The University Model Under Socialism With Chinese Characteristics

Since the late1990s，Chinese academics and media have conducted various studiesand aroused several rounds of heated discussions about administration andde-administration in Chinese higher institutions， including the question of whatadministration and de-administration is，the question of what necessary administrationis，and the problems that Chinese universities are facing concerning administerization.They put forward their respective understandings to enhance the better development ofChinese higher institutions.Wen Jiabao，the previous Prime Minister of the State Councilhad an online discussion about Chinese university’s administration and de-administrationon February27th，2010and presented his idea that higher institutions shouldde-administrate and do away with the administrative level existing in reality. YuanGuiren，as the minister and spokesman of Ministry of Education，made a correspondingresponse the next day. He made explicit explanation about how they thought and whatthey would do in the future. Subsequently，during the two sessions of NPC&CPPCC(the National People’s Congress and the Chinese Political Consultative Conference) in2010，some university presidents，experts and media had intensive and extensivediscussions about “administration”and “de-administration”，which has been a realisticproblem highly correlated with higher education in China. From then on，it became a hotissue about Chinese educational reform.The author conducted a thorough theoretical study about administration andde-administration on the basis of related theories，studies and many other importantspeeches. That includes comprehending the educational thoughts of several important successive leaders of the nation，such as Mao Zedong，Deng Xiaoping，Jiang Zeming，and Hu Jintao. In1958，Mao Zedong emphasized when inspecting the University ofTianjin：“Higher education should hit three important targets. Firstly，higher educationshould be under the leadership of Party Committee. Seconly，it must follow the mass line.Thirdly，education should be closely associated with productive work.”[1]①He alsostressed：“Good education originates from good leaders. The successful development ofhigher institutions depends on its leaders， its party committee， and theirleadership.”[2]②Mao Zedong attached great importance to intellectuals，but he placed greatemphasis on the transformation of the intellectuals as well. In his view，intellectuals bearthe responsibilities of transmitting knowledge and have the obligations of beingtransformed. In some degree，it lays down the theoretical basis of Chinese administrativemanagement system in higher education.When the reform and opening up policy wasfirst carried out in1978，Deng Xiaoping proposed the strategic guidelines of “threefaces”，pointing out the direction of developing higher education under socialism，whichbecame the core of Deng’s educational ideology. He maintained that the reform ofmanaging system in higher education was to decentralize decisive power，and promotethe autonomy of higher institutions. He also pointed out that the leadership of the partyshould be strengthened but the party shouldn’t interfere and determine everything，andthat the party committee shouldn’t replace the position of administration. He put forwardthe principle “separate the functions of the party from those of the government”，thusgiving the direction of future educational reform. In May，1995，Jiang Zemin set forth thestrategy of invigorating the country with science and education. On the15th NationalParty Congress in1997，he presented the problem that the power was dispersed inscientific and educational system. Hu Jintao hosted the conference of the political bureauof the CPC central committee on June21，2010. This conference examined and passed the Outline for Medium-and Long-Term Educational Reform and Development2010-20.The outline clarified the following five aspects concerning de-administration in highereducation，which includes gradually abolishing administrative levels and administrativemanagement system，seperating governance and administration，expanding the autonomyof universities，pinpointing the rights and responsibilities of the subjects involved， andtransforming the governance function of government.On the basis of theabove-mentioned educational ideology and the author’s working experience as anadministrator working in a university for more than years，the author tries to comprehendand analysis the concept of administration and de-administration，and intends to putforward some possible solutions for de-administration in higher institutions.Firstly，this dissertation examines the historical origin of university administrativemanagement in China. This study dated back to the late Qing Dynasty when modernChinsese universities were just founded.The intervention of the feudal bureaucrat powerhadn’t been removed from higher education until the founding of new China. During theRepublican period，Yuan Shikai strongly interfered universities and severely constrainedthe development of higher education. During the Beiyang Government，the civil warbroke out，and thus government got involved in waraffairs，so that the universities wereloosely controlled in this period. Therefore，the faculty senate，the academic senate，andthe board of directors made it clear that the academics should play an important role inuniversity management. At this time，several outstanding educationists emerged，such asCai Yuanpei，and Feng Youlan. Not long after that，KMD government began to exercisestrict control over higher education since it enforced the centralized system and carriedout its anti-NPC plans. After the People’s Republic of China was founded in1949，theuniversity management went through the following stages，“highly unifiedmanagement”，“centralized management”，“decentralized management”，“highly unifiedand level-to-level management”，“the autonomy of the university in school-runningunder the overall planning”，and “self management， democratic supervision， social participation，and management in accordance with the law” etc.Next， the dissertation analyzes the reality and lists the problems about theadministration and de-administration in Chinese higher education，such as excessivegovernment intervention resulting in lack of autonomy within universities，aggressiveadministrative system within universities resulting in weak and inadequate involvementof academics in administration，weak student involvement in administration since theyare interest subjects of the university itself，and lack of effective social participation.These factors have a negative influence on academic environment，university culture，university management，and teaching qualities.Finally， this dissertation makes a two-dimensional analysis about exteriorgovernment intervention and interior power structure conflicts. It also compares andanalyzes the educational systems in China and in some developed countries or areas，such as universities in the United States，in United Kingdom，in Japan and in HK. On thebasis of these studies，the author tries to put forward several suggestions on setting a newrelationship between government and higher institutions，ensuring university autonomyin administration， building a sound corporate governance structure， introducinguniversity council system， pushing the professionalism of university presidents，implementing super-ministry system reform so as to build an appropriate universitygovernance system in China and perfect thoroughly the university model under socialismwith Chinese characteristics.