Project 6

Sociological Research Examining Higher Education Admissions Policies in Beijing, China

The sociological study of inequalities has long been concerned with questions concerning the role of education in creating a fairer society and whether it just serves as a means for the advantaged to consolidate pre-existing privileges.
This thesis adds to the existing literature by addressing the questions of how family background, type of high school, college entrance scores, and participation in the alternative admissions scheme - Independent Freshman's Admissions (IFA) - help structures access to tertiary education in Beijing, China. I examine territory education in terms of both university prestige and choice of university major.

My research interests stem from my observation of the relatively limited amount of research examining how familial and structural patterns of class differentials are produced through educational practices at the micro level in the local context.

Drawing on Bourdieu’s work on habitus and social reproduction theory, in this study, I focused on how individual pathways and destinations are embedded within a range of familial and structural factors that influence education from an early age.

As such, I employed a sequential exploratory design in which the first phase was a qualitative exploration of how current students described their schooling experiences and family influences on their choices of university and subject area.

For the qualitative component of this dissertation, I conducted 62 one-on-one interviews with 60 university students and 2 admissions tutors across 7 universities, each averaging approximately one hour.
- The interviews were structured in a blended format to enable constant reflection on and adaptation of the interview guide.

For the quantitative aspect of this dissertation, I utilized the Beijing College Student Panel Survey (2009), which employs the probability proportional to size sampling method, with the university serving as the primary sampling unit (PSU).
- Data analysis encompassed both descriptive and inferential statistical methods, which were appropriate for testing the study's hypotheses.
- The primary dependent variable was the category of university attended, as classified by prestige.
- Statistical models were constructed as partial proportional odds models, where some explanatory variables were selectively relaxed, while others were maintained to ensure they did not violate the proportional odds assumption.

Aligning the University Sampling Strategies Used in Quantitative and Qualitative Research: Efforts were made to select universities that best reflected the hierarchical nature of the Chinese university system.

Qualitative Findings

The qualitative component of this dissertation revelled the deepening geographical inequalities in access to higher education opportunities in China.

While the uneven distribution of educational resources and infrastructure has certainly had direct impacts on educational attainment, the reasons for geographical inequalities in China are more than just economic.

The coupled effects of the residential permit and place of residence have led to differentiated cut-off points and quota policies that have undermined the meritocracy and exacerbated geographical inequalities in opportunity structures.

Quantitative Findings

Though national statistics gathered by the Ministry of Education showed that women started to outnumber men in bachelor's programmes in 2006 and eventually exceeded men in master’s programmes enrolment in 2009.

However, the empirical results showed that although women appear to exceed their male counterparts in enrolment in bachelor’s and master’s programmes at the national level, a potential hidden gender stratification and differentiation might have been established, with men still enjoying considerable advantages in attending well-recognised postsecondary institutions in better-resourced cities.

This means that lower positioned universities are predominantly attended by female local students.

In addition, the results from the quantitative models indicated that coming from a college-educated family provides an advantage in obtaining special preferential recruitment placement; this finding is significant for both sexes.

In this dissertation, I have presented both qualitative and quantitative evidence for Beijing, China, regarding the magnitude and drivers of long-standing differences in university entry among young people from various familial and demographic backgrounds who are funnelled into universities with different levels of prestige.

I regard this study as a starting point for examining the similarities and differences in university access, opportunities and experiences in HE.

Selected chapters of this dissertation were presented at the annual American Sociological Association's Conference in 2018 Philadelphia, USA, which is considered the premier conference in the field.

Research Mindset: What I benefited from most during my PhD experiences was not merely the mastery of specific research methods, but rather the cultivation of a research mindset. This mindset is about dissecting a problem logically, formulating relevant hypotheses, and then selecting appropriate methods from the toolkit, rather than immediately diving into methodology. This approach will serve me well for a lifetime, regardless of the type of problem I am solving, whether in academic or applied settings.
- In my collaborations with designers, they sometimes approach me, saying, "we need to launch this survey." I usually respond by asking, "wait...can you remind me of the problem you're trying to address?" If they cannot clearly articulate the research problem early on, then methodology should not be the primary concern at that point.

"Absolute Rigour": In applied settings, due to the rapid pace of product development, researchers often sacrifice a degree of rigour. My doctoral advisor always emphasised, "your PhD dissertation must embody ABSOLUTE RIGOUR." While applying absolute rigour in an industry setting may not always be feasible, I strive to maintain integrity and remember the lessons taught by my advisor, applying that wisdom in my day-to-day work.

Disclaimer: Please note that the content presented here has been adjusted in accordance with confidentiality protocols.