China's Higher Education Reform and Internationalisation [1 ed.] 9780203842775, 9780415582254

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CHINA’S HIGHER EDUCATION REFORM AND INTERNATIONALISATION Edited by Janette Ryan

China’s Higher Education Reform and Internationalisation

Despite radical and fundamental reform of the Chinese higher education system, very little is known about this outside China. The past decade has seen radical reform of all levels of China’s education system as it attempts to meet changing economic and social needs and aspirations; this has included transformation of university curricula, pedagogy and evaluation measures, rapidly increasing joint research and degree programmes between Chinese universities and universities abroad, and very large numbers of Chinese students studying at universities outside China. This book describes the historical, cultural, intellectual and contemporary background and contexts of the reform and internationalisation of higher education in China. It discusses these changes, outlines the challenges posed by the changes for university administrators, faculty, researchers, students and those working with Chinese academics and students in China and abroad, and assesses the impact, and evaluates the success, of the changes. Most importantly, it considers how this mobility of people and ideas across educational systems and cultures can contribute to new ways of working and understanding between Western and Chinese academic cultures. The book is a companion to Education Reform in China, which focuses on broader education reform including at the early childhood, primary and secondary levels and education more broadly. Janette Ryan is a Lecturer in Education at Monash University, Australia. Her publications include International Education and the Chinese Learner (Hong Kong University Press, 2010).

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Routledge contemporary China series

1 Nationalism, Democracy and National Integration in China Leong Liew and Wang Shaoguang 2 Hong Kong’s Tortuous Democratization A comparative analysis Ming Sing 3 China’s Business Reforms Institutional challenges in a globalised economy Edited by Russell Smyth and Cherrie Zhu 4 Challenges for China’s Development An enterprise perspective Edited by David H. Brown and Alasdair MacBean

8 The Politics of China’s Accession to the World Trade Organization The dragon goes global Hui Feng 9 Narrating China Jia Pingwa and his fictional world Yiyan Wang 10 Sex, Science and Morality in China Joanne McMillan 11 Politics in China Since 1949 Legitimizing authoritarian rule Robert Weatherley

5 New Crime in China Public order and human rights Ron Keith and Zhiqiu Lin

12 International Human Resource Management in Chinese Multinationals Jie Shen and Vincent Edwards

6 Non-Governmental Organizations in Contemporary China Paving the way to civil society? Qiusha Ma

13 Unemployment in China Economy, human resources and labour markets Edited by Grace Lee and Malcolm Warner

7 Globalization and the Chinese City Fulong Wu

14 China and Africa Engagement and compromise Ian Taylor

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15 Gender and Education in China Gender discourses and women’s schooling in the early twentieth century Paul J. Bailey 16 SARS Reception and interpretation in three Chinese cities Edited by Deborah Davis and Helen Siu 17 Human Security and the Chinese State Historical transformations and the modern quest for sovereignty Robert E. Bedeski 18 Gender and Work in Urban China Women workers of the unlucky generation Liu Jieyu 19 China’s State Enterprise Reform From Marx to the market John Hassard, Jackie Sheehan, Meixiang Zhou, Jane TerpstraTong and Jonathan Morris 20 Cultural Heritage Management in China Preserving the cities of the Pearl River delta Edited by Hilary du Cros and Yok-shiu F. Lee 21 Paying for Progress Public finance, human welfare and inequality in China Edited by Vivienne Shue and Christine Wong

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22 China’s Foreign Trade Policy The new constituencies Edited by Ka Zeng 23 Hong Kong, China Learning to belong to a nation Gordon Mathews, Tai-lok Lui and Eric Kit-wai Ma 24 China Turns to Multilateralism Foreign policy and regional security Edited by Guoguang Wu and Helen Lansdowne 25 Tourism and Tibetan Culture in Transition A place called Shangrila Åshild Kolås 26 China’s Emerging Cities The making of new urbanism Edited by Fulong Wu 27 China–US Relations Transformed Perceptions and strategic interactions Edited by Suisheng Zhao 28 The Chinese Party-State in the 21st Century Adaptation and the reinvention of legitimacy Edited by André Laliberté and Marc Lanteigne 29 Political Change in Macao Sonny Shiu-Hing Lo 30 China’s Energy Geopolitics The Shanghai cooperation organization and Central Asia Thrassy N. Marketos

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31 Regime Legitimacy in Contemporary China Institutional change and stability Edited by Thomas Heberer and Gunter Schubert

39 Intellectual Property Rights in China Politics of piracy, trade and protection Gordon Cheung

32 U.S.–China Relations China policy on Capitol Hill Tao Xie

40 Developing China Land, politics and social conditions George C.S. Lin

33 Chinese Kinship Contemporary anthropological perspectives Edited by Susanne Brandtstädter and Gonçalo D. Santos

41 State and Society Responses to Social Welfare Needs in China Serving the people Edited by Jonathan Schwartz and Shawn Shieh

34 Politics and Government in Hong Kong Crisis under Chinese sovereignty Edited by Ming Sing

42 Gay and Lesbian Subculture in Urban China Loretta Wing Wah Ho

35 Rethinking Chinese Popular Culture Cannibalizations of the Canon Edited by Carlos Rojas and Eileen Cheng-yin Chow 36 Institutional Balancing in the Asia Pacific Economic interdependence and China’s rise Kai He 37 Rent Seeking in China Edited by Tak-Wing Ngo and Yongping Wu 38 China, Xinjiang and Central Asia History, transition and crossborder interaction into the 21st century Edited by Colin Mackerras and Michael Clarke

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43 The Politics of Heritage Tourism in China A view from Lijiang Xiaobo Su and Peggy Teo 44 Suicide and Justice A Chinese perspective Wu Fei 45 Management Training and Development in China Educating managers in a globalized economy Edited by Malcolm Warner and Keith Goodall 46 Patron–Client Politics and Elections in Hong Kong Bruce Kam-kwan Kwong 47 Chinese Family Business and the Equal Inheritance System Unravelling the myth Victor Zheng

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48 Reconciling State, Market and Civil Society in China The long march towards prosperity Paolo Urio

53 Industrialisation and Rural Livelihoods in China Agricultural processing in Sichuan Susanne Lingohr-Wolf

49 Innovation in China The Chinese software industry Shang-Ling Jui

54 Law, Policy and Practice on China’s Periphery Selective adaptation and institutional capacity Pitman B. Potter

50 Mobility, Migration and the Chinese Scientific Research System Koen Jonkers

55 China–Africa Development Relations Edited by Christopher M. Dent

51 Chinese Film Stars Edited by Mary Farquhar and Yingjin Zhang

56 Neoliberalism and Culture in China and Hong Kong The countdown of time Hai Ren

52 Chinese Male Homosexualities Memba, Tongzhi and golden boy Travis S.K. Kong

57 China’s Higher Education Reform and Internationalisation Edited by Janette Ryan

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‘The meeting of East and West’: Participants at the Education in China Conference, Keble College, Oxford 27–29 March 2009 [Cover photograph was taken by Ms Yanran He, a Masters student at the University of Oxford] Left to right Back row:

Kathy Xu (University of Oxford), Aisi Li (University of Oxford), Yuping Li (Inner Mongolia Ministry of Education), George Zhou (University of Windsor), Qiming Mao (University of Oxford), Chong Tao (University of Bristol), Xiaohui Zheng (East China Normal University), Wen-Jung Peng (University of Bristol), Jingyu Feng (University of Bristol), Phan Van Que (Hanoi University), Wee Tiong Seah (Monash University), Ian Mitchell (Monash Hanoi University), Le Thi Viet (Hanoi University), Gaalen Erickson (University of British Columbia), Libby Tudball (Monash University), Mona Chung (Deakin University), Zuochen Zhang (University of Windsor), Mary Slethaug (Denmark), Phiona Stanley (Monash University), Rosemary Viete (Monash University), Gordon Slethaug (University of Southern Denmark), Joan Ozanne-Smith (Monash University), Martin Cortazzi (University of Warwick), Alex Cortazzi, Richard Ingleby (Victorian Bar and North China University of Technology), Lixian Jin (de Montford University), Kam Louie (University of Hong Kong), and Rui Yang (University of Hong Kong). Front row: Hexian Xue (South China University of Technology), Shijing Xu (University of Windsor), Yuan Li (University of Manchester), Principal Liu Keqin (Beijing Zhongguansun Number 4 School), Phan Le Ha (Monash University), Changyun Kang (Beijing Normal University and University of British Columbia), Janette Ryan (Monash University), Tinghua Zhou (University of Oxford), Hongqin Fang (University of Oxford and Chinese Ministry of Education), and Nguyen Minh Phuong (Hanoi University).

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China’s Higher Education Reform and Internationalisation

Edited by Janette Ryan

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First published 2011 by Routledge 2 Park Square, Milton Park, Abingdon, Oxon, OX14 4RN Simultaneously published in the USA and Canada by Routledge 270 Madison Avenue, New York, NY 10016 Routledge is an imprint of the Taylor & Francis Group, an informa business © 2011 Janette Ryan for selection and editorial matter; individual contributors their contribution The right of Janette Ryan to be identified as editor of this work has been asserted by her in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patent Act 1988. Typeset in Times New Roman by Glyph International Ltd. Printed and bound in Great Britain by The MPG Books Group All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reprinted or reproduced or utilised in any form or by any electronic, mechanical, or other means, now known or hereafter invented, including photocopying and recording, or in any information storage or retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publishers. British Library Cataloguing in Publication Data A catalogue record for this book is available from the British Library Library of Congress Cataloging in Publication Data China’s higher education reform and internationalisation / edited by Janette Ryan. p. cm. – (Routledge contemporary China series) Includes bibliographical references and index. 1. Education, Higher–China. 2. Educational change–China. 3. Education and globalization–China. I. Ryan, Janette, 1956– LA1133.C4435 2011 378.51–dc22 2010011734 ISBN 13: 978-0-415-58225-4 (hbk) ISBN 13: 978-0-203-84277-5 (ebk)

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Contents

List of tables List of figures Acknowledgements Contributors

xii xiii xiv xv 1

Introduction JANE T T E R YAN

PART I

Internationalisation and reform of China’s higher education: Structures and policies 1

Enter the Dragon: The internationalisation of China’s higher education system

7

9

ANT HONY W E L C H AND HON G X I N G C A I

2

Chinese ways of thinking in the transformation of China’s higher education system

34

R UI YANG

3

Reform and development of teaching assessment in China’s higher education institutions

48

HONGQIN FANG

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x Contents PART II

Reform and internationalisation: Programmes and pedagogies 4 Preparing for the twenty-first century: Liberal education and undergraduate educational reform at Sun Yat-sen University

65

69

L E SL IE ST ONE

5 Cross-cultural team teaching in China: A retrospective view

87

GOR DON SL E T HAUG

6 Transition in Chinese–British higher education articulation programmes: Closing the gap between East and West?

104

JUNXIA HOU, C AT HE R INE MO N TG O MER Y A N D LI Z McD O W ELL

PART III

International education and exchange: Experiences and expectations 7 Understanding Chinese international students at a Canadian university: Perspectives, expectations and experiences

121

123

Z UOC HE N Z HANG AND G EO R G E ZH O U

8 Managing change and transition: Chinese students’ experiences in British higher education

134

QING GU

9 Chinese international students in Australia: Creating new knowledge and identities

151

JANE T T E R YAN AND R OS EMA R Y V I ETE

PART IV

Intercultural education: Values and motivations

169

10 Overcoming the cultural challenges in supervising Chinese research students in Australia

173

M ONA C HUNG AND R IC H A R D I N G LEB Y

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Contents xi 11 The hidden curriculum: A critical analysis of tertiary English teaching in China

193

PHIONA ST ANL E Y

12 Costs and benefits of international education: Chinese Masters students at the University of Oxford

211

T INGHUA Z HOU

13 Chinese students studying abroad: The role of parents’ investment in their children’s education

237

SHAOHUA W ANG

Index

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253

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Tables

1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 3.1 8.1 11.1 12.1 12.2 12.3

Chinese students studying abroad and returning, 1978–99 Chinese students studying abroad, by category, 1997–2000 ASEAN students in Chinese Universities, 2000–6 University scholarships offered by China, 2003–4 and 2004–5 Overseas talent recruitment schemes The criteria for teaching assessment of undergraduate education Large/small power distance societies and teaching and learning cultures Participant teachers and informants’ biographical data Top three international student groups (non-EU nations) 2006–8 Numbers of Chinese students in taught full-time Masters programmes 2006, 2007 and 2008 Demographic data for Chinese Masters students in Oxford

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15 15 18 18 19 55 143 198 217 217 219

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Figures

1.1 1.2 1.3 8.1

8.2 9.1 11.1 12.1 12.2 12.3 12.4 12.5 12.6

Ha Noi’s Temple of Literature Number of Chinese students and scholar returnees, 1997–2007 Chinese students studying overseas, 1997–2007 Numbers of applications from China and accepted Chinese applicants by qualification (degree, foundation degree and HND), between 1996 and 2007 Percentages of accepted applicants by country, between 2003 and 2008 Liang – excerpts from a third-year student’s narrative The self-perpetuating problem of pressure on teachers to be ‘fun’ Types of capital in Bourdieu’s theory Costs during the application process grouped by gender Monthly living expenses grouped by gender Current students’ expected annual earnings by gender Alumni’s actual annual earnings by gender Expected earnings grouped by ranking of previous university

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11 14 16

138 138 161 203 215 220 221 222 223 223

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Acknowledgements

I would like to acknowledge the funding provided by the Contemporary China Studies Programme at the University of Oxford that, along with further support received from Monash University, made it possible to convene the conference on ‘Education Reform in China’ at Keble College University of Oxford in March 2009 which provided the impetus for this book.

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Contributors

Hongxing Cai is a PhD candidate in the Faculty of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. He was a Lecturer at Yanbian University, China, and Project Officer at the China Scholarship Council, the Ministry of Education. His PhD is on the Chinese knowledge diaspora in the development of Chinese universities. Mona Chung is a bicultural expert in cross-cultural communication addressing the cultural gaps between Westerners and Chinese in the fields of commerce and education. She is a frequent guest speaker at public forums and universities and has published widely on cross-cultural business. She teaches international business, management and marketing at Deakin University, Australia. Hongqin Fang is a Researcher for the Higher Education Evaluation Centre of the Chinese Ministry of Education. She was a Visiting Scholar at the University of Oxford, UK, in 2009 and her PhD from East China Normal University was on quality assurance in higher education. Qing Gu is Senior Research Fellow in the School of Education at the University of Nottingham, UK, and is a member of the Executive Committee of the British Association for International and Comparative Education. She is author of Teacher Development: Knowledge and context (2007) and co-author of Teachers Matter (2007). Junxia Hou is a PhD student at Northumbria University, UK. She was a Visiting Lecturer in the School of Health, Community and Education in 2007, lecturing to Chinese students on writing skills and research methods. Her doctoral study is on Chinese students’ transition experiences in Chinese–British articulation programmes. Richard Ingleby is a member of the Victorian Bar and a Visiting Professor at North China University of Technology. His DPhil from Oxford University, UK, and subsequent research on dispute resolution has led to current collaborative projects with Dr Mona Chung and international partners in the areas of crosscultural negotiation and supervision of international students.

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xvi Contributors Liz McDowell is Director of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning and Professor in Academic Practice at Northumbria University, UK, and has carried out extensive research in relation to assessment and student learning. She won a UK Higher Education Academy National Teaching Fellowship award in 2004. Catherine Montgomery is Associate Director of the Centre for Excellence in Teaching and Learning at Northumbria University, UK. She teaches sociolinguistics and her research centres on the social and cultural context of student learning. Her doctoral study focused on international students’ social networks and their impact on the learning experience. Janette Ryan is a Senior Lecturer in Education at Monash University, Australia. She speaks Mandarin and is involved in a three country project on education reform in China. Her research interests include Western and Confucian concepts of scholarship and learning, cross cultural teaching and international students. Gordon Slethaug is Visiting Professor at the University of Southern Denmark, spearheading a programme in international teaching and learning. Formerly Head of American Studies at the University of Hong Kong and Chair of English at the University of Waterloo, Canada, he also taught for three years at Sun Yat-sen University, China, as visiting Lingnan Professor. Phiona Stanley is a doctoral candidate in education at Monash University, Australia. She has taught English in six countries, including China, and Masters programmes in linguistics and education at the Universities of Adelaide and Sydney, Australia, including teaching on the offshore MEd TESOL at Fudan University, China. Leslie Stone is the Executive Director of the Lingnan Foundation (www. lingnanfoundation.org). In this role, she has focused on developing cooperative relationships with the Foundation’s partner institutions in South China that promote liberal learning and service to society within higher education. Rosemary Viete is a Senior Lecturer in the Faculty of Education at Monash University, Australia, where she has worked with students and staff on academic literacy, learning and culture for almost two decades. Her research interests include students’ learning in transcultural settings; ethical language proficiency testing (English), and writing in English for academic purposes. Shaohua Wang has a Masters degree from the University of Oxford, UK. Her research interests include interdisciplinary studies of China with a focus on the Chinese singleton generation, parental educational investment and expectations, and the development of Chinese international higher education. Anthony Welch is Professor of Education, University of Sydney, Australia; his current work focuses largely on higher education reforms. His recent books include The Professoriate (2005), Education, Change and Society (2007) and

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Contributors xvii The Dragon and the Tiger Cubs (2010). Professor Welch also directs the nationally funded research project: The Chinese Knowledge Diaspora. Rui Yang is Director of the Comparative Education Research Centre at the University of Hong Kong. He has taught at universities in Australia, Hong Kong and China. He works on cross-culturalism in education policy, the sociology of education, comparative and global studies in education policy, and higher education internationalisation. Zuochen Zhang is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Windsor, Canada. He teaches courses on educational technology and research methods in education. His current research interests include online learning, ICT integration into curriculum, multicultural education, cross-cultural communication and teacher education. George Zhou is an Assistant Professor in the Faculty of Education at the University of Windsor, Canada. He teaches science methods and graduate courses in science education. His current research interests include discourse in science education, ICT integration into the science curriculum, technology and teacher education, and multicultural and international education. Tinghua Zhou has a Masters in higher education from the University of Oxford, UK, and is a graduate of East China Normal University. Her research interests include higher education, comparative and international education, the sociology of education and cross-cultural pedagogy. She is an active member of the Oxford Chinese Scholars and Students Association.

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Introduction Janette Ryan

The rise and reform of Chinese higher education China has the world’s largest higher education system, growing from an enrolment of 1 million students in 1997 to over 5 million in 2009, and witnessing a doubling in the number of institutions offering degree programmes over that period. This unprecedented growth is due to an enormous investment in the higher education expansion and reform programme that commenced in 1999. China currently spends 1.5 per cent of its gross domestic product (GDP) on its higher education system, with the aim of equalling the leading Western systems. On 2 February 2010, the President of Yale University, Professor Richard Levin, predicted that China’s universities would be amongst the best in the world within one generation. Although the scale of this expansion and change is unprecedented, reform and internationalisation in China’s higher education system is not a recent phenomenon. It has undergone various periods of reform over its long history and was initially the source of internationalisation for countries within the region when Confucian ideas about education spread from China to Vietnam and Korea. In recent times, China has sought to draw upon Western models of higher education in the internal reform of its own institutions as well as through external means such as sending university faculty and students overseas to research and study. Change is occurring within universities in China not only at the structural and systemic levels but also at the level of individual university programmes and pedagogies. As part of the internal reform process, many universities in China are now experimenting with different models and approaches at all levels of university activity, from management and administration and methods of evaluation of teaching quality, to types of programmes, curriculum, teaching, learning and assessment. This has involved transformation of university curricula, pedagogy and evaluation measures. These reform measures seek to improve the standard and rigour of research to produce world-class researchers and publications and to improve the quality and effectiveness of teaching to develop knowledgeable, highly skilled, autonomous and innovative graduates. ‘External’ reform and internationalisation measures involve engaging with international colleagues and universities, often through academic or students’ mobility. The outward movement of Chinese students and faculty has provided

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2 Introduction unprecedented opportunities for intercultural contact and mutual learning and understanding. These intellectual flows between Chinese universities and universities abroad, especially in the West, have grown rapidly. There are now a myriad of research collaborations and joint programmes between Chinese and foreign universities as well as exchanges of faculty and students. It is estimated that four out of five universities in the UK now have strategic links with Chinese universities and academics and, according to the UK International Unit in January 2010, the volume of UK–China co-authored research papers is doubling every five years and numbered about 2,500 in 2008. At the same time, China dominates the world as a source of international students and will continue to be the single largest home country of international students (across education sectors) in many countries such as the UK and Australia for many years to come. In 2009, there were 67,000 Chinese students in the UK and almost 65,000 in Australia (and one in four international students overall). According to the UK Universities International Unit in February 2010, even in the US undergraduate enrolments of Chinese international students increased 60 per cent in 2008–9. China is set to overtake India as the chief source of international students in the US, with almost 100,000 students there. Increasingly, non-Anglophone universities in Europe and Scandinavia are also seeking to attract international students from China and elsewhere by offering programmes in English. Enrolments of Chinese students are also increasing at universities in the East Asian region, in Hong Kong enrolments of mainland Chinese students are increasing dramatically, and even Taiwan is beginning to open its educational institutions to mainland Chinese students. Many of these ‘students’ are in fact members of the faculty of universities in China, or will become faculty members on their return to China and so bring back international knowledge and networks. China is also becoming increasingly proud of its own educational and intellectual traditions, as seen in the revival in China of interest in Confucianism and the establishment of Confucius Institutes around the world. China is seeking to maintain the best characteristics of its own indigenous intellectual traditions and wisdom while adopting and adapting international models. This has occurred while there has also been unparalleled interest in and engagement with China from the outside world as its economy and consequent influence in the world grows. The ‘English fever’ phenomenon in China over the past decade or two is now being matched by ‘Chinese fever’ outside China. In 2006, 30 million people worldwide were studying Mandarin abroad (BBC 9 January 2006). The numbers of international students moving between China and the rest of the world is also becoming more ‘two-way’. The number of international students going to Chinese universities each year to study (mainly from Korea, Japan and America) is now greater than the number of Chinese students leaving each year to study in foreign universities. As China continues on its path towards global super power status, these flows between Chinese and other education systems are accelerating and producing massive changes. This volume attempts to show what these changes look like in China and abroad, what possibilities they offer for new knowledge and

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Introduction 3 understanding, and what issues and challenges remain to fully realise this potential.

Reform and internationalisation of higher education As China attempts to meet its own changing economic and social needs and aspirations, the past decade has seen radical reform of all levels of its education system, including higher education. Unsurprisingly, these changes have posed major challenges for university administrators, faculty and students and also for those working with Chinese academics and students in China and abroad, some of which are illustrated in this book. Although much of the internationalisation and reform of higher education in China has borrowed from Western models and the American higher education system in particular, this has sometimes resulted in tensions and contradictions. Sometimes the enthusiasm to adopt foreign models has been accompanied by resistance to foreign curriculum and pedagogical imports or has led to tensions or outcomes different from those anticipated. Despite outward reform of pedagogy and curriculum, many traditional and deep-seated cultural practices and attitudes endure and the reforms are overlaid on these in ways that make for ‘hybrid’ models. This can lead to pressure points in the system such as in relation to ‘student-centred’ or ‘teacher-centred’ classrooms and the roles and relationships between teachers and students. Nonetheless, there are many examples of creative and innovative approaches to curriculum and pedagogy across the Chinese higher education system. Many Chinese university faculty members have international education experience, especially in larger cities in China and the more economically developed areas. Chinese scholars working at universities outside China are also increasingly being tempted to return with the promise of lucrative salaries and generous conditions. However, due to the current financial crisis and rising unemployment rates in China, including amongst university graduates, the holding of an overseas university qualification may no longer be considered the gold standard that it has been. Perceptions in China, particularly amongst employers, of the quality and standards of overseas qualifications may become more important, and this is a lesson to universities overseas which are trying to maintain their Chinese international student numbers. International education provides universities and individuals within them with opportunities for the meetings of minds, cultures and intellectual traditions and can act as a springboard for the generation of new ways of working and new ways of thinking. These educational flows and encounters provide an opportunity for cross-cultural understanding and the generation of new knowledge and indeed new ways of ‘being’ and doing. Chinese international students and their teachers as well as their fellow students in classrooms internationally are at the forefront of contacts and connections between East and West and are an important source for mutual dialogue and understanding and learning across and between cultures, academies and societies. In order for genuine learning to occur between these

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4 Introduction systems, however, there needs to be an open and well-informed dialogue on both sides that is based upon contemporary Chinese and Western realities, and one of the aims of this book is to inform and advance this dialogue and exchange. As China seeks to change its education system and the individuals within it, so must those who engage with Chinese higher education and Chinese faculty and students also change. In order for this engagement to be effective and sustainable, those who seek to work with Chinese universities, faculty and students need to understand the basis and impetus for the reform and internationalisation of higher education in China. It is not Chinese academics and students alone who need to adapt and change to new contexts and conditions. As China becomes a major player in world affairs, Western (and other) universities and academics need to understand the background to the reform and the contemporary contexts with which they are engaging, and also be prepared to adapt and change so that they too can expand and transform their knowledge and thinking.

About this book Despite radical and fundamental education reform within China, very little is known about this outside of China. Although there are now numerous examples of collaborative joint research and degree programmes between China and universities overseas, there is little awareness of the higher education contexts that are giving rise to these initiatives as well as the impact on individuals working within these contexts in China and abroad. Similarly, although much has been published in the fields of Chinese economics and politics, there is little literature available that gives an overview of or deep insight into current educational developments in China and which examines the implications of these transnational flows of Chinese scholars and students. This volume seeks to redress this, and describe the contemporary reform and internationalisation of higher education in China. It provides an analysis of its historical, social and cultural roots as well as contemporary contexts and the diverse ways that it is engaging with the world. It looks at internal changes within higher education institutions in China from a number of different perspectives, examining individual, social, cultural and historical factors. It also examines external, outward initiatives such as joint collaborative programmes with universities overseas and Chinese international students’ experiences in several Anglophone countries. It describes measures taken by Chinese universities to implement internationalisation such as through changes to curriculum, internationalisation programmes and quality assurance measures; it analyses the phenomenon and impact of joint programmes and the experiences of those working and studying in these programmes; and uncovers some of the tensions and challenges involved in this new intercultural and cross-cultural work. Most importantly, it considers how this mobility of people and ideas across (and among) educational systems and cultures can contribute to new ways of working and understanding between Western and Chinese academic cultures.

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Introduction 5 This book is an international, multidisciplinary, cross-cultural collaboration, drawing on work in China, Hong Kong, the UK, the US, Canada, Europe and Australia. It draws on perspectives from education, the humanities, linguistics, law, business and management and asian studies. The chapters provide a variety of empirical studies, using both qualitative and quantitative methodologies, as well as narrative accounts. Authors include academics, students and educational administrators. This volume is a companion to Education Reform in China, which looks at basic (primary and secondary) education in China more generally.

Origins of this book This book arises from a conference on Education Reform in China held at the University of Oxford, UK, in March 2009. This conference brought together expert, internationally recognised scholars and newer members of the academy including postgraduate students, as well as, crucially, education practitioners working ‘in the field’. The conference had an important feature – it was a cultural event, aimed at not only bringing together Western and Chinese scholars and educational practitioners, but also bringing about a true meeting of minds and cultures to generate new understanding, knowledge and relationships. It aimed to exemplify what this book is all about – bringing together the best of ‘East’ (here China) and the ‘West’. This rather unconventional conference also exemplified some of the challenges inherent in cross-cultural communication. Some of those attending spoke no English, for several, it was their first time outside China, and for others, it was the first time they had presented in English or to an English-speaking audience. Many papers were in both English and Chinese, for others, colleagues interpreted for those around them, and many of the presenters were from bicultural teams of researchers or education practitioners. Participants included professors, school principals, government officials, lecturers, teachers, educational administrators, students and the general public. It was multicultural, multidisciplinary and multilingual. What all had in common was an interest in education in China and the increasing educational contacts between China and the world. Although the conference was held somewhat symbolically in what could be described as a bastion of the Western academy, the University of Oxford, the conference truly was one ‘with Chinese characteristics’; there were several social and cultural events and the conference ended with songs, a musical performance and group photos. This meant that not only did the conference have a ‘mind’ but it also had a ‘heart’, giving it not only a very Chinese ‘holistic’ flavour but also imbuing it with the atmosphere of traditional Western intellectual excellence.

Editor’s reflections There have been many challenges in the editing of this volume, not least the translation and editing for audiences across languages and cultures, but it has

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6 Introduction also been a labour of love. I have again been able to (somewhat vicariously) reexperience the transformation of the cross-cultural education of my youth when I was an international student in China in the early 1980s. It also reminded me of the importance of pointing out to those engaged in international education, whether as teachers or as students, the profound transformation that international education brings and the importance of the work that academics and students do. My sojourn in China changed my life, my career and perhaps more importantly my worldview. Often we dwell on the ‘challenges’ of international education, and these are very real as is outlined in several chapters here, but the opportunities are tremendous, even if they may not be apparent at the time. All of the contributors to this book have crossed cultural boundaries, sometimes for short periods, sometimes forever. These ‘boundaries’ are becoming less clear as globalising forces, and internationalisation of higher education as a response to these forces, make physical or geographical borders less important; they become more ‘fuzzy’. The ‘fuzziness’ of these boundaries reminds us of the not unproblematic use of the words ‘Western’ and ‘Chinese’. ‘Whole culture’ explanations that seek to explain educational or individual, personal phenomena on the basis of culture alone risk homogenising what in China’s case, or more accurately in the case of ‘the Chinese learner’, is upwards of one and a half billion people. As the authors in this volume demonstrate, China’s social, educational and economic landscape is changing so rapidly that stereotyped descriptions are outmoded, unhelpful and inaccurate, particularly when applied to such vast numbers of peoples across diverse geographical areas. Equally, notions of the ‘Western’ learner or of ‘Western’ education are also clearly problematic. As can be seen from the many chapters here on the contemporary and historical contexts of Chinese education, culture and societies are not static; they are dynamic and ever changing. China’s young people in particular have fast become ‘internationalised’ and may in fact be more globally aware than many of their counterparts in some Western countries. What this book offers is a glimpse into these contexts and these changes, and illustrates the diversity and richness of the contexts that we describe.

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Part I

Internationalisation and reform of China’s higher education Structures and policies

This section begins the analysis at the level of structure, legislation and policy. It provides an overview of the historical and cultural roots of China’s reform and internationalisation of higher education, revealing some of the enduring challenges and dilemmas involved in this vast undertaking. In the first chapter, Tony Welch and Hongxing Cai argue that the internationalisation of education in China is not a recent phenomenon but can be traced back to the time of Confucius. Welch and Cai chart the internationalisation of education emanating from China back to the time when Confucian ideas about society and education began to influence nations in the region such as Korea and Vietnam and describe the influence that these ideas have had in these countries. As early as the late Qing period, Chinese scholars were studying Western models of education and higher education and were establishing academic contacts (see Chapter 4 for an example of one such early contact).This development continued through the late imperial period and the nationalist period, and then again up until the Cultural Revolution when China closed the doors of its universities and higher education languished for a decade. Welch and Cai document the efforts of Chinese universities to internationalise higher education since the opening up of China 30 years ago and the escalation of these efforts especially during the last decade. They discuss some of the tensions in this development and the challenges facing universities in China in drawing on outside expertise while respecting cultural intellectual traditions. They provide detailed evidence of the increases in contacts and partnerships between universities in China and abroad including in the Asia-Pacific region and with its ASEAN neighbours, and the rapid increase in the numbers of international students from China studying at universities abroad as well as the increasing numbers of foreign students studying in China. They document the influence that these contacts and partnerships have had and the structures that are being established to support and encourage the flows of people and ideas between China and the rest of the world.

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8 Internationalisation and reform of China’s higher education Rui Yang continues the examination of the historical and cultural roots of China’s higher education system in Chapter 2, looking in depth at the impact of traditional Chinese ways of thinking on the development and transformation of higher education in China in contemporary times. Yang provides a fascinating picture of the history of higher education in China from imperial times. In so doing, he reveals the historical continuities and impacts of traditional ways of thinking about the world and about knowledge on the contemporary reform of China’s higher education system. Yang describes the often tortured history of higher education in China, and the continuing tensions and contradictions in its development and internationalisation, showing how, combined with their historical and cultural roots, these tensions and contradictions produce what Yang describes as a very ‘puzzling’ situation. As Yang shows, most of the international models of reform now being pursued by Chinese universities derive from the American experience, itself derived from its own culture and history as well as (importantly for this book) through educational exchange. He thus argues that Western ideas of the university and academic practice cannot simply or unproblematically be ‘grafted’ on to the Chinese university system. Yang argues that higher education leaders in China have failed to address scholarly values underpinning higher education practice elsewhere such as academic freedom and autonomy. He advocates that rather than simply replacing the Chinese with the Western, Chinese higher education leaders need to have a good knowledge and understanding of the cultures, traditions and contemporary complexities of both China and the West. Chapter 3 provides an insider’s account of one of the major issues of concern in the internationalisation and reform of Chinese universities, which is how quality in higher education can be measured and assured. The quality of China’s higher education system has been under the spotlight in the context of its rapid expansion and development over the past two decades. Hongqin Fang, who works in China’s Ministry of Education in the area of higher education quality assurance (also the focus of her doctoral study), provides a detailed account of the development and implementation of quality assurance policies, mechanisms and procedures in Chinese higher education. The expansion and diversification of higher education has entailed major reform of university structures, systems and teaching practices. Fang’s account gives us an insight into the complexity and enormity of the task to assess and improve their quality. She details the various government decisions, regulations and management structures developed for assessment of teaching in universities and the levels and dimensions of the external bodies that undertake the assessments. She argues that a strengthening of internal university quality assurance procedures is required in order to achieve a system that provides accountability, integrity and effective university structures and practices. She provides an analysis of the strengths and weaknesses of the current system and advocates further reforms to improve educational quality and outcomes.

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1

Enter the Dragon The internationalisation of China’s higher education system Anthony Welch and Hongxing Cai

The internationalisation of China’s higher education system is part of a wider phenomenon, whereby China is resuming a key role in world affairs. Indeed, China’s rise, at the end of the twentieth century and the onset of the new millennium, can be seen as one arc in a much longer series of oscillations, from a point where it was one of centres of the world (captured in the term Zhongguo or middle kingdom), to a time of national humiliation, associated with the decline and death of the Qing Dynasty, to its spectacular resurgence less than a century later. The process of internationalisation of China’s universities also has its own complex and fascinating history: although it has certainly accelerated hugely in the past decade or more, it was given great impetus by the Opening Up era, after the end of the Cultural Revolution during which China and its universities were largely cut off from external relations. In this sense, it could be argued that internationalisation in China is relatively recent. This would be a major mistake, however. While it is true that many major achievements of Chinese internationalisation are relatively recent, internationalisation has a much longer lineage, going back (as so many things in China do) to the time of Confucius. The ‘Great Sage’ himself, somewhat like the Greek Sophists of much the same era, was one of the first and finest peripatetic teachers, travelling around parts of what were effectively different states in the period before China’s unification (at the end of the period of the Warring States, around 221 bce). Confucius (551–479 bce) lived in Lu Guó, now part of modern China, but travelled with his students to the countries of Song, Wei, Chen, Cai, Qi and Chu to seek a role in ministering government elsewhere (Encyclopedia of China 1992, Welch and Denman 1997). Confucius also provides us with an inspiring affirmation of the principle of internationalisation in Book One of the famous Analects, where we read the following: ‘To have schoolfellows come from distant states – is it not a pleasure?’ (Confucius 1997: 47). And this was certainly the case, as monks from Korea and Confucian scholars from what is now Vietnam, travelled to centres of scholarship in the Chinese empire, at various times (Welch 2005, 2009), part of a wider and not uncontested set of relations with China’s near neighbours. Japan too, was strongly influenced by the ideas and institutions of the later Tang Dynasty (618–907 ce).

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10 Anthony Welch and Hongxing Cai In the case of Korea, according to some sources, 105 students returned from China to Xin Luó (the Chinese term for Korea), as early as 840 ce, resulting in the patterning of its civil service exam and educational system after the Chinese (Encyclopedia of China 1992, Volume 1, Welch 2005). At the same time, it must be remembered that much of the history of internationalisation was largely an imposed one, including via occupation, and hence actively resisted by Koreans, as part of their longstanding struggle for independence. Arguably therefore, and notwithstanding a longstanding legacy of Confucianism in Korea, a degree of tension in respect to internationalisation from China is built into Korean history. To some extent, Vietnam’s history of relations with its giant and at times troubling northern neighbour parallels the Korean example. Vietnamese society has been profoundly influenced by the legacy of Confucianism, including arguably elements of the modern Vietnamese higher education system. Examples of Chinese influence on the history of Vietnamese higher learning are clear, as any visitor to Ha Noi’s ancient and beautiful Temple of Literature (Figure 1.1) can discern. At the same time, this influence was not uncontested. When Emperor Qin Shi Huang (259–210 bce) unified China around 221 bce, at the end of the Period of the Warring States, its territory extended to the Red River delta, in current Vietnam. Later, Emperor Han Wudi reclaimed territory that was lost after Qin’s death, including the north of current Vietnam. Han Wudi revived Confucianism, including as a means to careers in the civil service. Han Chinese fostered poetry, astronomy, arithmetic and medicine, as well as the Chinese script, which spread over time to Vietnam, where works were composed in both Chinese and Nom, the local language. Numbers of Han Chinese migrated to the northern regions of current Vietnam (Annam and Tonkin), and settled there, in a context in which Chinese and civilisation were considered but two sides of the same coin. During the Tang Dynasty, (618–907 ce), Chinese moves to incorporate southern territory included parts of modern Vietnam. Somewhat like the Korean case, however, it has been argued that there were elements of reciprocity in this relationship: on the one hand, China’s responsibility entailed that the ‘Son of Heaven’ (the Emperor) should act benevolently towards his neighbours, who ‘gained stature, and received concessions and help’ (Gelber 2007: 47). On the other hand, such groups were deemed barbarians, and were expected to pay obeisance, and tribute, to the Tang emperors. Confucianism has long exercised a significant influence on Vietnamese society, both in terms of social structure and learning. While Confucianism reached Vietnam about 2,000 years ago (around the same time it reached Korea), it was during the Tang era that strong government was established, the civil service examination was strengthened, and court officials began to replace the traditional aristocracy. The Tang legal code proved influential in Vietnam, and a Confucian revival ensued, with the rise of some great Vietnamese scholars, and interpreters, of the revered Four Books and Five Classics, which so influenced Vietnamese culture and learning. Some Vietnamese scholars travelled to centres of Chinese learning at this time (Welch 2009). Significant Vietnamese scholars of Confucianism arose over the millennium from the tenth century ce, including Chu Vãn An, Nguyên

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Enter the Dragon 11 Trãi, Nguyên Binh Khiêm, Phùng Khãc Khoan, Lê Quí Dôn, Pham Quí Thích and Phan Huy Chú. Reaching its apogee in the early Ly Dynasty (from when the Temple of Literature in Ha Noi dates), the influence of Confucianism spread through: every area of society, from government institutions and political activities, to economy, military affairs, literature, architecture, morality, education and the system of civil service examinations. Confucianism touched people from different social strata … influenced their habits, and became part of their customs. (Confucianism 2007: 3) Traditionally revered in Vietnam as the ‘Teacher of Ten Thousand Sovereigns’, some scholars hold the Confucian doctrine of ‘managing state affairs and bringing peace to all under heaven’ (Confucianism 2007: 3) still to be of particular significance for Vietnam: As for the recruitment of officials, examinations based on Confucianism, as applied in China, were organized … for more than eight centuries (from 1075 to 1919 ad in Viet Nam) … South Viet Nam (before the reunification of the country) remained particularly faithful to his thought, especially in the domain of moral education. (Yang, H.-Y. 1993: 6)

Figure 1.1 Ha Noi’s Temple of Literature. Note: Entrance to Temple of Literature (Van Mieu), Ha Noi. The temple, dedicated to Confucius, was founded in 1070 by Emperor Ly Thanh Tong and provided training for scholar officials. Stelae, inscribed with Chinese characters, are still to be found in the Temple courtyards.

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12 Anthony Welch and Hongxing Cai The influence of this doctrine, including its emphasis on harmony, dignity and morality, in both family and the wider society, is said to still permeate contemporary Vietnamese society, although perhaps in a more syncretic fashion than in China. In Vietnam, Confucianism had to compete historically, not merely with Daoism and Buddhism, but was also ‘assimilated into the Vietnamese culture, through the dictates of indigenous thought’ (Confucianism 2007: 1). If the earlier periods were largely ones of the projection of Chinese models, ideas and soft power abroad, later periods were more marked by importation of foreign models into China. Much of this was a result of European colonialism and the Opium Wars, and defeat at the hands of the Japanese, in 1895, leading to an overall sense of national humiliation that is still spoken of with feeling by Chinese citizens today. At the same time, however, motivated by a growing acknowledgement that traditional (Confucian) practices of Chinese higher learning, which continued to produce a ‘conservative, backward looking intelligentsia’ (Yang, R. 2002: 30) were no longer adequate to support China’s growing need to engage in the modern world of science and industry, a number of late Qing Dynasty scholars argued that Western knowledge and technology, including models of higher education, should be used to assist China gain the strength of Western powers. Partly this appealed to China’s traditional orientation to the outside – ‘Learn the techniques of the Barbarians in order to control the Barbarians’ (Yang, R. 2002: 30) – but it was also partly an expression of the desire to preserve Chinese values, even if it was now necessary to learn aspects of Western science and technology. The Chinese aphorism, popularised by, among others, Zhang Zhidong (1837–1909) was Zhongxue Weiti, Xixue Weiyong (Chinese knowledge for norms, Western knowledge for use). During the later years of the Qing Dynasty, and republican era, transnational flows involved both the inflow of ideas and institutions, for example through Protestant and Catholic missionaries, anxious to spread their ideas, and the sending of Chinese students abroad, to the US, Europe and Japan (Huang, T. C. 1881; Hayhoe 1996). Hayhoe cites a figure of over 7,000 Chinese students registered in Japan in 1906. Interestingly, a small proportion were women, although they were still precluded from enrolment in China. The flow of ideas, and literature from returnees to China formed an important conduit, notably through the work of Yan Fu, who translated key social science texts, from English and French. Cai Yuanpei, who spent two periods of five years each (1906–10 and 1912–17) in Germany and France was also influential, including during his brief stint as Minister of Education, and later service as Chancellor of Peking University. Institutional models were largely Japanese at the time, although the latter had in turn been strongly influenced by German models. US influences came to be more important in the 1920s, including via the visit of John Dewey and Paul Monroe. The British philosopher Bertrand Russell also lectured at Peking University in 1920, during a period of considerable openness and experimentation (analogous, perhaps, to the fertile decade or so after the Bolshevik revolution in the USSR [Fitzpatrick 1970]). At the same time, the Republican era (1911–49) saw a balance achieved in higher

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Enter the Dragon 13 education between foreign influences and indigenous development (Hayhoe 1996, Yang, R. 2002). The predominant influence after the 1949 revolution in China came, understandably perhaps, from the USSR, encapsulated in the phrase Xuexi Sulian Laodage (Learn from Big Brother, the Soviet Union), used until the break with that country in the mid 1950s. Higher education was reorganised under technical principles, with the aim of underpinning industrialisation; wholesale importation of Soviet curricula, textbooks and hundreds of experts supported this radical transition. The subsequent period of the Great Leap Forward (1958–66) and the Great Proletarian Cultural Revolution (1966–76) represented the triumph of Red over Expert principles, with the latter period in particular being characterised by a much more hermetic, autarchic stance: a ‘passionate rejection of foreign implants’ (Yang 2002: 36). Mao’s ultimate successor Deng Xiaoping, set China on a more outward looking and pro-scientific path of modernisation, including in higher education. Many Chinese students and scholars were sent abroad to learn, foreign experts came to work with Chinese colleagues in a variety of fields, and Chinese universities established partnerships with international counterparts. The US continues to be the model most commonly used as a benchmark for Chinese educational reforms, although there is growing awareness, among some, of reforms in other parts of the world.

Contemporary contours of internationalisation Although the term had been used before by generations of social and educational reformers, Jiaoyu Jiuguo (Saving the Country through Education) was perhaps never more apt than after the ravages that the Cultural Revolution had wrought on Chinese society, notably in education. Universities, many of which had been closed for years, opened their doors again, including tentatively to the outside world. Despite the earlier break with the USSR, one of the main bridges to the external world remained via Comintern countries; it was still the case that most Chinese students and faculty who studied abroad, did so in one or other of the Comintern member states. For some time, too, Hong Kong’s higher education system functioned as something of a bridge to China, at least until mainland universities themselves forged their own international partnerships directly (Yang, R. 2002). At the same time, it must be admitted that some Hong Kong institutions were more active in forging relations with their mainland cousins than others. As China and its universities opened channels of communication with the rest of the world again, a number of issues had to be confronted. One, of particular relevance to internationalisation, was how to develop a modern, competitive university system, which, while preserving the best aspects of Chinese intellectual tradition, also drew on specialist knowledge from around the world. A successful resolution to this dilemma, broadly similar to that confronted by Meiji Japan as it deliberately sought knowledge from around the world as part of its modernising project from 1868, and Taiwan almost a century later, had much to offer, but was

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14 Anthony Welch and Hongxing Cai not easily achieved. However, its potential to offer more localised responses to the regional debate over internationalisation versus indigenisation (Zhang and Xu 2000; Yang, S. K. 1999) was important, amid oft-expressed concerns by Chinese academics that internationalisation often represented little more than Westernisation. The picture of internationalisation at Chinese universities over the past 30 years is complex, fascinating and diverse. In an effort to do this complexity justice, two key elements have been selected for closer treatment: brain drain/ brain circulation and regionalism (particularly in relation to Southeast Asia).

Brain drain and knowledge networks A longstanding element affecting internationalisation of Chinese higher education is that of brain drain, where, for example, it has been estimated that of the total of 1.3915 million Chinese students who have travelled abroad to study since 1978 (many sent and subsidised by the state), only about 390,000 have returned (Cao 2004; People’s Daily Online 2009; Zweig 2005; Welch and Zhang 2005, 2008; Zhang and Li 2002). By 2010, the number of Chinese studying abroad is forecast to reach 200,000 but the return-rate is rising, as more opportunities open up in a dynamic and economically rejuvenated China (Zweig 2006, 2008). Figure 1.2 shows the pattern of returnees over the last decade. Most of these students are now self-financing: Zhang cites figures showing that of a purported 40,000 plus Chinese students studying abroad in 2000, 2,800 were supported by the government, 3,900 by their Danwei or work unit, and some 32,000 50000 45000 40000

Number

35000 30000 25000 20000 15000 10000 5000 0 1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Year

Figure 1.2 Number of Chinese students and scholar returnees, 1997–2007. Source: National Bureau of Statistics (2008).

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Enter the Dragon 15 were self-supported (Zhang, F. 2002: 187). Certainly, return rates are higher than that existed even a decade ago, in the context of China’s spectacular economic rise (averaging ten per cent GDP growth since around 1990, at least until the worldwide economic crisis of 2008–9). After a period when non-returnees were deemed to be traitors, the Chinese government is now actively interested in deploying its sizable knowledge diaspora, and non-Chinese experts, in the service of national scientific and economic development (Cao 2004, 2006; Zweig 1995, 2005, 2006, 2008; Welch 2007a; Welch and Zhang 2005, 2008). It is important to recognise, however, that Chinese statistics have not always been collected in a consistent manner, across different agencies and ministries, or over time. This problem, while not unique to China, is particularly relevant to Ministry of Education (MOE) statistics on study abroad, which, for a time, failed to include the growing number of self-supported (private) students abroad. Nonetheless, the following table reveals something of the numbers and return rates of Chinese students studying abroad, although the figures, based on data drawn from the MOE, are incomplete (Table 1.1). More recent figures (based on visas, rather than MOE statistics) in Table 1.2 reveal self-financed students now form a much larger proportion of the total number of Chinese students studying abroad than in years past.

Table 1.1 Chinese students studying abroad and returning, 1978–99 Year

No. studying abroad

No. returning

% Returning

1978 1980 1985 1987 1990 1993 1996 1999 2000

860 2,124 4,888 4,703 2,950 10,742 20,905 23,749 23,749

248 262 1,424 1,605 1,593 5,128 6,570 7,748 7,748

28.8 12.3 29.1 34.1 54.0 47.7 31.4 32.6 32.6

Source: Adapted from Zhang and Li 2002

Table 1.2 Chinese students studying abroad, by category, 1997–2000 Year

Government supported

Danwei supported

Self supported (and % of total )

Total

1997 1998 1999 2000

1,906 2,000 2,000 2,228

2,442 3,000 3,000 2,724

30,731 (87.6) 50,000 (90.9) 80,000 (94.1) 80,000 (94.1)

35,079 55,000 85.000 85,002

Source: Adapted from Zhang and Li 2002

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16 Anthony Welch and Hongxing Cai Overall, the pattern of overseas study by Chinese students over the past decade is in Figure 1.3. Tables 1.1 and 1.2 show that, of the total of 140,000 Chinese students studying abroad in 2007, 44,000 returned (a return rate of 31.4 per cent). Importantly, the flow of educational services is also expanding rapidly in the reverse direction. The significant and rising tide of international students, with a record 85,829 international enrolments from 175 countries1 at Chinese universities in 2002, brought both an increase in direct cross-cultural exchange and a welcome and much-needed boost to numerous institutions’ bottom lines. This total rose to 110,844 enrolments from a total of 178 countries in 2004, and in 2008, 223,000 students from 189 countries came to study in China, an increase of 27,996 compared with 2007. In the 60 years since 1949, China has received a total of 1.46 million foreign students (People’s Daily Online 2009). Based on assumed average annual tuition fees of US$2,000 per student, plus at least a further US$1,000 for accommodation, this yields a total of US$600 million, without allowing for associated additional expenses. At the same time, source countries and income are very unequally distributed, with perhaps 60 per cent or more of students sourced from East Asia (South Korea and Japan), and most of the enrolments concentrated in larger and more wellknown institutions and regions. Beijing enrolled the most foreign students, followed by the municipalities of Shanghai and Tianjin; other significant provinces included Jiangsu, Liaoning, Shandong, Jilin, Guangdong and Heilongjiang. Of all international enrolments, 93 per cent (or almost 80,000) were self-supporting. China has introduced a Green Card scheme, and the Ministry of Education is reportedly developing regulations to help provide work-study opportunities, such as part-time jobs.

140000 120000

Number

100000 80000 60000 40000 20000 0

1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 Year

Figure 1.3 Chinese students studying overseas, 1997–2007. Source: National Bureau of Statistics (2008).

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Enter the Dragon 17

The Dragon and the Tiger Cubs: Regionalisation in China’s internationalisation China’s opening up era proceeded unevenly, with some universities more eager to take advantage of the new opportunities than others. One arena that was arguably a natural one to pursue was regional, yet a persistent view among many of China’s leaders, institutional and national, that the US was the highest priority to pursue, impeded fuller growth of closer regional ties. Although often based on limited information, it remains the unshakeable conviction of most university administrators, and students, that the US system represents the sole source of institutional reforms, and quality higher education. Two further general elements that frame internationalisation of Chinese universities are also relevant to forms of regionalism. The fact that internationalisation is still controlled by organs of the state can act as a brake on institutional autonomy; it is still ultimately the relevant ministries (often the Ministry of Education, sometimes the Ministry of Science and Technology), and the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs who formally invite ‘foreign experts’ to Chinese universities, although in practice, they would liaise with and take advice from the universities themselves. Recent reforms, however, now allow the top tier of universities to themselves select students and faculty for study abroad (Mohrmann 2008). Equally, the China Scholarship Council (CSC), who in 2007, for example, implemented a scheme to send 5,000 postgraduate students abroad each year for research or to gain doctoral degrees is the major organ responsible for sending scholars abroad; but again on the advice of institutions themselves. While regionalism remains a relatively neglected element of research on internationalisation of higher education, it is particularly pertinent to China. Seventy-seven per cent of all international enrolments in Chinese universities in 2002 were from Asia (especially Japan and South Korea), ten per cent each from the Americas and Europe, two per cent from Africa and one per cent from Oceania. South Korea, Japan, the US, Indonesia and Vietnam were the top five sending nations, accounting for more than half of all overseas students in China. While it is not possible to draw long-term inferences from a relatively short time series, Table 1.3 reveals that regional enrolments in Chinese universities, including from Malaysia, Singapore and especially Vietnam, rose appreciably over the period 2000–6. China is also generous with scholarships, providing 5,362 scholarships to overseas students from 148 countries to study at its universities in 2000, and 5,841 from 155 countries in 2001 (China Education Yearbook 2002). Asia and three-country data for 2003–4 and 2004–5 in Table 1.4 reveal a strong bias towards less-developed nations. Other pertinent developments include the mandating of foreign language instruction (mostly English) for something like ten per cent of subjects at major Chinese universities, including use of imported foreign language textbooks. This even extends to some subjects like law and the social sciences, and was

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18 Anthony Welch and Hongxing Cai Table 1.3 ASEAN students in Chinese Universities, 2000–6 ASEAN students Indonesia Malaysia Singapore Thailand Vietnam Philippines ASEAN Total Total International ASEAN % of total

2000

2001

1,947