Study On Information Asymmetry In Petition Letter At Institutions Of Higher Education

Petition letter has been one of the relief ways to ensure reasonable rights since ancient time, and it has been always undertaking functions of expressing public opinion, supervising authority, engaging in politics, and relieving power and interests. Since China adopted the opening-up and reform policy in1970s, and with the rapid development of information science and technology as well as diverse social life, informatization has tied regions, which used to be far apart in the world, together, resulting remarkable changes in people’s ideology and behavioral pattern. As an institution to create and transmit knowledge, institutions of higher education are the cradle of much fundamental science, and the cradle to create and transmit technology, information and knowledge in the world. Institutions of higher education are supposed to cultivate talents, innovate knowledge and serve the society, while information is the carrier to realize the implementation of all these functions. Without the transmission and exchange of information, scientific knowledge and fine cultures cannot be passed down, and technology cannot be promoted; without the transmission and exchange of information, institutions of higher education are unable to survive and develop as a place to cultivate high-level talents, study advanced knowledge and teach profound knowledge. Meanwhile, information exchange is taking place among various kinds of institutions of higher education, central or local government and students all the time.In1990s, philosophy of higher education, university scale and other higher education-related aspects has undergone profound refom in the rapid development process. Thus, refonn at institutions of higher education is continuously deepened with the emergence of various contradictions and conflicts. As a place full of senior intellectuals, institutions of higher education is also steeped in strong democratic consciousness, legal awareness, sense of self-fulfillment, and ideology, way of thinking and living habits which are different from average people. Meanwhile, the deepening of education reform has instilled new vitality and motivity for a new round development of higher education, while it has brought lots of new contradictions for legal management of education and new challenges for education. Information transmission and exchange, which occurred in the process of faculty and students’ expressing opinions and claiming interests, has taken the form of petition letter at institutions of higher education, and gradually developed into a major issue to be addressed. Petition letter contributes to maintaining stability and safeguarding the smooth operation of reform and development at institutions of higher education. Besides, petition letter at institutions of higher education is different from those at government, and its specific uniqueness requires us to learn from actual work so as to promote the development of petition letter at institutions of higher education.This paper moves from the development of information transmission to research, to research on relevant information phenomenon and concern over information asymmetry, then to illustrate history of petition letter at institutions of higher education and the theory of information asymmetry, and finally to analyze and uncover the relationship between the two. In the midst of modern society’s development, a lot of studies on information asymmetry concerning economics; however, this paper discovers that information asymmetry exists not only in economics but also in the petition letter at institutions of higher education. Since the opening up and reform, especially the21st century, information asymmetry has made noticeable progress, but some problems still exist. On the basis of analysis and summary of petition letter in Anhui University, the author tries to analyze the information asymmetry at institutions of higher education from the perspective of the asymmetry theory. By analyzing and summarizing the information asymmetry at institutions of higher education, the author attempts to seek according solutions, to improves petition letter at institutions of higher education, to create a sound interactive mode concerning the petition letter for faculty and students, and wishes to make the petition letter at institutions of higher education more scientific and standard and to improve the university efficiency, so as to better look into the future of petition letter at institutions of higher education in new circumstances. It is hoped that the study in this current paper would exert positive influence on facilitating the petition letter at institutions of higher education and even higher education development.Beginning with the current situation of information asymmetry in higher education and that of petition letter at institutions of higher education as well as the current situation of research on petition letter at institutions of higher education, this paper points out that there is lack of research on the information asymmetry of petition letter at institutions of higher education conducted by professional experts or scholars in China, and points out the background, objective and significance of the study conducted in this paper. In this paper, concepts concerning the Chinese system of petition letter, the historical evolution of the system of petition letter, the authority and nature of departments concerning petition letter, the development of petition letter at institutions of higher education and its specific features are reviewed, which provides certain background and theoretical support for research on petition letter at institutions of higher education. The main body of this paper lies in the study on information asymmetry of petition letter, and consists of relevant review of theories concerning information asymmetry, research on information asymmetry of petition letter and research on information asymmetry of petition letter at institutions of higher education. To address the information asymmetry of petition letter at institutions of higher education, this paper puts forward some measures accordingly and gives specific and practical suggestions as regards the information asymmetry of petition letter at Anhui University. It is held in this paper that opportunities and challenges co-exist for petition letter at institutions of higher education and should be viewed differently.