Version 2.0 of Building World-Class Universities in China: Initial Outcomes and Problems of the Double World-Class Project

Since the launch of the double world-class (DWC) project in 2015, China has entered into a new stage of building world-class universities. What makes China give up the existing projects for a new one? Towards the end of its first five-year cycle, has the version 2.0 of building world-class universit...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Higher education policy 2022-06, Vol.35 (2), p.397-413
Main Authors: Gao, Jie, Li, Chunna
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Achievement
Class Activities
Colleges & universities
Competition
Education
Education Policy
Educational Change
Educational Policy
Educational Policy and Politics
Educational Quality
Educational systems
Foreign Countries
Higher Education
International organizations
Literature reviews
Original Article
Reputation
Sacrifices
Universities
Utilitarianism
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Summary:Since the launch of the double world-class (DWC) project in 2015, China has entered into a new stage of building world-class universities. What makes China give up the existing projects for a new one? Towards the end of its first five-year cycle, has the version 2.0 of building world-class universities in China achieved the desired results? This study tries to answer these questions by giving an explanation about the relevant policies and an overview of changes brought by the DWC project. Based on the data and documents released by the Chinese government, selected universities and some international organizations as well as an extensive literature review, we find that this new project has been functioning effectively and has achieved remarkable preliminary success. However, there still remain problems such as vicious competition among institutions and unhealthy academic utilitarianism due to the heavy competitive pressure. Meanwhile, the project takes a selective concentration approach that sacrifices the majority to benefit the minority, which may exacerbate the already imbalanced development of China’s higher education system and hinder its overall development in the long run.
ISSN:0952-8733
1740-3863
DOI:10.1057/s41307-020-00211-z