China meets anglo-america on the new silk road: A comparison of state, society, self, and higher education

Abstract

The New Silk Road strategy and the rise of China in higher education raises the stakes in the engagement between China’s universities and their Western counterparts, including Anglo-American universities. The chapter focuses on the similarities and differences between Sinic and Anglo-American political and educational cultures (state, society, family, individual) and in collectivism and individualism, and the implications for higher education. The state in China is a comprehensive state rather than an Anglo-American limited liberal state. China has greater potential for collective ties, shared goods, and state intervention in higher education. These are long-standing differences. Since 1949, both state power and indigenous individualism have been enhanced in China, while Anglo-American higher education has moved toward a more exclusively individualized approach to outcomes. There is closer convergence between China and Anglo-American in universities than in the configuration of society, suggesting ongoing potential for divergence in higher education.