Higher Education in China: Consulting for the Asian Development Bank on Higher Education Reform. ASHE Annual Meeting Paper.

This paper examines the relationship of the Chinese National Academy of Educational Administration, the Asian Development Bank, and a consulting U.S. university in a project to provide technical assistance for senior Chinese university administrators in management training and modernization of facilities. Although the higher education component in China is relatively small, the central government expects it to play a key role in social and economic development. The government also wants to decentralize university administration and reduce its share of the financial burden, but at the same time not lose complete control. Sections of the paper discuss the development of Chinese higher education, sources of funding for higher education, private higher education, the need to decentralize the administrative structure, and issues of efficiency, effectiveness, and expansion. Issues addressed include free education in China losing out to market forces; a growing disparity between rich and poor; increasing demand for higher education as a result of the growth of secondary education; and the need for legal codes on which to base policies and protect the rights of institutions, their administrators, faculty, and students. (Contains 25 references.) (RH)