An investigation in student agency between vocational and research students in chinese higher education

Despite improvements in Chinese higher education, vocational education and students still experienced stagnation, in terms of both resources and perceptions. Their disadvantages include structural, institutional and cultural aspects. The study investigates and compares student agency in both vocational education and research universities, enriching and critiquing the macro-level structural lens by emphasizing students as active agents. It offers a bottom-up explanation of student agency, investigating contributing factors from all of internal, external, and collective perspectives. The study deploys a mix-method design. The survey of students shows no significant difference in composite agency factors between the vocational and research university students t(69) = .427, p = .670. However, it finds that students who received bursaries were significantly lower in agency than students who did not, t(66) = -2.13, p = .037. The institutional constraints on low SES students are discussed in relation to structural theorisations such as the Bourdieusian framework. In contrast, the semi-structured interviews with twenty-three participants revealed the transformational and reflective power of student agency. The thesis argues that among these students, habitus and capital were not determinants of student agency. Misfits between habitus and circumstances led to habitus transformation, resilience and resistance. The process of transformation was apparent in evolving identity, values and future plans. Reflexivity was encouraged through deep learning, participatory activities and mobility. Finally, conformity was identified as a form of collective agency among Chinese higher education students as a means of resisting ‘powerlessness’. Agency works both as a mean and as an end in the recognition and empowerment of less resourced members in the higher education system. Recommendations are made in relation to both students and policies.