Research On Public College Management System Reform In Guangdong During The New Period

“Education is the cornerstone of national revitalization and social progress…Strengthening education is the top priority in building a strong nation.” Higher education is playing an increasingly vital role in promoting socioeconomic growth and all-round development.Since the implementation of the reform and opening-up policy,Guangdong has been a pilot area and also a pioneer in China's economic system reform,and thanks to its unique geographical advantages and supportive policies,Guangdong seizes every opportunity to fasten its development,making itself the first province in the nation to realize economic takeoff and one of the provinces with the strongest comprehensive strength.In higher education,it has also carried out a series of experimental reforms,which include: scaling up higher education by opening up new colleges or upgrading existing ones;establishing a college-running mechanism based on the planning of provincial government and featuring connotative development;pursuing diversified joint education modes such as cross-provincial programs and international programs;taking the initiative to conduct “innovation-driven college strengthening program” and “four keys development”(key disciplines,key personnel,key platforms and key research projects)and high-level college development.Under new circumstances,it is a pressing priority to consider how to seize the opportunities,surmount the barriers related to personnel and innovation in the course of socioeconomic development,and provide firm personnel guarantee,intellectual support and scientific underpinning for the new round of provincial reform and development by building high-level colleges.To probe into the relationship between the government and public colleges during the new period and furthering adjust and improve the management methods for public colleges,in this research we take the bilateral relationship as a starting point before it sorts through the status quo of existing research on college management system by means of theoretical analysis,literature review,text analysis and comparative study.It investigates the measures that Guangdong province has taken in the reform to its public college management system,the contents of the reform,its effects,problems and the source of these problems.After that,taking advantage of the experiences and methods of developed countries including France,America,Britain and Germany,we propose solutions for these unveiled problems.The research results show: 1)The reform to the higher education system and mechanism has gone through ups and downs in China,and the government has issued a successive series of policies in diversified forms.An analysis of the texts of the main policies tells the trends or highlights of China's higher education system reform in the new period,i.e.,autonomous management of colleges,streamlining administration and decentralization of the government,and de-administration in colleges.2)Guangdong's reform to the public college management system has made remarkable achievements.Higher education institutions have obtained the autonomy in distributing and using their human,financial and material resources and in organizing activities to performing their functions in teaching,research,and social services.An analysis of the higher education practices of Guangdong province reveals the problems of Guangdong's public college management system and the sources of these problems,including the limited amount of senior personnel,the resource distribution mechanism to be adjusted and the coordination mechanism to be improved.3)In order to deepen the public college management system,Guangdong may refer to the policies and measures of Western countries in coordinating the relationship between governments and colleges and delegating autonomy in management to colleges.The analysis of the experiences of France,America and Britain suggests that Guangdong may learn from these countries in three aspects,the talent rewarding system,the outlay accounting scheme and the functional exertion of social organizations.4)Based on the above investigation,considering the status quo and demands of Guangdong's socioeconomic environment development,we propose three solutions for its reform to the public college management,namely,improving the talent management and development system,enhancing the resource input and utilization mechanism and encouraging coordinative cooperation engaging multiple parties.This research is of significance both in theory and practice.Referring to the viewpoints scholars proposed under the theory of modern college system,the new institutional economics and the governance theory and summarizing the application of these theories add to the scientific accuracy of the proposed reform to Guangdong's public college management system.In addition,learning from the experiences and measures of France,America,Britain and other developed countries in coordinating the relationship between governments and colleges and delegating autonomy in management to colleges informs Guangdong province in making decisions on how to address the problems and face the challenges in the reform to its public college management system.