Higher Education Evaluation andQuality Assurance Construction in China
Higher Education Evaluation Centerof the Ministry of Education

Zhihong LiHong Wang

Min ShengFebruary, 2008－1－

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Outline
Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher
Educationⅰ、Classification of China’s Higher Education Institutions
ⅱ、Structure and scale of higher education
ⅲ、Development trends of higher education

Ⅱ、General information and development trends of highereducation evaluation in China
ⅰ、Establishment of periodical evaluation system
ⅱ、Evaluation situation to regular higher education institutions
ⅲ、Evaluation Effectⅳ、Development Trends of Higher Education Evaluationⅴ、Status quo and trends of specialized programs evaluation

Ⅲ、Main contents of China’s higher education quality
assurance system－2－

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher Education
ⅰ、Classification of China’s Higher Education Institutions
ⅱ、Structure and scale of higher education
ⅲ、Development trends of higher education－3－

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher Education
ⅰ、Classification of China’s Higher Education Institutions◆ Universities：imparting education to undergraduates andRegular HigherEducation Institutions

Full-time universities,
colleges and higher
vocational schoolsthat focus on
cultivating senior
middle school
graduates who havepassed thespecialized nationalentrance examination.

more specialized talents; own more than three disciplines as
major disciplines among all the eight disciplines prescribed by
the state: arts, politics, education, science, engineering,agriculture and medicine; hold strong teaching and scientificresearch staff and level; enroll more than 5000 full-timestudents.

◆ Colleges: imparting education to undergraduates andmore specialized talents; own more than one disciplines as
major disciplines among all the eight disciplines prescribed bythe state; enroll more than 3000 full-time students.
The basic length of schooling of universities and colleges isfour to five years.

◆ Higher tertiary schools (including higher vocationalschools): imparting education to higher special talents; own
more than one discipline as main discipline among all theeight disciplines; enroll more than 1000 full-time students andmainly focus on vocational education. The basic length ofschooling for tertiary education should be two to three years.

－4－教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher Education
ⅰ、Classification of China’s Higher Education Institutions

Independently
established schools

A type of non-state higher education
organizations with independent legal
personality. It appears by the cooperationof regular higher education institutions
and social organization which do notbelong to national government andeducation departments. It does not use
national financial education budget andenrolls students from the community.
(Students should take part in the unified
national exam).

－5－

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher Education
ⅰ、Classification of China’s Higher Education Institutions

Higher adults
learning schools

schools that should subject to thespecific establishment standards andapproval procedures formulated by thestate. Is should impart education tosenior secondary school graduates
education or those with equivalenteducational level who have passed theunified national entrance examination ofadults and also. The education methods
could be correspondence etc.

－6－

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher Education
ⅱ、Structure and scale of higher education——student number (by the end of 2006)

Regular Higher

universities

312

colleges

408

Higher specialty
institutions

166

higher vocationalschools

981

Education InstitutionsHigherEducation Institutions
1867

Independently
established schools
318

720

Higher tertiary schools
1147（among which
1027 are set up after
2000, approach 90％）

Higher adults
learning schools
444－7－

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher Education
ⅱ、Structure and scale of higher education——student number (by the end of 2006)

Regular higher
education institutions
17.39 million
25 million
students andthe grossenrollment
rate
approached
22 percent

undergraduates

9.43million

specialty students

7.96million

PhD students

0.21million

master students

0.89million

Adults education
5.25million
Graduates
1.10 million
Others1.26 million－8－

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher Education

ⅲ、Development trends of higher education（ⅰ）Popular phase, different types of universities needs classified development◆ State key universities should commit themselves to promoting level;◆ general institutions should enhance their ability to serve society;◆ professional schools should focus on employment-oriented education（ⅱ）Improving educational quality is the common task for universities◆ compressing enrollment scale to advance teaching conditions;◆ carrying out teaching quality and reform project among regular higher education
institutions;◆ implementing “the Project of developing 100 National Model Higher Vocational
Schools” among tertiary schools;◆ setting up periodical evaluation system.

－9－

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅰ、General Information of China’s Higher Education
ⅲ、Development trends of higher education（ⅲ）Strengthen international communication and collaboration ( by the end of 2006)

to establish educational
communication andcollaboration relationshipwith 184 countries as well
as areas and over 10
international organizations

to sign bilateral andmultilateral educational
collaboration andcommunicationagreements andimplementation plans :more than 100－ 10 －

to sign mutual
recognition agreement
on qualification anddegree with 32 countries

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends ofhigher education evaluation in China
ⅰ、Establishment of periodical evaluation system
ⅱ、Evaluation situation to regular higher education institutions
ⅲ、Evaluation Effectⅳ、Development Trends of Higher Education Evaluationⅴ、Status quo and trends of specialized programs－ 11 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅰ、Establishment of periodical evaluation system(ⅰ) From 2003, Chinese government decided to establish a five-year cycle
system to evaluate regular higher education institutions. Meanwhile, theprofessional evaluation organization-- Higher Education Evaluation Center
was established which has 30 employees. This is a milestone whichindicates that China’s higher education evaluation step into aninstitutionalized and standardized phase.
(ⅱ) Three main reasons to set up a periodical evaluation system are:◆ the main task of higher education in the future is improving teachingquality◆ strengthen macroeconomic management and guidance◆ enhance international communication and cooperation－ 12 －教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅱ、Evaluation situation to regular higher education institutions◆ The first round of five-year evaluation formally begins in(ⅰ) Evaluation to regularhigher education
institutions：the second half of 2003, planning to finish evaluation to all
the 592 regular higher education institutions before the firsthalf of 2008.

◆ In the process, we have been applying the HigherEducation Evaluation Standards which was promulgated bythe Ministry of Education into practice. The current criteria
include 7 basic standards, an additional uniqueness item, 19
extended standards and 44 observation points.

◆ The evaluation results can be divided into four
categories: Excellent, Good, Qualified and Unqualified.

◆ The concrete implementation is carried out by HEEC.
－ 13 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅱ、Evaluation situation to regular higher education institutions(ⅱ) Evaluation toTertiary Colleges◆ The first round of evaluation starts in thefirst half of 2004 and expects to complete theevaluation to 1,027 tertiary colleges before thefirst half of 2009.
◆ It adopts the Tertiary Education Evaluation
Standards which has 6 basic standards, one
characteristic and innovative item, 15 extended
standards and 36 observation points.
◆ The evaluation results can be divided into
four categories: Excellent, Good, Qualified andUnqualified.
◆ The evaluation is implemented by eachprovincial administrative department.
◆ HEEC will organize spot checks to theevaluation work of each provincial department.

－ 14 －教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅱ、Evaluation situation to regular higher education institutions◆ It uses Independent Schools Qualified
Evaluation Standards.
(ⅲ) Evaluation to independent
established schools：◆ The main purpose of the evaluation is toregulate the teaching behavior of independent
established schools and ensure teachingquality.

◆ The results are qualified and unqualified.
◆ This job will pilot in 2008.

－ 15 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅱ、Evaluation situation to regular higher education institutions（ⅳ）Contents of evaluation(take Higher Education
Evaluation as an example)

Basic Standards

Extended Standards

1．Institution Mission

1.1 Institution’s Position
1.2 Institution Philosophy

2．Faculty

2.1 Number of Faculty and its
Composition
2.2 Instructional Faculty

3．Facility and Utilization

3.1 Facility
3.2 Budget

4．Academic Program
Development & Innovation inTeaching

4.1 Academic Majors
4.2 Curriculum
4.3 Practicum Teaching

5．Administration in
Academic Affairs

5.1 Administration for AcademicAffairs
5.2 Quality Control

6．Academic Culture

6.1 Faculty Morale
6.2 Academic Culture

7．Student Learning
Outcomes

7.1 Basis Theories & Skills
7.2 Graduation Thesis or Designs
7.3 Morality & Ethics
7.4 Physical Education
7.5 Social Reputation
7.6 Employment

Characteristic Item－ 16 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in Chinaⅲ、Evaluation EffectThe guiding principle for higher education evaluation in China is“evaluation to enhance improvement, to facilitate change, and to strength
management; emphasizing change” that means to mainly guide
institutions to enhance self-construction, fully mobilize the enthusiasm ofinstitutions and institutions authorities, raising teaching level before
campus visit. The static collected and analyzed by HEEC shows that
universities that have undergone have make a great progress in thefollowing aspects ：(ⅰ) improving teaching level;(ⅱ) enhancing teaching-oriented status;(ⅲ) regulating teaching administration;(ⅳ) advancing teaching condition (see table one);－ 17 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅲ、Evaluation Effect
Table of facility and utilization of evaluated institutions in 2006
(The last three years health mean)
Growth rate of two
Academic Year
2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-2006
years
Area of administrative buildings perstudent(m2) (m2)

13.06

14.28

16.71

27.95%

Quarters area per student(m2)

7.63

8.21

9.20

20.58%

Seats of multimedia classrooms andlanguage lab per 100 students

49.57

62.58

81.55

64.51%

Computers per 100 students

15.36

17.62

21.43

39.52%

Teaching and research equipment
value per student (Yuan/ one student)

5398.536237.587494.78

38.83%

Stadium area per student(m2)

5.21

5.22

6.31

21.11%

Paper books per student

70.26

74.36

81.44

15.91%

Annual new bought books per student

5.16

7.55

8.98

74.03%－ 18 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅲ、Evaluation Effect(ⅴ) deepening teaching reform;(ⅵ) highlighting university characteristics and progressing university
culture;(ⅶ) enlarging educational open and communication and promoting
educational concepts;(ⅷ) enhancing university cohesion and solidarity, ultimately promote
the raise of teaching quality.

－ 19 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅳ、Development Trends of Higher Education Evaluation◆ By the end of 2007, 502 universities and 587
Implementation of random checks
to universities’ enhancement ofImprovement and change stage

tertiary colleges have undergone evaluation,entering into the stage of enhancement ofimprovement and change.

◆ The three evaluation stages, which are selfstudy, campus visit by an evaluation team,enhancement of improvement and change, areundividable body. The stage of enhancement ofimprovement and change is the significant
measure to construct the long-mechanism of
higher education evaluation and quality
assurance.

◆ HEEC would pay more attention to random
checks of enhancement of improvement andchange.

－ 20 －教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅳ、Development Trends of Higher Education Evaluation
Construction of education quality assurance system that isthree-dimensional: Central education administrative government,
provincial administrative departments and universities◆ to further encourage all the provincial
administrative departments to play more part inthe evaluation and quality assurance, carry out
provincial specialized programs checks and◆ to guide institutions to build and perfecttheir own quality assurance system.

－ 21 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in China
ⅳ、Development Trends of Higher Education Evaluation

Start the research of the next roundevaluation and standards◆ to further strength classified guidance, forexample, take use of qualified evaluation toinstitutions with short history ;guidelines◆ to improve evaluation methods and techniques so
as to reduce the evaluation burden of institutions andexperts;◆ to integrate teaching evaluation with specialized
programs evaluation organically.

－ 22 －教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in Chinaⅴ、 Status quo and trends of specialized programs evaluation(ⅰ) Status quo ：● From 1995, related organizations fulfilled comprehensive
evaluation to architecture science programs.

●Since 1996, we also performed pilot evaluation to the following
majors: mechanical engineering, electrical engineering, chemistry,computer science and technology, environment, light food, mining,transportation.

●In addition, carry out pilot evaluation to law, medicine andEnglish majors.

－ 23 －教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅱ、General information and development trends of higher education
evaluation in Chinaⅴ、Status quo and trends of specialized programs evaluation(ⅱ) Developing trends：●the Ministry of Education and the Ministry of Personnel, and otherdepartments set up engineering education specialized program
evaluation committee and experts committee in order to co-ordinate
and arrange the national evaluation of engineering education● enlarge the scope of engineering education evaluation, be ready forparticipate the Washington Accord● cooperating with relevant administrative ministries and industry
associations to formulate basic educational requirements, eachprogram guiding committee appointed by the Ministry of Education willplay a more important role

●specialized programs evaluation would be performed step by step,which institutions could take part in voluntary－ 24 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅲ、Main contents of China’s higher education quality
assurance system－ 25 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅲ、Main contents of China’s higher education quality assurance systemⅰⅱⅲ evaluation － to establish periodical evaluation system tosystemevaluate institutions in a systematic and regularmanner and pay more attention classified guidance institutional － to set up basic institutional data collect system todata

strengthen public awareness of the effectiveness of higher
education institutions

 institutional －to enhance monitor such institutional basic running data as
condition

pupil-teacher ratio, teachers with master’ degree among allteachers ratio, student space, student equipment value, librarybooks per student－ 26 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Ⅲ、Main contents of China’s higher education quality assurance systemⅳⅴ

 specialized － to regulate and improve specialized programs teaching quality

programevaluation

evaluation and collaborate with relevant associations to gradually
establish an evaluation system and practice that aligns licensureof qualifications with recognition by professional organizationsintermediary － to develop a system that encourages non-governmental
certification evaluation agencies and utilize such resources in theimplementation of evaluation of universities and collegesⅵinnerassurance－to combine both internal and external evaluation efforts toencourage higher education institutions to develop and nurture
their own quality assurance mechanism－ 27 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Closing sentences

We are really happy to get a chance to participate
APQN open symposium and hope to learn goodexperience and methods in higher education evaluationof Asia-pacific area， further strengthencommunication and cooperation in this field. Thank youvery much!

－ 28 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心Contact information of HEEC

HEEC

谢 谢！

Address：Third floor, Zhongyi Building, No. 4 Dewai Street,
Xicheng District,Beijing, P.R. ChinaZip coed：100011
Emails：Zhihong Li lizhh@moe.edu.cn
Hong Wang wanghong@moe.edu.cn
Min Sheng shengmin@moe.edu.cn
Website：http://www.pgzx.edu.cn电话： +86-10- 58581134 /1052/1129

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真： +86-10-58581130/1131－ 29 －

教育部高等教育教学评估中心