Abstract
The last chapter of this book will shed light on the geographical dimension of inequality in contemporary China by first examining the national data on the geographical distribution of higher education opportunities, and then by drawing on the in-depth interview data with the participants from rural origins. The previous quantitative analysis provides consistent evidence of the strong impact of geographical origins on students’ Gaokao performance and chances of being accepted in elite universities. The data presented in previous chapters only permit a picture of urban–rural inequality since the main research site includes two provinces in East China. Yet, geographical stratification in contemporary China is manifested in all dimensions—intraprovincial, interregional and urban–rural differences.
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Notes
- 1.
The binggui policy was a substantial reform concerning the recruitment, fee-charging and job assignment in higher education in China. This policy was initially introduced as a pilot reform in around 40 higher education institutions in 1994, and then it was extended to around 100 universities in 1995. By 1997, the binggui policy was implemented in the majority of higher education institutions, which is detailed in Achievements of Reforming Higher Education in the Past 30 years (Ministry of Education 2008a, b).
- 2.
Fees exemption or fees reduction has been limited in selected higher education institutions, including some military colleges, institutions which are specialised in education, forestry, fishing and agriculture. Detailed fee-charging for different universities is in “The Standards for Fee-charging in Different Institutions” (China Education Online 2010).
- 3.
Cut-off points are published to distinguish the vertical structure of higher education systems and the horizontal division between fields of study. For the former vertical structure, cut-off points are provided for non-degree institutions, general degree universities and elite/key universities. For the latter horizontal fields, two criteria of cut-off points are published for two broad fields of study, namely, the social and nature sciences, respectively. Each field of study then indicates itself as either natural or social science category in the College Choice and Option forms.
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© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore
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Liu, Y. (2016). Meritocracy and Geographical Stratification. In: Higher Education, Meritocracy and Inequality in China. Higher Education in Asia: Quality, Excellence and Governance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1588-5_9
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-10-1588-5_9
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