Globalization has brought dramatic changes to the character and functions of education in most countries around the world. However, the impact of globalization on schools and universities is not uniform. One public-policy strategy that has been widely adopted is decentralization; but there is no consensus on whether centralization or decentralization is more effective to improve organization and management in education.
This book is contextualized in the literature on globalization, and examines how policies of decentralization have affected the running of education in Hong Kong, Taiwan, Shanghai, Singapore, Macau and Mainland China. It analyzes the strategies that the governments of the selected societies have adopted in reforming the structure of education systems, mobilizing different forces to create more educational opportunities, and devising new measures to assure quality in the education sector.

1. Centralization and Decentralization: Changing Governance in Education.- Education Reforms and Changing Education Systems.- 2. The Politics of Decentralization: A Case Study of School Management Reform in Hong Kong.- 3. Centralization and Decentralization in Educational Governance in Taiwan.- 4. Centralization and Decentralization in Educational Governance in Taiwan.- 5. Towards Centralization and Decentralization.in Educational Development in China: The Case of Shanghai.- 6. Women's Education in China's New Socialist Market Economy.- Changing Governance in Higher Education.- 7. Centralization and Decentralization: Changing Governance in Education.- 8. Centralization and Decentralization in Higher Education: A Comparative Study of Hong Kong and Taiwan.- 9. Universities for Knowledge Economies: Hong Kong and the Chinese Mainland within Globalization and Decentralization.- 10. Progress and Paradoxes: New Developments in China's Higher Education.- Conclusion.- 11. Beyond Decentralization: Changing Roles of the State in Education.- Notes on the Authors.