Higher Education Policy Evolution in China: An Exploration of QA Policy Change and Its Dynamics

China has established the largest higher education system in the world and made great efforts to find an effective quality assurance mechanism through a series of policies and reforms. This article focuses on the external quality assessment (QA) schemes of higher education in China. It illustrates the evolution of Chinese QA policies and explores the dynamics behind the policy evolution using the theoretical lens of punctuated equilibrium theory. Based on policy text analysis and in-depth interviews with policy implementers and consultants, it finds that the QA policies in China went through long periods of stability and two rapid changes. The policy evolution was driven by the changes in both policy image and policy venue. The change from a positive policy image to a negative one, accompanied by the transfer of policy venue, led to the collapse of previous policy stability and drove the emergence of new policies. As a result of continuous methodological experimentation, diverse QA instruments have been established.