The reconstruction of identity of Chinese universities since the 1980s: A narrative study on a university

Since the late 1970s, higher education has undergone significant reform across the world, from the Western countries to the Chinese Mainland. In the Chinese Mainland, a central theme in higher education reform has been the debate on the construction of organizational forms for higher institutions.;The purpose of this study is to explore what has happed to universities under reform and to depict the universities present today. It is hoped that the study can contribute to our understanding of the kind of change that have affected universities, and to help us reflect on past decisions, policies, and incidents. Dicusions change will further illuminate the complex relationships between the state, university and the market.;The concept of 'identity' is adopted as the focus of research. Organization theorists believe that an organization, like a person, has an identity in modern society. Organizational identity, moreover, is closely related to the state and the market. It is argued that an organizational identity is usually constructed as a result of the interaction between the institution, the state, and the market. In this context, the change and re-constitution of the identity of Chinese universities are explored. This study adopts the nattative approach and Peking University is selected as the case for study.;Research findings suggest clear differentiation of institutional identities through time. Before 1978 when China embarked upon a process of ambitions reform efforts, the typical image of a university was 'a university of the masses', which actually relegated them to a 'tool' for the powers that be. After the Cultural Revolution, universities adopted the role of a 'frontier' and a 'national builder'. However, with the presence of the state and its tight ideological control, universities around that time were labeled as 'socialist universities' under the leadership of the party. Since 1992, universities have become increasingly involved in the market as the 'market economic system' has been developed and China has become more active in the global economy. The logic of the market and its mechanisms are no longer novel to universities. A trend forward corporatization can even be identified in the higher sector.;The major underpinning of the study is that China is still---by centralized administration. Between 1949 and 1978, the characteristics of universities were mainly constructed between the state and universities in the presence of a planned economic system and the absence of a market. Since the implementation of which the market was introduced to the higher education as a spere for exploration, the state has remained the most important and the most powerful 'stakeholder'. Thus, many characteristics of the corporatization of Chinese higher education differ from those in the West. Some superficial, or even distorted forms of corporation can be identified in China. However, little significant change has taken place in terms of the organizational structure and administration governance of higher institutions. (Abstract shortened by UMI.).