Acta Universitatis Danubius. Communicatio, Vol 7, No 2 (2013)

Abstract

Viewed from a historical perspective, Chinese higher education can be traced back to the Zhou dynasty almost 2,500 years ago. With Emperor Wudi of the Han dynasty (140-88 BC) setting up academies, prototypes of higher education institutions came into shape. These institutions were close parallels to medieval universities in Europe. But the modern university system in the Western sense of the term was not endorsed and emulated in China until the early 1900s. As in the West, higher education in China has been in a state of flux. And with the nation’s radical economic and social restructuring its higher education has been undergoing tremendous changes with challenges of all descriptions. Among all the major challenges or issues this brief discussion has highlighted Kaokao, highly characteristic of Chinese higher education, and attempted to discuss it from theoretical and practical perspectives.