Is China Shifting Toward a Binary System?

By Qiang Zha and Chuanyi Wang. In the past decade or so, Chinese higher education struck the world with its amazing pace of expansion. The aggregate enrollment grew at an annual rate of 17% between 1998 and 2010. In absolute numbers, Chinese higher education enrolment soared from 3.4 million in 1998 to 22.3 million in 2010, a 6.6 times increase over 12 years. The number of institutions increased from 1,022 to 2,358 during this time span, or by 2.3 times. If all kinds of enrolments are taken into account, China’s higher education participation rate (of 18-22 age group) reached 15% (the recognized threshold of mass higher education) in 2002, and 26.5% in 2010, up from 9.8% in 1998. The participation rate grew nearly 17% in 12 years. In 2007, the Chinese higher education system overtook the American system in terms of enrolment size, and became the world’s largest one. In this process, the Chinese government and the local governments played a pivotal role, creating incentives for fast enrolment expansion and supporting massive development of institutional infrastructure. Read more...