Centralization and Decentralization: Educational Reforms and Changing Governance in Chinese Societies

Globalization has brought dramatic changes to the character and functions of education in most countries around the world. However, the impact of globalization on schools and universities is not uniform. One public-policy strategy that has been widely adopted is decentralization; but there is no consensus on whether centralization or decentralization is more effective to improve organization and management in education. This book is contextualized in the literature on globalization, and examines how policies of decentralization have affected the running of education in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai, Singapore, Macau and Mainland China. It analyzes the strategies that the governments of the selected societies have adopted in reforming the structure of education system, mobilizing different forces to create more educational opportunities and devising new measures to assure quality in the education sector.

Mok Ka-Ho is Associate Dean in the Faculty of Humanities & Social Sciences at the City University of Hong Kong. He has written extensively in the domains of public policy and comparative education.