Learning in the Margins? Students’ Academic Experience at Middle-Tier Higher Education Institutions in China

Abstract

The Chinese higher education system has undergone rapid massification, which results in unprecedented growth in student enrolments and increasing institutional stratification. This expansion has widened access for disadvantaged, non-traditional students, although concerns remain about whether students’ academic experiences and engagement have kept pace with these changes. This paper explores students’ academic engagement at three erben yuanxiao (二本院校). These middle-tier institutions occupy a lower position in the institutional hierarchy: many of them strive to become research-intensive universities, but lack resources to foster rich academic environments. Drawing on qualitative data collected from working with 37 underprivileged rural students studying at these institutions, this paper explores their experiences with curriculum, teaching and learning, and assessment, and their relationship with knowledge. I argue that given the structural constraints faced at these institutions, there is an excessive emphasis on individual autonomy and responsibilities for meaningful academic engagement. The findings also suggest that students were actively seeking and selecting forms of knowledge that they perceived as meaningful for their studies and future trajectories, particularly in resource-constrained environments. The paper challenges deficit-based notions of students’ “lack of academic engagement” and calls for a more critical, context-specific understanding of their experiences of curriculum, teaching, and assessment.