Adult Higher Education Development Trends

Adult higher education refers to the high-level education carrying out on adults who have already had the secondary level of education and no longer take part in the full-time regular school education. Developing higher education vigorously is an important way to popularize higher education and satisfy the people's increasing needs of diversified education.After New China's establishing, the development of adult higher education has taken rough course and has accumulated rich experience. Since the reform and opening-up, China's adult higher education has developed rapidly; it has made an important contribution to the talents training, the enhancement of the quality of national predispositions and economic and social development. After university enrollment expansion, problems such as the decrease of undergraduates; the decline of the quality of undergraduates and confused management have been occurring in the field of adult higher education which have led to the quality decline of adult higher education and the society's low approval to adult higher education.By compiling China's adult higher education's development history after New China's establishing, the thesis has summarized the historical contribution of China's adult higher education: It has promoted the diversity of higher education; perfected the construction system of higher education; satisfied people's needs to receive higher education and promoted the course of the higher education popularization.Based on the analysis of social characteristics in transition and the influence of the thoughts of lifelong education to China's adult higher education, the thesis elaborates the coexisting situation of adult higher diploma education and adult higher non-diploma education in the aspects of the necessity analysis of adult higher education in current society and the forms of adult higher diploma education under the circumstance of popularity of higher education. The thesis clarifies the difference and relationship between adult higher education and higher vocational education; introduces the importance of vocational shifting of adult higher education under the circumstance of popularity, then probes into the function and tendency of vocational education in the process of adult higher education. The thesis also states the conception and connotation of learning society; analyzes the ways for adult higher education to take in the process of constructing a learning society. Finally, the thesis analyzes the dilemma China's adult higher education has faced with and explores the developing strategies for adult higher education.