Higher Education as a Common Good in China: A Case Study for Ideas and Practices

Abstract

China began its modern system of higher education with the establishment of the former Peking University in Beijing in 1898. The traditional Confucian philosophy of education has been replaced dramatically by modern western philosophy. However, since the communist party came to power in 1949, the philosophy of higher education has experienced much more dramatic changes. In Mao’s time between 1949 and 1976, Maoism philosophy largely displaced Western, so-called capitalistic, philosophy and dominated Chinese higher education for almost 30 years.