A Study On “Double-First Class” Policy Based On Multiple-Streams Theory

Since the 21 st century,social development has gradually entered the era of the knowledge economy.Countries around the world have increased their investment in scientific and technological research,knowledge innovation and so on.As the main position for innovative knowledge and training of talents,high-level research universities have increasingly received attention from various countries.Building world-class universities has become a strategic choice for countries to enhance their overall national strength,and has gradually entered the political agenda and policy framework of governments around the world.On October 24,2015,with the "Overall Plan for the Promotion of the Construction of World-Class Universities and First-Class Disciplines" issued by the State Council,a "double-first-class" strategic plan was officially proposed.At present,the "double-class" policy has become an irrefutable hot topic.Any public policy will change with the development of the times.So what kind of policy origins does the "double-class" policy have? How did the policy agenda begin? What are the characteristics of the "double-class" policy? This research first sorted out the evolutionary background of the "double first-class" policy,and divided the period from the founding of New China to the introduction of the "double first-class" policy into two phases,the first is the construction of key universities and projects from 1954 to 1991,and the second is the beginning and development of world-class universities from 1991 to 2014,and combed the policy background,policy evolution and policy characteristics of each stage.Secondly,using Kingdon’s Multiple-Streams Theory to analyze the cause of the "double first-class" policy.Through analysis,we can see that the growing conflict of the "211 Project" and the "985 Project",the feedback from the world university rankings and the urgent need for high-quality,connotative development of higher education constitute the source of the policy change;government policy attempts,scientific research by experts and scholars,and the continuous attention of the Internet media constitute the policy source of policy change;ruling party ideology,the change of government and adjustment of key personnel,and strong national sentiment constitute the political source of policy change.The three sources and streams converge at key points in time,opening up a window of policy and realizing policy changes.In the end,it is concluded that the opening of China’s "Double-First Class" policy agenda is the result of the coupling of three major sources and streams,a state-led elite decision-making process,and online media has played a positive driving force in the "Double-First Class" policy process.In addition,from the perspective of multiple sources,this article discussed the suggestions for optimizing the setting of the policy agenda,with a view to providing reference for reform and promotion of other higher education construction policies and education policies in China.