INTERNATIONAL COMPETITION IN HIGHER EDUCATION: CHINA, ASIA, EUROPE AND THE UNITED STATES Kathryn Mohrman Arizona State University Brookings Tsinghua Center January 5, 2010

Background Higher education administrator, national association executive, professor in US & China University Design Consortium—focused on reform and innovation in higher education worldwide Research on public policies regarding world class universities

How are universities worldwide responding to increasing global competition?

Case study universities CHINA –Sichuan, Tianjin, Beijing Normal, Peking, Tsinghua USA –MIT, Berkeley, Michigan EUROPE –Oxford, Paris 06 (Pierre and Marie Curie), ETH (Switzerland)

JAPAN –Tokyo, Kyoto, Tohoku OTHER ASIA –Australian National, Chinese University of Hong Kong, National Taiwan

Research questions How rich are these universities? How research intensive are they? How are they regarded by their peers? Which universities have the strongest base for the competitive market? Which ones are most likely to be successful in the future? Possible directions for further research?

Basic demographics

Enrollments Largest—SCU at almost 60,000 students in 2007 Next—University of Michigan, 39,000 Smallest—MIT with 10,000 Most of the rest between 15,000 and 30,000

Student-faculty ratio (2007) <10—Michigan, Paris06, Tohoku, Tsinghua 10-15—Beijing Normal, MIT, Peking, Tokyo, Kyoto, Tianjin, Chinese U Hong Kong, Oxford, Sichuan >15—National Taiwan, Australian National, Berkeley, ETH

How rich are these universities?

Annual budgets Table 1—University expenditures 2003 and 2007 –Sichuan budget grew 82% –Oxford grew 52% –Beijing Normal grew 48% –Tokyo dropped 1.6% (although Kyoto grew 23% and Tohoku by 12%)

Impact of 985 Project 985 Phase 2Ave annualAve grant as grant (PPP)% of budget SCU 400,000,00028,985,5075.9% TJU 421,000,00030,507,2469.6% BNU 600,000,00043,478, % PKU 2,408,000,000174,492, % THU 3,591,000,000260,217, %

Expenditures per capita Comparing Michigan and Sichuan –Per student—Michigan has 13.6 times the expenditure –Per professor plus researcher—5.5 times Overall (per professor plus researcher) –<$200,000—Sichuan, Paris06, Tianjin, ETH –$ ,000—Beijing Normal, National Taiwan, Oxford, Peking, Tsinghua –$ ,000—Tohoku, Australian National, Chinese U Hong Kong, Kyoto –$ ,000—Tokyo, MIT –>$500,000—Berkeley, Michigan

How research intensive are they?

External research funding Table 2—Research expenditures from external sources 2003 and 2007 –Michigan/Beijing Normal—24 times the expenditure in 2003, 16 times in 2007 –MIT/Tsinghua—2.3 times in 2003, 1.5 times in 2007 –Tokyo/Peking—2.3 times in 2003, 2.0 times in 2007

Growth in research expenditures Percentage change between 2003 and 2007 –<10%--Michigan, Berkeley –10-25%--(no one) –24-50%--MIT, Kyoto, Australian National, ETH, Chinese U Hong Kong –50-70%--Tianjin, Oxford, Tokyo, Tohoku, Beijing Normal –70-100%--Peking, Tsinghua –122%--Sichuan

Budget share for research Table 3—Research expenditures as percentage of total expenditures 2003 and 2007 –Highest (2007) Oxford—36.8%, followed by Berkeley at 32.8% and Tsinghua at 31.2% –Lowest (2007) Chinese U Hong Kong—9.8% –Others between 15% and 28%

Cost effectiveness Table 4—Research expenditures per indexed article in US$ (using PPP) 2007 –Highest (2007) MIT--$163,261 per article –Lowest (2007) Paris06--$36,690 –8 universities lowered per article expense –6 universities increased per article expense

How are these universities regarded by their peers?

Rankings Table 5—Shanghai Jiaotong rankings –Reminder: SJTU looks only at research –Universities are ambitious to move up but competition is increasing –Japanese universities are comparable in per capita performance to Michigan and Paris06 –Chinese universities are comparable to Hong Kong and Taiwan cases –No Chinese university has highly cited researchers

Which universities are most likely to be successful in the future?

Which have the strongest base for competition? American universities are the richest but growing slowly Chinese universities are growing rapidly in total funding and in money for research Tsinghua and Peking have more money per prof plus researcher than Oxford What is the impact of institutional and governmental investments?

Commitment to research Research % is highest at Oxford, Berkeley, and Tsinghua Biggest increases at Oxford, Chinese and Japanese institutions Productivity highest at Tokyo, Berkeley, Kyoto, Paris06 and Peking followed by Australian National and Tohoku

But what else is important? Intellectual environment –Hardware—library, laboratories, equipment –Software—free inquiry, academic honesty Paris06 –Lowest in total $ per prof plus researcher –Low in % expenditure for research –Yet higher in productivity than Michigan, Oxford or MIT

Next generation of scholars and citizens –Commitment to teaching and learning –Nurturing of graduate students Chinese University of Hong Kong –Blend of East and West –Follows an American style undergraduate program, organized by colleges and requiring general education –Low commitment to research (about ¼ of Oxford’s) although increasing as % of total –Modest scholarly productivity

Future research

With more information about how funds are used, more insight into policy decisions –Especially allocation for research and teaching With more universities, more analytical tools are possible –Therefore, how to collect more institutional data, especially from China With more years, more opportunity to analyze trends –Unit of analysis could be institutional or national

Thank you Kathryn Mohrman Professor, School of Public Affairs Director, University Design Consortium Arizona State University