J. M. Beach

Academic Capitalism in China: Higher Education or Fraud? J. M. Beach

Students without motivation or vision enroll in higher education because of social pressure and the imperative to conform. They enroll not because they want to learn, nor because they want to personally develop, but because they must earn a college degree if they want a chance at a decent job and entry into the middle class. Students have become capitalists. They are clients looking to invest their economic and human capital in order to secure their future. In such an environment, education as personal development is lost. Academic capitalism is corrupting higher education, especially with the rise of new types of profit-driven institutions, which breach the academic integrity of the traditional university. Globally, for-profit programs are selling college credits, rather than offering quality higher education. This book explores the larger context of higher education in China, while also focusing on a specific case study of a for-profit international summer school program, China X.