| This study explores two specific cases of institutional mergers in the field of higher education. The two cases took place in China in the 1990s. One of the cases might be labeled a vertical merger and the other a horizontal merger. The former simply implies a merger between higher education institutions with equal status and the same level of educational offering. The latter indicates a merger between higher education institutions of various statuses and levels of academic profile. Both mergers were driven in the main by a desire to increase economic efficiency. The two cases are significantly different from each other.;Historical dimensions of China are presented in this study as contextual parameters for the two merger cases. The contexts include the general ideological context, the economic context and educational context, as well as the governance context that applies specifically to higher education.;One set of major objectives of the study includes describing in detail the original status of the institutions, the major determinants of the mergers, the merger processes themselves, and the immediate observable consequences of the mergers. Another set of objectives of the study constitutes an attempt to subject the findings regarding the two cases to three analyses as follows: (1) a theoretical analysis in which one merger case is viewed through a policy implementation lens and the other through an organization/leadership approach, (2) an analysis that is offered within an international context where the two merger cases are compared to cases in other nations and (3) an assessment that attempts to predict possible long-range consequences of higher education institutional mergers as they relate to societal realities. |
