Chinese University 3.0 and its global influence

Abstract

Chinese higher education is recently on its way moving to a mass system and recent empirical findings reveal that the Chinese model of the university is emerging to have its global impact in the 21st century (Li & Hayhoe, 2013). This presentation will first examine the rhetoric of world-class universities and explores both institutional initiatives and government agendas in China’s drive for global status. It then reflects on the core features of Chinese University 3.0 which differs from the dominant Anglo-Saxon and American models, such as ethics-centered knowledge and application, secular and social missions, self-mastery with dominant roles of government, intellectual freedom of scholar-officials, hierarchical and meritocratic system, and institutional and disciplinary diversity. It concludes that Chinese University 3.0 has been profoundly influenced by Confucian epistemology and Chinese way of knowing and normative application of knowledge. Finally, the presentation anticipates that the rise of Chinese University 3.0 will serve as an alternative global force in contributing to international aid and global dialogue among civilizations in the 21st century.