Fenghua Liang

Fujian Normal University

Abstract：

As global higher education shifts from “scale expansion” to “internal quality construction,” universities in China face the dual challenges of a declining school-age population and the solidification of existing resource stocks. Using a comparative analysis approach, this study selects the Technical University of Munich (TUM), Nanyang Technological University (NTU), and the École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne (EPFL) as research samples. It examines how these three “Newly Formed” World-Class universities, operating within public systems, overcame institutional inertia and enrollment crises to achieve leapfrog improvements in rankings through the restructuring of governance structures, optimization of resource allocation, and reform of personnel systems. The findings indicate that “Newly Formed” world-class universities follow a logic of “agile governance under strong administration.” The core of this logic lies in cultivating an “entrepreneurial” organizational culture and establishing globalized talent replacement mechanisms. These findings offer significant implications for the construction of “Double First-Class” universities in China.

Key Words：

“Newly Formed”World-class Universities; intensive development; institutional logic