The Equity of Gaokao (National University/College Entrance Examination) in China

Authors

  • Xiaoyan Jing Shandong Shengli Vocational College
  • Li Liu Department of Teacher and Bilingual Education, Texas A&M University-Kingsville

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.30564/ret.v2i3.881

Abstract

Gaokao, the college/university entrance examination, has been playing a decisive role in the access of higher education in China since 1949. This high-stakes examination has received increasing criticisms these years about the contents and forms of the exam. This article brie+y examines the development of Gaokao, and focuses on the equity of educational opportunities the examinees can have in different provinces and rural and urban areas, which is the critical way to individual success and the promotion of social mobility. There is inequity of educational opportunities in different provinces as well as the rural and urban areas. The Ministry of Education (MoE) in China has adopted optional examination approaches, inequity, however, arises in them too. Remedial reform is implemented and Gaokao at present is still the effective system while optional system is available.

Keywords:

Equity, Gaokao, Education opportunities

References

[1] Davey, G., De Lian, C., & Higgins, L. (2007). The university entrance examination system in China. Journal of further and Higher Education, 31(4),385-396 DOI:10.1080/03098770701625761

[2] Fan, S., Kanbur, R., & Zhang, X. (2009). Regional inequity in china: an overview. In S. Fan, R. Kanbur and X. Zhang (Ed). Regional inequity in China:Trends, explanations and policy responses, (1-12).New York, NY: Routledge.

[3] Hannum, E., An, X., & Cherng, H. Y. S. (2011). Examinations and educational opportunity in China: Mobility and bottlenecks for the rural poor. Oxford Review of Education, 37(2), 267-305.

[4] DOI: 10.1080/03054985.2011.559387

[5] Li, F., Zhou, M., & Fan, B. (2014). Can distance education increase educational equity? Evidence from the expansion of Chinese higher education. Studies in Higher Education, 39(10), 1811-1822.

[6] DOI: 10.1080/03075079.2013.806462.

[7] Liu, Y. (2013). Meritocracy and the Gaokao: a survey study of higher education selection and socio-economic participation in East China. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 34(5-6), 868-887.

[8] DOI: 10.1080/01425692.2013.816237

[9] National Bureau of Statistics of China (2017), China Statistical Yearbook, http://www.stats.gov.cn/tjsj/ndsj/2017/html/EN2114.jpg (accessed on August 2018).

[10] Pepper, S. (1978). Education and revolution: The” Chinese model” revised. Asian Survey, 18(9), 847-890.

[11] Ross, H., & Wang, Y. (2010). The college entrance examination in China: An overview of its social-cultural foundations, existing problems, and consequences: Guest editors’ introduction. Chinese Education&Society, 43(4),3-10. DOI: 10.2753/CED1061-1932430400

[12] Wang, H. (2010). Research on the in+uence of college entrance examination policies on the fairness of higher education admissions opportunities in China. Chinese Education & Society, 43(6), 15-35.

[13] DOI: 10.2753/CED1061-1932430601

[14] Wu, X. (2017). Higher education, elite formation and social strati@cation in contemporary China: Preliminary @ndings from the Beijing college students panel survey. Chinese Journal of Sociology, 3(1),3-31. DOI: 10.1177/2057150X16688144

Downloads

Issue

Article Type

Review Article