In Pursuit of Efficiency

Abstract

Since 1976 China has increased diplomatic, economic, and cultural ties with the West. These contacts have had important ramifications on every sphere of Chinese society. In education, these include an increased emphasis on science, the pursuit of applied research, the popularization of foreign languages, the emergence of business schools, and the restructuring of the management of education. This article concentrates on the last to see how the Western concept of scientific management has shaped academic (not Party) administration in universities. Changes in this area have been progressively introduced since 1976, and have been reaffirmed in an important educational conference in May 1985. These measures not only restructured university organization, cut expenditures, and reduced waste, but they also have had a tremendous influence on the direction and development of higher education, shifting resources to applied research and in-service training at the expense of basic research and the training of the young.