The Shrinking Opportunities: Participation of Rural Students in Leading Chinese Universities

• In Event: College Access Policy on the Disadvantaged in China: Perspectives of Different Groups

Abstract

YANG Mingquan
Associate Professor, Institute of International and Comparative Education (IICE),
Beijing Normal University

1. Objectives
It is an astonishing fact that rural students are being massively underrepresented in Chinese leading universities. While they have always struggled to secure places at top universities, in recent years the situation for rural students has actually deteriorated. The proportion of rural students at Tsinghua University, which ranked 35th on The Times Higher Education magazine's list of world's top 100 universities in 2011, has dropped to a historical low point (Beijing Review, 2011). The reasons why it is so hard for the rural students to be enrolled in top universities in China are the central thrust of this study. Specifically, this study intends to (a) systematically examine the relevant official documents and policies and synthesize exiting studies associate with it; (b) discuss underlying reasons of disparities of urban and rural students in access to higher education; (c) put forward the possible ways to expand rural student’s participation in higher education.

2. Theoretical Framework
This study theoretically relies on three frameworks: (a) the college-choice process of Hossler, Braxton, and Coopersmith (1989) consisting of three elements (predispositions, searches, and choices); (b) the idea of capital including social and cultural capital Bourdieu (1984) describes, and (3) reproduction presented by Bourdieu and Passeron (1970) arguing that school systems function as reproducing and legitimating social inequality.

3. Methods and Data Sources
Both quantitative and qualitative approaches are employed in this research. The 1675 questionnaires are distributed to collect comprehensive data of rural students in five leading universities in China. Interviews are conducted for 20 students, 10 teachers, 5 school administrators, and 4 government officials respectively to collect the first-hand information. Meanwhile, the books, such as Chinese Statistic Yearbook and articles related to the topic are also reviewed to find some important implications.

4. Research Findings
It is indicated from the research findings that there exists substantial disparities between urban and rural students in entering the Chinese top universities and on average, only 20% of students in leading universities are from rural areas. The main reasons for this phenomenon are imbalanced distribution of educational resources; rural education suffers heavily from a shortage of fund and a lack of qualified teachers; economic burden of pursing higher education drives rural students to discontinue their study.

5. Educational and Scholarly Significance of the Study
Across China, the college-age population from rural areas makes up 56% of the total, while only 50% of university students comes from rural areas, mostly concentrated in China’s vocational schools or less prestigious universities in 2012. Yet the very top universities are the most skewed toward city residents. This study is expected to have implications for educators and policymakers in designing policies that foster equal higher education opportunities between urban and rural students.

Author

• Mingquan Yang, Beijing Normal University