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Sustaining Higher Education Quality by Building an Educational Innovation Ecosystem in China—Policies, Implementations and Effects

Author

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  • Tengteng Zhuang

    (Institute of Higher Education, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

  • Baocun Liu

    (Institute of International and Comparative Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing 100875, China)

Abstract

This article analyzes how China has worked to develop and build a higher education innovation ecosystem in the past decade. Binding its analysis to three types of data, namely clusters of national policies issued by important Chinese government bodies, dozens of articles in an internal journal of the Ministry of Education, and various Chinese media accounts, the article unravels how resources are mobilized and the direction chartered for unprecedented engagement between different stakeholders for education purposes. The findings reveal that the establishment of a higher education innovation ecosystem derives from the need to improve the overall higher education quality in full swing and has been realized as a strategic consensus among the government, enterprises, higher education, and social forces. The ecosystem is underpinned by the assigning of different roles to different stakeholders based on collaboration and division of labor. At the same time, there is also substantive capital, resource mobility, and the infusion of industrial technological expertise underpinning such an innovation ecosystem that involves six categories of collaboration at macro and micro levels. The impact of the higher education innovation ecosystem thus far includes deepened and extensive participation in higher education quality improvement by multiple types of stakeholders and the same type of stakeholders across different tiers. Instructors’ teaching and students’ learning have experienced changes due to the ecosystem’s impact at a micro level, and many institutions have increased shared governance practices to better cater to the synergy among different sides. At the same time, there is an unevenness in the innovation ecosystem in terms of participating higher education institutions and enterprises.

Suggested Citation

  • Tengteng Zhuang & Baocun Liu, 2022. "Sustaining Higher Education Quality by Building an Educational Innovation Ecosystem in China—Policies, Implementations and Effects," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(13), pages 1-22, June.
    • Handle: RePEc:gam:jsusta:v:14:y:2022:i:13:p:7568-:d:844074
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    References listed on IDEAS

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    2. Granstrand, Ove & Holgersson, Marcus, 2020. "Innovation ecosystems: A conceptual review and a new definition," Technovation, Elsevier, vol. 90.
    3. Gawer, Annabelle, 2014. "Bridging differing perspectives on technological platforms: Toward an integrative framework," Research Policy, Elsevier, vol. 43(7), pages 1239-1249.
    4. Sandra Caeiro & Leyla Angélica Sandoval Hamón & Rute Martins & Cecilia Elizabeth Bayas Aldaz, 2020. "Sustainability Assessment and Benchmarking in Higher Education Institutions—A Critical Reflection," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 12(2), pages 1-30, January.
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    Cited by:

    1. Jian Li & Eryong Xue, 2022. "A Social Networking Analysis of Education Policies of Creating World-Class Universities for Higher Education Sustainability in China," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 14(16), pages 1-13, August.
    2. Yuzhuo Cai & Lili-Ann Wolff, 2022. "Education and Sustainable Development Goals," Sustainability, MDPI, vol. 15(1), pages 1-5, December.

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