China's Higher Education System

System reform is the key to China's reform and development of higher education. The system of higher education on the macro scale covers the school-founding system, administration system and investment system, of which the school-founding system is the key, as it determines and affects the administration system and investment system; however, reforms in China over the past two decades have failed to devote adequate attention to the reform of the school-founding system. As far as the administration system is concerned, it took shape only after the government was involved in the administration of higher education. The government's involvement in the administration of higher education mainly serves the function of performing macro regulation and control as well as evaluation, and is aimed at conveying the needs of all segments of society to universities through government regulation and control, so that universities can better serve the needs of society. However, as the reform of government institutions (small government) progresses and in order to be in line with the requirements of the intrinsic logic of the development of universities (academic freedom and university autonomy), the government will gradually reduce its intervention and control of universities. Therefore, the administration system is not a perpetual theme of the higher education system. Furthermore, the government plays a crucial role in the school-founding system, administration system and investment system of higher education, but it doesn't have to be the only entity in the school-founding system and investment system. For this reason, the research of the school-founding system will carry tremendous theoretical and practical significance for the reform and development of higher education in China at the present time and in the near future.First of all, this paper introduces quasi-public product theories and third sector theories, and points out that higher education can be provided by both the government and society, and that the government should reduce its invention in higher education. The paper calls the system under which the government incorporates three different roles as the sponsor, investor and administrator of higher education a "state-owned, government-run" system, and provides an analysis of the fundamental cause of the formation of such a system. In addition, the paper expounds the cause and status of the emergence and development of privately run higher education, conducts an in-depth analysis of the recent emergence of the secondary private higher learning institutions and educational groups, and points out that profitability and non-profitability are system obstacles to the development of privately run higher education at present. Through an analysis of the developmental tendency of the reform of the school-founding system of international higher education, the paper demonstrates that the school-founding system of higher education is currently switching from singularity to diversity, the dividingline between public and private higher education in various nations has become increasingly blurred, and that it's an international tendency for nations all over the world to reform the traditional school-founding system of public higher education. This paper visualizes the orientation of the development of the school-founding system of China's higher education, holding that the reform of the school-founding system of China's higher education should also follow the "path of growth beyond the system", and that clearly defined ownership right is a system safeguard for the reform of the school-founding system of China's higher learning education. The paper conducts case studies to increase its persuasive power and expounds the principles for the development of the school-founding system of China's higher education. The present paper endeavors to demonstrate the following viewpoints:1. The school-founding system of China's higher education is primarily determined by its economic system, whereas social needs are the driving for...