The State Role in Excellent University Policies in the Era of Globalization: The Case of China

In order to obtain considerable amounts of capitalist profit available in a globalized market, individual countries need to enhance their own international competitiveness – a goal that can be achieved through the channel of schools by cultivating human capital. The linear linkage among globalization, international competitiveness, human capital and higher education has convinced many countries to engage in the expansion of higher education institutes. The notion of international competition further generates the idea of university ranking and, in turn, many countries have viewed the world class university as the top priority on the political agenda. As neo-liberalism has become a prevailing new world value, constructed by America, the private sector that addresses efficiency is defined as the best mode of running the higher education market. Therefore, this mode functions as the gateway of achieving this political mission. However, this approach may jeopardize state sovereignty because if the state is unable to balance the relation between capital accumulation and social justice, it cannot win people’s trust. The interactive principle between social cultures and education policies also rejects the universal practicality of free market logic. In order to overcome these challenges, individual countries may adopt transformative strategies, allowing them to improve the international reputation of their own top universities. This essay sets out to shed some light on this issue through examining the case of the Double-First-Class-Universities initiative in China.