Dilemmas faced by a university president in educational reforms

This paper explores higher education reforms in China in the 1990s. Confronted with the furious conflicts and mismatch between the market economy and the highly state-controlled socialist educational system, educational reforms in China are extremely complex and difficult. The authors present a case study here telling the tragedy of a university presidentʹs reforms in China. They have unfolded how the macro system changes impacted on the micro system reforms. They point out that multilayers exist within an organizational culture. Although understanding organizational culture does not guarantee successful reform, however, a thorough understanding of the fabric of an organizational culture may become an effective lever to initiate or implement the context-fitted reforms. The authors try to describe informatively what dilemmas the Chinese IHE leaders were faced with in the 1990s. Seeking new means for school reforms in a time of turbulent policy environment, in a testing period with sharp contradictory forces, school leaders should have not only sharp eyes, clear thinking, and independence but also creativity, endurance, and persistence.