'FROM POINT TO SURFACE': THE ROLE OF POLICY EXPERIMENTATION IN CHINESE HIGHER EDUCATION REFORMS. Issue 2 (4th March 2021)

• Record Type: Journal Article
• Authors: Han, Shuangmiao; Mills, David
• Is Part Of: British journal of educational studies. Volume 69:Issue 2(2021)
• Page Start: 217
• Page End: 236
• Publication Date: 2021-03-04
• Subjects: policy experimentation -- policy process -- higher education reform -- institutional change -- China; Education -- Great Britain -- Periodicals; 370.5
• DOI: 10.1080/00071005.2020.1795079
• Languages: English
• ISSNs: 0007-1005

Abstract

ABSTRACT: China has undergone unprecedented changes since the Reform and Opening-up policy in 1978. Policy experimentation (PE) has been key in generating and catalysing reforms in the process. This study proposes a conceptual framework to describe the different pathways of PE-enabled reforms. Comparing two empirically informed case studies, this study demonstrates the functions of this policy tool plays within China's higher education policy-making and development: generative, rhetorical and regulatory. The paper argues that PE can be a genuinely productive mechanism for producing, identifying and negotiating new policy options while allowing the government to supervise and regulate institutional reform behaviours. However, under certain conditions, it assumes more of a symbolic role allowing the government to acquire or consolidate reform legitimacy without engaging substantial innovation. By highlighting those key roles of PE, this paper provides a distinctive perspective for understanding the policy-making and reform process in China's higher education development.