Enter the Dragon? China's Higher Education Returns to the World Community: The Case of Peking University

Abstract

In the coming decade, Peking University aims to achieve world-class status as an international research institution. However, the institution has encountered a fundamental issue: successful adaptation of the European-American education system to China has resulted in a lack of continuity with the traditional Chinese spirit of higher learning. A 2004 plan to reform the university's faculty appointment and promotion systems received strong responses, was hotly debated, and brought the complexity of the issue to the fore.

Professor Yang's presentation will include a review of the historical achievements of Peking University, examine the appointment and promotion plan as a case study, and locate the university?s contemporary reforms in their historical and international contexts. The chapter being presented aims to capture, with due regard for the cultural and social issues at hand, China?s experience as its higher education institutions re-enter the world community.