Research On The Effectiveness Of Chinese Universities Strategic Planning

The university’s self-requirement and the nation higher education administration’s promotion have made strategic planning to be the regular work of Chinese universities in every five years lately. Correspondingly, the theoretical discussing about university strategic planning also became the hotspot in higher educational research field. However, at the back of the prosperous scene both in theoretical discussing and university practice, the query about university strategic planning is gradually rising. The focus of query concentrates in the practice of universities, why not a few universities strategic planning can’t make effect on the development of these universities? Why strategic planning can’t implement or won’t implement then to be useless? At the back of the phenomenon, it reflects the issue about the effectiveness of university strategic planning. What is the reason to restrict or result in effectiveness or non-effectiveness of university strategic planning? To answer these questions, it needs to investigate the characteristic, history and reality of university strategic planning in order to give the theoretical explanation.University strategic planning is accord with collective action. University strategic planning is the public policy actually. It has distinct political attribute, represents the characteristic of collective attribute and active attribute, belongs to the category of collective action. From the perspective of collective action theory, and using relevant research about the effectiveness of institution for reference, the effectiveness of university strategic planning converts into the status of desired result reached by the planning relevant people who acknowledge and comply with university strategic planning, is the extent of acknowledgement and observance from the planning relevant people universally. If the planning acquired the acknowledgement and observance of the planning relevant people, it means the planning has effectiveness, otherwise it not. The essence is whether the planning forms collective action or not.Chinese universities strategic planning can be concluded four ideal type:simple strategy thought, instruct plan, developing planning, strategic planning. Strictly, current Chinese universities strategic planning is only "para-strategic planning". There are two logic principal lines at the back of Chinese universities strategic planning’s evolution course. The administration dominant logic in practice and the technology logos logic in thought make the history brand on Chinese universities strategic planning which can’t form collective action. And this also bring some realistic problems in Chinese universities strategic planning, such as incomprehensive function location of university strategic planning, legitimacy crisis of university strategic planning, stakeholder participation in university strategic planning is suffocated, the inherent shortage of quality hinder the implementation of university strategic planning. Making "Process-Event Analysis" on the case university strategic planning can find the result that the conventional content of strategic planning is realized easily, but the strategic content (the revolution content and the policy content) can not be realized because it can’t acquire the acknowledgement and observance from the planning relevant people thereby can’t form collective action. Judging the effectiveness of the planning should only aim at the strategic content.It should grasp the basic issue chiefly on "who is the actor in collective action of university strategic planning" to make theoretical analysis on university strategic planning. The actor’s planning action is the important factor which restricts the effectiveness of the planning. In Chinese universities strategic planning, the core actor is only limited the administration domain, the administrative staff who possess the public power of university have obvious action preference and action ability, can influence the university institution and the university policy change in the purpose of their own interest structure. Teachers, students and other core stakeholders don’t have obvious action preference and action ability under the current system, so they can’t be the actors of university strategic planning, or the weak actors at the most. The formulating of university strategic planning is making collective action of common contract reachable by interest integration, the implementation of university strategic planning is making collective action of common contract practicable by interest change. Bond with the effectiveness of university strategic planning, the collective action dilemma of university strategic planning manifest the absence of free actor and the failure of the planning’s political market. Mobilization mechanism and interest game are the cause which results in the collective action dilemma of Chinese universities strategic planning and the "invisible hand" which restricts the formation of university strategic planning’s collective action. Interest game in strategic planning and mobilizing strategic planning are the basic function of university interest subjects (actors) who realize collective action of strategic planning.From the perspective of mobilization mechanism:Chinese universities are in "the later total society", university administration can’t still maintain powerful administrative mobilization ability which aims at the academic community in the planned system. The transformation from the strengthening to the weakening of university strategic planning’s administrative mobilization mechanism offer the space for university strategic planning’s academic mobilization mechanism making effect. However, when university strategic planning’s administrative mobilization mechanism gradually weakens, university strategic planning’s academic mobilization mechanism doesn’t grow mature. The comprehensive effect from the weakening of planning’s administrative mobilization mechanism and the immature of planning’s academic mobilization mechanism results in the collective action mobilization dilemma of university strategic planning and brings the effectiveness problem of university strategic planning.From the perspective of interest game:Interest game in university strategic planning process can be simplified three aspects, such as interest game in university administrative system, interest game in university academic system, interest game between university administrative system and university academic system. The unbalance in the game subjects’growth, organization status, authoritative relation, social action field, resource, information, game skill and comprehensive ability determines the unbalanced nature of university strategic planning’s interest game structure inherently, restricts the game ability of strategic planning’s three interest subjects, becomes the important cause influencing strategic planning’s effectiveness.The elimination of the collective action dilemma of Chinese universities strategic planning needs to construct a path including institution support, organization support and cognition support. In institution aspect, it should provide necessary institution of strategic planning’s interest game and mobilization mechanism to ensure the inherent governance structure which collective action of university strategic planning needs; in organization aspect, it should cultivate the needed organization of strategic planning’s interest game and mobilization mechanism to ensure organization support which collective action needs; in cognition aspect, it should provide cognition support of strategic planning’s producing through each interest subject establishing social capital, such as collective acknowledgement, role cognition and trust, etc. Three aspects eliminate the collective action dilemma of university strategic planning by mutual contact and common effect. The effective mobilization mechanism and the balanced interest game require university strategic planning to manifest the participation inherently, participatory planning should become the realistic occurrence path of Chinese universities strategic planning, and that key is realizing the transformation of planning’s thought base, such as realizing the transformation from traditional university administrative management thought to new public management thought, from the rational planning thought to communicative planning thought, at the same time, it should promote the public participation levels of university strategic planning rapidly.