Politics, Managerialism, and University Governance: Lessons from Hong Kong under China's Rule since 1997

Abstract

Since the mid-20th century, the literature on state, market, and higher education has focused on the state’s role shift from direct administration to supervision of higher education, and its increased use of market and managerial principles and techniques to regulate public universities. Few studies have addressed political influences on university governance from changing state-university-market relationships, the chancellorship of public universities, and students’ and academics’ civic engagement in sensitive political issues. With reference to Hong Kong, this book explores the interplay between politics, managerialism, and higher education, and the complex relationships between politics and public universities. Specifically, it examines the positive and problematic outcomes of using market principles and managerialism to reform public higher education, questions the longstanding tradition of university chancellorship, explores the issue of external members holding the majority on governing boards for university governance, probes into the tension between relying on the system or a good chancellor and external members to protect university autonomy and academic freedom, and counts the cost of students’ and academics’ civic engagement, as public intellectuals, on politically sensitive issues.