The Chinese Idea of a University in Academic Discussions: A Critical Review

Abstract

Recent decades have witnessed some remarkable higher education development in Chinese societies including Mainland China, Hong Kong and Taiwan. Higher education development in these societies has reached a critical yet uncertain stage. On one hand, it is substantial to challenge some long-held doom and gloom about Asia’s higher education development based fundamentally on their traditional culture as twisted roots. On the other, a closer scrutiny would find the increasingly eye-catching note of optimism about higher education development in the societies is not always well-founded. There has been insufficient theorisation to effectively come to terms of their newly-gained experiences, especially how it differs from Western experiences, and in what direction it would lead the higher education systems. As these societies, Mainland China in particular, are rapidly becoming rising players in global higher education, a review of the literature on the Chinese idea of a university is highly timely with both theoretical and practical significance. The paper reviews the literature on the Chinese idea of a university in both English and Chinese languages. For the first time, it sorts out the scholarly and professional pursuit of this theme internationally and across the Chinese societies, with particular attention to the contributions made by eminent scholars including the Canada-based Ruth Hayhoe (許美德) and the Hong Kong-based Ambrose King (金耀基) as well as Yang Gan (甘陽) in Mainland China.