Logic Of The Expansion Of Higher Edcuation In Macao

The expansion of higher education has become a global phenomenon, and which is so far the most significant change in higher education throughout the world from the mid-twentieth century to the present time. The causes behind the expansion of higher education will be conducive to the interpretation of problems currently confronted with by higher education. The interactive relations between the colleges and universities and the city in which they are located should not be ruled out. Taking modern higher education in Macao as a case study, based on holism for the analysis of interactive relations between the colleges and universities and the city in which they are located, an analytical framework has been set up, namely environment and structure of city-motivation-interactive boundary-interactive model.In Macao, there are interactive relations between the history and environment of the city and the expansion of higher education, and they restrict and help each other forward. Multi-dimensional co-existence relations have been developed between the historical environment of Macao’s opening, transition, and return to the PRC, etc., and its higher education. The tiny and polybasic environments in Macao affect the development of its colleges and universities. Churches, government, associations and industrial organizations in Macao are important outer organizations for its colleges and universities. The expansion of higher education in Macao has been featured significantly by its city history, environment and social structure.In modern times, colleges and universities will inevitably establish more relations with the outside world and serve the society. Recognition crisis compels colleges and universities in Macao to seek for legality during their interactions with churches, government, associations, and industrial organizations. The obtaining and maintenance of critical resources are the main causes for the outside organizations to control and supervise the colleges and universities. In order to avoiding bounded rationality, colleges and universities in Macao invite stakeholders to get involved in their governance, and promote their function through organizational learning as well.The interactions between the colleges and universities and outside organizations are not taking place in vacuum, which call for some specific platforms and the participation of relevant subjects. The interactive boundary between the colleges and universities and city is the domains discriminative from environment, and the domains in which outside organizations interact each other. The boundary spanners and organizations contained in the interactive boundary make up a boundary network, and the two subjects will be restricted to some extent during their interactions. Through the case analyses of industry-university-research interactive network of School of Chinese Medicine, Macao University of Science and Technology, and the president and the foundation in the interactive boundary, cooperation and conflict are the major manifestations of interactive boundary between the colleges and universities and city in Macao.From the perspective of energy charge, the interactions between higher education and the churches, government, associations and industrial organizations are not ideal, balanced and symmetrical equal exchange, but unbalanced and asymmetrical state. Asymmetrical co-existence model between higher education and city economy in Macao will be expounded by the interactive relations thereof. Quantitative study reveals that there are cause-and-effect relations between the expansion of higher education and economic development, and economic development is one of the causes for expansion of higher education. The gross domestic product (GDP) and population are the Granger cause for the short-term expansion of higher education, and the expansion of higher education is that of GDP as well. In Macao, the contribution rate of higher education for its economy is3.97%. From the perspectives of theoretical and quantitative analyses, the dissertation has proved that economy is a dominant factor for the expansion of higher education in Macao, and the higher education boosts the economic development to some extent, therefore, they are asymmetrical co-existence model.