普及化趋势下国外高等教育系统变革研究综述:理论与实践

A Systematic Review of the English Literature on System Reform of Universal Higher Education

高等教育普及化已成为全球高等教育发展的一个主流趋势。文章围绕普及化阶段高等教育系统变革这一问题,从理论和实践两个方面梳理了相关英文文献研究成果。在理论方面,现有研究主要从社会学理论、制度理论、经济学理论等跨学科视角切入,采用定量及定性的研究方法对普及化阶段高等教育系统变革进行了理论建构和阐释;在实践探析方面,现有研究发现普及化阶段高等教育系统私有化趋势加剧,高校组织结构呈现多元化及综合化,进而促使高校内部治理结构的横向分化及法人化,高校质量保障外部问责力度不断加大。此外,高校教学及课程在普及化阶段呈现半结构化及信息化趋势。基于现有研究,未来相关研究应在丰富理论建构视角的基础上,加强对不同国家的差异性比较研究,并积极探索非精英高等教育机构的发展路径。

The universal participation has become one of the central trends for worldwide higher education. This article examines the research into the changes of universal higher education system from the theoretical and practical perspective based on a systematic review of the English literature. From the theoretical perspective, the research inspects several approaches from sociology and political economy to explain the changes of universal higher education system by using qualitative and quantitative method, Then the research examines successively the changes in application and practice, and finds that the universal higher education system is featured with increasing privatization and system differentiation, resulting in higher education institutions increasingly adopting corporate forms, robust internal governance and intensified public accountability. In addition, the teaching and curriculum of higher education are highly influenced by ICT and become less-structured. The future research should further diversify the perspective of theory construction and explore the differences between countries as well as the development rout of lower-level higher education institutions.