Director: Daniel C. Levy

PROPHEts visit China and Japan 2004

(Reported by Mary Beth Collier)

In December, 2004, PROPHE Director and Distinguished SUNY Professor Daniel Levy led a group of scholars and doctoral students to present at an international conference on private higher education in China. Joining were Kevin Kinser, PROPHE Collaborating Scholar and Assistant Professor at the University of Albany, Juan Carlos Silas, PROPHE Affiliate and a professor at Monterrey University in Mexico, and a PROPHE-invited guest, William Zumeta, Associate Dean of the Daniel J. Evans School of Public Affairs, University of Washington. University at Albany EAPS doctoral students Mary Beth Collier, Makoto Nagasawa, Prachayani Praphamontripong had the opportunity to accompany and present as well.

China has allowed private higher education for only about the past twenty years but has seen a tremendous growth in the number and enrollment levels of these institutions. The Qifang Conference on Private Higher Education at Xi'an International University focused on patterns of development, current issues and trends and concerns shared by private higher education institutions both in China and internationally. Co-organized by Xi'an International University, PROPHE and the Institute of Economics of Education at Peking University, with generous support from the Beijing Ford Foundation, the conference attracted an impressive number of scholars and policymakers from China as well as scholars from Israel, Japan, the Philippines, Turkey, and the United States.

Levy presented a conference keynote speech, "The Private Fit to Salient Higher Education Tendencies," examining evolving issues in higher education and the diverse roles of the private sector in those issues. Kinser discussed for-profit higher education, a topic of great interest to many Chinese private higher education leaders the group met with both at the conference and privately. Zumeta, like Kinser focusing on the US, discussed issues of accountability in private higher education that have significance even in international contexts. Silas and the doctoral students discussed private higher education cases from their home countries (Japan, Thailand, US, respectively on gender, intrasectoral differentiation, and shifting profiles of non-elite Catholic colleges). While particular contexts differed sometimes quite significantly from the Chinese higher education environment, it became clear that many of the theoretical and practical concerns had international relevance. The simultaneous translation between Chinese and English allowed for lively discussion.

While in Xi'an, the PROPHEts had the opportunity to visit two other private universities, Xi'an Siyuan University and Eurasian University of Xi'an, and meet with leaders and faculty members. Topics of discussion included innovation, competition with the public sector and in a global market, and for-profit education. Group members toured the lovely and newly constructed campuses, as well as local landmarks, and were treated to exceptional Chinese hospitality throughout their visit.

The opportunities to learn, share information, and experience Chinese culture and hospitality advanced further when the group traveled on to Beijing. There were both formal and informal discussions with Chinese scholars and graduate students. Dr. Yan Fengqiao, PROPHE Collaborating Scholar and Deputy Director of the Institute of Economics of Education at Peking University, hosted the group's visit to Beijing. PROPHE and the Institute of Economics of Education at Peking University have had a relationship for several years that has resulted not only in this conference but in shared scholarship and opportunities for graduate students in both programs. Of particular interest during the Beijing visit were issues of competition and demand as they affect private higher education institutions in both China and the United States. By no means least of all, Dr. Yan and his graduate students also led spectacular joint trips (the Great Wall, the Forbidden City and many other cultural sites, shopping and dining experiences).

A selected few papers presented at the Qifang International Conference on Private Higher Education may be published, in collaboration among Qifang, Peking University, and PROPHE. More broadly, the experiences of December 2004 reinforce the priority agenda for international study of private higher education in China and beyond.

Additionally, Director Levy and PROPHE student Makoto Nagasawa spent a week in Japan. Levy gave 3 lectures there, in Tokyo and Hiroshima, and he and Nagasawa conducted interviews there and in Kyoto. PROPHE Collaborating Scholars Aki Yonezawa and Yan Fengqiao also participated in some of these settings.