Urban/Rural Disparities in Access to Elite Higher Education: The Case of Tsinghua University

The state plays an essential role in distributing higher education enrollment opportunities, especially in a state with a strong government like China. Many rural students have gained access to universities with the national higher education expansion in recent years, but their chances of entering elite universities still lag far behind that of their urban counterparts. By Analyzing the case of Tsinghua University, this study finds that the access gap between rural and urban students to elite universities, though still big, has been considerably narrowed since 2010 after a series of preferential policies on enhancing rural students’ educational access has been implemented. Due to the close relationship between Chinese government and its universities, China’s higher education system has responded quickly to national reform and has played an important role in promoting social mobility and reducing social inequalities. Besides, gender inequity in access to elite universities is still detected – the chance for female rural students to access elite universities was lower than for male students in either urban or rural districts. We suggest that the higher education enrollment policy should consider more about the intersectional status of rural students in favor of educational equity for the underprivileged.