Higher Education Choice In China

Much of the existing research on parental involvement and higher education choice examines the difference between the working class and the middle class, but little literature looks at different factions within the social classes. This book discusses higher education choice in China, particularly through the examination of social issues such as social stratification, parental involvement, and gender and educational inequality. Drawing from an empirical study based on Bourdieu’s theory, the book explores both inter-class and intra-class differences in China, providing an insight into how social class differences influence a number of issues, including: educational equality the role parents, especially mothers, play in higher education decision-making the relationship between traditional cultural norms gendered relationships within Chinese families. The sociology of higher education choices are derived through feedback from various sources, including both parents and students themselves. The book will be key reading for postgraduates and researchers in the fields of sociology, sociology of education, Chinese studies and Asian studies.

This book unpacks the complex dynamics of Hong Kong students’ choice in pursuing undergraduate education at the universities of Mainland China. Drawing on an empirical study based on interviews with 51 students, this book investigates how macro political/economic factors, institutional influences, parental influence, and students’ personal motivations have shaped students’ eventual choice of university. Building on Perna’s integrated model of college choice and Lee’s push-pull mobility model, this book conceptualizes that students’ border crossing from Hong Kong to Mainland China for higher education is a trans-contextualized negotiated choice under the "One Country, Two Systems" principle. The findings reveal that during the decision-making process, influencing factors have conditioned four archetypes of student choice: Pragmatists, Achievers, Averages, and Underachievers. The book closes by proposing an enhanced integrated model of college choice that encompasses both rational motives and sociological factors, and examines the theoretical significance and practical implications of the qualitative study. With its focus on student choice and experiences of studying in China, this book’s research and policy findings will interest researchers, university administrators, school principals, and teachers.

Educational researchers have long been concerned about the factors that influence the patterns of attendance in higher education and the extent to which higher education has been accessible to all students regardless of their socioeconomic status. Extensive research has indicated that a variety of class-related factors, such as cultural capital, social capital, and economic capital, exert remarkable impacts on the amount and type of education that one receives. Drawing on cultural capital theory, this study aims at analyzing how students' college choice process varies by social class in China. By exploring different cultural and financial factors that influence different stages of students' college choice process, this study hopes to contribute to identifying the most appropriate policies and practices for raising the representation of students from the lowest social class among college participants.

This book investigates the changing opportunities in higher education for different social groups during China’s transition from the socialist regime to a market economy. The first part of the book provides a historical and comparative analysis of the development of the idea of meritocracy, since its early origins in China, and in more recent western thought. The second part then explores higher education reforms in China, the part played by supposedly meritocratic forms of selection, and the implications of these for social mobility. Based on original empirical data, Ye Liu sheds light on the socio-economic, gender and geographical inequalities behind the meritocratic façade of the Gaokao (高考). Liu argues that the Chinese philosophical belief in education-based meritocracy had a modern makeover in the Gaokao, and that this ideology induces working-class and rural students to believe in upward social mobility through higher education. When the Gaokao broke the promise of status improvement for rural students, they turned to the Chinese Communist Party and sought political connections by actively applying for its membership. This book reveals a bleak picture of visible and invisible inequality in terms of access to and participation in higher education in contemporary China. Written in an accessible style, it offers a valuable resource for researchers and non-specialist readers alike.

Educational researchers have long been concerned about the factors that influence the patterns of attendance in higher education and the extent to which higher education has been accessible to all students regardless of their socioeconomic status. Extensive research has indicated that a variety of class-related factors, such as cultural capital, social capital, and economic capital, exert remarkable impacts on the amount and type of education that one receives. Drawing on cultural capital theory, this study aims at analyzing how students' college choice process varies by social class in China. By exploring different cultural and financial factors that influence different stages of students' college choice process, this study hopes to contribute to identifying the most appropriate policies and practices for raising the representation of students from the lowest social class among college participants.

School Choice in China explores the major characteristics of schooling options in China, highlighting how largely middle-class parents exploit their cultural, economic and social capital for their children's admission into choice schools. It highlights how payments such as choice fees, donations, prize-winning certificates and awards, as well as the use of guanxi, result in Chinese school choice as a parent-driven, bottom-up movement. The author also explores how schools and local governments cash in on the school choice fever in order to obtain significant economic returns, leading to policies that accommodate the needs of mostly middle-class families. He argues that although this system seems to create winners among the parties involved, it exacerbates the educational inequality that already exists in Chinese society. Chapters include: Positional competition for cultural capital Exploitation of social capital Economics of school choice Class reproduction through parental choice This book is not simply a detailed analysis of Chinese school choice practices, but also a study of the competitive middle class search for advantage for their children. As such it will be beneficial to undergraduates, postgraduates, education professionals, policy makers, and anyone with an interest in education, sociology, social policy, and the rise and future of China.

As the number of international students in Chinese higher education increases steadily, this volume is one of the first to focus on their many and varied experiences. With contributions focusing on such topics as intercultural adaptation, soft power and interculturality, language learning strategies and the intercultural, and transformations in perspective, this volume provides the reader with a broad overview of the latest advances in the field of interculturality and study abroad. While the book will appeal to a global audience of researchers, practitioners and students with an interest in Chinese higher education, it will also be of interest to all those who remain intrigued by conceptual and methodological issues of interculturality.

Using a nationally representative data set, this book examines the characteristics of Chinese college students’ mobility since the expansion of higher education. It analyses college graduates’ mobility in both horizontal and vertical dimensions. The horizontal dimension shows college students’ migration directions and location changes, including migration for college, migration for employment, migration for grassroots positions, migration away from the capital and migration back to their hometown. The vertical dimension includes students’ intergenerational occupational mobility and intergenerational regional mobility. Drawing on theories in education and economics, the book provides a solid framework for empirically analysing the characteristics, causes and economic and non-economic benefits of different forms of mobility. This book not only offers insights into China’s higher education policies and their impact on the regional and intergenerational mobility decisions of college graduates over the past two decades but also has important implications for other countries at similar stages of social and economic development. This book is an excellent read for students and scholars of education, economics and East Asian studies. It can also help policymakers understand the characteristics of students’ mobility and the underlying reasons for their choices, so that they can propose effective policies in the future.