Study On Policy Agenda-Setting Of "College Matriculation Policy Formation For Migrant Children" Policy In The View Of Multiple-Streams Theory

Public policies’practices reveal that the prerequisite of social problem’s solving is to enter the policy agenda, that is to say, as an important part and inevitable stage of the policy process, policy agenda-setting plays a very important role for it is the first steps of public policy formation. However, during a certain period of time, due to influences and restriction caused by various factors, such as resources and capabilities, it is impossible for government policymakers to list all the social problems into the policy agenda, only part of the social problems can get them could be caught attention and response and lead to the policies’outputs. Therefore, the study on the process of policy agenda setting is significant for policies’process’optimizing and policy-making’s scientific and effective’s improving.In western academia, the study on policy agenda setting has acquired its achievements, the Multiple-Streams Theory, which was arised by John Kingdon, has been regarding as one of the important theoretical framework to explain policy agenda-setting by its deep dissection aiming at policy agenda-setting’s pathway, conditions and influences from respects of the problem stream, the policy stream, political streams and policy window’s opening. Though this theory has its limitations and received a few questions, it still shows the strong explanatory power toward studying of the policy agenda setting process. In nowadays China, locating in the period of social transformation and facing tough social problems, as well as our study on the policy-making is still in its infancy, so it is necessary to import the Multiple-Streams Theory to combine with the specific conditions of our country on the basis of clarifying the knowledge venation, and further discussing the streams’features and its influencing factors in our context.As the current hot policy problems in our country, with the creation of national guidelines,"College Matriculation Policy Formation for Migrant Children" policy is publicing. The investigation on the process of policy agenda-setting in the "College Matriculation Policy Formation for Migrant Children" Policy is the key to understand why its publicing is smoothly, and also to further validate the applicability of the Multiple-Streams Theory for studying the process of policy agenda-setting in China. In view of the Multiple-Streams Theory to investigate the process of policy agenda setting in the "College Matriculation Policy Formation for Migrant Children" Policy, three main streams, which are firstly the problem stream contends of the numble of migrant children’s increasing, the fairness of higher education’s controversial,"College entrance examination immigrants" phenomenon’s continuing and the preventing of household-registration system, secondly the policy stream consists of the alternative policies’ formation under promotion of policy communities’response, thirdly the political stream including the transformation of the ruling party and its government’s ideas and anus, the political pressure under public opinion’s expression, and the profit’s games’functioning, propelled policy window’s opening jointly. Among streams, the political stream especially the political parties’ will played a dominant role.With studying the investigation in the process of policy agenda setting in the "College Matriculation Policy Formation for Migrant Children" Policy, rethinking and summarizing its obstacles and source, leading the study from abstract to concrete and from specific to general. And then further analysising obstacles including policymakers’subjective thoughts in the problem stream, the elite decision-making problem in the policy stream, the profit games’ unbalance in the political stream and the policy window’s opening mechanism’s deficiency. And continually rising specific strategy and improvement ideas would meet China’s needs on the basis of the Multiple-Streams Theory and from the respect of the problem stream, the policy stream, the political stream and the opening of the policy window. In order to promoting the scientification and democratization of policy agenda setting, to providing successful experiences of democratic and scientific decision-making system to our country, and also feasible suggestion on higher education policy or other related policies for the government.