Home | About Us | Contact Us | Site Map | FAQs

¹Institute of Higher Education, Huazhong University of Science & Technology (main campus) Wuhan 430074, Hubei, China. E-mail: gaoguijuan64@sina.com.cn

This article reports on field research conducted in 1999-2000 in three of the larger cities in China (Wuhan, Xiamen and Shantou). It explores the workings of the educational service of the self-taught higher education examination (STE) that emerged in China in the early 1980s. Findings from questionnaires, in-depth interviews, observations and analysis of documents led to the conclusion that the educational goal of the STE, although implicit, is frustrated and diluted because of the following reasons: (i) inefficiency due to an absence of controls through regulations and legislation specifically applicable to state, province and county levels of administration. (ii) Inadequate and inconsistent communication between high-level administration and the local operation of educational services. Lack of communication results in the STE as a system declining in national examinations. It emphasizes note memorization rather than creative thinking implicit in the purpose of educational service institutions.

Higher Education Policy (2003) 16, 463-477. doi:10.1057/palgrave.hep.8300034

higher education; Peoples' Republic of China; self-taught higher education examination; national examination; educational service