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Home , Chenzhou, Jishou University, Loudi, Shaoyang, Shaoyang University, Xiangtan University

2019 International Conference on Education, Management, Economics and Humanities (ICEMEH 2019) ISBN: 978-1-60595-616-9

Higher Education Resources Structure and Allocation in Province: Regional Imbalance and Improvement

Bi-gang HONG School of Economics and Management, University, Shaoyang,

Keywords: Higher education resource, Allocation, Regional imbalance, Hunan, Improvement.

Abstract. As an institutional arrangement, higher education resource was centrally administered by the government under the planned economic system. In response to the needs of socialist market economy development, higher education resource allocation should be based on the principles of equity and efficiency. The higher education in Hunan Province has mage great progress these years, but problems such as regional imbalance, gaps between colleges and universities, repeated construction of disciplines, disorderly competition between colleges, and students’ lack of learning enthusiasm and competition still exist. The tertiary structure, the admission and transfer stimulations of CA Master Plan provide some options.

Introduction Research shows that education has a strong positive correlation with economic growth and social progress. Hunan is a relatively strong province with good education tradition which has supported its position in the contemporary and modern history in China. Yet many problems have appeared with the development of market economy. In the new era of building a moderately well-off society in all-round way, the education management system should be innovated, in which aspect California, USA can give us some reference. Development Scale of Higher Education in Hunan Since the reform and opening up in China 40 years ago, universities and colleges in Hunan Province have experienced a tortuous development stage from small to large and from weak to strong, along with the rapid development of the higher education in the whole country. By 2017, the number of higher education institutions (HEIs) had amounted to 163, including 124 Regular HEIs, 12 Adults HEIs and 27 Non-government HEIs. Among the Regular HEIs,51 are offering degree programs, and 73 are Higher Vocational Colleges. Table 1.1 shows that both the enrolment and full-time teachers of HEIs in Hunan Province have steadily increased these years from 2013-2017. The number of postgraduates, regular HEIs graduates, regular HEIs graduates and full-time teachers in 2017 have increased by 11%,13%, 15.6% and 9.5% respectively from 2013. It can be said that the development of Hunan higher education can fairly meet the needs of the children for schooling in terms of quantity and scale in the whole. Table 1. Number of HEIs, Postgraduates, Regular HEIs Graduates, Regular HEIs Enrolment and Full-time Teachers in HEIs in Hunan Province (2013-2017). Item Number of Number of Number of Number of Number of HEIs Postgraduate Regular HEIs Regular HEIs Full-time Students Graduates Enrollment Teachers 2013 147 17,236 294,355 1100,770 64,845 2014 149 18,914 295,911 1136,302 65,714 2015 149 18,526 300,459 1180,643 67,341 2016 164 18,813 316,504 1225,016 69,477 2017 163 19,126 332,792 1273,208 71,006 Source: Based on data from the website of the Ministry of Education of the PRC

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The Hierarchical Structure of Universities and Colleges in Hunan Province The hierarchical structure here refers to the progressive education form of higher education from college to undergraduate, master, doctor, and postdoctoral, which mainly reflects the degree and level of education in a specific area. And the center of gravity of the hierarchy should be in a process of corresponding upward shift with the regional economic and social development level (See Table 1.2). Table 2. Hierarchical Structure of Hunan Higher Education Institutions. Type Number Name Traits Research 2 “985” University Having Graduate University School with Top Researching Ability Research-based 5 “211”University or Old-brand key Teaching University, etc. University with Good Researching Ability Teaching-based 5 University of Science and Technology Provincial Key or Qusai-key Research of Hunan University with a few Postgraduates University, etc. Regular 19 Hunan University off Commerce, Mainly for Graduates Teaching, Teaching , etc. with a Few Postgraduates Vocational 78 Vocational Technical College, Developing Skillful & Versatile Training Hunan Mass Media Vocational Talents Technical College, etc.

Resources Allocation of Higher Education in Hunan Province and Problems

The Regional Agglomeration of Higher Education Resources is Not Conducive to the Harmonious Development of Provincial Economy Hunan has made brilliant achievements in its higher education, and at the same time some outstanding problems still exist. The main manifestations include unbalanced regional agglomeration of higher education resources and the discordant disciplinary structure with the development of local economy. According to the conditions of the geographical position, economic development and higher education resources distribution, Hunan can be divided into four areas: Jingguang Line Area, includingChangsha, , Xiangtanand ; Xiangbei Area,including , and ; Xiangxinan Area, including , , Shaoyang and Loudi;Daxiangxi Area, including , and Xiangxi . By 2017, there are 124 universities and colleges in Hunan(including the independent institutes). Specifically, has 57, Xiangtan has 13, Zhuzhou has 10, and Hengyang has 10, too, so the above four cities owe 90 colleges and universities, accounting for 73% of the total of the province. there are only 7 universities, including Huaihua Zhangjiajie Meanwhile, Xiangxi Autonomous Prefecture, Zhangjiajie and Huaihua all together have only 7, accounting for 5.7% of the proportion(See Table 3). Table 3. Geographical Distribution of Hunan Higher Education Resources (2017). Area Distrct Number Percentage Jingguang Line Area Changsha,zhuzhou,Xiangtan,Hengyang 90 73 North Hunan Area Yiyang,Yueyang,Changde 16 13 Southwest Hunan Area Loudi,Shaoyang,Youzhou,Chenzhou 11 8.3 Daxiangxi Area Zhangjiajie,Xiangxi,Huaihua 7 5.7 Source: Based on data from the website of the Education Department of Hunan Province The serious geographical deviation of HEIs puts Daxiangxi and Xiangxinan areas in a very unfavorable position of economic development without the strong support of university talent intelligence resources, and the unbalanced development has seriously affected the sustainable development of the local economy(See Figure 1). According to the official statistics of 2017, GDP in Hunan totaled 36397.42 billion yuan, an increase of 8.0%. Among the total amount, Jingguang Line Area, North Hunan Area , Southwest

34 Hunan Area and Daxiangxi Area contributed 50.39%,22.4%,19.3% and 7.2% respectively, which reflected the positive correlation between education and economy to some extent.In this sense, improving the allocation of higher education resources is conducive to narrowing the regional economic gap and building a harmonious society.

Figure 1. Regional distribution of human higher education. Source: Based on data from the website of the Education Department of Hunan Province Mismatch between Discipline Subject Structure and Regional Economic Development Since the reform and opening up, higher education in Hunan Province has been a strong force providing support for the economic and social development of Hunan and the "Science and Education Promoting Hunan project". However, the professional settings of the colleges and universities in Hunan are not in concert and harmony withthe economic structure. Hunan is a large agricultural province, where a large number of agricultural talents are needed for the development of modern agriculture. But there is only one comprehensive agricultureuniversity in Hunan. In addition, there are only a handful of majors which are closely related to agriculture in other colleges and universities, which is not commensurate with the status of Hunan as a big agricultural province(See Table 4). Table 4. Student Enrollment, New Student Enrollment and Graduates in 2014 Unit: ten thousand. Major Student Enrollment New Enrollment Graduates Total 66.6305 16.8880 15.1349 Philosophy 0.0293 0.0095 0.0075 Economics 3.8951 0.8913 0.8680 Law 2.1283 0.5862 0.4505 Education 2.3123 0.6334 0.5060 Literature 6.5731 1.6657 1.6192 History 0.1811 0.0543 0.0411 Science 3.9966 1.1013 0.9094 Engineering 22.0796 5.6406 5.0960 Agriculture 0.9256 0.2661 0.2246 Medicine 6.2623 1.3497 1.3268 Management 11.8613 3.0048 2.6747 Sources: Based on Hunan Statistics Yearbook 2015, Hunan Statistics Bureau Website.

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The development of agriculture science has shrunk. In 2015, only 2,661 new students were enrolled, accounting for 1.57%,2,246 graduated, accounting for 1.48%,and the school enrollment was 9,256, accounting for 1.39%. It is not consistent with the demand for a large number of talents in the new rural construction process. Humanities and social science of philosophy and history development is relatively slow. Ninety-five students were enrolled in philosophy in 2015 and 75 graduated, accounted for 0.056% and 0.049%respectively ; history enrollment and graduates accounted for 0.32% and 0.27% respectively. This is obviously not conducive to the development of Humanities in colleges and universities, but also not conducive to the cultivation of contemporary college students' Humanistic quality.

Experience from CA Master Plan CA Master Plan refers to “A Master Plan for Higher Education in California (1960-1975)”. It was prepared for the Liaison Committee of the State Board of Education and the Regents of the University of California by California State Department of Education. Under the guidance of the Master Plan, the public higher education in California has formed a tertiary structure system as Figure 3.1 demonstrates. Located at the top is the system of University of California with 10 campuses, at the tower is California State University system with 24 campuses, and the community college system is at the base, with 119 colleges, as Table 5 illustrates.

Figure 2. The Pyramid Structure of California Higher Education System.

Table 5. Three-level Public Higher Education System of California State, USA. HE System Function Degree Granted Number Percentage(%) Enrollment(%)

CU System Research-oriented Docter,Master, 10 6.9 12.5 Bachelor CSU System Teaching-oriented Doctor(Jointly 24 15.9 33.3 awarded), Master,Bachelor CC System Training-oriented Associate 119 77.2 54.0 bachelor The Master Plan stipulates that all public high school graduates have access to higher education. 100% high school graduates can be enrolled in community colleges (CC), graduates in the top 33.3% gain admission to California State Universities (CSU), and graduates in the top 12.5% will be admitted to California University (CU). This admission stipulation not only meets the need of popularization of higher education but also ensures the enrollment of high-quality students needed in the research universities, laying the foundation for the construction of University of California as a high level research university as well as providing equal opportunity of getting higher education for

36 the young people. What’s more, this model of branch university provides a good mechanism for quality education resource sharing, which is also an important embodiment of education fairness. The Master Plan also establishes a scientific student transfer mechanism. It stipulates that community college students can transfer to California State University and University of California as long as the would-be transfer students present a 2.0 and 2.4grade-point average on 60 units of college work respectively. Figure 3 demonstrates the choices of high school graduates.

Figure 3. Path Choice of Senior Middle School Graduates for Higher Education. The regulations of the enrollment proportion of the three public higher education systems, the cooperation of University of California and California State University and the establishment of the students transfer mechanism for community colleges graduates have brought about many benefits. First, they have maintained a reasonable proportion of each system, improved the utilization of educational resources; secondly, they have promoted the cooperation among HEIs, achieving a good link between the education in associate and bachelor degrees; thirdly, they can guarantee fairness for all levels of students enrolled; next but not the last, they can fully mobilize the enthusiasm of students in learning for better performance if they want to transfer to CSU or UC. The stipulations designed in the CA Master Plan give us some inspirations. In such aspects as how to narrow the gap between different areas in higher education resources allocation to realize educational fairness, how to get rid of the bad situation of laziness in most colleges and stimulate students' learning enthusiasm, and how to have an overall allocation of education resources to serve local economic development and social progress, experiences of CA Master Plan provides us some options.

References [1] A Master Plan of California Higher Education, California State Department of Education Sacramento 1960. p. 73. [2] Yingying Wu, The macroscopic management system of Wu Yingying American higher education, Educationa Research, 2010(1), pp. 36-39. [3] Fangming Zhou, An overview of the higher education system in California. Journal of China mining university (social science edition) (J), 2012(3):pp. 80-87. [4] California After-high- school- education Committee. http://www.cpec.ca.gov/ [5] Education Department of Hunan Province http://jyt.hunan.gov.cn/ [6] Ministry of Education of the Peoples Republic of China http://www.moe.gov.cn/

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