On The Action Of The Chinese Government's Participation In The Assessment Of Higher Education

The assessment of higher education is one of the most important means for the State and its educational administrative departments to manage and regulate the higher education in a macroscopic way, to which importance has been attached by more and more State governments. Throughout the history of 20 years'assessment of Chinese higher education, the Chinese government is always taking the leading position in the assessment of higher education. The government directly organizes and participates in the assessment activities, inclusively control the power of assessment. This kind of up-down administrative mode with a type of the government's centralization greatly promoted the development of the assessing undertakings of Chinese higher education in the earlier period. However, with the establishment of market economic system and the further reform of the managing system of higher education, this kind of mode is gradually showing its shortcomings that cannot be ignored.This paper makes a study mainly by adopting the historical study. Firstly, starting from the investigation of the historical actions of the Chinese government's participation in the assessment of higher education, this paper makes a systematic comb-out of the assessing policies made by the government, its participation and organization form, its means and ways of assessing higher education; secondly, this paper not only makes an analysis of the action characteristics of the government's participation in the assessment of higher education but also summarizes both the positive and negative influences upon the development of higher education caused by the government's participation in the assessment of higher education; thirdly, a deep analysis is made of the existing problems of the governmental action in the assessment of higher education from such perspectives as political and economic systems, the systematic reform of higher education, the management theory of higher education, the construction of legal rules and regulations of assessment, the concepts of traditional culture, and the interests balance during the process of assessment, and so on so forth; finally, starting from higher educational philosophy, higher pedagogy, science of higher educational management, science of new public management and modern administrative theory, this paper expounds the theoretical basis of the government's participation in the assessment of higher education. In the light of the existing problems and using the advanced experience from foreign countries as well as combined with the home actual situations, this paper argues that the government must improve its participation actions in the assessment of higher education through such measures as correct localization of its roles, sound legal rules and regulations of assessment, improvement of assessing system, strict management of assessment planning, improvement of assessing means and techniques, construction of assessment information managing system, study of assessment theory and cultivation of assessment culture, and so on.