The Top-Down Design On The Organizational System Of The External Quality Assurance In Higher Education In China

The quality assurance movement has become an international trend, and it has been seen as each Government’s responsibility to establish relevant national quality assurance mechanisms and organisation systems, in order to demonstrate their good performance. Outline of China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development (2010-2020) specifies requirements of’establishing and developing educational quality assurance system’,’merging and consolidating state’s quality monitoring and evaluation agencies’, and ’detaching bureaucratic administration from the running and evaluation of higher education institutions’. On the consideration of the features of the mass higher education in China and the trend of higher education reform, this thesis argues that it is vital important to design higher education quality assurance system with Chinese characteristics, in order to effectively implement China’s National Plan for Medium and Long-term Education Reform and Development.This thesis is based on practical research. It uses literature review, comparative analysis, and case study as its main research methods. Its rational is based on the research route of management system-quality assurance mechanisms-organisation structure-and organisation settlement. The author adopts a constructivist approach and analyzes the quality of higher education from the perspectives of different stakeholders. The thesis is based on the belief that quality assurance is for public good, and it uses the theory of organisation and civilized society to analyze organisational structure, and develops’organizational system’according to the ’top-down design’ approach. In other words, it analyzes the relationship among nation, university, market, Government, agencies, university communities, and professional organisations, on the consideration of the key role of Government. It designs strategic plans, systematizes the key elements of organisations, integrates planning and co-ordinating, distributes function and resources, and enacts action plan and suggestions, on the basis of the changed role Government and the design of specialised organisations.This dissertation consists of five main sections:1) it summarizes Chinese higher education quality assurance mechanisms and evaluation activities, and then analyses the features of external quality evaluation bodies. It identifies the problems and explain the causes;2) it selects France, Russia, USA, India and Japan as case study countries. And it compares the characteristics of their national quality assurance organisation, in order to explore the practice that could be beneficial to China.3) it analyzes and highlights the barriers to administrative management reform, under the guidance of public management and organisational management theory. It outlines the context and situations of external quality assurance system in China.4) it establishes Chinese higher education quality assurance model as diversified in forms and objectives and as systematically monitored, on the consideration of aims, elements and mechanisms. It follows the ideology of public management and the separation of management and evaluation, and adopts the combined model of top designed external quality assurance and evaluation organisation.5) it proposes the design of two action plans based on the reality of Chinese higher education. They include the refined model and the reformed model of external quality assurance mechanism. This aims to establish effective running mechanisms of national quality assurance organisation and its scientific arrangement and reasonable allocation. The thesis will also offer suggestions on how to refine the national quality assurance organisation.