The rapid advances of China's universities in major international league tables are generally believed to be an accomplishment of Project 985. A quasi-experimental study was, therefore, undertaken to test the belief and to evaluate the effectiveness of this policy intervention, using 15-year panel data between 1998 and 2013. Results from a…

Faculty recruitment has become a new challenge for public higher education institutions (HEIs) in China since the 1990s. Based on the Institutional Analysis and Development (IAD) Framework, this study analyzed the faculty recruitment preferences and the effects of selected organizational factors on these preferences at top national HEIs from 2002…

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…

This study utilises an institutional logic perspective to explore the dynamics and complexity of academic personnel system reforms at leading Chinese universities. Semi-structured interviews were conducted with 32 participants from 10 highly ranked universities; these interviews obtained the views of key observers on four main reform initiatives:…

Purpose: This paper aims to discuss how transnational universities create negative and positive social impacts on their host communities and what this means for campus sustainability and the expectation that universities contribute to sustainable development and to their local communities. Design/methodology/approach: Using mixed methods, a…

This study identified the motives for vocational education and training (VET) providers in different countries to collaborate internationally and the challenges they encounter by interviewing 16 teachers, program coordinators, and managers from four VET providers in China and Canada. The findings of this study highlight the difference in primary…

High-stakes testing (HST) is critical in the educational system of East-Asian countries like China, and the ongoing standards-based reform in many Western countries like the USA. HST has been criticized for corrupting an educational system through means like disengaging students from authentic learning. It seems that students' affective learning…

The recent expansion of the overseas education market in China has led to the rise of "Background Promotion Projects" designed to strengthen the applications of elite university aspirants. Based on ethnographic findings of a particular Background Promotion Project, a Chinese high school entrepreneurship competition, this study analyses…

Academic leadership is considered a key factor in university and research institute development. In a competitive environment, the role of academic leadership has become increasingly important. At present, China is committed to building world-class universities and advanced research institutes, while academic leadership is one of the key factors.…

Creating world-class universities (WCUs) has recently become a significant policy and practice in higher education in China under the Double World-Class Project. However, some negative effects have encouraged decoupling from the policy goals. To identify the reasons, we conducted policy document analysis and purposive interviews at three elite…

Engineering representing the backbone of a nation aims to migrate towards the knowledge economy. The strengthening of engineering education leads to the nation's self-reliance while building indigenous capabilities. The current study attempts to compare engineering education in China with Pakistan, Europe, and the USA in context of One Belt, One…

Using the China Family Panel Studies, we identify the subjects studied by vocational college and university graduates, with the latter group further divided into ordinary and key universities. While the returns are around 8-10% to attending colleges and ordinary universities, there are higher returns of 12-16% per annum to attending the more…

The calibration of test materials generally involves the interaction between empirical analysis and expert judgement. This paper explores the extent to which scale familiarity might affect expert judgement as a component of test validation in the calibration process. It forms part of a larger study that investigates the alignment of the…

Using a novel longitudinal methodological design, this is the first study to investigate how and to what extent UK higher education institutions (HEIs) use Chinese social media platforms to engage with users. The data was gathered from examining 163 UK HEIs' use of Weibo public accounts in 2012 and 2018 and WeChat in 2018, combined with student…

This paper analyses the student decision-making model for international postgraduate (PG) students with a concentration on consumer service marketing principles. Using a grounded theory approach and exploratory techniques (focus groups), it investigates qualitatively why the UK is the destination choice, the rationale for the programme of study…