The Group Characteristics Of Presidents In China’s "985 Project" Universities Since 1978

Since China’s reform and opening up, Chinese higher education has achieved leap-forward development. As the person in charge of a university, the president plays an important role in the management and development of the university. In China the "985 Project" universities are the backbone of research universities, the research on the the presidential group characteristics is crucial to understand the development path and change of management mode of Chinese elite universities during the past three decades.The research focuses on the group characteristics of 220 presidents of the "985 Project" universities since 1978. It explores the features and the changing trend of these presidents, and explains the reasons leading to the changes within the macro environment contexts of the development of Chinese higher education, knowledge globalization and competition of higher education, transformation of the first-class universities in China. Based on a database of the "985 Project" universities presidents through literature retrieval, the paper analyzes their group characteristics in quantitative method. It demonstrates the presidential characteristics in terms of demography, education background, work background and academic achievement, and makes comparison on their group characteristics among three historical periods, namely the 1980s, the 1990s and the 21st century. Finally, it explores the relationship between the development of Chinese higher education and the Presidential Appointment System and the group characteristics of university presidents.The major group characteristics and changing trends of the "985 Project" universities presidents are as follows.1. The typical representative of the university president is an ethnic Han male with the membership of Communist Party of China, and with the age decrease in the past three decades; 2. Majority of them hold PhD as the highest academic degree in the 21 century, with significant differences across three historical times; 3. The university presidents have mostly graduated from domestic and international famous university, majoring in natural sciences, engineering and technology disciplines with more international experiences; 4.Most of them are "the alumni presidents" with more complex and stronger links with the university by education and working; 5. They are appointed and identified as "government cadre" since there is a position exchange between officials and university presidents; 6. The sources of candidates gradually transferred from internal of the university into coexistence of internal and external channels; 7. Majority of them are the "scholarly presidents" who are elite scholars and scientists.