Chinese Journal of Sociology ›› 2016, Vol. 36 ›› Issue (5): 155-174.

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Market Transition, Educational Differentiation and Urban-Rural Inequality in Chinese Higher Education (1977-2008)

PANG Shengmin   

  1. Department of Sociology, Peking University
  • Online:2016-09-20 Published:2016-09-20

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Abstract:

Since the 1990s, the urban-rural inequality in higher education access has become increasingly severe in China. Drawn from the data of the 2008 Chinese General Social Survey, this study applies the Mare Model to analyze the evolutional process of urban-rural inequality in higher education access. Results show that the urban-rural gap begins in two transitional stages of schooling:elementary to junior and junior to senior, with the latter playing a much more significant role to the discrepancy. The after-school tutoring market is particularly beneficial to the urban students from non-key junior high schools. Because of it, the difference between them and their rural counterpart amplifies dramatically during the important transition from junior to senior high schools. As a result, while higher education has expanded continuously since the 1990s, the urban-rural inequality in educational access is becoming even more prominent. Nevertheless, the marketization of education does not seem to have a significant impact on the access inequality between the urban and rural students from key junior high schools. It appears that key school system itself is not the culprit causing the inequality. The study concludes that in order to reduce the urban-rural inequality in higher education access, it is crucial to bring down the disparity in elementary education, and more importantly, to improve the quality of rural junior high school education. It also recommends a guided expansion of after-school tutoring market in rural area.

Key words: urban-rural inequality in gaining access to higher education, market transition, key-point secondary school