chinese students, in terms of both content relevance and programme development sustainability. This paper suggests that curriculum evolution should be viewed as key for UK higher education to retain market competitiveness, especially a pending 'Brexit'.

In China, improving students' creativity is becoming an important goal of modern colleges and universities, especially in the domain of science and technology. The efforts made for this goal can be observed not only in classroom, but also in activities and competitions which were held out-of-school. This paper will firstly give a brief description of creativity. Then, it will point out several constraints in Chinese creativity development, and introduce the characteristics and the advantages of extracurricular activities in STI (scientific and technological innovation). Concretely, the paper will take, in case, two national competitions, studying their influences on the development of creativity and innovativeness, and discussing some main problems. Some deficiencies of Chinese out-of-school activities in students' creativity development will be summarized. In conclusion, the paper will propose some advices to Chinese higher education in this aspect.

The major aim of recent school education reform in China is to improve educational equity and quality. This paper aims to explore a collaborative reform in a school district in Hangzhou in Zhejiang Province. The major focus of the reform has been a change of school management from "government" to "governance," which is a shift from individual school effort to multi-school collaboration, from a single point development to a regional ecological development, as well as from loose development to excellence and equality development. Under such reform and through the school coalition among all schools within the district, high-quality and balanced development of the regional education has been promoted. Reform strategies in the school coalition studied include enhancing educational equity within the coalition; coordinating multiple powers; upholding educational quality by a shared curriculum; putting in extra resources to release school burdens; improving the quality of the teaching force; and developing an evidence-based comprehensive assessment system. The results of such changes not only promote teacher professional development but also meet students' individual needs and growth. The schools involved in the collaborative endeavor have all earned support and recognition from parents, respect from the bureau, and a good reputation, and have improved competitiveness in Hangzhou.

In modern society, the essence of social competition is the competition of talents who are in need of education, and the education's quality can decide a nation's future and destiny. With the continuous development of China, Chinese educational system is also facing a new stage of development. Starting with analyzing the case of New Oriental School, a very popular training institution in China, this paper finds its sponsoring characteristics and the current situation of education in China by surveying and comparing some data. It is found that New Oriental School's success is the integration of Chinese and western culture. On the one hand, New Oriental School pays attention to training teachers and learning advanced teaching ideas and methods of western countries, on the other hand, its education is directed towards Chinese examination-oriented education, which results from the current situation that China has a large population and sharp competitions and the examination-oriented education can not be replaced in this moment. Chinese education can get a lot of inspirations from New Oriental School's successful experience. This paper makes a suggestion that China can benefit from the mode of New Oriental School, learning the advanced concepts and teaching methods of western countries, and doing some improvements to explore a suitable way for Chinese educational development.

This paper tries to examine how higher education in China and Britain has been affected by market forces between the mid-1980s and the mid-1990s, from three major issues. Comparing the experiences of both places, the paper argues that unlike the case of British counterpart, where marketisation of education has shifted to a corporate management approach, the Chinese experience can be argued as being the government's attempt to use market forces and new initiatives from the non-state sectors, rather then an ideological shift to managerialism and its practices.

The intent of this paper is to make sense of and share with a broader community of teachers and teacher educators a professional development phenomenon that is peculiar to the Chinese elementary and secondary school context. This practice, known as the Open Class, has at least three forms: intra-school, inter-school, and competitive. These forms are defined and delineated at the outset of the paper with particular attention to the distinguishing characteristics of each. This conceptual groundwork paves the way for a detailed historical accounting of this phenomenon over the past 65 years. What we learn is that the Open Class, as a professional development strategy, has waxed and waned based on the political and educational emphases of the day but nonetheless is alive and well in modern-day China. Indeed, it is so commonplace that it has become a norm in Chinese schools. While there remains much to be learned about the Open Class, four lessons learned as a result of the exposition offered in this paper provide a strong basis and valuable springboard for further exploration.

This paper quotes the qualitative data from one author's recent research (Feng, 2006, 2007) in China and the other author's ongoing PhD research in India. Both studies used multi-methods of data collection in mainstream school settings. This paper discusses the relatively under-researched topic of "quiet disaffection" of pupils with diverse educational needs in mainstream schools in China and India. It follows the description by Rudduck et al, (1996) that some pupils are quietly and invisibly disaffected. The paper argues that integration--rather than inclusion--in the learning contexts in these two countries is the main source of this kind of disaffection in schools. It further identifies issues relating to ability grouping, school curriculum, teaching strategies, empowerment and whole-school approaches for the provision of inclusive education. Recommendations are made to better address the needs of disaffected pupils in order to more fully engage them in schools.

In this article, Richard Hill addresses the topic of China supposedly undermining Australia's national security and way of life, and causing ructions on university campuses. He writes that Chinese infiltration, or so it seems, is everywhere, from excessive housing investments and land buy-ups to dodgy dinner dates with ALP officials; and from Confucian Institutes (as fronts for espionage activities) to the take-over of student unions by Chinese students. Concern has even arisen over the spread of Chinese takeaways and the growing demand for Mandarin courses, both clearly promoting Chinese influence across the nation. Hill goes on to say that three journalists from the "Sydney Morning Herald/The Age" (Baker, Hunter & Bonyhady, 2019) took the brave step of striding into the murky world of Chinese students to expose the shadowy goings on. Hill opines that following some general observations on 'the Chinese issue', their report morphs into a more general discussion of how Australian universities deal with international students -- no trivial matter, given their contribution to university coffers. Apparently, to no surprise, not all of these student visitors are happy campers. Hill asserts that after all, Australian journalists inform the public, that these students have to fork out up to three times more for their education than domestic students, often live in dilapidated and over-crowded accommodation, and feel estranged, lonely and depressed. Many of them struggle with the most basic English, which makes reading turgid academic texts and assignment completion tough going. Worried by such questionable investigative reportage, Hill shares a slightly amended version of a letter he wrote directly to the journalists. He concludes that 'corruption risks' notwithstanding, it has become glaringly obvious that Australian universities are massively over-reliant on overseas students for their income and face an epic implosion when this revenue stream dries up, which it will once China and India build up their own sectors.

Education policy has been undergoing great transformation in China since the initiation of economic reforms and the open-door policy in the late 1970s. These market-oriented reforms and the pursuit of rapid economic growth in a globalized economy have significantly impacted China's education policy and development. In line with the development of the market-oriented economy and its increasing integration with the global market, a more pragmatic perception of education has gradually taken shape in the post-Mao era, resulting in the decentralization and marketization of education in China. This article aims to examine the development of Chinese education policy in the context of decentralization and marketization since the start of the economic reforms. It will firstly make a brief contrast between the education policies before and after the economic reforms. Then, the decentralization and marketization in the field of education since the initiation of the economic reforms will be examined. What follows is an assessment of the impacts that marketization and decentralization had on education policy. This paper argues that the weakening role of the state in education provision and the disparity between rural and urban areas are key issues facing China's education policy following the economic reforms and the open-door policy. It concludes by suggesting that equal and balanced development in education in China entails bringing the state back into the education sector. (Contains 6 tables.)

The enrolment of Chinese middle-class children in elite international kindergartens is a big education industry in China. Our paper is situated in the broader sociology of elite schooling which has yet to fully explore how middle and upper middle-class parents are increasingly sending their children to elite international kindergartens. We present a case study from Shenzhen, China with a view to showing how the curriculum and the routine of its practices are used to cultivate the elite child for competitive advantage in the educational rat race in China. The approach of Bourdieusian accumulation of capital theory is used to unravel the categories of capital embedded in the curriculum. We term these 'start-up capital' which has exchange value for students to gain competitive advantage in their application to key primary schools and their onward schooling trajectories in China. Our case study provides a window into how social advantage and class are reproduced as soon as the child sets foot in an elite international kindergarten.

An empirical study of innovation education model with a related survey of subject competitions in Chinese colleges and universities was carried out, and the results of which was presented in this paper. Under the paradigm of the agility theory, a dynamic and cross-level 'enhancing comprehensive ability through subject competitions' innovation education theoretical model was constructed and examined by using structural equation modeling. A total of 350 English majors and 50 social personnel participated in this study by using the method of multi-layer random sampling and cluster sampling. 382 valid questionnaires were used for the data analysis. Data collected were analyzed by internal consistency reliability analysis, exploratory factor analysis, and confirmatory factor analysis. The empirical results suggest that under the guidance of the agility theory, the six links have significant positive impact on the innovation education and ultimately enhance students' comprehensive ability through subject competitions.

This paper reviews the impact of the rewards and recognition scheme on curriculum reform in higher vocational education (HVE) in China. In this scheme, teachers and students can win rewards and obtain recognition through curriculum competitions and student skill competitions conducted by the government. It has been used to encourage and to support colleges and teachers to implement HVE curriculum reform. The qualitative research project into HVE curriculum reform reported here identified both the facilitative and inhibitory effects of the scheme on curriculum reform. Discipline heads' perspectives of these influences were investigated through in-depth interviews. The scheme was seen as motivating just a slight majority of discipline heads to implement curriculum reform and as providing financial support in doing so. The discipline heads, though, also indicated that they were discouraged by the scheme's misleading guidelines, its inappropriate evaluations of their efforts and its contribution to funding inequalities.

This paper explores the ways in which policies for national identity formation and internationalization interact to complement and contradict each other in the context of global higher education. These themes are explored by comparing recent policies in two countries in East Asia, a part of the world currently on the rise in the global hierarchy of higher education (Altbach in "Tert Educ Manag" 10:3-25, 2004; Marginson in "High Educ" 4(1), 2011b). China and Japan are presented as case studies, with a focus on the ways the two countries have pursued both higher education internationalization and nationalist agendas through education more broadly. The paper then turns to a discussion of the factors that might explain these approaches as well as the dilemmas that arise from the interaction of these policy agendas in the context of global higher education. The paper argues that while increasing global competitiveness through HE internationalization may prove beneficial to individual nation-states in the short term, countries in East Asia should consider the potential pitfalls of becoming too singly focused on competitiveness at the expense of mutual understanding and peaceful international relations in the region. Furthermore, the continued push to create uncritical nationalistic citizens threatens to undermine the goals of internationalization and may be detrimental to efforts at HE regional cooperation and integration. The paper concludes with recommendations that the two countries consider the potential benefits of global citizenship education and the expansion of regionally focused study abroad programs to help develop graduates with the global competencies conducive to both national competitiveness and regional cooperation.

The unemployment problem of college students in China has drawn much attention from academics and society. Using the 2011 College Student Labor Market (CSLM) survey data from Tsinghua University, this paper estimated the effects of college quality on initial employment, including employment status and employment unit ownership for fresh college graduates. The propensity score matching method was employed to account for the potential endogeneity of elite college attendance. The empirical evidence suggested that students who attended Project 985 colleges were more likely to find jobs immediately after college graduation. Moreover, students graduated from Project 211 universities gained a competitive edge by entering into public working sectors, such as the government or state-owned enterprises (SOEs), compared with students from non-elite colleges. The results imply the students who graduated from non-elite universities faced labor market segmentation. They not only had obstacles in finding jobs, but also ended up in the secondary labor market.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to provide a systematic review of studies on antecedents of the corporate reputation of higher education institutions (HEIs) from the perspectives of employees. Design/methodology/approach: The approach is an examination of previous literature on antecedents of corporate reputation in HEIs, published between 2010 and 2020. Findings: The findings show that general and specific factors of corporate reputation in HEIs are being employed as strategic tools to survive the competitive nature of the higher education landscape. Originality/value: Factors of corporate reputation in HEIs from the perspectives of employees are an understudied area with little academic literature available.

As cross-country comparisons of education systems have become increasingly important for policy-making, different structural arrangements have attracted attention in the pursuit of equity and excellence. One area of interest has been instructional time in formal schooling. Missing in such comparisons is the role instruction outside of formal/compulsory schooling. Supplementary education in its many forms has a long history, global reach, and is increasingly attracting scholarly attention. Asia is a notable location and particularly China, where there has been rapid expansion, intensification, and visibility. In this paper, we mobilise Eacott's "relational" approach to argue that supplementary education, at least in the highly competitive urban centres, is no longer supplementary and that orthodox approaches to understanding it based on a perceived separation from compulsory education cannot adequately describe the contemporary condition. Our argument is that orthodox approaches conceive of the problem of supplementary education as one of access. We seek to unsettle orthodoxy by re-casting supplementary education as not supplementary at all and instead.

This paper assesses the evolution and current situation of the Chinese research system, mainly the academic research system from 1996 to 2017, using trend analysis and the revealed comparative advantage (RCA) index. Despite the impressive growth of China's knowledge capability, as measured by the number of publications in the international indexed literature over the past four decades, the country is still in a catching-up pattern with the world's most advanced research systems, instead of being a full-fledged scientific superpower. The analysis shows that China's publication growth has been to some extent inflated, as it was boosted by the inclusion of Chinese language journals in the international indexed literature. Therefore, this growth should be considered in a more moderate light. The competitiveness of China's disciplinary areas appears somewhat stalled when comparing the 1996-2000 and 2013-2017 periods, during which the same STEM-related disciplinary areas were the most competitive. This finding reveals not only a specialised knowledge structure, typical of catching-up countries, but also underperforming and neglected disciplinary areas in the social sciences, humanities and health sciences from a research funding standpoint. Based on this assessment, it is recommended that policymakers and university administrators change their focus from research quantity to research visibility by allocating funding in a less concentrated way to STEM fields, while promoting collaborative initiatives that can encourage the qualifications of academics and the visibility of the knowledge they produce.

Confucianism has had a profound influence on Chinese learners' academic achievements, moral education and education for citizenship. It is often suggested that the influence of Confucianism leads to educational success. Situating the Confucian ideology in a Western educational setting in so far as how those involved in teaching and learning according to Chinese Confucian-based education. This paper is based on a BBC documentary that leads me to reflect on Chinese education. The documentary sought to investigate what would occur when Western learners undertake Chinese Confucian-based learning. In this article, my personal reflections on the content and messages of the documentary are interwoven with reflections of the teachers and others involved in the documentary. I begin this auto-ethnographic account by reflecting on my cultural upbringing in China and the influence that Confucianism had on my own early learning experiences. Selected diary entries show my identities within a unique Confucian cultural framework.

A plan for national education to train outstanding engineers has been put into practice at Henan Polytechnic University (HPU). Practical education is a basic characteristic of engineering education. This paper proposed ideas and models to reform the mineral processing engineering education system and also described the discipline and the objective of cultivating students for careers in mineral processing engineering. On the basis of a survey and analysis of the quality of graduate student cultivation, we established a practical teaching system of 'four levels, seven categories' and the effect of this system was initially apparent.

Purpose: The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors affecting Mainland Chinese students pursuing a Master of Education degree in Hong Kong on their study abroad decision and return intentions. Design/methodology/approach: The current study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate factors that affect Mainland Chinese students pursuing MEd degrees in Hong Kong. Participants were first invited to fill out a questionnaire. After collecting and analyzing the survey data, in-depth interviews with a selected group of students were carried out by the research team to obtain useful qualitative data to triangulate the survey findings. A purposeful and convenience sampling method, carried out through the personal network of the research team, was used to recruit MEd Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong to participate in the current study. Findings: The findings provided compelling evidence that Hong Kong was an attractive study destination to this particular group of MEd Chinese students. The findings also indicated that academic factors were more important than social, cultural and economic factors when it came to choosing their study destination. In contrast to previous studies, participants expressed a much stronger desire to return home upon graduation. The three most influential predictors of their decision to return were the lack of a Hong Kong teaching certificate (r=+0.36), the opportunity to contribute to their hometown (r=+0.31) and the inclination to be closer to family and friends (r=+0.20). Originality/value: While a number of studies have been carried out to study why Mainland Chinese students chose Hong Kong as their study destination to pursue their teacher training degree, none of these studies focused exclusively on fee-paying MEd Chinese students. Hong Kong is facing keen competition from both traditional host countries and emerging host countries to recruit students from Mainland China. It is therefore crucial to understand the needs of these Mainland Chinese students in a competitive, globalized, tertiary education market, as the satisfaction of students, in the form of positive discussion among alumni, promotes a university's reputation and sustains its advantage in attracting students.

The paper introduces data on the employment of postgraduates in the Department of Information Management of Peking University in 2000-2009. Master's graduates in LIS in Peking University have a wide job choice. In China, the job market for postgraduates in LIS is composed of enterprises and business organizations, rather than libraries and information centres only. The paper discusses the challenges in the job market in China: with the increase in popularity of higher education, the number of graduates is continuing to rise and graduates' employment pressure is up. Employer's views on qualifications for people have changed greatly. Some organizations expect to recruit graduates of "great capacity". It is important to build a road to improve Master's employment competitiveness in LIS in China. With an example of teaching and practice in the Department of Information Management in Peking University, this paper proposes some suggestions for improving postgraduates' employment competitiveness in LIS. 1) Broadening academic vision, information science as major and others as minor. 2) Emphasis on training of comprehensive quality and improving their employment competitiveness. 3) Providing a relaxed academic environment and enhancing their autonomous learning and research abilities. (Contains 1 table.)