| Since 2007, the rinsing price of primary products such as grain, pork and edible oil and the increasing cost of labors have been bringing more and more difficulties to the management of canteens in institutions of higher education. Though the government and institutions have already carried out some subsidy strategies, food prices in canteens have increased more or less. This influences the life of both college staff and students, especially those students who are not well-off. In the process of socializing canteens in institutions of higher education, it has become the priority to meet the needs of their profit, to stabilize food price in canteens, and to deal probably with the expected profit and their social responsibility as to maintain normal order of teaching and campus stability. Price rising discussed in this article is not the ordinary consumer price index (CPI) rose, but rather the food prices rose in canteens caused by the rinsing price of primary products such as grain, pork and edible oil and the increasing cost of labors. Solution of this problem actually involves the full use of supporting policies that the national government carries out to stabilize food price, exerting the resource superiority that the canteens in institutions of higher education have to maintain the stability of food price, solving fundamentally the food price and quality in canteens, taking measures to ensure basic food needs of poor students, and achieving the win-win goal of both social effect and economic effect.From the economics point of view, with quasi public property, canteens in institutions of higher education can be understood from two angles. On the first hand, as an educational phenomenon or educational activities, with general educational attribute, higher education is public goods. Though being more private than primary and secondary education and with a certain degree of exclusiveness, even being left to a class of quasi-public goods, the role of public interest of higher education is clear and its administration as social and public affair is immutable. As an aid to higher education, canteens are surely with the quasi-public goods properties. On the other hand, canteens in institutions of higher education mainly provide food and catering services for students and their faculty. They have a limited non-competitiveness and partial exclusiveness, conforming to the characteristics of public goods. Based on this understanding, this article discusses how to insist on socialization of canteens, to enhance self-management, and finally to achieve the win-win goal of both social effect and economic effect. By case study and microcosmic together with macrocosmic method, this article traverses canteen operational mechanism and management mode in institutions of higher education. Take one institutional canteen as an example, it illustrates the impact of price increase on canteen operation in institutions of higher education, and explores the management strategy and reform of canteens in institutions of higher education to deal with price rising. What's more, it puts forward measures that canteens should set up long-term developing mechanism and should take the route of scientific development.At the beginning, this article mainly introduces operational mechanism and management mode of canteens in institutions of higher education. It illustrates that socialized operational mechanisms and management modes have been adopted by most canteens. In socialized mechanism, food service managers, related resources and operation are separated from institutional administrative system, and have established a new catering management system: self management, independent accounting and responsibility for their own profits and losses. They sign up with institutions of higher education, and are managed by themselves to realize their expected profits under the supervision of logistics. This model is conducive to a new canteen system in institutions of higher education of""market services, schools choosing, the government's macroeconomic regulation and control, industry self-management, and functional sectors'supervision". It is also conducive to give full play of the market in resource allocation. It is helpful to canteens specialized entities, increasing scales and to achieve the goal of highest quality and lowest cost. According to public goods theory, the article introduces such canteen specificities as universal public welfare, low profit, monopolization and rigidity of price, and also analyzes the three conflicts in canteens in institutions of higher education: the conflict between the regularity of market economy and common interest of education; between provisionality of subsidy strategy and lasting of price rising; as well as between protection of poor students and profit of canteens.This article focuses on analysis of the canteen cost compositions and principles that the canteen price mechanism should follow. Taking an institutional canteen in Beijing as example, it introduces its management and analyzes problems in its management. It believes that canteen costs in institutions of higher education include direct costs, labor costs, production and management fees, and gross profit income. Based on the understanding that products in canteens are quasi-public goods, it is believed that in operational process, such basic principles should be followed: equal emphasis on welfare and the market, conform to the competitiveness promote competitiveness mechanism in the market to reduce the cost, and the total cost-plus pricing. By case study of the management of an institutional canteen in Beijing, it introduces the basic situation of its management, extracts its basic financial data in 2007 and 2008, and analyzes the faster rise of subsidiary foodstuffs price, human resource price and fuel price than canteen's revenue growth and the dramatic decrease of its operating profit. Finally, it gets the three problems existing in canteen management, which are the impacts of price rising on canteens in institutions of higher education. First, the rising costs have made canteens become less capable in making profit; second, limited food price in canteens leads to smaller operating profit; third, there are drawbacks in the internal management of canteens, staff quality needs to be improved, lack of incentives and competitive sense, and so on.With regard to the development of market economy and the current operating conditions of canteens in institutions of higher education, this article points out that material and labor cost which caused the difficulties cannot drop, state subsidies for canteens cannot long persist, it is inevitable to make reasonable adjustments on food price. But we have a variety of potions in the adjustment time, scope and methods. That is to say, on the premise of ensuring the stability of institutions and the agreement of the students, based on market economy rules, we can establish a sound scientific and reasonable canteen food price formation mechanism and explore long-term development mode of canteen management. This is the way we must take to achieve stable management of canteens and ensure healthy development of canteens. There are some specific countermeasures: to rely on policy support; to strengthen internal management and realize specialization and intensification of logistics management; and to enhance food diversification and meet the dietary needs of students at different levels. Among these, it focuses on the subsidy to students at school, especially to the poor students who are facing difficulties in daily life because of price rising. At the same time, it puts forward measures that canteens in institutions of higher education should set up and perfect long-term developing mechanism, and should introduce ISO9000 quality management standards and certification system, as well as establish food raw material production bases, joint organizations of food purchasing and distribution, and integrated model of canteens service to strengthen human resource management and to enhance the diversification of food service. Also, with the scientific outlook on development as guidance, it suggests to adhere to the social-oriented reform of canteens, follow the laws of the market to achieve efficient allocation of resources, and decrease energy costs. This is the route of scientific development.Through the above discussion, we can draw four obvious conclusions. First is to insist on the social-oriented reform of the canteens. The goal is to establish a new institutional logistic system of"market services, schools choosing, the government's macroeconomic regulation and control, industry self-management, and functional sectors'supervision". We should adhere to the system of self-management, independent accounting, and responsibility for its profits and losses, by competition in the market to achieve survival of the fittest, continuously improve the canteen management entity and professional scale to maximize quality and reduce cost, so that the food price in canteens can meet successfully with market regulation, ensuring healthy development of canteens in institutions of higher education. Secondly, to establish a sound scientific and reasonable canteen food price formation mechanism. Through the introduction of ISO9001 quality management standard and certification system, the establishment of food raw material production bases and joint procurement and distribution organization for institutions of higher education, speed up the integration of canteen services model, to strengthen human resources management in canteens, to establish a sound and scientific food price mechanism, to timely remove administrative controls on canteen food prices, to ensure the stability of food price, and to guarantee the quality and to meet dietary needs of students at different levels. Thirdly, to provide financial subsidies to students whose families have financial difficulties. On the one hand, we should establish a sound system of university funding policy to protect the lives of students from economically disadvantaged families. We can subsidize poor students by existing national motivational scholarships, national scholarships, national student loans and so on. At the same time, a special fund should be issued for poor students to alleviate their pressure because of price rising. On the other hand, we should increase efforts to support canteens, through policy support and capital investment to lower operating costs and ensure food price in canteen is lower than that in the market to benefit the students. Fourthly, to promote development of canteens by the guidance of the scientific outlook on development. We should strengthen the internal management of canteens, reasonably adjust food structure, enhance the management of food procurement, processing, production and other aspects; by using new energy-saving products and alternative energy products made by high-tech, low-carbon technology, to lower energy costs, to establish a joint purchasing organization and so on, we can promote canteens to take the route of scientific development which can guarantee both the public welfare and the normal operation of enterprises. In addition, its successful experience can provide a reference to social-oriented reform of institutional logistics.
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