Higher Education as a Field of Study in China: Defining Knowledge and Curriculum Structure concerns the complexity of higher education as an academic field—the evolving nature of the field in light of the overall development of higher education in China. It reviews how higher education as a field of study has evolved in China since 1978 and how the field has been shaped by political and social forces, as well as institutional culture.
Xin Wang argues that higher education is becoming an interdisciplinary field rather than a subfield under the discipline of education, especially when higher education has become an enterprise with such a broad scope in China. Wang also expresses a belief that the field of higher education is being challenged by the professional need for preparing and training competent professionals for various administrative positions in China. Higher education as a field will be professionalized with its own knowledge base and a set of skills in applying this knowledge to practical areas.
This book also provides an account of the U.S. model of higher education as an example—how the field was formed and developed, how it has evolved from a generalized area of inquiry into a professional specialization, how programs of higher education are structured, what classes they offer, and what challenges they face. The U.S. model presents a comparative perspective for Chinese scholars and program directors about higher education as a field of study.

As a young scholar who has received education from China and the U.S., Wang Xin writes about higher education in his home country with analytical perspective and rich understanding of China?s social and political contexts. Full of insight, his book integrates the study of Chinese higher education with international standpoint. I enthusiastically recommend this book to the students and scholars who want to know more about the future direction of the higher education research and study in China. -- Lan Jinsong, Tsinghua University
This well-researched volume offers fascinating insights into the character of doctoral programs in the field of higher education in China. Programs at eight leading universities are profiled and interesting comparisons are made with the way in which this field developed at an earlier period in the United States. An informative and thought-provoking study, this is essential reading for those who wish to understand the scholarship behind the rapid development of Chinese universities in recent years. -- Ruth Hayhoe, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

Xin Wang is associate professor of Chinese Studies and acting director of Asian Studies at Baylor University in Waco, Texas.