From The Fragemented Tiao-Kuai System To The Fragemented Kuai-Kuai System:

Since the reform and opening up, especially since1990s, China has made remarkable achievements in higher education, and achieved mass higher education in a short time. At present, the higher education scale ranks first in the world. Its development trend shows a development miracle of China higher education. Just like interpreting China’s rapid economic growth, there have been a number of academic researches about the causes or causal explanation on the rapid development and existing problems of China higher education. However, the existing researches were more about macro administrative system of central government, the position and role of local government (provincial government) is in the lack of attention in the development of higher education. In particular, a series of changes (social transformation) in recent years, which were caused by political and economic reforms in China, has brought about great changes in the behavior model of local governments; the relationship between higher education and local governments has never been so close. If local governments were ignored, so to speak, it would be incomplete, inaccurate and even unimaginable to understand the development of higher education in China.In this study, through using literature analytical method, institution analytical method, game theory method and methodological individualism, the main topics include the reasons why the development of China’s higher education should be understood from the perspective of local governments (evolutionary history); the important influence of local governments’behavior patterns on the development of higher education(performance and effects); the cause for which local governments took this pattern of behavior(institutional analysis); and what countermeasures or strategies should be taken to adjust the behavior of local governments(regulating the competition order). It aims to explore the evolutionary path, the performance and the effects of fragemented Kuai-Kuai system of China’s higher education, and to propound some institutional factors to interpret the phenomenon of Kuai-Kuai segmentation. So that a new framework of interpretation about China’s higher education, which based on local government competition, was put forward.Fundamentally speaking, it is the decentralization which resulted in the evolution of China higher education from the fragemented Tiao-Kuai system to the fragemented Kuai-Kuai system. According to the historical process of deepening decentralization, it can be seen that the power of local governments is gradually expanded after several times repeated decentralization-centralization. Especially since1994when the system of tax distribution was implemented, the administrative system of higher education which was called "two-level management, give priority to the provincial government" was established and enhanced. Local (provincial) governments, therefore, acquired more and more administrative power in higher education. The blocky development pattern of higher education, which was fringed with provincial-level administrative region, has been formed. As a result, the administrative system of higher education gradually evolved from the fragemented Tiao-Kuai system, which mainly depends on central government, to the fragemented Kuai-Kuai system, which mainly depends on local governments.The fragemented Kuai-Kuai system overcame the drawbacks of the fragemented Tiao-Kuai system. However, it also has "North Paradox" and "double effect". On the one hand, the fragemented Kuai-Kuai system encouraged local governments to attach more importance to the development of regional higher education, and has made a positive contribution to creat the development miracle of Chinese higher education:(1) Every province basically formed a relatively complete system of higher education;(2) the enthusiasm which local governments develop regional higher education was effectively mobilized, the size of provincial higher education increased significantly;(3) the regional higher education is in close contact with local socio-economical development unprecedentedly;(4) the institution innovation of regional higher education has made positive progress. On the other hand, the fragemented Kuai-Kuai system also produced some new problems and contradictions:(1)the development gap between regional higher education increased rather than decreased, higher education fairness was greatly threatened;(2) a lot of redundant construction and excessive competition evidently damaged the resource allocation efficiency of higher education;(3) local protectionism in higher education was serious and the quality improvement of higher education was seriously impedied;(4) the macro-control capacity of central government decreased and the national capacity of higher education was compromised.The fundamental institutional factors which led to the pattern of Kuai-Kuai segmentation in higher education are the decentralization reform under the political centralization, the promotion game between local governments, and the hysteretic institution construction of coordinated development of regional higher education.Under the triple role of the aboved three factors, local governments launched a fierce competition like the prisoners’ dilemma in higher education. First, the decentralization under political centralization made local governments become the general contractor of regional economic and social development, and the independent stakeholders directly related to local interests. Local governments therefore became the liability subjects, interest subjects, and management subjects all rolled into one, and directly carried out and manipulated the regional higher education development. Local governments became the competitive subjects. Secondly, only promotion can maximize the interests of local government officials. In order to become the central government’s candidates for promotion and win out in the zero-sum game of promotion, these officials who participated in the promotion tournament only tried to gain development achievements of higher education, even opportunistically sought self-interest through taking non-cooperative yardstick competition rationally. As a result, the regional specialization and cooperation of higher education was hindered. Thirdly, the regional higher education institution construction on coordinated development was lagged behind. The central government could not effectively regulate the negative-competitive behaviors which local governments carried out Kuai-Kuai segmentation. Consequently, divisional development model of higher education was further strengthened. We can say that it was the decentralization, promotion game with weak constraints that broke down the Tiao-Kuai segmentation and led to Kuai-Kuai segmentation.In fact, fragemented Kuai-Kuai system in higher education has a profound game connotation. The promotion tournament designed by the prisoners’ dilemma mechanism made local governments rationally choose segmentation development stratergy instead of coordinated development strategy. Mathematical model analyses showed that the rapid expansion of higher education scale, high-speed growth of higher education investment and other phenomena, were essentially the game results which local governments adopt the strategy of Kuai-Kuai segmentation based on rational decision-making and promotion tournaments. Whether or not the regulation of central government is strong has a significant impact on game strategy of local governments.Based on the local logical connections between local government competition and the fragemented Kuai-Kuai system of higher education, in order to overcome the drawbacks of Kuai-Kuai segmentation and properly handle the relationship among regional higher education, the competitive order of local governments should be regulated.To this end, on the basis of grasping three principles, namely balancing efficiency and fairness, promoting the quality of higher education, and ensuring the national capacity of higher education, it is necessary to innovate the development ideas of regional higher education, strengthen the institution construction of coordinated development among regional higher education, deepenly reform the modern administrative system adapted to the market economy; as well as build new competition and coopration relationship among local governments in higher education in the process of further joint opening up. And then higher education coordination rather than segmentation will become dominant strategy and rational choice of local governments. Thereupon a new pattern of regional higher education and the relationship among local governments, which contribute to coordinated development of regional higher education, will then come into being. The divisional development of higher education is "the new normal" in China. And local governments will face a sharper competitive struggle with each other. But the fragemented Kuai-Kuai system will not be "the permanent normal". In the future, it needs to further improve the system of government governance, to separate government and schools, and make colleges and universities to become society-and market-oriented independent legal entity, and make the market play a decisive role. Only in this way, the segmentation which blocks the intrinsic links of higher education can be got rid of entirely.