Research On The Statute Expression Of The Private Colleges And Universities In China From The Governance Perspective

Private higher education has become an important part of higher education in China.The number of private higher education institutions(HEIs)and the number of students at private HEIs have already accounted for more than 1/5 of the national HEIs.As a link and bridge connecting the external institutional environment and internal institutional arrangements,an ideal university statute is the foundation for the sustainable and healthy development of private HEIs.The most important task of university statute construction is to ensure its legality,compliance and rationality.Therefore,it is urgent to carry out the study of the statute expression of private HEIs.The research object is the statute expression of private HEIs in China.With property rights theory,corporate governance theory and stakeholder theory,this research constructs the internal governance analysis framework for the statute expression of private HEIs,and establishes an observational index system for the statute expression of private HEIs.And it normalizes the statute expression of internal governance for private HEIs.Through empirical research,this research points out the main problems of statute expression of private HEIs in China,and puts forward the optimization strategies.Firstly,this research constructs the internal governance analysis framework for the statute expression of private HEIs in China.Through analyzing the control power of key stakeholders,it points out that the evolution of the internal governance structure of private HEIs in China is a process of continuous conflict and cooperation between the control power of investors and the control power of administrators and academics.According to the different strength of the control power of investors and the control power of administrators and academics,four types of internal governance structure of private HEIs can be distinguished,respectively ’loose governance’,’unilateral governance by human capital’,’unilateral governance by investors’,and ’shared governance by key stakeholders’.The internal governance structure type has been continuously evolving throughout the different life cycle stages of China’s private HEIs.And the internal governance structure of non-profit private HEIs will inevitably become ’shared governance by key stakeholders’.The statutes of private HEIs can be seen as a kind of contract about the arrangement of control power,and the relationship with internal governance is one of mutual interdependence.Therefore the most important contents for the statutes of private HEIs are the precise and normative expression of internal governance.Secondly,this research establishes an observational index system for the statute expression of private HEIs in China.Combining external system requirements and internal governance structure evolution,and systematically combing the literature of university statute and governance at home and abroad,this research establishes an observational index system for the statute expression of private HEIs in China.The system consists of 6 first-level indexes(Individualized Content,Statute Revision Procedure,Finance and Assets,Internal Power Structure,Internal Power Operation,and Democratic Management and Supervision),and 20 second-level indexes that covering crucial aspects.On this basis,by analyzing the statutes of 105 private undergraduate HEIs in China,the paper points out the universal problems in statute expression,such as missing of statute content elements,less prominent of characteristics,disequilibrium of internal power structure,imperfect of internal power running,deficiency of democratic management and supervision system,and etc.Furthermore,a second-level index’Role and Power of Board of Supervisors’ should be replenished underneath the first-level index ’Democratic Management and Supervision’ for the private HEIs established after 2016.Thirdly,this research normalizes the statute expression of internal governance for the private HEIs in China.Through in-depth analysis of the internal governance factors of the statutes of 105 private undergraduate HEIs in China,it further verifies that although most of the private HEIs appear to be ’shared governance by key stakeholders’,they are in fact of’unilateral governance by investors’.The statute expression of internal power structure should clearly define the power boundary of administrative power,political power,and academic power,and realize collaborative governance in horizontal direction.In vertical direction,it should standardize and clarify the three level principal-agent relationships between key stakeholders and board of trustee,board of trustee and president,president and schools/departments,and establish a scientific and effective incentive and restraint mechanism.One most important step in the statute expression of internal power running is to specify the procedures of internal governance,in other words the Rules of Order of various meetings including ’pre-meeting preparation’,’discussion during a meeting’,’post-meeting implementation’ three steps and ten factors of order.The statute expression of democratic management and supervision is mainly embodied in the power-conferring by the external system and university statute to university party committee,faculty congress,student congress and board of supervisors,and further realizes whole process supervision before/during/after the power running process.Only by refining the above internal governance elements in the statute can private HEIs move from centralized structure to effective decentralization and balance structure,and become actual ’shared governance by key stakeholders’.Finally,this research puts forward the optimization strategies of private HEIs’ statute expression.First,further strengthen the effective supply of external system of statute express for private HEIs.Second,perfect the statute expression of internal power structure.Third,regulate the statute expression of internal power running.Fourth,improve the statute expression of democratic management and supervision.Fifth,connect the internal rules and regulations with the private HEIs statute.