U.S. College Students' Evaluations of Teaching and Its Light on Chinese Higher Education

摘要

Students' evaluations of teaching (SETs) are rather popular and fairly matured in the U.S. higher education institutions, which have been equipped with an objective and reliable management system. This paper aims to explore the practice of SETs in U.S. colleges. Through comparative analysis, the paper tries to shed some light on the SETs in Chinese Higher Education from three perspectives, namely, rationale, method and management system. Finally, the research finds that Chinese colleges may learn from U.S. SETs from the following aspects: First, U.S. colleges have general educational goals; second, U.S. SETs emphasize on teachers' professional ethics and character; third, the independence and objectiveness of U.S. SETs are ensured by a third-party agency; fourth, there is a multi-dimensional and student-centered evaluation criteria system in the U.S. SETs.