Is There an Emerging Chinese Model of the University?

Abstract

In bringing this volume to a close, we feel compelled to consider whether there is an emerging Chinese model of the university. Admittedly, this consideration is influenced, more or less, by China’s economic success, which is now viewed by many as a Chinese model for development.¹ This model, characterized by a unique approach to governmentality, social organization, economic management, and outlook on the world, has now won some recognition for its efficiency and effectiveness, in particular in face of the global economic recession. Politically, it may bring into question the Western tendency to emphasize the dichotomy between democracy and authoritarianism. Our question then is whether or not there is also an emerging Chinese model in the cultural and educational sense, and how it relates to this dichotomy.