Higher Education as a Field of Study in China: Defining Knowledge and Curriculum Structure

Higher Education as a Field of Study in China: Defining Knowledge and Curriculum Structure concerns the complexity of higher education as an academic field—the evolving nature of the field in light of the overall development of higher education in China. It reviews how higher education as a field of study has evolved in China since 1978 and how the field has been shaped by political and social forces, as well as institutional culture. Xin Wang argues that higher education is becoming an interdisciplinary field rather than a subfield under the discipline of education, especially when higher education has become an enterprise with such a broad scope in China. Wang also expresses a belief that the field of higher education is being challenged by the professional need for preparing and training competent professionals for various administrative positions in China. Higher education as a field will be professionalized with its own knowledge base and a set of skills in applying this knowledge to practical areas. This book also provides an account of the U.S. model of higher education as an example—how the field was formed and developed, how it has evolved from a generalized area of inquiry into a professional specialization, how programs of higher education are structured, what classes they offer, and what challenges they face. The U.S. model presents a comparative perspective for Chinese scholars and program directors about higher education as a field of study.