163 95 7MB
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Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices
Jian Li
Shaping Education Policy Discourse Insights From Internationalization of Education Development in China
Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices Series Editors Eryong Xue, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China Simon Marginson, University of Oxford, Oxford, UK Jian Li, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University, Beijing, China
This book series explores education policy on Pre-K, K-12, post-secondary education, and vocational education, informing multiple experts from academia to practitioner, and specifically pays focuses on new frontiers and cutting-edge knowledge that transforms future education policy development. It has been initiated by a global group of education policy research centers and institutions, whose faculty and staff includes internationally recognized researchers in comparative education policy studies. The series’ mission is to advance the modernization of the education and social construction. This series provides policymakers and researchers with an in-depth understanding of international education policy from diverse perspectives. Topics include cuttingedge and multidisciplinary studies on identifying, analyzing and uncovering education policy reform and practice among the fields in education policy and pedagogy. It addresses how education policy shapes the development of education systems in different regions and seeks to explain how specific education policies concentrate on accelerating the development of quality education and social progress. More importantly, this book series offers policymakers and educational stakeholders, government, and private sectors a comprehensive lens to investigate the trends, rationales of education policy development internationally.
Jian Li
Shaping Education Policy Discourse Insights From Internationalization of Education Development in China
Jian Li Beijing Normal University Beijing, China
The study received funding from Social Science Foundation of Beijing “Assessment of the Impact of COVID-19 on the Internationalization of Universities in Beijing and Research on Policy Innovation of Local Internationalization” (Project No.: 21JYC015) ISSN 2730-6356 ISSN 2730-6364 (electronic) Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices ISBN 978-981-19-5354-5 ISBN 978-981-19-5355-2 (eBook) https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2 © The Editor(s) (if applicable) and The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 This work is subject to copyright. All rights are solely and exclusively licensed by the Publisher, whether the whole or part of the material is concerned, specifically the rights of translation, reprinting, reuse of illustrations, recitation, broadcasting, reproduction on microfilms or in any other physical way, and transmission or information storage and retrieval, electronic adaptation, computer software, or by similar or dissimilar methodology now known or hereafter developed. The use of general descriptive names, registered names, trademarks, service marks, etc. in this publication does not imply, even in the absence of a specific statement, that such names are exempt from the relevant protective laws and regulations and therefore free for general use. The publisher, the authors, and the editors are safe to assume that the advice and information in this book are believed to be true and accurate at the date of publication. Neither the publisher nor the authors or the editors give a warranty, expressed or implied, with respect to the material contained herein or for any errors or omissions that may have been made. The publisher remains neutral with regard to jurisdictional claims in published maps and institutional affiliations. This Springer imprint is published by the registered company Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. The registered company address is: 152 Beach Road, #21-01/04 Gateway East, Singapore 189721, Singapore
Contents
1
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Part I 2
1
The Macro Perspective on Internationalization of Education Development in China
Emerging Power of Internationalization of Higher Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.1.1 The Internationalization of Higher Education . . . . . . . . . 2.1.2 The Structure of the Study on Internationalization of Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2 The Policy in China’s Policy on Studying Abroad (“Going Out”) After the Reform and Opening Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.1 China’s Policy of Studying Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.2.2 Studying Abroad as an Integral Part of China’s Policy of Opening to the Outside World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3 The Policy in China’s Policy on Studying in China (“Bring In”) After the Reform and Opening Up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.1 A Process of Continuous Improvement . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.3.2 Shifting from “Closed” to “Open” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4 The Policy of Sino-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.1 Sino-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools in Higher Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.4.2 The Outcome of International and Domestic Economic Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5 The Policy of Foreign Exchange and Cooperation . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.5.1 The Internationalization of China’s Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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2.5.2
The Cooperative Running of Colleges and Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 2.6 Conclusion and Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3
The Challenges, Characteristics and Strategies of Internationalization for Creating World-Class Universities in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.1 An Overview of Internationalization Development of Higher Education System in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.1.2 Major Policy Text Analysis Related to Internationalization of Higher Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2 The Problems in the Internationalization of Higher Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.1 The International Development Level of Some Double First-Class Universities is Low . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.2.2 The Internationalization Development of Universities at Different Levels is Not Balanced . . . . 3.2.3 International Development Covers a Wide Range of Fields but Lacks Implementation Details . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3 The Characteristics of Internationalization of Higher Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.1 The Policy Discourse Considers Both Macro-Planning and Micro-Operation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.3.2 There Are Limitations in the Applicability of Internationalization Policies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4 The Strategies of Internationalization of Higher Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.1 Clarifying the Implementation Path of International Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.2 Clarifying the Characteristics of Higher Education Institutions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3.4.3 Clarifying Priorities and Defining Development Elements of Internationalization of Higher Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
Part II 4
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The Quest for Internationalization at Home in Post-COVID 19: Insights from China
What Is Internationalization at Home? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1 Definition of Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.1.1 The Background of Internationalization at Home . . . . . . 4.1.2 The Concept of Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . .
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4.1.3 The Idea of Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . What Is the Idea of Internationalization? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.1 The Core or Essence of Education Internationalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.2 Internationalization of Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.3 The Main Characteristics of Internationalization of Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2.4 Internationalization in Higher Education System . . . . . . 4.2.5 Characteristics of Internationalization of Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4.2
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The Development of Internationalization at Home: A Multiple Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1 Background and Problems of Implementing Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.1 Background of Implementing Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.1.2 Problems of Implementing Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2 Characteristics of International Courses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.1 The International Curriculum with Different Needs . . . . 5.2.2 The Distinctive Course Feature of “Local Internationalization” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.3 The International Curriculum System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.2.4 International Education Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3 Problems Faced by the Implementation of International Curriculum of Higher Education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.1 The Specialty Setting of Colleges and Universities in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.2 Practical Strategies of International Courses . . . . . . . . . . 5.3.3 The Internationalization at Home Consists of Two Phrases . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . The Practical Models of Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1 The Practice of American International Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.1 The International Programme . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.1.2 The Aspect of Curriculum Internationalization . . . . . . . . 6.2 Taiwan Internationalization Practice in Taiwan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.1 Taiwan’s Long-Term Pursuit of International Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.2.2 Local Internationalization of Higher Education . . . . . . . .
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6.3
Analysis of International Curriculum in Japanese Higher Education … . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.1 The Overview of AIU and Internationalization Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.3.2 AIU Curriculum Design . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4 International Curriculum Experience in Developed Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.1 The International Curriculum of Developed Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.4.2 The Important Trend of Education Development and Reform . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5 Problems and Challenges of Internationalization at Home . . . . . . 6.5.1 The Continuous Development of the Global Economy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5.2 The Shortage of Education Funds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.5.3 The Relatively Weak International Level of Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6 Suggestions . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.1 Enhance the Support of Local Policies for the Internationalization of Higher Education . . . . . . . 6.6.2 Cultivate the Source of International Education Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.3 Strengthen Special Funding Support to Promote Internationalization of Learning . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.4 Optimize the Curriculum of International Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.5 Cultivate from Inside and Introduce from Outside and Build Up the Teacher Team Needed for Local Internationalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.6.6 Create Its Own Characteristics and Build an International Campus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6.7 Conclusions and Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7
Investigating the Landscape of Internationalization at Home: Context, Experience and Strategy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1 Policy of Internationalization of Education Development in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.1 The Cultivation of International Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.1.2 The Concept of Diversified Culture . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2 Internationalization at Home Policy in the International Context . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.1 Actively Promoting the Correct Policy of “Bringing in” and “Going Global” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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7.2.2
Promoting Internationalized Curriculum in Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.3 Vigorously Developing Local Economy and Guarantying Funds for Training International Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.2.4 Establishing a Typical Incentive Group of Teachers to Improve Their Own International Literacy . . . . . . . . . 7.3 International Curriculum Practice . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.1 Set Up Special Funds to Carry Out University-Level International Curriculum Construction Projects . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.2 Introduction of High-Level Foreign Experts and Scholars . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.3.3 Clarify the Construction Objectives and Overall Design of the International Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4 Internationalization of Teaching Methods and Means . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.1 The “Flipped Classroom” Model . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.4.2 The Establishment of International Curriculum . . . . . . . . 7.5 The Pathway of Internationalization of Basic Education Curriculum . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.1 Pay Attention to Openness and Wholeness in Curriculum Setting . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.2 Pay Attention to the Implementation of Multicultural Education in Curriculum Construction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.3 Focus on the Integration of Localization and Internationalization in Curriculum Implementation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7.5.4 Pay Attention to International Cooperation and Interaction in the Course Implementation . . . . . . . . . 7.6 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8
The Implications of Implementing Internationalization at Home: From Multiple Scopes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1 Historical Perspective of Internationalization of Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.1.1 The Traditional Model of Internationalization . . . . . . . . . 8.1.2 The Development of “Internationalization at Home” Under the Economic Globalization . . . . . . . . . 8.2 “The Internationalization at Home” Development Under the Political Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.1 Internationalized Cultural Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.2.2 Internationalization of Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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8.2.3
Internationalization of Chinese Social Sciences Research . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3 The Significance of the Implementation of University Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.1 The Important Challenge Faced by Universities and Colleges . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.3.2 Possibility of Implementation of Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.1 Prospects for the Implementation of Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 8.4.2 The Beneficial Experience of Foreign Higher Education Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
The Conclusion of Exploring the Internationalization at Home in Different Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1 Background of Exploring the Internationalization at Home in Different Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.1 Economic Globalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.2 The Education Internationalization . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.3 The International Education Funds of Local Colleges and Universities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.1.4 Teacher Is the Important Subject of Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2 The Influence of Internationalization at Home . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.1 Strengthening “Education for International Understanding” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.2 Local Internationalization as a New School-Running Concept . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.2.3 The New Situation of Political Work of Higher Education in the Process of Internationalization . . . . . . . 9.2.4 Opportunities and Challenges Brought by Internationalization to College Students’ Ideological and Political Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 9.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Part III International Education Development in China: Contexts, Policies, and Implications 10 Exploring the International Students in China: Political and Cultural Context Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147 10.1 Political Background of International Students Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 147
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10.1.1 The Early days of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1.2 Further Expanding the Opening of Education to the Outside World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.1.3 Attracting “Belt and Road” Students to Study in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2 Cultural Background of Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.1 Traditional Chinese Cultural Background . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.2 Modernization of China’s Traditional Culture . . . . . . . . . 10.2.3 Analysis of the Historical Background of Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.2.4 Modern Historical Background of Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3.1 The Popularity of Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10.3.2 The Improvement of International Education Quality and Ability . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Examining Status Quo of International Students Studying in China: Problems and Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1 Problems Faced by International Students Studying in China . . . 11.1.1 The Overall Statistics of International Students . . . . . . . . 11.1.2 The Cultural and Institutional Background . . . . . . . . . . . 11.1.3 The Number, Distribution and Country of International Students Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2 The Relevant Data of International Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.1 The Different Factors of International Students . . . . . . . . 11.2.2 Status Quo of International Students in China from 2013 to 2019 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.3 The Number and Distribution of International Students from Countries Along the Belt and Road . . . . . 11.2.4 Problems Existing in International Students’ Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.5 Countermeasures for Sustainable Development of Education for International Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.6 Strategies and Suggestions for Increasing the Scale of Foreign Students and Optimizing the Structure of Foreign Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.7 The Future Development Trend of International Students in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.2.8 The Economy Aspect for Improve the International Student Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11.3 The Conclusion and Remark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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189 191 192 207 209
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12 Improving International Students’ Educational Quality in China: A Systematic Policy Document Analysis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.1.1 The Statistical Review of International Student Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.1.2 The Initial Exploration from 1949 to 1977 . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.1.3 The Second Stage (1955–1965) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.1.4 The Third Stage (1966–1977) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.1.5 The Policy Review of International Student Education Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2 Status Quo of China’s Policy on International Student Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.1 Two Characteristics China’s Policy on International Student Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.2 Several Changes of China’s Policy on International Student Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.3 The Historical Development of China’s Policy on Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.4 Study in China Policy Formulation Under the New Situation and Study in China Plan . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.5 Future Development Directions of Education Policy for Students Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.6 The Education Development of Foreign Students in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.7 The Brand-New Education and Learning Environment . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.2.8 The Construction and Management of International Alumni Associations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12.3 The Conclusion and Remark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13 Exploring Talent Training and Teaching Quality of International Students in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1.1 Enrollment of International Students in China . . . . . . . . . 13.1.2 The Communication Between Foreign Students and Teachers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1.3 The Construction of Chinese Courses and Teaching Materials for Overseas Students in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1.4 Talent Training for International Students in China . . . . 13.1.5 The Curriculum System for International Students in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.1.6 The Financing Mechanism of Diversified Education for International Students in China . . . . . . . . .
211 211 211 214 214 215 217 221 222 225 227 233 237 242 245 248 251 256 259 259 259 260
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13.2 The Measures for Talent Cultivation for International Students in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.1 Modes and Characteristics of Talent Training for Overseas Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.2 The Various Factors and Concerns of African Students Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.3 Policies and Characteristics of Talent Training for Foreign Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.4 The Multiple Abilities and Competencies of Talent Training for Foreign Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.5 The New Teaching Method of Talent Training for Foreign Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.2.6 The Development of Tutorial Courses of Talent Training for Foreign Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3 The Countermeasures and Suggestions of Talent Training for Foreign Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3.1 The Teachers ‘Quality Promotion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3.2 The Management of Assimilation for Overseas Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3.3 The Management of Assimilation for Overseas Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3.4 The Evaluation System of Collaborative Education . . . . 13.3.5 The Future and Prospects of Talent Training for International Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.3.6 Quality of Education and Teaching for Students Studying in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 13.5 Conclusion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Examining the “One Belt and One Road” and International Student Development in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1 The Status Quo of Chinese Students Studying in China Under the Background of “One Belt and One Road” . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1.1 The Current Situation of Chinese Students Studying in China Under the Background of the Belt and Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1.2 Actual Situation of International Students in China Under the Background of the Belt and Road Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1.3 Sources of International Students in Regions Along the Belt and Road . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.1.4 Educational Structure of International Students from Countries Along the Belt and Road . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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14.1.5 Teaching Management of International Students in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2 The “Belt and Road” Initiative and International Education Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.2.1 The Current Situation of International Education Under the Belt and Road Cooperation Initiative . . . . . . . 14.2.2 New Scholarships as One of the Key Reasons for This Rapid Expansion . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14.3 The Conclusion and Remark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15 Exploring the Landscape of Study Abroad in China: A Historical Perspective . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1.1 A Historical Review of Study Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1.2 Xu Fu’s Eastward Crossing in the Qin and Han Dynasties . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1.3 Xuanzang’s Westward Journey . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.1.4 Study Abroad in the Late Qing Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2 Analysis of the Political Background of Studying Abroad in the Late Qing Dynasty . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.1 Analysis of the Development and Political Background of Studying Abroad from the End of Qing Dynasty to Before the Founding of the People’s Republic of China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.2 Analysis of the Political Background of Studying Abroad from the Fall of the Qing Dynasty to the Founding of the People’s Republic of China . . . . . 15.2.3 Study Abroad in China from the Early days of the Founding of the New China to Before the Cultural Revolution . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.4 The New Situation Facing China and International Study Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.5 The Continuous Improvement of Educational Policies Provides Institutional . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.6 The Differences of Overseas Education in China Under Different Political Backgrounds . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.7 Reasons for the “Craze of Studying Abroad” . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.8 The Methods and Suggestions to Cope with the Economy of Studying Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.2.9 Analysis of the Economic Background of Studying Abroad in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3 Cultural Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3.1 Domestic Cultural Background . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
311 315 316 319 324 326 329 329 330 331 333 333 334
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15.3.2 The Influence of Traditional Cultural Background on Studying Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3.3 Cultural Background of Internationalization of Higher Education . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.3.4 The Contradiction Between the Unitary Education Mode and the Demand of the Diversified Development of Talents . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 15.4 The Summary and Remark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16 Examining Study Abroad in China: Contexts, Problems and Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.1.1 Problems Facing Overseas Students in China . . . . . . . . . 16.1.2 The Safety Problem of Students Studying Abroad in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2 The National Policy on Studying Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.1 The Different Education Systems at Home and Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.2 Teaching System Differences Both at Home and Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.3 The Overseas Study Management System . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.4 Problems Existing in the Education Management of Overseas Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.5 China as a Big Exporter of Overseas Students . . . . . . . . . 16.2.6 The New Development Trend of Studying Abroad in the Future . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.7 The Proportion of Foreign Students Studying in the United States . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.8 The New Trend of “Studying Abroad in Places” After the Epidemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.2.9 China’s Policies for Studying Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3 Suggestions and Implications for Studying Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.1 Strengthen Policy Publicity and Enhance the Awareness of Going Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.2 Do a Good Job in Overseas Study Services and Improve the Service Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.3 Properly Handle the Relationship Between Part-Time Jobs and Their Studies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 16.3.4 Take the Initiative to Adapt to Foreign Education and Teaching Environment and Teaching Mode . . . . . . . 16.4 Summary . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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357 362 363 365 365 367 368 369 370 370 372 374 376 378 379 381 382 393 393 393 394 394 395 396
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17 Exploring Study Abroad Policy Development in China: Contexts, Features, Problems and Strategies . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.1 Contexts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.1.1 The COVID-19 Epidemic and the Restrictions on Entry . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.1.2 The Employment Tension of Returnees . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2 Policy Documents Analysis of Studying Abroad . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2.1 The Development Policy Changes of Studying Abroad in China since the Reform and Opening Up . . . . 17.2.2 The Development and Policy Trend of Studying Abroad in China Since the twenty-first Century . . . . . . . 17.2.3 Development and Policy Changes of Education for International Students Since the Reform and Opening up . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.2.4 The Problems of Studying Abroad Policy Development . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3 Characteristics of the Policy of Studying Abroad in China . . . . . . 17.3.1 The Admission of Students from Different Countries . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.2 Study Abroad Policy Diversification . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.3 The Future Development Directions of China’s Study Abroad Policy . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.3.4 Driving Factors of Studying Abroad: Enhancing Competitiveness is the Biggest Demand of Chinese Overseas Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4 The Conclusion and Implications . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.1 Pay Close Attention to Its Development Direction and Seize Opportunities to Study Abroad in Time . . . . . 17.4.2 Pay Attention to the Guiding Role of Ideas and Reasonably Coordinate Overseas Study Majors . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.3 Face up to the Practical Problems in the Overseas Study Policy and Strengthen the Management of Overseas Students . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.4 Create a Favorable Domestic Environment Based on Adaptive Expectations and Enhance Policy Flexibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.5 Implement the Opinions on Accelerating the Opening up of Education in the New Era from the Middle Level . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.6 Strengthen the Service and Management of Self-Funded Overseas Study . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17.4.7 Expand the Space for Studying Abroad and Establish the Security and Service System . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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18 Exploring the Status Quo of Studying Abroad Development in the Post-Epidemic Era . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1 The Contextual Analysis of Study Abroad in the Post-COVID-19 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1.1 The Opening of Education to the Outside World . . . . . . . 18.1.2 The Current Basic Situation and Development Trend of Overseas Study in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1.3 Dialectical Understanding of the Overseas Study in the Context of the Epidemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1.4 The Upsurge for Chinese Students to Go Abroad . . . . . . 18.1.5 The Trend of Diversification of Study Abroad Destinations . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.1.6 Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools . . . . . 18.2 The Trend of Studying Abroad in the Post-Epidemic Era . . . . . . . 18.2.1 The Deepening of Education Opening to the Outside World . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.2.2 The Problem of Difficulty in Studying Abroad During the Epidemic . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18.3 Conclusion and Remark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19 Investigating Study Abroad Development Under the Background of “One Belt and One Road” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.1 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.1.1 The Belt and Road Initiative . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.1.2 Characteristics of Chinese Students Studying Abroad Under the Background of “One Belt and One Road” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.1.3 Differences in the Degree of Education and Management of Foreign Students Under the Background of “One Belt and One Road” . . . . . . . . . 19.2 System Differences of Overseas Students’ Education and Management Under the Background of “One Belt and One Road” . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19.2.1 The Development Trend of Foreign Student Education and Management Under the Background of “One Belt and One Road” . . . . . . . . . 19.2.2 The Strategy of Studying Abroad Under the Background of “One Belt and One Road” . . . . . . . . . 19.3 The Conclusion and Remark . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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447 448 452 455
About the Author
Jian Li is the assistant professor in China Institute of Education Policy, Faculty of Education, Beijing Normal University. She received her Ph.D. degree in Educational Leadership and Policy Studies (ELPS), School of Education, Indiana University Bloomington‚ USA. Her research interests focus on Education Policy Studies, Comparative Education Policy Studies‚ Globalization and Internationalization of Higher Education. She currently also serves as think tanker at China Institute of Education and Social Development, Beijing Normal University. In the past years, she has published more than 80 papers in Chinese and English in Higher Education, International Journal of Education Research, Educational Philosophy and Theory, Educational Research, Comparative Education Research, China Education Journal and other SSCI and CSSCI indexed journals. She has published more than 20 English monographs and published more than 40 articles in China Education Daily, People’s Political Consultative Conference News and People’s Daily Overseas Edition. More than 30 international academic conference papers, national, provincial, and ministerial level decision-making departments adopted or participated in the writing of more than 40 proposals of the CPPCC National Committee. Presided over or participated in 20 national, provincial, and ministerial projects and serves as the editorial board member and reviewer of several international English journals.
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Fig. 1.1 Fig. 2.1
The four elements of internationalization of education development in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Internationalization of higher education in China . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .
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Chapter 1
Preface
This book concentrates on conceptualizing and contextualizing the education policy discourse model from the perspective of internationalization of education development in China. The education policy discourse of international educational with Chinese characteristics is an implicit system consisting of a series of internal logical relations, including multiple levels of discourse foundation, discourse core, discourse mode, discourse attitude, discourse transmission and discourse innovation. It has been contextualized in analyzing internationalization of education development comprehensively. Thus, this book is mainly divided into four parts, including the macro perspective on internationalization of education development in China, the quest for internationalization at home in post-COVID-19, international education development in China, and mapping study abroad policy development in China. All these four parts are integrated to conceptualizing education policy discourse framework from a holistic perspective (See Fig. 1.1). This book also explores the strategies regarding advancing internationalization of education development in China contextually and systematically, especially during post-COVID-19. Chapter 2 examines the emerging power of internationalization of higher education in China from a policy retrospective analysis. Branch one includes that China’s policy on studying abroad (“going out”) after the reform and opening up; branch two concentrates on China’s policy on studying in China (“bring in”) after the reform and opening; branch three explores the policy of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools; branch four examines the policy of foreign exchange and cooperation. All these four emerging branches are interdependent, and all contribute to shaping the landscape of internationalization of higher education system in contemporary China. In addition, the conclusion and remarks are also offered in this study. Chapter 3 examines the challenges, characteristics, and strategies of internationalization of higher education through a policy text analysis. It explores an overview of internationalization development of higher education system in China. The major policy analysis related to internationalization of higher education in China is to explore the basic conditions and historical background, which aims to strengthen the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_1
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The macro perspective on internationalization of education development in China
The Quest for Internationalization at home in postCOVID 19
International education development in China
Mapping study abroad policy development in China
Fig. 1.1 The four elements of internationalization of education development in China
effectiveness of policy formulation and implementation. The findings highlighted that the international development level of some double-first-class universities is relatively low; the internationalization development of universities at different levels is not balanced; international development covers a wide range of fields but lacks implementation details; some universities understand the relationship between localization and internationalization, but not deep understand local characteristics. In addition, the characteristics of internationalization of higher education in China were explored in this study. The strategies of internationalization of higher education in China included that clarifying the implementation pathway of international development; clarifying the characteristics of higher education institutions; clarifying priorities; and defining development elements of internationalization of higher education system. Chapter 4 concentrates on exploring the idea of internationalization at home from multiple perspectives. In recent years, with the deepening of the research on the internationalization of higher education, many people have realized that the economic and social globalization and the increasing importance of knowledge and technology are putting forward higher requirements for the internationalization of higher education. Internationalization of higher education is not only the deepening, strengthening, and enlarging of a country’s higher education system in connection with the international community, but also the dual nature of internal and external. Internationalization requires universities to extensively participate in international exchanges and at the same time requires countries to actively reform their higher education systems. With the development of economic globalization and the world multi-polarization, international education has also been greatly developed. The development of international student exchanges can increase students’ international knowledge. The shortcomings of traditional international education have led to the development of a new situation of “internationalization at home”. This chapter explores what is “internationalization at home” and the definition of internationalization at home, the similarities and
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differences between international education and internationalization at home and the background of China’s education internationalization were examined in this chapter. Chapter 5 examines the development of internationalization at home from a multiple perspective. In recent years, with the increasingly in-depth studies on the internationalization of higher education system, the idea of internationalization at home is not only about the deepening, strengthening, and enlarging of a country’s higher education system in connection with the international community, but also about both internal and external attributes. Internationalization not only requires universities to participate in international exchanges extensively, but also requires countries to actively reform their higher education systems. Higher education institutions are not only the object and object of internationalization, but also regarded as the subject of internationalization, thus shouldering the mission of using global resources to improve the internationalization level of local higher education. To meet this challenge, countries around the world are actively exploring the optimal implementation path of internationalization based on the actual situation of their own universities, and the internationalization at home has become the first choice of many countries after research and exploration. Chapter 6 explores the practical models of internationalization at home. The internationalization at home is a new school-running concept, which refers to the introduction of foreign educational ideas based on local education, to cultivate high-level international talents. Internationalization in Hong Kong, as a new thing, rapidly moves from concept to practice in a very short time, from one country to many countries, which is a general trend of future development. Internationalization in Hong Kong can promote the communication between different cultures, but it has also experienced many difficulties and challenges due to the differences between different cultures. Although international education in China is facing some challenges, it has been developing and becoming mature gradually. The internationalization is oriented to the whole world. It is more about the integration of one’s own culture and foreign culture, and it can also be said to be intercultural communication. Locally internationalized means to build international campuses in one’s own country to promote learning and exchange between different cultures. Local education internationalization is the inevitable result of economic globalization and the inevitable trend of improving international competitiveness. In this way, we can keep talented people in our country to serve the economic development of our country and expand the cultural soft power of China’s education system. Chapter 7 examines the context, experience, and strategy of the practice of internationalization at home worldwide. “Internationalization at home” started from the European reflection on the traditional model of internationalization in the 1990s, and then gradually received the attention and recognition of the higher education circles around the world. Its characteristics, such as “attaching importance to local training”, “group universality” and “international education environment”, provide a new logical paradigm and practical direction for dealing with the problems in the training of international talents in universities in China. Traditional colleges and universities in China, international talents cultivation model in the education of the plight of universality, education effect, only the “shift” “mechanism” and “internationalization
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of education environment, the combination of” to be able to in internationalization of talents training in colleges and universities to provide more aboriginality and practical theory framework and strategy thinking. Chapter 8 concentrates on exploring the implications of implementing the internationalization at home from the multiple scopes. The discussion about internationalization at home first arose in the late 1990s. The concept was put forward by Bent Nilsson, vice chancellor for international affairs at the University of Malmo in Sweden, at the 1999 Spring Forum of the European Association of International Education. He thought, “international” refers to “happened in the field of education in addition to overseas students flow of all activities related to international affairs”, its goal is “by allowing all students in school period has a chance to accept international concept and the influence of cross-border culture to improve their own ability and the qualification, in response to the changing requirements of the globalization of the world”. Moreover, in recent years, with the deepening of the research on the internationalization of higher education, many people have realized that the economic and social globalization and the increasing importance of knowledge and technology are putting forward higher requirements for the internationalization of higher education. Chapter 9 examines the holistic overview of exploring the internationalization at home in different contexts. With the continuous progress and rapid development of social and economic life, the internationalization in the country is also constantly in-depth. Especially in the recent two years of severe epidemic situation abroad, students choose to stay in China to study for their own safety. To make students feel more international education, the development of international education in China is worth studying and discussing. At present, it is found that there is a shortage of educational investment in local internationalization. We might seek truth from facts, admit the problem and solve the problem, and analyze the specific problem in a concrete way, to promote the development of local internationalization toward a better direction. Chapter 10 examines the international students in China from multiple contexts. The stable political situation and good higher education environment have created favorable conditions for the development of international students’ education. The rapid development of economy also has a significant impact on people’s life, in addition to food, clothing, housing and transportation, and more importantly, it has an impact on Chinese students studying in China. From today’s point of view, China, as one of the four ancient civilizations, has a long history and profound historical and cultural deposits, which attracts scholars from all over the world to come to China to study in China and truly experience the integration of Chinese history and modern times. The stable political situation in the present era has promoted the development of studying in China. The current situation of studying in China cannot be achieved without the support of the Chinese government. Many policies of the Chinese government provide favorable conditions for studying in China. Reform and opening have opened a door for China to embrace the world and opened the arms of foreign countries to enter China. After the reform and opening, more and more foreign students choose to study in China. In recent years, the “One Belt, One Road” policy has not only driven China’s development, but also promoted the development of the
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world. The construction of the Belt and Road has attracted foreign students to study in China and appreciate the charm of Chinese culture. China has also promulgated many policies to promote the development of overseas education in China, such as setting up scholarships to attract high-quality foreign students to study in China. Chapter 11 explores the status quo of international students studying in China. In recent years, the number of international students from other countries in China is increasing. It is an inevitable choice for China to continue to expand the enrollment scale of international students. China is now the world’s third and Asia’s largest source of overseas students. With the increase in the number of international students in China, international students are faced with many problems, such as language communication, management, teaching content and quality, construction of teachers, and uneven destination of study. At the same time, this paper obtained the situation of Chinese overseas students over the years by searching for the Brief Statistics of Foreign Students issued by the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Education, and described the number, distribution, country, and structure of Chinese overseas students in the past ten years with data and charts. The development trend of foreign students in China shows a tendency of many aspects, from different angles to analyze, respectively, including the policy trend, trend of management, the scale trend of the teaching quality and the structure of foreign students, the area along the trend, employment trends in China, psychological development trend, etc., from the analysis can know, these trends have positive aspects. There are also negative aspects, which we need to look at dialectically. From a macro point of view, the countermeasures should be taken by the country and the government. From the micro point of view, from the perspective of the school, including enrollment, management, teaching and curriculum design, as well as the group of international students, as well as social management. It is worth our deep thinking to deal with the various problems of international students. Chapter 12 aims to explore the international students’ education policy through a policy document analysis perspective. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the total number of international students in China has increased from 328,000 to 492,000 in 2018. Students from 196 countries and regions are studying in 1,004 institutions of higher learning in China’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions, and municipalities. China has become the largest destination country for overseas students in Asia, and the match degree between the attraction of studying in China and the comprehensive strength of the country has been further improved. After 70 years of gradual development and evolution, China’s policy on studying in China has formed a relatively complete system, and its specific contents have been constantly changed, adjusted, and improved with the changes of domestic and foreign situations. Chinese government has always attached great importance to the acceptance and training of foreign students and regarded it as an important part of our foreign exchanges. Over the past 50 years, has gradually formed a relatively system with Chinese characteristics of foreign students’ education management model, for many countries, especially developing countries has trained many sciences and technology, education, diplomacy and management talent, with all countries in the world to develop and consolidate our
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country political, diplomatic and economic and trade relations, in culture, education and personnel exchange made a positive contribution. Chapter 13 explores the talent training and teaching quality of overseas students in China. With the vigorous development of China’s economy, China’s international influence and international status are also constantly improving, more and more foreign students to study in China, the rapid development of international student education, has become an important part of China’s foreign exchanges and education. The education and management of international students are a measure of whether higher education has reached the international level. In recent years, with the accelerating pace of global economic integration and education internationalization, the degree of opening to the outside world has also been continuously improved, and the scale and growth rate of international students in China have also been gradually increasing. However, there are still many problems in the education of overseas students in China, especially in the aspects of teaching and management, which need our urgent attention. Teaching is the central work of colleges and universities, and the teaching management of international students has become the center of the management of international students in colleges and universities. The level of teaching management in colleges and universities directly affects the overall level of teaching management in colleges and universities. This paper mainly discusses the problems encountered in the training of international students in the aspects of enrollment, teaching, and management. Chapter 14 explores the “One Belt and One Road” and international student development in China. With the improvement of comprehensive national strength and the development of social economy, China has put forward many “China plan” which is conducive to international development. Proposed in 2013, the Belt and Road Initiative has become an international cooperation platform with wide participation in the world. In this international context, cooperation between countries is not only economic, but also cultural and educational. The fundamental goal of cooperation is to build a road to peace, development, green and prosperity, to better respond to the new call of The Times. In this context, the cause of international students in universities has achieved unprecedented development, but also with the increasing scale of international students in China, the problems of education management of international students gradually exposed. The “Belt and Road” initiative is a key support for the comprehensive creation of a “community with a shared future for mankind” in the new century. The “Belt and Road” concept not only injects sufficient new impetus and vitality into the Chinese economy, but also puts forward higher goals for the comprehensive cultivation of talents in China in the future. The Belt and Road Initiative has accelerated the development of studying in China from countries along the Belt and Road. The number of students studying in China has soared, but at the same time, the problem of studying in China has also come one after another, putting forward new standards and requirements for the teaching and management of universities. This requires us to strengthen the study of these problems and formulate corresponding countermeasures. Chapter 15 explores the historical development of study abroad in China. China is a big exporter of overseas students. As early as more than a century ago, there were
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already outstanding Chinese students who went abroad to learn advanced knowledge from the West. The development of overseas education will be affected by different factors. Politics, economy, culture, and history will all have an important impact on the education of overseas study in China. With the further development of the internationalization of higher education, the governments of various countries actively expand foreign exchanges, which greatly promotes the process of studying abroad. In the context of the globalization of higher education, student mobility, teacher exchanges and academic cooperation become more frequent. Many promising young students have been going abroad to learn advanced foreign science and technology and theoretical ideas. The overall trend of studying abroad is on the rise, among which the most important reason is the development of politics, economy, culture, and history. Chapter 16 examines the study abroad in China from the perspectives of contexts, problems, and strategies. With the rapid development of economic globalization and education internationalization, China has become the largest exporter of overseas students in the world. Studying abroad shows a trend of popularity and low age. The language, customs, culture, and way of life of overseas students are significantly different from those in China, and they are vulnerable to the influence of Western unhealthy thoughts and values such as extreme individualism, utilitarianism, and hedonism, which brings risks to the security of talents, ideology, and even national security in China. Since the reform and opening, studying abroad education is an important measure to accelerate the development of science and education and talents in China, and an important part of China’s opening. Studying abroad is conducive to receiving advanced educational concepts and expanding horizons and knowledge. The number of overseas students is increasing gradually. The COVID-19 epidemic has not significantly affected the actual demand of Chinese students to study abroad, and overseas study is still an important channel for China to cultivate international talents. The relevant departments of the state should know more about the situation of overseas students to protect their way of study. Chapter 17 explores the study abroad policy development in China. Studying abroad has become an important component of higher education structure, and gradually developed into a kind of trend, more and more college students to study abroad this road, go abroad to study and gradually plays a huge role, sense and knowledge innovation and combination of Chinese and western. Nowadays, studying abroad has become an important part of China’s opening-up policy, and an important strategic decision of China’s implementation of “rejuvenating the country through science and education”. With the continuous influx of western knowledge, and the integration of Chinese exchanges, more and more people are aware of its importance. Education opening to the outside world is an important part of China’s reform and opening. China is now the world’s largest source of international students. The CPC Central Committee and the State Council attach great importance to the opening of education. Under the background of new era, China’s policy of studying abroad will also face new problems and tasks, the future development to fully grasp the key to institutional change node, pay attention to the concept of play the guiding role, the real problems face to face with policy change, based on adaptive expectations and create
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a good domestic environment, etc., in order to implement the policy of studying abroad path breakthrough, then promote our country to study abroad policy toward a more scientific and institutionalized direction. Chapter 18 examines the status quo of studying abroad development in the postepidemic era. In the post-epidemic period, “overseas education” tends to be rational, and the general public’s demand for receiving international education at home is increasing day by day, which brings a rare opportunity to promote the connotation development of international higher education in China. From the outbreak era under the background of the current situation of the internationalization of higher education and the challenge, based on the domestic large cycle as the main body, domestic and international dual cycle promotes “new development pattern, combined with the application in international education theory, put forward in the service system, the team system in colleges and universities, educational mode and the humanities education and international integration and so on four big aspects of countermeasures, to promote education in colleges and universities. At present, the world is undergoing profound changes unseen in a century. The COVID-19 pandemic is accelerating its evolution, with unilateralism and protectionism on the rise, profound changes in the international landscape, and significant increases in external instability and uncertainties. The Fifth Plenary Session of the 19th CPC Central Committee pointed out that China’s development is still in an important period of strategic opportunities, but there are new developments and changes in both opportunities and challenges. The plenum made strategic arrangements such as “forming a new pattern of opening up”, “carrying out high-level opening up”, and “carrying out wider, wider and deeper opening up”. In this way, China’s higher education will be better able to participate in international competition and continue to contribute to the construction of a strong country in higher education. Chapter 19 investigates the study abroad development under the background of “One Belt and One Road”. The “One Belt and One Road” cooperation initiative was proposed in 2013 and has become an international cooperation platform with wide participation in the world today. In this international context, cooperation among countries is not only economic, but also cultural, educational, and other aspects. The fundamental goal of cooperation is to build a road of peace, development, green and prosperity and better respond to the new proposition. The continuous and in-depth development of the Belt and Road Initiative also brings opportunities for Chinese students to study abroad. With the continuous development of China’s economy and the continuous improvement of people’s living standards, coupled with the idea of Chinese parents “expecting their children to be successful”, they hope their children can get better education so as to achieve better development in the future, which leads to the boom of studying abroad in China. Of course, this is also inseparable from the current open and inclusive international environment and the countries that encourage and support it. At the beginning of 2020, COVID-19 quietly spread to all countries around the world. Under the background of COVID-19, due to the negative treatment of some western countries, which created an unsafe international social environment, the number of Chinese students studying abroad also showed a declining trend. At
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the same time, Chinese students are also more inclined to go to developed countries, such as Britain, the United States, Canada, and Australia. Students studying abroad also cause some problems, such as psychological problems of overseas students, brain drain, and the good and bad of overseas study agents.
Part I
The Macro Perspective on Internationalization of Education Development in China
Chapter 2
Emerging Power of Internationalization of Higher Education in China
This chapter examines the emerging power of internationalization of higher education in China from a policy retrospective analysis. Branch one includes that China’s policy on studying abroad (“going out”) after the reform and opening up; branch two concentrates on China’s policy on studying in China (“bring in”) after the reform and opening; branch three explores the policy of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools; branch four examines the policy of foreign exchange and cooperation. All these four emerging branches are interdependent, and all contribute to shaping the landscape of internationalization of higher education system in contemporary China. In addition, the conclusion and remarks are also offered in this study.
2.1 Introduction 2.1.1 The Internationalization of Higher Education The internationalization of higher education is the trend of the times, and the education around the world is also very concerned about the development of higher education internationalization policy changes. The international education has been beyond the narrow education policy, to improve economic competitiveness, expand cultural influence, safeguard national security and maintain the national development strategy. China’s experience in reform and development over the past 30 years has proved that openness leads to progress and innovation, whether in the economic, scientific, technological or educational fields. Therefore, both the foreign cooperation and Sinoforeign exchange and cooperation are of great importance in China’s higher education system. It is not difficult to find that China is paying attention to the introduction of high-quality educational resources and at the same time vigorously developing and
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_2
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utilizing domestic high-quality educational resources, striving to combine the introduction and output organically. Thus, in this study, the emerging power of “Four Branches” of internationalization of higher education in China has been explored from a policy retrospective analysis.
2.1.2 The Structure of the Study on Internationalization of Education System This chapter is divided into five parts: first part includes China’s policy on studying abroad (“going out”) after the reform and opening up; second part concentrates on China’s policy on studying in China (“bring in”) after the reform and opening; third part explores the policy analysis of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools; fourth part examines the policy analysis of foreign exchange and cooperation. The last part offers the conclusion and remarks (see Fig. 2.1).
• Going out • Overseas students • Talents training
• Running schools • Cross-cultural characteristics
• Bring in • from closed to open • Chinese government scholarships
Study abroad
Study in China
Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools
Foreign exchange/ cooperation
Fig. 2.1 Internationalization of higher education in China
• National scholarship funds • Investment in higher education
2.2 The Policy in China’s Policy on Studying Abroad …
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2.2 The Policy in China’s Policy on Studying Abroad (“Going Out”) After the Reform and Opening Up 2.2.1 China’s Policy of Studying Abroad In recent decades, China’s policy of studying abroad has faced new problems and tasks and paid attention to the concept of playing the guiding role. Chinese central government conducted a series of education policy to implement the policy of studying abroad path breakthrough and then promote the direction of policy toward a more scientific and institutionalized. On March 18, 1978, at the opening ceremony of the National Science and Technology Conference, Deng Xiaoping stressed that it is necessary for any nation or country to learn from the strong points and advanced science and technology of other nations and countries. The party and state take expanding the scale of overseas study as the focus, standardize the management of overseas study and encourage self-funded overseas study as the main line, and gradually restore and explore the educational policy of overseas study in practice. After that, the party and the state gradually deepened the understanding of the policy of studying abroad at one’s own expense. From 1979 to 1986, the number of overseas students averaged more than 3,800 a year, surpassing the annual target of 3,000 set in the early days of reform and opening. From 1978 to 1984, the number of Chinese students studying abroad at their own expense was about 7,000, while from 1985 to 1988, the number reached 16,000. From 1972 to 1980, the study abroad policy in China focused on the governmentdominated policy. Due to the slow development of studying abroad, the policy of studying abroad at one’s own expense was formally put forward in 1980. In 1982, the regulations on studying abroad at one’s own expense were tightened, and in 1984, the State Council issued new regulations again to relax the restrictions on studying abroad at one’s own expense. In 1985, China abolished the qualification examination for studying abroad at one’s own expense, which marked the complete opening of the door for Chinese students to study abroad. All the policies issued by the reform and opening policy are conducive to the study abroad of China and promote the great development of the study abroad cause. Meanwhile, the policies launched by China provide a guarantee for the recovery and development of the study abroad education in the early stage of the reform and opening policy (Cheng & Cheng, 2007; Deng & Xu, 2008; Hu, 2018).
2.2.2 Studying Abroad as an Integral Part of China’s Policy of Opening to the Outside World In December 1986, the State Council made studying abroad as an integral part of China’s policy of opening to the outside world and pointed out that it must be upheld
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for a long time. At the same time, the government has established the principle of sending students according to their needs, ensuring their quality and consistent learning and application, and strengthening the management and education of those who study abroad. The establishment of the policy of supporting study abroad, encouraging return and freedom of coming and going has led to a large increase in the number of people studying abroad. From 1991 to 2012, the total number of Chinese students studying abroad increased from 22,800 to 399,600, and the total number of Chinese students returning from all kinds of studies increased from 6,100 to 272,900, an increase of 16.53 times and 43.74 times, respectively. The 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China put forward the principle of adhering to the principle that the party manages personnel and attracts outstanding personnel from all walks of life to contribute to the cause of the party and the country. From 2012 to the end of 2019, there were 3.612 million students studying in China, accounting for 61.67% of the total number of students studying in China during the 40 years of reform and opening. Since the reform and opening, the scale of studying abroad in China has gradually increased, and many policy changes have taken place in China’s policies on studying abroad for the development of China’s education and society. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening, the career of traders studying abroad has made great progress and made great achievements. Studying abroad has provided a strong talent support for China’s economic and social construction and made outstanding contributions. At present, more than 80% of the academicians of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and the Chinese Academy of Sciences have worked or studied abroad; more than 70% of the presidents of high-level universities and more than 90% of the Changjiang Scholars have been elected (Cheng & Cheng, 2007; Deng & Xu, 2008; Hu, 2018; Li & Xue, 2020, 2021; Liu & Liu, 2019). Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, with the expansion of the opening of education to the outside world, the cause of studying abroad in China has entered a new era of all-round development. The demand for high-end talents for studying abroad has promoted the cause of studying abroad to develop in a large-scale, multi-category and widespread direction. The policy of studying abroad is a key factor affecting the development of studying abroad and to a great extent determines the quality of training talents for studying abroad. The overseas education has cultivated many talents for China’s development.
2.3 The Policy in China’s Policy on Studying in China (“Bring In”) After the Reform and Opening Up 2.3.1 A Process of Continuous Improvement Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China’s policy of studying in China has gone through a process of continuous improvement. Before the reform and opening, China’s foreign policy of studying in China was “closed” and “one-sided”.
2.3 The Policy in China’s Policy on Studying in China …
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As China is a socialist country, it adopted a “one-sided” foreign policy in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It had close contacts with the former Soviet Union and other socialist countries, and most of the students studying in China were students from those countries. During this period, the state promulgated the Regulations on the Trial Implementation of the Work of Foreign Students (Draft), Several Practices for the Exchange of Foreign Students between China and Friendly Countries formulated by higher education, and other legal documents, which play an important role in regulating and guiding the work of studying in China. In the 1970s, China resumed its legal seat in the United Nations, and China’s international status was improved, which created good conditions for studying in China.
2.3.2 Shifting from “Closed” to “Open” After the reform and opening, the education policy for studying abroad in China has gradually shifted from “closed” to “open”. The period from 1978 to 1989 was the stage of recovery and exploration, during which students studying in China gained initial development. According to statistics, in 1988, the number of foreign students in China was 5,835, 4.79 times that of 1,227 in 1977. In 1989, the former State Education Commission issued the Regulations on the Recruitment of Self-funded Foreign Students (hereinafter referred to as “Regulations”), marking that the education policy for studying in China has entered the stage of adaptation and adjustment. So far, an open education system for students studying in China has been initially established, which is of great significance to the development of education for students studying in China (Cheng & Cheng, 2007; Deng & Xu, 2008; Hu, 2018). In January 2000, the policy of studying in China became more standardized and institutionalized. The Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security issued and implemented the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Higher Education Institutions, which established a relatively complete management system and working mechanism for foreign students. The education policy of studying in China has gradually become perfect, and the education of studying in China has stepped into the track of standardization and institutionalization. In July 2010, the Outline of the National Program for Medium—and Long-Term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020) (hereinafter referred to as the Outline) was promulgated and put into effect. The Outline establishes the general idea of further expanding the scale of foreign students and puts forward specific measures such as optimizing the structure of students studying in China, increasing the number of Chinese government scholarships and carrying out preparatory education for students studying in China. In September of the same year, the Study in China Plan issued by China’s Ministry of Education proposed that China would become the largest destination country for overseas students in Asia by 2020. Study in China Plan is a breakthrough in China’s education policy for studying in China. It is the first special strategic guidance plan for China’s education for studying in China, and it is of strategic significance to adapt to the urgent and
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long-term needs of the development of education for studying in China under the new situation. With the rapid growth of China’s economy, the number of Chinese students studying in China has been increasing year by year. More and more people choose to study in China, which is not entirely out of personal love for Chinese language and culture. In recent years, the Ministry of Education has put forward a clear idea and development goals for the development of education for overseas students in China and has coordinated with various localities and universities to establish a complete set of perfect management systems and trained a number of professional education workers for overseas students, thus making the overall environment of studying in China increasingly optimized (Cheng & Cheng, 2007; Deng & Xu, 2008; Hu, 2018; Li & Xue, 2021; Liu & Liu, 2019).
2.4 The Policy of Sino-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools 2.4.1 Sino-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools in Higher Education in China With the advancement of global economic integration, Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools in higher education in China has been developing continuously. In the process of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools, due to the diversity of education subject and object, education environment, information sources, ways of thinking and social customs, the process of talent training is inevitably affected by different cultures. Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools has been developing continuously. With the promulgation of the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Chinese-foreign Cooperation in Running Schools in 2003 as the mark, Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools has embarked on a soundtrack of standardized, scientific and institutionalized development, which has strongly promoted the development of China’s higher education. Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools policy refers to the state or the administrative department in a certain historical period in order to implement the education opening to the outside world and the objectives and tasks for the development of higher education, to a certain historical period and develop the policy environment and have the authority of the code of conduct, its specification and guidance of objects is a Chinese-foreign cooperatively run school or held joint schools project. It is of positive significance for the internationalization of higher education in China to share educational resources and learn advanced ideas, methods and practical experiences of foreign countries by means of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools. With the development of China’s education and the advancement of education internationalization, Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools has been developed for nearly 40 years and has been highly concerned by the society. To strengthen Sinoforeign cooperation in running schools, since the 1980s, the party and the state attach
2.4 The Policy of Sino-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools
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great importance to the development of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools, clearly put forward the opinion of vigorously developing the Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools, in terms of both national strategy and strategic deployment, have launched a series of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools’ regulations and policies of text. The Education Law of the People’s Republic of China promulgated in 1995 clearly pointed out that the methods for overseas organizations and individuals to run schools and cooperate in running schools within the territory of China shall be prescribed by the State Council. However, it was not until 2003 that the State Council passed and issued the Regulations on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools. Compared with the actual development situation, the policy of Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools is relatively delayed. Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools has become one of the trends of the development of Chinese colleges and universities. Internationalization has become one of the construction objectives of many key colleges and universities. In 1993, the Tianjin Institute of Finance and Economics (now Tianjin University of Finance and Economics) and the University of Oklahoma in the United States first opened the Sino-foreign cooperative education program, which was not officially recognized until 1995 when it was registered with the Ministry of Education (Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Li, 2019; Li & Xue, 2020; Pan, 2018; Ren, 2016; Sang, 2018; Xian & Wang, 2020; Zhang et al., 2017; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
2.4.2 The Outcome of International and Domestic Economic Development Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools is the outcome of international and domestic economic development. In the mid-twentieth century, developed countries tried to expand their political influence by providing “international educational assistance” to other countries. With the advancement of economic globalization, informatization and marketization, the internationalization of higher education has become an inevitable trend for the development of universities around the world, and the era of international education service trade and cross-border education is gradually coming. In the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) concluded in Uruguay negotiations of WTO, education is defined as the fifth field of 12 service trade fields, and the education field is divided into five subfields, and the basic model of global education service is planned. At the beginning of the reform and opening, Comrade Xiaoping put forward that education should be oriented to the world. Since then, the cooperation and exchange between China and foreign countries in higher education have developed vigorously and gradually moved toward opening. In September 1986, with the approval of the State Council, China established its first fully Chinese-foreign cooperative school: the Nanjing University-Hopkins Center for Sino-American Studies. In 2003, the state promulgated the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools,
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marking a new stage for Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools in China’s higher education. Intercultural education came into being in the 1970s in Europe and the United States. Although the background, content and form of the development are different, the development of intercultural education still has its common rules in general. They are respectively the theory of cultural change, the theory of cultural assimilation, the theory of cultural fusion, the theory of intercultural adaptation, the theory of intercultural communication, the education of intercultural understanding, the theory of multiculturalism and the education of multi-culture. Analyzing the above theory of intercultural education, the research of intercultural education theory has changed from paying attention to external behavior to internal psychology, from partial understanding to overall grasp, from result orientation to process orientation and from static analysis to dynamic analysis, which fully reflects the process of intercultural education theory becoming mature and perfect day by day. However, the emergence, development and maturity of these theories have their own profound background of social change, and the cultural factors contained in the background of social change do not completely meet the practical needs of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools in higher education at present. Therefore, it is very important to reflect on and summarize the theory and practice of cross-cultural education in order to solve the problems of cross-cultural education in Sino-foreign cooperation in higher education (Cheng & Cheng, 2007; Deng & Xu, 2008; Hu, 2018; Li & Xue, 2021; Liu & Liu, 2019; Pan, 2018; Sang, 2018). Internationalization and open development of higher education have become an inevitable choice for the development of higher education in China. In the process of globalization, Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools, as an important part and realization path of the internationalization of higher education, is increasingly showing a broad development prospect. In the process of improving the level and quality of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools, it is necessary to explore a road of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools with Chinese characteristics, aiming at its cross-cultural characteristics and taking cross-cultural education as the leading role, to continuously improve the students’ cross-cultural quality, enhance their cross-cultural ability and further promote the cultivation of international talents.
2.5 The Policy of Foreign Exchange and Cooperation 2.5.1 The Internationalization of China’s Higher Education The internationalization of China’s higher education is a kind of education in the new era, which has the historical responsibility of revitalizing the Chinese nation and the characteristics of adapting to the social development in the new era. It is people-centered, with distinctive Chinese characteristics, oriented to the world, and reflects the development orientation and continuous innovation. Internationalization of higher education is a means of cultural exchange and talent cultivation driven
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by economic factors under the background of economic globalization. We should actively innovate policy subject consciousness, deepen the reform of higher education in China, international system and mechanism step into a higher education internationalization policy thinking clearly and coordinate the demand relationship between the internationalization of education policy and other policies. The foreign exchanges and cooperation of higher education aim to promote the domestic colleges and universities. It takes full advantage of domestic and foreign education resources to improve the level of school-running, strengthening discipline construction for training and the introduction of international rules and prospective high-quality talents with international vision. The international exchange and cooperation of higher education begin to receive more and more extensive attention. Higher education is one of the important interrelated components of the education system. It usually includes various types of educational institutions whose main tasks and activities are high-level learning and cultivation, teaching, research and social service. The second half of the twentieth century is a period of unusual expansion and qualitative change in the development history of higher education. The rapid growth of social demand for advanced professionals and the urgent demand of individuals for higher education opportunities make higher education develop at an unprecedented speed. Foreign exchange and cooperation, and internationalization of higher education are to train with international consciousness and mind as well as the international first-class knowledge structure, the internationalization of vision and ability to achieve internationalization level talent as the goal, by appointing our country high school students studying abroad or receiving foreign students to the machine structure learning, practice and research in Chinese colleges and universities, academic and cultural exchange, a variety of forms such as be involved to complete the project, implement the international exchanges and cooperation in the field of education, culture and so on, each other mutually beneficial international education activities. According to the statistics in recent years, China has become the world’s largest source of overseas students. China is also the world’s third largest destination for international academic flows, after the United States and the United Kingdom. Every year, about 400,000 students from all over the world come to China to study. At present, China has set up 2,469 Chinese-foreign cooperatively run school projects with other countries, and more than 700 foreign universities and colleges have participated in them. At the same time, Chinese colleges and universities have been steadily promoting overseas education in recent years. At present, the college has set up nearly 100 in 14 countries cooperation in running schools project and has signed a degree with 44 countries and regions, the degree of mutual recognition agreement, with the United States, Russia, Britain, France and other countries set up the national communication, so to speak, foreign exchanges and cooperation between China’s higher education internationalization stride heading toward deeper broader space (Pan, 2018; Ren, 2016; Sang, 2018; Xian & Wang, 2020; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
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2.5.2 The Cooperative Running of Colleges and Universities The cooperative running of colleges and universities is an important content and form of education service trade. The investment in higher education in our country has not caught up with the rapid development of higher education itself. There has been a serious disharmony between supply and demand in the domestic higher education market, and the supply exceeds the demand. Therefore, Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools can alleviate this phenomenon and help digest the surplus educational resources in Western developed countries. The quantity and scale of foreign higher education resources in Chinese-foreign cooperation in running schools are expanding and increasing every year in China, but the cooperation between foreign high-level universities and educational institutions with high-quality resources is rare, which leads to the uneven opening of higher education in China. The internationalization of personnel is one of the important characteristics of the openness of higher education and the main embodiment of the internationalization of education. Among them, the internationalization of personnel includes not only the multi-country and scale of domestic students, but also the multi-choice and scale of overseas students. In recent years, China has increased the number of national government scholarships year by year, especially encouraging students from developing countries to study and further in China. The number of overseas students in China is also increasing every year, and the structure of overseas students tends to be optimized and reasonable. In addition, the introduction of overseas scholars is also an important embodiment of the internationalization of personnel. The number of Chinese government students going abroad and studying abroad has been increasing year by year, and the funding from the National Scholarship Fund has been continuously strengthened. Exchanges and cooperation with other countries have changed from one-way to two-way. With the closer and closer international exchanges and cooperation among colleges and universities, the localization of higher education in China is developing rapidly (Cheng & Cheng, 2007; Deng & Xu, 2008; Hu, 2018; Liu & Liu, 2019; Pan, 2018; Ren, 2016; Sang, 2018; Zhang et al., 2017; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
2.6 Conclusion and Remarks In China, forty years of reform and opening have made great progress and great achievements in the field of studying abroad. In fact, even before the founding of New China, China had a policy of studying in China dating back to the Sui and Tang dynasties, which has a history of 1,300 years. However, before the reform and opening, China’s policy of studying in China was “closed” and “one-sided” foreign policy. After the reform and opening, the national economic development and the needs of the external construction, the education policy for studying abroad in China has gradually shifted from “closed” to “open”, and experienced the stages of recovery and exploration, adaptation and adjustment, and standardization and
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construction. In recent years, the number of Chinese students studying in China has been increasing year by year, and more and more people choose to study in China. Since the 1980s, the party and the state have attached great importance to the development of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools and have issued a series of plans and policy texts for Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools. Since the implementation of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools for more than 20 years, it has exerted a unique influence on the space of cooperation and exchange in the political, economic and cultural fields. With the advancement of global economic integration, Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools in higher education in China has been developing continuously. However, the policy of Sinoforeign cooperation in running schools also appeared in the later and ambiguous stages. Internationalization has become one of the construction goals of many key colleges and universities, and the mode of cooperative education is a shortcut to promote the development of colleges and universities. As a result, its development speed far exceeds the realistic expectation, while the framework structure set up by policies cannot effectively promote the development. In addition, there are also problems of lagging or even missing supporting policies and lagging school policy content, as well as very significant problems of cross-cultural education. However, in the long run, higher international education and open development have become the inevitable choice for the development of higher education in China. In the process of global economy, as an important part and realization path of the internationalization of higher education, Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools has more and more shown a broad development prospect. To explore new international education, it is necessary to change the way of thinking and concept, make use of online and offline teaching interaction and improve students’ autonomous learning ability. Although there are favorable economic, political and cultural conditions for higher education exchanges and cooperation between China and One Belt and One Road countries along the Belt and Road, there are restrictive factors in the training and education of foreign students, quality assurance, international exchange of academic achievements and the construction of educational think tanks. Therefore, if China’s higher education wants to occupy a place in the field of world education, the task of relevant universities at the present stage is to create first-class universities and high-level universities. Internationalization of higher education is the objective trend of the future development of higher education. The text of national education policy reflects the recognition attitude and positive actions of top-level policy designers on this development trend. The effectiveness of internationalization practice also reveals the significance of this path to the development of universities themselves. We should pay more attention to relevant legislation and policy development in the process of higher education internationalization, especially to strengthen the development of policy tools, so that the role of laws, regulations and policies related to higher education internationalization can be given the most reasonable play (Deng & Xu, 2008; Hu, 2018; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Li, 2019; Li & Xue, 2020, 2021; Liu & Liu, 2019; Pan, 2018; Ren, 2016; Sang, 2018; Xian & Wang, 2020).
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References Cheng, B., & Cheng, Y. (2007). A review of Sino-foreign cooperative education research in China since 2000. Academic Forum, 20(2), 196–199. Deng, Q., & Xu, J. (2008). A study on the intercultural education of Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools. Journal of Chongqing University (social Science Edition), 20(04), 140–144. Hu, J. (2018). Internationalization of higher education and China model. Research in Higher Education, 28(3), 1–6. Li, J., & Eryong, X. (2020). Unveiling the ‘logic’ of modern university in China: Historical, social and value perspectives. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(9), 986–998. Li, J., & Li, J. (2019). Educational policy development in China in the 21st century: A Multi-Flows Approach. Beijing International Review of Education, 1(1), 196–220. Li, J., & Xue, E. (2020). Returnee faculty responses to internationalizing “Academic ecology” for creating world-class universities in China’ Elite Universities. Higher Education. https://doi.org/ 10.1007/s10734-020-00599-y Li, J., & Xue, E. (2021). Mapping the education policy of foreign faculty for creating world-class universities in China: Advantage, conflict, and ambiguity. Educational Philosophy and Theory. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2020.1863213 Liu, M., & Liu, X. (2019). A study on foreign exchange and cooperation of higher education internationalization. Education Modernization, 6(69), 104–105. Pan, R. (2018). Analysis of foreign exchange and cooperation of universities based on higher education internationalization. Education Modernization, 5(53), 214–215. Ren, Y. (2016). The future development of higher education internationalization under the “Double firsts” strategy. China Higher Education, 20(3), 15–17. Sang, Y. (2018). The present situation and strategies of expand higher education opening to the outside world—A case study of the present situation of higher education opening to the outside world in Tianjin. Education and Teaching Forum, 28(36), 70–71. Xian, J., & Wang, J. (2020). The influence of sino-foreign cooperative school running policy reform on cooperative school running in higher vocational and technical colleges: An analysis based on Lewin’s three-stage reform model. Think Tank times, 20(05), 119–121. Zhang, H., Li, C., & Liu, Z. (2017). Strategies for the international development of China’s firstclass universities during the 13th five-year plan period—A quantitative analysis based on the text of C9 universities’ 13th five-year plan. Journal of National Institute of Education Administration, 20(12), 72–79. Zhu, W., & Zhang, H. (2017). A review on the changes of internationalization policy of higher education in China. Higher Education Management, 11(02), 116–125.
Chapter 3
The Challenges, Characteristics and Strategies of Internationalization for Creating World-Class Universities in China
This chapter examines the challenges, characteristics and strategies of internationalization of higher education through a policy text analysis. It explores an overview of internationalization development of higher education system in China. The major policy analysis related to internationalization of higher education in China is to explore the basic conditions and historical background, which aims to strengthen the effectiveness of policy formulation and implementation. The findings highlighted that the international development level of some double first-class universities is relatively low; the internationalization development of universities at different levels is not balanced; international development covers a wide range of fields but lacks implementation details; some universities understand the relationship between localization and internationalization, but not deep understand local characteristics. In addition, the characteristics of internationalization of higher education in China were explored in this study. The strategies of internationalization of higher education in China included that clarifying the implementation pathway of international development; clarifying the characteristics of higher education institutions; clarifying priorities; and defining development elements of internationalization of higher education system.
3.1 Introduction Internationalization of higher education refers to the mutual reference, penetration and docking of higher education in different countries and regions (Li & Xue, 2021; Xue & Li, 2020). It not only includes the two-way or multi-direction flow of international students, but also reflects the communication, convergence and integration of higher education in different countries and regions in terms of school-running philosophy, function setting, operation mechanism, management mode, teaching content and methods, as well as the sharing of teaching resources (Li & Xue, 2021). It is the
© The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_3
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development process and overall trend of a country’s higher education going international. In the era of globalization, the integration of political, economic, cultural and other factors in the world forms a dynamic mechanism to promote the internationalization of higher education and optimize the allocation of educational resources in various countries. Chinese universities to implement internationalization are by the historical experience of China’s higher education development, and university management mode innovation is determined by demand in the new period; Chinese universities need international development road, as a leader in the Chinese universities “double top” internationalization of the university of work should be other Chinese universities, the implementation of international standard (Song, 2013; Yao, 2010). Thus, in this study, it concentrates on exploring the challenges, characteristics and strategies of internationalization of higher education through reviewing the relevant policy documents and practical actions, separately. It is divided into several parts: the first part concentrates on offering an overview of internationalization development of higher education system in China; the second part involves exploring the major policy analysis related to internationalization of higher education in China; the third part examines the problems in the internationalization of higher education in China; the fourth part investigates the characteristics of internationalization of higher education in China; the last part examines the strategies of internationalization of higher education in China.
3.1.1 An Overview of Internationalization Development of Higher Education System in China With the major changes of the new pattern of global governance under the “One Belt and One Road” initiative, the opening and cooperation of higher education to the outside world have shifted from “learning from” to “learning from” and “passing on”. For a long time, the education service trade has been dominated by the Western developed countries. As a developing country, Chinese students continue to study in Europe and the United States to learn the advanced science and technology of the West, which provides a talent pool for the modernization development of our country. In recent years, China’s higher education has developed rapidly. Several high-level universities in the “985” and “211” universities have been listed in the world’s top 100. After the launch of the national “Double Tops” construction, a new group of high-level institutions and disciplines will be promoted into the ranks of the world’s first-class universities and disciplines. For example, Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications (BUPT) has international students from 58 countries and regions, of whom 75% are from “One Belt and One Road” countries, according to the 2018 Annual Progress Report on the Construction of “Double First-Class” Universities (Li, 2017, 2021; Li & Liu, 2006; Li & Xue, 2021; Liu & Kang, 2018; Lu & Kang, 2015; Song, 2013; Wang, 2017; Xue & Li, 2020; Yao, 2010; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
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The internationalization of China’s universities has formed its own characteristics. The comprehensive universities with language characteristics, school positioning characteristics or geographical relations conducive to the development of internationalization show unique advantages. First, the proportion of foreign full-time teachers and overseas students in language universities is higher than the average of the sample universities. These universities offer sufficient foreign language courses and have obvious advantages in attracting foreign teachers and international students, such as Beijing Foreign Studies University. Thirdly, due to their special geographical location, historical connections and language advantages, some universities have formed their own characteristics in the process of internationalization development, such as Yanbian University and Jinan University. Among them, Jinan University has a total of 11,902 international students, which is far ahead in the comparison. In addition, universities such as the University of International Business and Economics, which are aligned with international standards in terms of orientation, have 81.7% of their overseas students with degrees, ranking first among the top universities. At the same time, although some universities do not have the above advantages, they have formed their own development characteristics due to their open policy and development attitude (Li & Liu, 2006; Liu & Kang, 2018; Lu & Kang, 2015; Song, 2013; Wang, 2017; Yao, 2010; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
3.1.2 Major Policy Text Analysis Related to Internationalization of Higher Education in China Internationalization of higher education has attracted more and more attention and is becoming a very challenging issue. From the historical changes of China’s higher education development, the policy support system plays an extremely important role and is closely linked with the internationalization of China’s higher education. The theory and practice of higher education internationalization not only affect policy formulation, but also cannot be left without policy guidance. Especially, the promulgation of education policy text at the national level plays a guiding role in the specific laws and regulations, theoretical exploration and practical operation of higher education internationalization. In order to promote the better and faster development of the internationalization of higher education in China, we must insist on strengthening the understanding and effective implementation of relevant policies in the context of national macro-policies. In the process of higher education internationalization, the power of the national level is very powerful, the central government through the national education work conference and various policies and regulations, deployment and guidance of the development direction of the internationalization of higher education. Education itself is a process of construction and accumulation. Therefore, internationalization strategy is a long and arduous process, which requires the guidance and support of the state through policy tools, and the basic conditions and
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historical background also make it necessary to strengthen the effectiveness of policy formulation and implementation. For example, in 2015, Notice on the Overall Plan for Promoting the Construction of World-class Universities and First-class Disciplines indicated that. In the circular on the overall plan of promoting the construction of first-class universities and first-class disciplines issued by the State Council, five reform tasks for the construction of double first-class universities are pointed out, namely, strengthening and improving the Party’s leadership over universities and colleges; Perfect the internal governance structure; Achieve breakthroughs in key links; Construct social participation mechanism; We will promote international exchanges and cooperation. It is important to note that the file is to promote international exchanges and cooperation tasks done some explanation, and some global high-end university and some excellent educational organization, communication and cooperation, the high-quality education resources to other countries, and combined with the actual condition of education development in our country to carry on the reasonable use, effectively talent exchange and scientific communication. We will further enhance international exchanges, cooperation and innovation, and take the initiative to participate in some scientific research. Creating a better international educational and scientific research atmosphere will attract more excellent overseas students and excellent overseas teachers. At the same time, it actively participates in the formulation of international education rules and the evaluation process of international education and teaching to further promote the development of higher education in China and enhance the influence of higher education in the world.
In this published policy document, it offered a holistic requirement of creating world-class universities and world-class disciplines. And it also highlighted the importance of promoting international exchanges and cooperation for creating world-class universities. The detail is offered as follows: We will strengthen substantive cooperation with world-class universities and academic institutions, effectively integrate high-quality foreign educational resources into the whole process of teaching and research and carry out joint training of high-level personnel and joint research on key scientific issues. We will strengthen international collaborative innovation and actively participate in or lead the organization of major international and regional science programs and projects. We will create a favorable environment for international teaching and research and make it more attractive to outstanding foreign teachers and highlevel students. To actively participate in the formulation of international education rules, international education and teaching evaluation and certification, effectively improve the international competitiveness and discourse power of China’s higher education and establish a good brand and image of Chinese universities.
In 2016, Suggestions on the Opening Up of Education in the New Era argued that we need to take into consideration both domestic and international situations and the two major tasks of development and security, continue to open up wider, strengthen education in China, promote people-to-people and cultural exchanges and constantly improve the quality of education, soft power and international influence of China, so as to provide strong support for the realization of the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream of national rejuvenation. This Suggestions put forward that we should adhere to the working principles of “centering on the center, serving the overall situation, focusing on ourselves, embracing inclusiveness, improving
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the level, connotation development, equal cooperation and ensuring safety”. This Suggestions indicated that: By 2020, China will basically improve its service system for studying abroad, significantly improve the quality of studying in China, significantly improve the benefits of foreign-related education, expand the scope and depth of bilateral and multilateral education cooperation, significantly improve the ability to participate in the formulation of international rules in the field of education, and significantly improve the level of standardization and rule of law in education opening to the outside world. We will better meet the people’s needs for diversified, high-quality education and better serve overall economic and social development.
In 2016, Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on the Investigation of the Internationalization Development of Higher Education in China suggested that it is an important measure to carry out a survey on the internationalization development of higher education in China in the new era of education opening to the outside world and improving the internationalization level of higher education. Through the annual survey, the evaluation index system and the development information database of the internationalization of higher education in China are established. Through the analysis of the survey data, the annual report on the internationalization development of higher education is formed, which provides useful reference for the further work of education opening to the outside world in the new era. In 2018, Guidance on Accelerating the Construction of “Double Tops” in Colleges and Universities also concentrates on deepening international cooperation and exchanges in China’s higher education system as follows: We will vigorously promote high-level and substantive international cooperation and exchanges and become a participant, facilitator and leader in the reform of higher education around the world. Strengthen substantive academic exchanges and scientific research cooperation with foreign high-level universities and top scientific research institutions and establish joint laboratories and research centers for international cooperation. We will promote mutual learning between Chinese and foreign models of quality education, innovate joint educational systems and mechanisms, and increase exchanges between visiting scholars and students. Under the guidance of the "Belt and Road" initiative, we will intensify the training of bilingual or multilingual international professionals. We will further improve the system of international student recruitment, training, management and service, constantly optimize the student structure and improve the student quality. We will actively participate in the “One Belt and One Road” education action and the Sino-foreign cultural exchange programs and give further play to the main role of universities in the construction of Confucius Institutes. The excellent students, young teachers, academic leaders to exchange high-level university, institution of visiting foreign countries, actively promote outstanding graduate students traveled abroad, its outstanding graduates to support as the international practice, we recommend college talents in international organizations, academic institutions, international journal for a part-time job.
In 2019, Deepening Exchange and Cooperation to Enhance International Influence and Promote the Construction of “Double First-class” in the Building of a Community with a Shared Future for Mankind—Achievements in the Construction of First-class Universities and First-class Disciplines Series concentrates on strengthening international collaborative innovation, attracting overseas high-quality teachers, creates a good teaching environment and continuously improves the quality
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of construction, social contribution and international influence. In 2020, Opinions of the Ministry of Education and Eight Other Departments on Accelerating and Expanding the Opening Up of Education in the New Era argued that: “The opening of education to the outside world is a distinctive feature and an important driving force of educational modernization. We should unswervingly open education to the outside world, take the initiative to strengthen mutual learning, mutual inclusiveness and communication with other countries, and form a more all-directional, wide-ranging, multi-level and proactive opening up of education”. Director of the International Division of the Ministry of Education said: to “study abroad” without going abroad, China introduced several overseas high-quality educational resources through Sinoforeign cooperative schools in the past period. At present, there are nearly 2,300 Chinese-foreign cooperatively run schools and projects at various levels approved and filed by the Ministry of Education, of which 1,200 are institutions and projects at or above the undergraduate level. In the field of higher education, China would support higher education institutions to strengthen cooperation with world-class universities and academic institutions, improve the evaluation indicators for opening of higher education institutions to the outside world and grant “Double First-Class” universities the right to review and approve foreign affairs. In the field of vocational education, we need to make policy breakthroughs in learning from the “dual system” and other school-running modes and introducing high-quality foreign vocational education resources. We shall encourage qualified domestic vocational colleges and enterprises to join hands in international production capacity cooperation and start to create brand competitions such as “One Belt and One Road” international skills competition. In the field of basic education, we would strengthen international understanding education in primary and secondary schools, help students build a sense of community with a shared future for mankind and cultivate young people in the new era who are well developed morally, intellectually, physically, aesthetically and work with an international perspective (Li & Liu, 2006; Liu & Kang, 2018; Lu & Kang, 2015; Song, 2013; Wang, 2017; Yao, 2010; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
3.2 The Problems in the Internationalization of Higher Education in China 3.2.1 The International Development Level of Some Double First-Class Universities is Low Over the past 30 years of reform and opening, although the number of Chinese students studying abroad has gradually expanded, the number of students studying in China has steadily increased, foreign exchanges and cooperation in universities
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have increased rapidly, Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools has gradually grown in scale, and the results of this survey show that the internationalization development level of China’s key universities is still low. Knight believes that “the form of education internationalization has gone through three stages, from initial development assistance to cooperation and exchange, and then to commerce and trade”. According to this classification standard, the internationalization level of China’s key universities is at best only in the cooperation and exchange stage. For example, statistics show that from the perspective of international students, the total number of international students in 44% of the double top universities is less than 1,000, and some of them are less than 100, such as Xizang University and China Academy of Drama. 41% of universities have degrees that account for less than 50% of international students; from the perspective of foreign teachers, except for many universities that do not provide data, the number of long-term international teachers in most universities is less than 100.
3.2.2 The Internationalization Development of Universities at Different Levels is Not Balanced Although the internationalization development level of the double first-class universities is not high overall, there are great differences in the internationalization development levels of universities at different levels. In general, the development level of the former “985” universities is significantly higher than that of the “211” universities, while the development level of the “211” universities is slightly higher than other universities. In each index, the gap between the extreme values is very significant, and there is a gap of tens of times between the universities with higher international level and those with lower international level. For example, in terms of the number of international teachers, both long term and short term, Fudan University leads other top universities in terms of the number of international teachers: 208 long-term international teachers and 5,290 short-term international teachers, for a total of 5,498. Meanwhile, China University of Mining and Technology (Beijing) has only two permanent international faculty. In terms of the number of international students, the gap between Jinan University’s nearly 12,000 international students and Xizang University’s 7 international students is significant. In terms of the proportion of students with degrees, Tsinghua University ranks first with 99.4% of those with degrees, while Inner Mongolia University, at the bottom, only has 1.9%. Such a gap is also striking. In general, according to the internationalization indicators in this paper, the internationalization development of the double first-class universities presents an unbalanced situation (Li, 2017; Li & Liu, 2006; Liu & Kang, 2018; Lu & Kang, 2015; Song, 2013; Wang, 2017; Yao, 2010; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
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3.2.3 International Development Covers a Wide Range of Fields but Lacks Implementation Details The internationalization planning of China’s high-level research universities not only attaches importance to promoting the international flow of teachers and students, but also pays attention to improving the international level of teaching, research and service, actively constructs overseas cooperative relations and puts forward the guaranteed measures with distinct levels and detailed contents. It is committed to creating the strategic layout and implementation measures of “comprehensive internationalization” with full participation, full functional coverage and all-round guarantee. On the one hand, universities emphasize the penetration and leading role of internationalization concept, taking it as an important guiding ideology of teaching, scientific research, talent training, international exchange and cooperation. On the other hand, through detailed and comprehensive planning and strong safeguard measures, colleges and universities reflect and strengthen the concept of internationalization and create an implementation structure of internationalization strategy in which goals and strategies are interrelated and mutually promoted. Planning text at the same time embodies the college system view, sets the foundation of each link contact each other and support each other in the system structure, in order to ensure the smooth implementation of internationalization strategy, for example through international faculty team enhance the level of foreign students education quality of teaching and scientific research cooperation, through building solid inter-school cooperation relations between teachers and students of two-way flow. Through the establishment of “service” concept, management, service and safeguard measures can effectively solve real problems. Under the overall internationalization of the macro-planning, the most important and basic work is to implement. The planning document grasps the overall situation and various fields of the international development of the school from a macroperspective, but the lack of thinking and planning for details brings difficulties in practical operation. For example, in the setting of English-only courses and majors, colleges and universities have not detailed how to solve the problems that need to be improved in English-only teaching, such as the great difference in teacher level, the lack of teaching training, the lack of teacher ability recognition and evaluation standards. In the aspect of talent training, few universities mentioned to train and deliver talents for international organizations. How to protect the interests of the country, universities and students in cooperation with international organizations, governments and universities is also not mentioned. To achieve the goal of international construction, we need to further think about the details of how to carry out and implement the work. In addition, colleges and universities also lack the awareness and system of regular evaluation and short-term and clear goals (Li, 2017, 2021; Li & Liu, 2006; Lu & Kang, 2015; Wang, 2017; Zhu & Zhang, 2017). Some universities understand the relationship between localization and internationalization, but not deep understand local characteristics. Under the background of globalization, localization and internationalization are inevitable problems and
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choices. While making comprehensive plans for international development, colleges and universities should closely link their international development with national rejuvenation and the realization of the Chinese dream, attach importance to the important role of the internationalization process of colleges and universities in national development and the improvement of comprehensive national strength, and realize the unification of internationalization and localization. In addition, while carrying out international exchanges and cooperation, universities should not forget to pay attention to cultural exchanges and dissemination. In addition to promoting the dissemination of local culture, universities also mention the construction of local “characteristics” such as “characteristic disciplines” and “overseas study brands” to enhance the core competitiveness of universities’ internationalization. Although the word “characteristic” has been mentioned in the planning text of every university, the university lacks a clear definition and refinement of its characteristics. Most universities only mention the creation of “characteristic courses” and “characteristic overseas study programs” in the text, but do not highlight the characteristics of the courses and programs, and even the “characteristic overseas study programs” among universities have a strong homogeneity.
3.3 The Characteristics of Internationalization of Higher Education in China Along with analyzing the policy documents regarding internationalization development of higher education system in China, we summarized three major characteristics as follows:
3.3.1 The Policy Discourse Considers Both Macro-Planning and Micro-Operation Through the analysis of the above policy texts, we can clearly feel that the relevant policies and regulations on the internationalization of higher education not only pay attention to the macro-overall planning, but also consider the micro-operation. This is not only reflected in the upward trend in the number of words in the text, but also in the more specific, profound and actionable aspects of the relevant regulations. Since the Outline of the National Medium—and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010–2020) clearly pointed out that “we should expand the opening of education, strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, and improve the internationalization level of education in China”, every document related to the internationalization of higher education in recent years has been injected with a new understanding from the practice of internationalization of higher education. In
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terms of policy expression, the later policy texts pay more attention to the combination of macro-planning and micro-mode. For example, the Opinions of the Ministry of Education and other Eight Departments on Accelerating and Expand the Opening to the Outside World of Education in the New Era puts forward that “opening to the outside world of education is a distinctive feature and an important driving force of education modernization. We should unswervingly open education to the outside world, take the initiative to strengthen mutual learning, mutual inclusiveness and communication with other countries, and form a more all-directional, wide-ranging, multi-level and proactive opening up of education”. At the micro-aspect, we need to further enhance international exchanges, cooperation and innovation and take the initiative to participate in some scientific research. Creating a better international educational and scientific research atmosphere will attract more excellent overseas students and excellent overseas teachers. At the same time, we will take the initiative to participate in the formulation of international education rules and the evaluation process of international education teaching to further promote the development of higher education in China and enhance the influence of higher education in the world. It not only ensures the direction of the internationalization of higher education, but also continuously improves the connotation of the internationalization of higher education and further improves the operability and effectiveness of the policy in guiding practice (Li, 2017; Li & Liu, 2006; Liu & Kang, 2018; Lu & Kang, 2015; Song, 2013; Wang, 2017; Yao, 2010; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
3.3.2 There Are Limitations in the Applicability of Internationalization Policies There are some limitations in the applicability of China’s higher education internationalization policy at the macro-level. Although some achievements have been made in the internationalization of higher education in China, overall, its internationalization level is still not high. In the process of planning and implementing the internationalization strategy, many universities in China fail to consider their own specific conditions, and their understanding of the internationalization of higher education is not accurate enough. All these problems affect the internationalization of higher education in China to a certain extent. As mentioned in the Notice on the Plan for Promoting the Construction of World-class Universities and Firstclass Disciplines, “create a good environment for international teaching and research and enhance the attraction of excellent foreign teachers and high-level international students. Active participation in international education rulemaking, international education teaching evaluation and accreditation…” Although similar texts point out some general internationalization paths and goals of universities, they still lack operational definitions.
3.4 The Strategies of Internationalization of Higher Education in China
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3.4 The Strategies of Internationalization of Higher Education in China 3.4.1 Clarifying the Implementation Path of International Development The internationalization strategic planning of China’s research universities has set a grand goal, but the path of how to achieve this goal has not been reflected in the planning text. To achieve the goal of international construction, colleges and universities need to think about the details of how to carry out and implement the work. On the one hand, colleges and universities should be before the implementation of planning to evaluate solution, including whether to fully realize the phases for the development of individual and group, the main contradictions, the future development direction and the possible difficulties, the present situation and the future direction of the internationalization of higher education have accurate conscious judgment and whether can control for potential risks. On the other hand, colleges and universities should improve the mechanism construction of the implementation plan. For example, colleges and universities should establish a dynamic correction mechanism of internationalization strategy while making long-term planning for internationalization development, to realize the echo and complement of the two, reduce the resistance of internationalization development of colleges and universities, and optimize the overall internationalization process.
3.4.2 Clarifying the Characteristics of Higher Education Institutions Characteristics refer to the long-term accumulation in the process of running, relatively stable and have a certain influence in the society, the special or better than other school’s unique style; quality can be embodied in the education idea, teaching management system, personnel characteristics, educational environment and other aspects of it to improve school-running level and form the core competence plays an important role of the school. To build a university with “Chinese characteristics” requires scholars to have national and academic confidence. While spreading knowledge and Chinese culture, they should shoulder the responsibility of speaking out on behalf of the Chinese academic community in the world. It requires the school leadership team to have a comprehensive and clear understanding of the development situation of the school, teachers of all disciplines to have a deep grasp of discipline rules and teaching rules, and teachers and students to work together to create a good and high-quality campus culture. At the same time, universities and colleges should actively explore and summarize the experience of the distinctive construction of schools, disciplines and courses, so as to provide reference experience for the
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distinctive development of other universities and contribute Chinese wisdom to the distinctive development of universities around the world.
3.4.3 Clarifying Priorities and Defining Development Elements of Internationalization of Higher Education System At the 2016 National Conference on Ideological and Political Work in Colleges and Universities, Xi Jinping pointed out that socialist higher education should adhere to the cultivation of moral integrity as a central link. Therefore, in the comprehensive promotion of education internationalization, talent cultivation is the core. Provincial colleges and universities should focus on the training of talents to serve the needs of “One Belt and One Road”, whether it is to train domestic students or to train international students. For example, medical colleges and universities should train medical and health talents with international standards to meet the needs of improving the medical and health level and disease prevention and control capacity of countries along the “One Belt and One Road”. To support the core of the talent cultivation in colleges and universities should actively play a professional advantage and geographical characteristics, seize the introduction of the international standard of excellent international education resources, improve the teachers, improve the level of curriculum internationalization and guarantee the students training quality elements such as foster a broad international perspective and adapt to a new era of internationalization development talents. The factors of internationalization are complicated. Different universities in different regions have different driving factors and strategic models of internationalization strategy. Therefore, Chinese colleges and universities should choose the internationalization strategy approach and implementation mode according to their own situation and strength. Appropriate strategic approaches and implementation methods are helpful for Chinese universities to realize the strategic purpose of internationalization; otherwise, they may produce negative effects. Different universities in different regions should focus on their internationalization development. Internationalization strategic emphasizes on building the core competence of colleges and universities in colleges and universities to deal with the complex factors in the international situation, so we ask that in the process of internationalization of colleges and universities must make a careful analysis of the internal and external environment of universities, and in a timely manner to the internationalization strategy of colleges and universities to make dynamic adjustment, only in this way can guarantee the realize internationalization strategic purpose. In this strategy, the school’s goal is in teaching, scientific research and social service—three dimensions to realize internationalization; its center is to cultivate and improve the core competence of colleges and universities in China, so we must in the process of strategy implementation attach great importance to the development and enhance the potential ability of international
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communication and cooperation of colleges and universities, and understand college international development trend of other countries. By drawing lessons from the international experience and development mode of foreign universities, it will inject new vitality into the international development of Chinese universities (Li, 2017, 2021; Li & Liu, 2006; Li & Xue, 2021; Liu & Kang, 2018; Lu & Kang, 2015; Song, 2013; Wang, 2017; Xue & Li, 2020; Yao, 2010; Zhu & Zhang, 2017).
References Li, F., & Liu, Y. (2006). On the characteristics of internationalization of higher education. Educational Research of Tsinghua University, 27(3), 77–82. Li, J. (2017). Strategic thinking on the internationalization development of local higher education under the background of “One belt and one road.” Journal of National Institute of Education Administration, 20(06), 66–71. Li, J. (2021). Shaping “The belt and road initiative” international higher education: A qualitative study of international students from South-Asian countries in Chinese universities. Beijing International Review of Education, 3(1), 22–37. Li, J., & Xue, E. (2021). Returnee faculty responses to internationalizing “Academic ecology” for creating world-class universities in China’ Elite Universities. Higher Education Management, 81(5), 1063–1078. Liu, Q., & Kang, Y. (2018). Characteristics and suggestions of internationalization development of chinese research universities under the background of “Double first-class.” University Education Management, 12(05), 23–30. Lu, G., & Kang, H. (2015). An analysis of the internationalization policy of China’s “985 Project” university higher education. Research in Higher Engineering Education, 20(01), 25–31. Song, W. (2013). Problems and countermeasures of education management for foreign students in colleges and universities. Higher Education Research, 34(06), 38–42. Wang, J. (2017). The new prospect of higher education internationalization in China under the “One belt and one road” initiative. China Adult Education, 20(18), 24–31. Xue, E., & Li, J. (2020). What is the ultimate education task in China? Exploring “strengthen moral education for cultivating people” (“Li De Shu Ren”). Educational Philosophy and Theory, 53(2), 128–139. Yao, Y. (2010). Status quo and improvement of international student education in direct-affiliated universities. Teacher Education Research, 22(02), 71–75. Zhu, W., & Zhang, H. (2017). A review on the policy changes of internationalization of higher education in China. Higher Education Management, 11(02), 116–125.
Part II
The Quest for Internationalization at Home in Post-COVID 19: Insights from China
Chapter 4
What Is Internationalization at Home?
This chapter concentrates on exploring the idea of internationalization at home from multiple perspectives. In recent years, with the deepening of the research on the internationalization of higher education, many people have realized that the economic and social globalization and the increasing importance of knowledge and technology are putting forward higher requirements for the internationalization of higher education. Internationalization of higher education is not only the deepening, strengthening and enlarging of a country’s higher education system in connection with the international community, but also the dual nature of internal and external. Internationalization requires universities to extensively participate in international exchanges, and at the same time requires countries to actively reform their higher education systems. With the development of economic globalization and the world multi-polarization, international education has also been greatly developed. The development of international student exchanges can increase students’ international knowledge. The shortcomings of traditional international education have led to the development of a new situation of “internationalization at home”. This chapter explores what is “internationalization at home,” and the definition of internationalization at home, the similarities and differences between international education and internationalization at home and the background of China’s education internationalization were examined in this chapter.
4.1 Definition of Internationalization at Home 4.1.1 The Background of Internationalization at Home Influenced by the mature practice mode of talent cultivation in the internationalization of higher education since the 1980s, it is generally believed that encouraging students to study abroad is the ideal way, or even the only way, for colleges © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_4
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and universities to cultivate international talents. As a result, a fixed mode of cultivating international talents in universities has been formed, that is, a combination of overseas study scholarship and student exchange programs, which focuses on the transnational mobility of students in geographical locations and encourages students to study abroad. In recent years, with the higher requirements of the international talents training in the economy and society of various countries, some deficiencies in the traditional international talents training mode of universities have become the bottleneck restricting the cultivation of high-level international talents in universities of various countries. Based on the objective analysis of the constraints and the full consideration of the reality of domestic colleges and universities, internationalization at home has become the priority choice of universities around the world. The idea of IaH (“Internationalization at Home”) began in the 1990s and it was first proposed by Bengt Nilsson, vice chancellor for international affairs at the University of Malmo in Sweden, at the European Association for International Education (EAIE) in 1999. And noted “Internationalization locally” in his report “Internationalization at Home—Theory and Praxis”. IaH in file is defined as in addition to the student and teacher cross-border flows of any activities related to the dimension of the internationalization, not only refers to any of the institutions of the similar international activities combined, also includes the coordination and guidance on the level of higher education institutions, these activities formed by the interrelated relationship between will be international and cross-cultural and international vision, define it as “international affairs related activities that occurred in the field of education, also the students overseas flow phenomenon, emphasize the students during the reading can” never leave home enjoy the cross-cultural and international advanced concept, to adapt to the globalization development needs (Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010). Internationalization at home means that the university takes advantage of the existing international high-quality education resources to create an international campus environment with local characteristics, to provide opportunities for all teachers and students to contact with cross-cultural and international affairs and to achieve the educational effect equal to that of cross-border flow. The essence of local internationalization can be summarized in four aspects: “rooted in local culture, benefiting all teachers and students, cultivating global vision, and improving intercultural ability”. Its features include first: the goal is to improve the international ability and accomplishment of all teachers and students. Compared with the traditional cultivation of international talents, which focuses on cross-border mobility, both students and teachers have limited audiences for overseas mobility due to the high cost and high threshold of going abroad. Nielsen found that despite the European Union’s efforts to promote student mobility through programmer such as Erasmus and Socrates, which began in the 1980s, only about 10% of students end up with overseas study experience. Internationalization in Hong Kong is committed to the realization that all teachers and students can receive international education and cross-cultural influence, so that universities can cultivate more high-level international talents. Second, we should build a domestic curriculum system rich in international elements as the center. Local internationalization emphasizes the establishment
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of “domestic curriculum” with international elements as the center to promote the internationalization process of universities. Third, we should create a multicultural campus learning environment as a means. Based on the local culture and national characteristics, the internationalization of the local school pays attention to creating an international learning environment and academic atmosphere with the integration of diverse cultures. According to Jones, create a “campus learning environment” based on curriculum internationalization and intercultural communication, not just on campus, but also other intercultural or international learning opportunities in the local community. In fact, this kind of environment is the performance of the international learning achievement in the specific discipline background and is also the means to realize the internationalization of education. Fourth, we can continue to support cross-border learning exchanges between teachers and students as a supplement. The concept of internationalization at home was proposed relative to “Internationalization Abroad” to address the malpractice of “resocialization” of international education due to the uneven distribution of educational resources. It’s not to completely deny or criticize the cross-border flow of personnel; the two are mutually complementary and interdependent. Cross-border exchanges, studies, visits, conferences, etc., will be a useful complement to in-country internationalization, which revolves around activities that help students improve their international understanding and cross-cultural skills.
4.1.2 The Concept of Internationalization at Home In addition, the concept of internationalization at home has attracted extensive attention from scholars since it was put forward. The German scholar Bernd Wchter wrote in “International Home: A Position Paper” defines “in-place internationalization” as “all educational activities in institutions of higher learning related to international affairs other than the overseas movement of faculty and students”. Josbeelen and Elspeth Jones argue in their article “Redefining International Home” that: “Local internationalization refers to the intentional integration of international and cross-cultural dimensions into the formal and informal courses offered to all students in the teaching process”. The three foreign scholars all supported Bent Nelson’s idea of international training for all students in the school at home and further pointed out the important role of international courses and educational activities in talent training. In recent years, domestic scholars have also conducted more in-depth research on “internationalization at home”. The idea of internationalization at home means to build an international atmosphere and enhance internationalism based on our school. Without going abroad, students can meet world-class teachers, listen to world-class courses and freely communicate with students from different countries, to gain the maximum benefits at the minimum cost. The internationalization at home mainly refers to the use of “school-based resources” to enhance internationalization on university campuses, including relevant exchange programs to enhance international students at the university and “personnel resources” such as
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international students, foreign experts and exchange scholars. The university provides “information resources” such as the Internet, foreign language electronic databases, books and materials, as well as “international environment” composed of international students’ apartments, international conferences, international activities, etc. Both scholars also prefer to use existing resources to develop students internationally within the scope of the university. The internationalization at home refers to the construction of international campus with local characteristics by universities and colleges using existing international high-quality educational resources—international scholars, students, foreign textbooks, cross-border projects, multiple courses and international conferences in the context of increasingly obvious international governance of higher education—to provide opportunities for all students to be exposed to cross-cultural and international affairs on campus and to achieve the school’s goal of cultivating high-level international talents (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010).
4.1.3 The Idea of Globalization Globalization refers to the increasing global connectivity, the development of human life on a global scale and the rise of global consciousness. Countries are interdependent in politics, economy and trade. Globalization can also be explained as the compression of the world and the view of the globe. After the 1990s, with the expansion of the influence of globalization on human society, education is also experiencing the process of globalization. Educational globalization refers to a state or trend in which educational influence, cooperation and interaction among countries in the world are increasingly strengthened with the increasing development of global educational and cultural exchanges, and common educational styles are gradually popularized and become the global standard. The globalization of education promotes the international flow of educational resources. The globalization of higher education begins to rise in the tide of economic globalization and has become another important field following economic globalization. This field has been widely concerned by all countries in the world. With the increasing global exchanges and cooperation in the field of higher education, higher education has gone beyond national boundaries and become a globalized activity, and the global flow of talents is an important part of the globalization of higher education. Internationalization at home is not a didactic concept. Instead, it uses existing teaching and learning methods to provide conditions for students to conduct intercultural learning. It requires the participation of all members and aims to develop the international quality of all students. According to Lou Yiling, a Chinese scholar, the purpose of local internationalization is to attract more foreign students to study abroad without the need for overseas mobility, to jointly carry out cross-cultural experience and understanding and to improve the internationalization degree of localization and nationalization.
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Although different researchers have different understandings on local internationalization of higher education, it can be recognized that the essence of local internationalization is thinking on the local cultivation of international talents; that is, starting from the location or the school where they work, a series of measures are taken to fully utilize various resources around the development of local students’ international knowledge and ability. Traditionally, many institutions have focused on promoting students’ international ability through overseas study opportunities, and the influence of overseas mobility on students’ intercultural awareness and ability has been confirmed by many studies. However, the impact of such overseas flows is effectively and significantly limited. In an empirical survey conducted by Behind Porzelt in 2012, it was found that 10 months or more spent outside the domain played a crucial role in the development of intercultural competence. Yet 10 months is far longer than most students spend studying outside their country. In addition, because the voices of students and teachers have long been neglected, internationalization of higher education has been seen as an end rather than a means to enhance students’ international knowledge. This reality causes people to understand the connotation of internationalization of higher education and advocates a learner-centered approach to define internationalization of higher education. Redefining the internationalization of higher education reflects the attention to the construction of internationalization in local areas. On this basis, local internationalization will have a good development trend. As an emerging product, IAH has only been developed for more than 30 years since it was proposed. IAH has huge development potential and is also in the stage of rapid development. Bengt Nilsson has a very clear definition of what it means to internationalize IaH in his book Internationalization Home—Theory and Praxis. However, since the development of local internationalization is ultimately implemented in a specific country, the economic system and other specific conditions of each country are different, so every scholar has a certain gap in the definition of things. Therefore, there may be some differences in the specific expressions, but they are all aimed at all the students in the country, in order to develop the international vision of the students, improve the quality of the students in the country, train the talents in the country and make contributions to the development and construction of the country (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010).
4.2 What Is the Idea of Internationalization? Internationalization is a way of designing and manufacturing products that are easily adapted to different regional requirements. It requires the removal of all local language, country-specific and culture-related elements from the product. The idea of internationalization is the gradual integration of different individuals from different countries, adapts to different countries, absorbs good things, and constantly enriches and develops oneself. Internationalization of education is, in the world, under the impetus of the economic globalization and trade liberalization in international
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education trade under the premise of open markets, education resource configuration, between international education factors in the international movement speed; education is becoming more and more frequent international exchanges and cooperation; the nations of the world education influence each other, constantly improve the interdependent degree and the national education and communicate with each other, competing with each other, mutual tolerance and mutual reaction, and jointly promote the prosperity and development of the world, all countries in the determination of talents training target, selection of education content and education means and methods of use not only to meet the requirements of from their own, localization, and to adapt to the international industrial division of labor and trade complementarities, economic and cultural exchanges and cooperation with the new situation.
4.2.1 The Core or Essence of Education Internationalization The core or essence of education internationalization is under the background of economic globalization and trade liberalization; the two countries are to make full use of domestic and international education market; optimizing the allocation of education resources and factors of their own conquers the highest position in the world education and cultivates internationally competitive high-quality talents, to serve their own best interests. As we all know, in the era of knowledge economy increasingly emerging, the competition of national comprehensive strength, in the final analysis, is the competition of talents, those who have more, high quality, innovative spirit and innovative ability of talent, who can grasp the initiative of social and economic development, in the fierce competition in an invincible position. Therefore, the goal of internationalization of education is to cultivate talents with international consciousness, international communication ability and international competition ability. Such talents can be based on the local, look to the world and actively participate in international competition.
4.2.2 Internationalization of Higher Education The internationalization of higher education can be traced back to the internationalization activities initiated by the ancient universities of Europe in the Middle Ages, while the internationalization of modern higher education came into being in the United States in the 1950s, which took the lead in formulating the International Education Law in 1966. In the 1970s and 1980s, with the internationalization of politics, economy, trade, science, technology and information, the internationalization of higher education has been understood and valued by all countries in the world. Internationalization of higher education usually refers to the exchange and cooperation of higher education across national boundaries, nationalities and cultures; that is, a country develops its own thoughts and theories of higher education toward the
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world, conducts internationalization activities and carries out mutual exchanges and cooperation with other countries. We should strengthen foreign language teaching, offer courses on major international issues of common interest, set up departments and disciplines for the study of regional or international issues, and pay attention to training specialized personnel for the study of international affairs and issues. Conducting extensive international personnel exchanges, such as sending or supporting domestic teachers and students to study abroad, for further study, giving lectures or conducting research, or accepting or inviting foreign teachers and students to engage in such academic activities; actively carrying out educational and academic transnational cooperation, such as joint training of students, joint research issues, mutual provision of materials, information, facilities and conditions. It is the need and inevitable result of the development of society, economy, science and technology, and is conducive to the use of foreign resources to promote the development of national higher education (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010).
4.2.3 The Main Characteristics of Internationalization of Higher Education Educational objectives are commonly referred to as training objectives. The internationalization of the educational goal is to cultivate universal talents facing the world, which is the first major feature of the internationalization of higher education. As mentioned above, the International Education Act passed by the US Congress in 1966 fully demonstrated the willingness of the US government to support international education and promote the globalization of higher education. The globalization development strategy of higher education issued at that time actively advocated that students strengthen their understanding of the politics, economy, science, culture, nationality and even local conditions and practices of various countries in the world and make themselves experts on international issues. Since the Third Plenary Session of the 11th Central Committee of the Communist Party of China, China’s higher education has stepped into the stage of reform and development. The internationalization of educational content mainly refers to the internationalization of specialty offering and curriculum content; that is to say, by adding majors related to international education or adding corresponding contents to the original curriculum, the above training objectives can be achieved. The internationalization of educational cooperation mainly includes the exchange of teachers and students, degree equivalence, scholar exchange visit, international joint school running, cooperative research, academic conference and so on. The history of higher education at home and abroad has proved that it is one of the best ways to learn from the experience of other countries to send Chinese college students to study in countries with relatively developed higher education and to accept foreign students.
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To sum up, internationalization of higher education is a process of dialogue and exchange of higher education ideas, experience and resources among different countries and regions. With the deepening of economic globalization, the formation of the pluralistic pattern of international politics and the rapid development of science and technology such as communication and information, higher education has greatly accelerated the pace of internationalization. Internationalization of higher education is based on domestic, face modernization, face the world, future-oriented, put their own higher education in cross-regional, across borders, across different ethnic groups, culture against the background of globalization, and other areas, other national or international higher education mutual dialogues, exchanges and mutually beneficial cooperation of global trends and development process. Internationalization of higher education is a process of equal and two-way integration of cultures of different countries, rather than a process of pan-globalization of a culture of a certain country. The result is a dialectical unity containing differences rather than a metaphysical “perfect agreement”. If we grasp and make good use of this international development trend, a new situation of the development of world higher education in which the cultures and education of different countries are independent of each other and have their own characteristics, but also influence and integrate each other will surely come.
4.2.4 Internationalization in Higher Education System The international curriculum content of the course is the basic element of the course, which reflects the values, structure and design concepts associated with the course. In foreign curriculum theories, there are mainly two views on the concept and connotation of curriculum content: one is that curriculum content is the fact, viewpoint and key issues contained or taught by the curriculum, which contains the tendency of curriculum technology; the other is that the content of the curriculum is not only the knowledge taught to students by schools or other educational institutions, but also reflects the control law of social rights, which contains the sociological tendency of the curriculum. Both views limit the course content to indirect experience or theoretical knowledge, which is one-sided to a certain extent. In fact, we can think of curriculum content as the sum of a series of direct or indirect forms of experience and knowledge, which are purposeful choices based on curriculum objectives and organized and arranged according to specific logic. As far as a university is concerned, how to understand the internationalization of course content? In addition to understanding and mastering the international development situation of the major and applying the experience of other countries in the local area, most universities also believe that the content of international courses should enable students to obtain international professional qualification certificates or obtain joint or double degrees at home and abroad. To some extent, it reflects the practical tendency of domestic colleges and universities to internationalize the curriculum content of higher education. Although people still have one or another understanding of curriculum internationalization, it
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is no doubt universally accepted that the internationalization of curriculum content is an important link to train students to survive in a diversified environment, and it is also the most basic and core aspect of curriculum internationalization (Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu, 2019; Wu & Song, 2019; Xu & Kan, 2021; Zhong, 2019). On the basis of summarizing the international experience of higher education in the world, OECD has summarized 9 types of international courses: (1) “courses with international discipline characteristics (such as international relations); (2) the traditional curriculum can be extended and expanded through international comparison and reference (such as international comparative education); (3) courses that prepare students for international careers (e.g., international business, international marketing); (4) courses on intercultural communication and foreign affairs skills in foreign language teaching; (5) studies in one or several foreign regions; (6) courses that prepare students for international professional qualifications; (7) degree programs or double degree programs awarded internationally; (8) courses taught by overseas teachers; (9) courses specifically designed for overseas students”. No matter what kind of international curriculum, it is bound to involve an important issue in the internationalization of course content. At present, colleges and universities in developed countries generally meet the requirements of internationalization of curriculum contents through three ways. One is to offer international education courses such as world history, international relations and foreign cultures. Of course, international education can also be involved. Trade, international law and other related fields; second, by adding international content such as international background introduction and international case citing to existing courses, the internationalization orientation of higher education curriculum content should be strengthened. Third, international issues such as war and peace, social inequality and the rule of law should be taken as the main line to implement the internationalization of course content, focusing on enhancing students’ international awareness and global concept (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010). For a long time, when it comes to the internationalization of higher education, we always think of is to send students to study abroad; that is, students go abroad to study (transnational flow). Even in the twenty-first century, there are still many people who believe that international student mobility is the best or only way to internationalize education. In fact, the internationalization of higher education has rich connotations, including not only the flow of students, but also the flow of teachers, the internationalization of courses, the internationalization of scientific research, etc., and its flow and communication are two-way. The form of internationalization of higher education (cooperation between domestic and foreign universities, exchange of teachers, exchange of students, etc.) is diversified content (promotion of advanced courses and research with advanced teaching and research). With the deepening of the research on the internationalization of higher education, it is found that there are various ways to realize the internationalization of higher education. Among them, Internationalization at Home and Cross-Border Education proposed by Professor Bent Nelson of Switzerland have attracted much attention (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wen et al., 2010).
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Different scholars hold different views on the internationalization of higher education. Canadian scholar Jane Knight believes that the internationalization of higher education is “the process of integrating international or cross-cultural dimensions in the teaching, research and service functions of higher education institutions”. According to the International Union of Universities (IAU), “Internationalization of higher education is the process of integrating transnational and trans-cultural perspectives and atmosphere with the university’s main functions of teaching, research and social service. It is—an all-encompassing process of change, both within the university itself, There are changes outside the school, both bottom-up and top-down as well as policy driven changes within the school itself”. Based on the research results of others, the author believes that “internationalization of higher education” refers to the process in which higher education institutions integrate cross-cultural elements to train students to become global citizens in the realization of their functions. Internationalization of higher education means that the higher education of various countries pays increasing attention to the development trend of facing the world based on facing the domestic. First, the development of higher education not only meets the needs of its own country, but also pays attention to the needs of the development of the world situation. It not only maintains and carries forward its own traditions and characteristics, but also pays attention to absorbing the experience of international higher education. Second, to train people for the world to have the knowledge and ability to deal with affairs from a broad international perspective and the perspective of all mankind; third, strengthen foreign language teaching, set up courses on major international issues of common interest, set up departments and subjects to study regional or international issues, and pay attention to training specialized personnel engaged in the study of international affairs and international issues. Fourth, conduct extensive international personnel exchanges, such as sending and supporting domestic teachers and students to study abroad, for further study, giving lectures and conducting research, or accepting and inviting foreign teachers and students to engage in such academic activities; fifth, actively carry out transnational cooperation in education and academic fields, such as joint training of students, joint research on problems, mutual provision of materials, information and facilities and conditions. Internationalization of higher education is the need and inevitable result of the development of society, economy, science and technology, which is conducive to various countries to utilize foreign resources and promote the development of their own higher education (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021). The internationalization of higher education has many dimensions. In 1947, the United States issued a report entitled “Higher Education in the United States Democratic Society”, which believed that it was an important task of American higher education to provide American citizens with knowledge about the political and economic systems, societies and cultures of various countries in the world. The Commerce Education Act of 1958 established a “language development” provision that required professors in the United States to use more non-common languages and to study more deeply the cultures, histories and political systems of major countries. In 2006, the United States launched the National Security Language Program,
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which calls for increasing the number of foreign language programs for students and professionals from preschool through college, to increase the number of US citizens who can speak other languages. The Law on Cultural and Educational Exchange encourages foreign language teaching and regional studies to be fully integrated into the cooperation and exchange of higher education. Through these, America cultivated a batch after batch of native higher education talent. As a country with a high degree of internationalization of higher education in the world, Britain is also the first country to establish universities in the world. In the Bologna Declaration of 1999, it was pointed out that the strength of the internationalization of higher education in the United Kingdom was concentrated in the postgraduate education. The future of higher education in the United Kingdom in 2003 identified and strengthened the social function of universities. British governments at all levels attach great importance to the role of universities in economic development. We should take active actions to encourage universities to face the society and the world in terms of their mission, service direction and personnel training. These policies and measures have greatly promoted the internationalization of British higher education. In the process of the internationalization of higher education, we can find that new opportunities and potential benefits and risks coexist. The internationalization of higher education brings development opportunities to the world, but also brings some problems, among which the most concerned is the standard and quality of internationalization. With the development of society, internationalization has gradually become the focus of national higher education policies and institutions of higher learning. Scholars at home and abroad also put a lot of energy into the internationalization of higher education and made some achievements. There are many different opinions in the field of higher education in defining the concept of internationalization of higher education. Different scholars have different promoting effects on the development of internationalization of higher education in their countries, and a variety of literatures have emerged to study internationalization of higher education (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010).
4.2.5 Characteristics of Internationalization of Education System The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization was established in 1948 to promote cooperation in education, science and culture among nations. Later, the Bureau for International Education, the International Labor Organization, the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development, and the Organization of Southeast Asian Ministers of Education were also established to discuss education issues of common concern and to send experts to provide international assistance. Cultural and educational exchanges among countries are becoming
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more frequent, with more exchanges between teachers and researchers, more students studying abroad, and stronger exchanges and collaboration in teaching materials. All countries are reforming the closed and isolated school system, so that the development of all kinds of schools at all levels in their own country and in the world tends to be the same. A relatively mature conceptual cognition system has been formed around the research of internationalization at home (Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Liu et al., 2020; Ma & Zhang, 2015; Qiu, 2010; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu, 2019; Wu & Song, 2019; Xu & Kan, 2021; Zhong, 2019). Since the internationalization of higher education became a social hot spot in the 1980s, it has formed a relatively mature concept system and a relatively fixed practice mode. The main feature of this model is to encourage the movement of people across borders. In the opinion of Philip G. Altbach, the internationalization of higher education refers to the specific policies and plans implemented by the government, academic systems, institutions of higher learning and even individual departments to support the mobility of students and teachers, encourage overseas cooperative research, establish joint training programs in other countries and various innovative activities. Bach’s point of view, in fact, represent the people to the traditional understanding and cognition, the internationalization of higher education is characterized by “people” transnational flow is regarded as an ideal way of education, “people via mobile, various experience in other countries, can produce beyond people’s understanding of culture, contribute to world peace, and therefore is valuable”. Influenced by this idea, when talking about the implementation strategy of higher education internationalization, people will first think of the transnational mobility of students and teachers. Many people even regard personnel mobility as the best (or even the only) way for colleges and universities to carry out internationalization construction. Overall, the internationalization strategy characterized by the cross-border flow of people has become a relatively fixed pattern. Inspired by this model, many qualified colleges and universities have entered into exchange agreements with foreign institutions, and many governments and non-governmental organizations are setting up scholarships and regional student exchange programs. There are profound social and economic reasons for the rise of internationalization in China. Compared with the traditional internationalization mode, the most distinctive feature of it is that it aims to improve the international ability and cross-cultural accomplishment of all students, including the individuals who have the conditions and ability to realize cross-border mobility, and those who cannot realize the spatial and geographical displacement of education. From the source, local internationalization is put forward in response to the problem of insufficient international mobility of students, and its goal is to help all students to receive cross-cultural and international education to the greatest extent without leaving their home countries. It emphasizes the impact of internationalization on all students in all the programs the school conducts and therefore does not rely on cross-border mobility to provide students with international and cross-cultural knowledge (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010). In 2020, a sudden outbreak of the epidemic deepened China’s ties with the rest of the world and showed the rest of the world China’s ability to organize and coordinate emergencies. The global epidemic caused by the coronavirus has brought an
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all-round impact to China and the whole world and has also profoundly affected the status quo and future process of globalization. China’s current relationship and future connection with the world, as well as the international political and economic landscape that has been deeply affected by Trump’s anti-globalization economic and trade policies in recent years, will see great changes. Although the process of globalization has been the only way for human development, the global flow of capital, talent, information and products is independent of human will. However, the spread of the virus in almost every corner of the world and the strategies and approaches of different countries at different stages, based on different national conditions, cultures and systems, have indeed exposed the uncertainties in the process of globalization. The identity and cohesion of the nation and state, the closure of national borders, the restriction of human movement and the substantial reduction of international traffic all mankind seem to have returned to the era of pre-globalization overnight. In this context, China’s international education is also facing various pressures and challenges, which is just an opportunity for “transformation”. The prevailing patterns and patterns before the epidemic will be impacted by domestic and international political and economic trends and changes in international relations. The original schoolrunning philosophy, management mode, curriculum system, teachers, approaches to further study and training objectives will have to be adjusted and changed to a certain extent. At present, the internationalization of higher education, as an important trend of the development of higher education in the world, has been placed at the core position of education policies by various countries, and the international mobility of students is one of the salient characteristics of the internationalization of higher education. Some scholars believe that the most significant symbol of the internationalization of higher education is the level of educational output that mainly attracts overseas students, including the scale, quality and influence of the input of international students. Enrollment of international students has become an important way for the economic construction, cultural dissemination, diplomatic layout and talent attraction of various countries. The education of international students is an important part of the internationalization of higher education in China. Since the reform and opening up, especially since the beginning of the twenty-first century, the education of overseas students in China has made remarkable achievements. In 2018, a total of 492,200 international students came to study in China, making China the largest destination for overseas students in Asia. However, from a global perspective, there is still a gap between China’s international student education and that of the United States, the United Kingdom and other world education highlands. It is of great significance to examine the problems existing in China’s overseas education and put forward the corresponding countermeasures for the further development of overseas education in China and the promotion of China’s higher education internationalization to a new level (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010).
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4.3 Summary Since its emergence, the internationalization of higher education has been faced with the problem of how to further promote in practice. From the early attention to the cross-border mobility of personnel to the later more attention to the international cooperation of research and projects, it can be said that all countries are struggling to explore the internationalization strategy suitable for their own national conditions. The emergence of local internationalization points out the direction for the future development of global higher education internationalization. China’s traditional mode of internationalization, which is characterized by cross-border flow, is facing some insurmountable challenges, which impels us to strengthen the research and discussion on the localization of internationalization. With the help of this strategy, we hope to promote the rapid progress of the internationalization of higher education in China and the development of world education by the way of “overtaking at the corner”. It is precisely because of the increasing depth of research on the internationalization of higher education that many people realize that the economic and social globalization and the increasing importance of knowledge and technology have put forward higher requirements for the internationalization of higher education. At the same time, countries are required to actively reform their higher education systems. To meet this challenge, countries around the world are actively exploring the optimal implementation path of internationalization based on the actual situation of their own universities, and “in-place internationalization” has become the first choice of many countries after research and exploration. Moreover, in the era of epidemic, China’s internationalization of higher education development is facing huge challenges. Under the background of China’s proposal of “a community with a shared future for mankind”, education should stand at the forefront of internationalization and train qualified talents for China’s construction of “a community with a shared future for mankind”. Nowadays, the internationalization of higher education plays an increasingly important role in promoting the development of higher education, and the concept of “localization internationalization” has quickly influenced other countries. In the post-epidemic era, the internationalization of higher education in China is faced with many problems. Educational and cultural exchanges will inevitably be affected by the epidemic and the current international and domestic situations. In this context, the “local internationalization” of education should play its role even more. Combined with China’s national conditions, an efficient, high quality and feasible implementation path of higher education internationalization is explored. The current epidemic as well as the international and domestic situation is a great challenge for our country, but no matter what kind of challenges we face, our education should not be stagnant. Our country’s education should stand at the forefront of internationalization and cultivate qualified talents for our country. In today’s circumstances, “local internationalization” should be paid more attention. For our country’s universities, the most important task of education internationalization is to reform teaching and cultivate talents with international vision, international understanding ability and international competence. Therefore, in the era of epidemic
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disease, “local education” is an important way to promote the internationalization of higher education in China (Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Liao, 2019a, 2019b; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wen et al., 2010).
References Li, J. (2021). Shaping “The belt and road initiative” international higher education: A qualitative study of international students from South-Asian countries in Chinese universities. Beijing International Review of Education, 3(1), 22–37. Li, J., & Eryong, X. (2020). Unveiling the ‘logic’ of modern university in China: Historical, social and value perspectives. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(9), 986–998. Li, J., & Xue, E. (2021). Returnee faculty responses to internationalizing “Academic ecology” for creating world-class universities in China’ elite universities. Higher Education, 81(5), 1063–1078. Liao, L. (2019a). Practice and reflection on the internationalization of higher education in Taiwan. Exploration of Higher Education, 20(05), 63–69+88. Liao, L. (2019b). The practice and thinking of the internationalization of higher education in Taiwan. Exploration of Higher Education, 20(05), 63–88. Liu, J., Gao, Y., Philip, G., Altbach, Hans De Vit. (2020). On the impact of COVID-19 on the internationalization of global higher education. Modern University Education, 36(06), 31–38. Ma, W., & Zhang, Q. (2015). The impact of COVID-19 on international student mobility and China’s strategy choice: A risk society perspective. Higher Education Administration, 15(01), 1–9. Qiu, Y. (2010). The evolution characteristics and risk countermeasures of university internationalization in the new era. China Higher Education Research, 20(06), 27–32. Wang, P. (2020a). Research on the concept and practice of “internationalization at home” of higher education. Science and Technology Vision, 20(03), 210–213. Wang, Y. J. (2020b). Three questions of education internationalization in the post-epidemic era. Comparative Education Research, 42(09), 8–13. Wen, D., Lu, J., & Wang, Y. (2010). Study abroad or school-based internationalization: A strategic choice for college students’ international quality cultivation. Peking University Education Review, 20(8), 11–19. Wu, C. (2019). Organizational Structure Reform of Internationalized Education in Universities under the Background of “Double First-class” Construction—From the Perspective of Structural Functionalism. Chongqing Higher Education Research, 7(05), 57–65. Wu, C., & Song, Y. (2019). The Value Orientation and Performance Evaluation System Construction of Higher Education Internationalization under the Background of “Double first-class” Construction. China Higher Education Research, 20(05), 6–12. Xu, X., & Kan, Y. (2021). Entering the New Globalization—Challenges and Countermeasures of China’s Education Opening to the Outside World in the New Era. Educational Research, 42(01), 129–137. Zhong, Y. (2019). Local Internationalization: A New Way to Cultivate Internationalized Talents in Chinese Universities. Shandong Higher Education, 7(01), 35–41.
Chapter 5
The Development of Internationalization at Home: A Multiple Perspective
This chapter examines the development of internationalization at home from a multiple perspective. In recent years, with the increasingly in-depth studies on the internationalization of higher education system, the idea of internationalization at home is not only about the deepening, strengthening and enlarging of a country’s higher education system in connection with the international community, but also about both internal and external attributes. Internationalization not only requires universities to participate in international exchanges extensively, but also requires countries to actively reform their higher education systems. Higher education institutions are not only the object and object of internationalization, but also regarded as the subject of internationalization, thus shouldering the mission of using global resources to improve the internationalization level of local higher education. To meet this challenge, countries around the world are actively exploring the optimal implementation path of internationalization based on the actual situation of their own universities, and the internationalization at home has become the first choice of many countries after research and exploration.
5.1 Background and Problems of Implementing Internationalization at Home 5.1.1 Background of Implementing Internationalization at Home As a new school-running idea, “internationalization at home” soon attracted the attention of educational circles in Europe. It is recognized that “local internationalization” is not a fixed conceptual paradigm, but an “undetermined thing” to be enriched and deepened, and its connotation will be expanded with the in-depth development of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_5
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practice. With the deepening of the research, the theoretical circle has made new progress in the discussion of the meaning of internationalization in place in recent years, among which the views of Joss Belen and Elspeth Jones have the most influence. In their article “Redefining Internationalization in Local”, they put forward that “internationalization” in local refers to the fact that universities consciously integrate international and cross-cultural dimensions into various formal and informal courses offered to all students in the teaching process. According to this explanation, the promotion strategy of local internationalization has changed from negation to affirmation, from focusing on the cross-border movement of people to advocating the internationalization of schools through various courses. Both refer to the use of courses offered by universities to enhance the international level of education and research. The difference is that the starting point of curriculum internationalization is course construction, so it does not focus on venue; course of internationalization of the service object is not limited to colleges and universities in countries and regions; and in the internationalization, all formal and informal courses are geared to the needs of all students in university, and the venue is limited to their school. A relatively mature conceptual cognition system has been formed around the research of local internationalization. Combining with the development in higher education in the world, we believe that “the internationalization” refers to the higher education under the background of international governance which has become increasingly obvious, using existing international quality education resources in colleges and universities, the international scholars, students, foreign materials, cross-border project, diverse curriculum and the international conference on international campus full of local characteristics, etc., construction, to provide opportunities for all students to be exposed to cross-cultural and international affairs on campus, and to achieve the school’s goal of cultivating high-level international talents. The most important goal of internationalization at home is to cultivate compound talents who can adapt to globalization, informatization, international consciousness, international communication and international competition. Internationalized talents should have an international vision and global awareness, understand not only the traditional Chinese culture, but also the cultures of other countries in the world, and be able to break through the barriers of cultural differences and absorb the achievements of human civilization. To achieve this goal requires a great deal of concrete work, starting with the establishment of an internationally compatible curriculum. Because the training of talents is implemented in the teaching process, the level of education quality should also be reflected in the curriculum structure and teaching. With the development of economic globalization, the demand for professional international talents is gradually increasing. Many countries have stepped up the implementation of relevant policies to respond to this surge in demand and to ensure the rationalization and qualification of international talent cultivation. With the attention paid by all countries to the cultivation of international talents, the strategies and corresponding policies for the cultivation of international talents represented by developed countries have been put forward, and the implementation of the cultivation of international talents has opened a new prelude. Therefore, in the current situation of our country, we should focus
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on advocating talent development; in the face of the new situation of internationalization, the steady development of international talent resources is an inevitable trend. At present, China’s international higher education is gradually developing in a better and faster direction. With the gradual expansion of demand, the training of international talents is gradually facing new challenges.
5.1.2 Problems of Implementing Internationalization at Home At present, China’s higher education is gradually moving toward internationalization. In this process, China’s higher education is affected by the traditional ideas and operating mechanism, and there is still a big gap between China’s higher education and the modern international higher education. At present, the education system of centralized leadership and hierarchical management and the school-running system which is mainly owned by the government have restricted the cultivation of international talents to a certain extent. From the strategic angle of sustainable development, we should promote colleges and universities to train high-level talents to meet the needs of the society. At the present stage, local governments have also formulated a series of corresponding policies, but the policies are often too prescriptive and lack the support of follow-up supporting measures, so the operability is not strong. In recent years, to support local students and scholars in China to study advanced knowledge and concepts in other countries, Chinese government departments have formulated special projects and plans to provide financial support for the cultivation of international talents and specialized talents, such as joint training projects and government-sponsored overseas study projects. However, from the perspective of the demand for talents in China’s economic development, the investment of funds is far from enough. Many developed countries have special financial support for the training of international talents, and there are various kinds of scholarships, which benefit a wide range of countries. For example, the Goldman Sachs fund in the United States provides scholarships and training opportunities for young Americans to study abroad, providing a strong talent guarantee for the United States to stay ahead of the global competition. The “Erasmus Project” of the European Union is an international exchange program of higher education initiated by the European Union in 1987, which aims to promote the study and exchange between students, scholars from other countries and regions in the world and EU countries, and to improve the competitiveness and popularity of European universities. In addition, Japan, South Korea and other countries have similar specialized programs and plans to cultivate international talents. It is obvious that specialty setting plays an important role in talent cultivation in local colleges and universities. Whether the specialty setting of a local university is reasonable or not is closely related to the quality of talent cultivation in local colleges and universities, and it is related to the level of running a school. There is an inseparable relationship between local colleges and social development.
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The two complement each other. With rich social resources, local colleges and universities gradually have their own regional characteristics in their own development and formation. However, the specialty settings of local colleges and universities are not completely set up for the cultivation of international talents and do not clearly show the characteristics of serving the local, and various social resources have not been fully utilized. Local colleges and universities must develop steadily, increase efforts in personnel training, cultivate talents with social ability and their own advantages, and make full use of regional resources. It also has its own advantages compared with other local colleges and universities. In recent years, local colleges and universities have been constantly changing the structure of disciplines and majors, to continuously cultivate interdisciplinary talents required by society and better adapt to the needs of society. However, the pertinence and scientific of this adjustment are different from the social needs. Local colleges and universities have not yet realized that regional resource and environmental conditions, industrial structure and economic growth are important factors for colleges and universities to cultivate talents. The formation of global village is closely related to knowledge economy, economic globalization and information modernization. Competition in the twenty-first century has spread all over the world. Competition among countries, enterprises and organizations has gradually evolved into competition among talents. The growth and development of talents have certain regularity. There are two main factors: the first is the so-called internal environment of talent training, that is, their own quality; the second is the external environment of talent cultivation, which is an important factor for people’s growth and development. The environment of cultivating talents in colleges and universities is a complex system, which covers a large amount and a very wide range of contents, involving politics, economy, culture, science and technology and other aspects. Local colleges and universities generally have problems of knowledge and lack of innovation in scientific and technological achievements. When we are learning a language, teachers often say that the most important thing to learn a language well is to have a good language environment. Therefore, it is not difficult to see that the environment plays a decisive role in people’s growth and learning. Local colleges to internationalized talent training plan, to the local university has a good international school and the learning environment had the higher request, but from that point on, at present most of the local colleges and universities in the construction aspect of international environment, there is still no great devotion all reaching the same colleges and universities, and the school-running characteristics are not fully displayed. The heat wave of internationalization is coming, and international resources have become the core development trend. For China, which is becoming more and more powerful, the updating of knowledge is also indispensable, to gain a firm foothold in the world, and the importance of internationalization should not be slack. Therefore, China’s talent training must have a comprehensive international vision and understanding of international rules, to meet challenges, face challenges and solve problems.
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5.2 Characteristics of International Courses 5.2.1 The International Curriculum with Different Needs An international curriculum should be able to meet the needs of the three-dimensional goals of “knowledge and skills, processes and methods, emotions, attitudes and values”, and promote the all-round development of students, which is manifested by complete learning fields, complete courses and complete forms. Dewey pointed out that the goal of education must be based on the behavior and needs of the education themselves (including innate instincts and acquired habits). Education should be based on students’ abilities, specialties and needs, and should be diversified and selective in content. Howard Gardner, the founder of the theory of multiple intelligences, believes that people are not all the same in terms of cognitive ability and intelligence style, and only education targeted at specific abilities and needs of the educated can be effectively implemented. The difference of students’ intelligence determines that the science curriculum system should be selective in the dimensions and depth of students’ learning. Selectivity in dimension refers to providing students with space to choose learning content, and selectivity in depth refers to providing students with space to choose learning difficulty. Education, especially basic education, is future-oriented and lays a foundation for students’ lifelong development and social development. It should improve the students’ ability to adapt to the future social development and personal development through the cultivation of their values, abilities and knowledge. This requires that education should be able to respond to the needs of The Times and the future while inheriting the essence of traditional culture, integrate the elements of The Times, reflect the latest achievements in the development of science and culture in the course content, and reflect the contemporary and advanced connotation (Cai, 2020, 2021; Huang, 2019; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu & Song, 2019).
5.2.2 The Distinctive Course Feature of “Local Internationalization” Compared with the training mode of international talents in traditional colleges and universities, the most distinctive feature of “local internationalization” lies in the universality of its group. It strives to ensure that all students on campus can receive international education and cross-cultural influence, so that colleges and universities can cultivate more high-level international talents. Different from the previous overseas study scholarships and financial aid programs to support some students, the term “all students” here refers to all students who are able to and unable to conduct international study. Through the comprehensive coverage of student groups, “local internationalization” can avoid the lack of education universality caused by the
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scarcity of high-quality higher education resources and the imbalance of social and economic development to the maximum extent and make up for the imbalanced and inadequate defect of the traditional training mode of international talents in universities in terms of student beneficiary groups. Expand the scope of students benefit from group does not mean to cancel multinational study abroad and generally reduce the quality of training international talents and standards but based on guarantee the quality of individual culture make full use of the campus of the existing international resources talent cultivation of the overall optimal results, it is rich in the internationalized personnel training mode in traditional universities and extension. Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs) have mushroomed around the world since 2012 and have had a big impact on traditional education. Different from the traditional education in the past, online education managers will break the walls of the school, can fully track and master the characteristics of students, learning behavior, learning process, targeted teaching and more accurate evaluation of students, and improve the learning quality and efficiency of students. At the same time, due to the low cost of online education, international high-quality education resources can benefit every student, so that every student has the opportunity and way to receive international high-quality education, which is conducive to promoting the realization of education equity and a good solution to the imbalance and inequality of China’s current education resources (Cai, 2020, 2021; Wu & Song, 2019).
5.2.3 The International Curriculum System The international curriculum system is neither the expansion of the local curriculum, nor the introduction of international curriculum to replace the local curriculum blindly, but to improve and perfect the school’s curriculum system with the help of high-quality international curriculum resources is the organic integration of local curriculum and international curriculum. The International Foundation Certificate aims to promote multicultural understanding and respect. It builds a transnational curriculum unlike any other national curriculum, requiring students to learn more than two languages and diverse cultures, while at the same time increasing their knowledge of their own mother tongue and culture. Due to the improvement of the traditional university international talent training mode, the most significant feature of “internationalization” is to pay attention to the students’ native culture by building with this, namely the characteristic of international campus, the school in their home countries for students the opportunity to contact the international education resources and multinational culture, can get the same or better without transnational education effect. Benefiting from the increasing educational exchanges between countries and the developed network sharing technology, the international high-quality educational resources in universities of various countries, including international academic conferences, international project cooperation, external teachers, foreign courses and students, have been abundant. Native to international students on education can avoid in the process of training internationalized talents in colleges and universities into
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“for international and transnational flows” cycle and can be solved in the multinational students learn in a short time, difficult to adapt to the problems such as, in the largest extent, help students in the case of not leaving can accept international education and culture (Cai, 2020, 2021; Wu & Song, 2019).
5.2.4 International Education Environment Different from the traditional training mode of international talents in universities, the special feature of local internationalization lies in the internationalization of educational environment. The difference of educational environment is the direct reason that affects students’ cross-border learning. The core of this difference lies in the difference of curriculum and extracurricular activities in universities at home and abroad. In fact, the practice of local internationalization is the process of realizing the internationalization of educational environment with curriculum internationalization and cross-cultural extracurricular activities as the core. To create a good education environment with international education function and cross-cultural influence, to meet the environmental needs of previous transnational learning, and to train international talents for local schools to play a double result with half the effort. To improve students’ learning ability and develop their international perspective. There are profound social and economic reasons for the rise of internationalization in China. Compared with the traditional internationalization mode, the most distinctive feature of it is that it aims to improve the international ability and cross-cultural accomplishment of all students, including the individuals who have the conditions and ability to realize cross-border mobility, and those who cannot realize the spatial and geographical displacement of education. From the source, local internationalization is put forward in response to the problem of insufficient international mobility of students, and its goal is to help all students to receive cross-cultural and international education to the greatest extent without leaving their home countries. It emphasizes the impact of internationalization on all students in all the programs the school conducts and therefore does not rely on cross-border mobility to provide students with international and cross-cultural knowledge. Due to the scarcity of high-quality higher education resources and the imbalance of social and economic development, cross-border mobility is regarded as a practical strategy to effectively promote the internationalization of education, but it cannot be enjoyed by most people. In many cases, the traditional model of internationalization often presents the “Matthew Effect”, that is, “more people, more poor people stay poor”. This is because those who can carry out cross-border flows are the enrichment of educational resources in China. They either have more economic resources or have stronger intellectual capital. The “poor” who cannot achieve cross-border mobility are greatly different from the former due to the lack of impact of international vision and the cultivation of cross-cultural ability. The formation of this “difference” is obviously against the requirements of social justice. The promotion of higher education internationalization strategy can effectively make up the loopholes of the traditional internationalization model which is
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too narrow in terms of the beneficiary groups. It targets the internationalization of education at all students, which is a reversal of the internationalization concept in terms of the target positioning. If the traditional internationalization adheres to the elite education idea of “the best are the best”, the local internationalization carries out the democratic education idea of “universal benefit to all” in the goal (Cai, 2020, 2021; Huang, 2019; Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu & Song, 2019). By creating a learning environment centered on an international curriculum, local universities can successfully train international talent. The key to the successful implementation of local internationalization strategy is the cultivation of cross-cultural and international educational atmosphere in the school. The construction of local internationalization is an overall project centered on the campus learning environment.
5.3 Problems Faced by the Implementation of International Curriculum of Higher Education in China Since the new century, with the deepening of globalization, especially after Nelson put forward the idea of local internationalization in the 1990s, China has followed the trend of the times and increasingly internationalized higher education. With the development of recent decades, the internationalization level of higher education curriculum in China has been greatly improved, but on the other hand, the internationalization of higher education curriculum in China has also emerged some problems in the development. Instead of studying and improving the curriculum for most students, schools are trying to catch up and introduce an international curriculum to cater to the needs of a minority of students. The result is that only a minority benefit. However, most students do not really enjoy international courses, which leads to the other side of education inequality.
5.3.1 The Specialty Setting of Colleges and Universities in China At present, the specialty setting of colleges and universities in China is still mainly based on the logical development of disciplines, and there are some problems such as too fine division of specialties, weak comprehensiveness and interdisciplinarity, which makes it difficult to achieve the goal of cultivating international talents. It is of little significance to international curriculum construction. In the context of internationalization, the course content should always be in line with the latest academic development and keep pace with The Times. However, the reality is that most of the content of many textbooks is just a thing of the past, and the updating time limit is too long, and it is out of touch with the actual needs of society. However, it is
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unrealistic for most schools to introduce the international curriculum in a complete set based on the existing constraints. We should not “bring the principle”, but based on the national conditions, we should draw on the experience of foreign international curriculum, realize the transformation and upgrading of our own curriculum, and take the road of internationalization of curriculum with Chinese characteristics (Cai, 2020, 2021; Huang, 2019; Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu & Song, 2019). “Teacher is the important subject of higher education, is bearing the weight of the spread of knowledge and the function of education, the teachers troop internationalization is the key to the internationalization of higher education, internationalization of faculty construction is the nature of intercultural education background of multinational, nationalization of teachers, mainly includes the internationalization of teaching structure and teaching level of internationalization”. Excellent teachers play an important role in the internationalization of higher education. However, China’s international level of teachers is still quite weak. With the rapid increase of study abroad returnees in recent years, international academic background for teachers in Chinese colleges and universities has increased, but the teachers’ share is still very low; in addition, many colleges and universities are also introduced many foreign teachers, but foreign teachers are also most low-level language teachers, much as a year, which cannot meet the demand for international teachers’ colleges and universities. Some colleges and universities pay too much attention to the formal “internationalization” and recruit foreign teachers with various preferential policies or material treatment, instead of making their own strength reach the international level through stable discipline construction and talent echelon cultivation. More international development models of colleges and universities pay too much attention to the growth of teachers and the expansion of the scale and do not seriously reflect on the actual effects of internationalization activities. This mode of running a school, which emphasizes the form but ignores the internal, not only cannot fundamentally improve the internationalization level of colleges and universities, but also greatly increases the teaching cost, consumes a lot of educational resources, and finally achieves little effect.
5.3.2 Practical Strategies of International Courses Since the publication of the European Institute of International Education’s position paper on local internationalization, more and more universities have tried to put the idea into practice. Research in recent years has focused on the interaction between local and international students. Joan believes that higher education institutions should promote the interaction between local and international students to promote their international education in a world where students are increasingly moving across borders. Taking the interaction between Korean students and foreign students as an example, this paper adopts the method of mixed research to explore the effectiveness of interventions taken by schools, such as pairings and cultural communication. Some measures to make the campus an international community were
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introduced, such as providing instruction manuals on foreign cultures for Australian students, setting up peer mentoring systems, pairing local students with international students, organizing international student talk groups, organizing regular activities and organizing cross-cultural lunches. The internationalization is of great guiding significance for improving in-place internationalization. Soria studied students at nine American universities who took part in international and domestic programs and found that those who took part in on-campus international programs, such as international courses, benefited more than those who studied abroad. This may contradict the common assumptions. Because of this, the results of the study are more convincing. The study found that attending lectures, workshops and performances with global or international themes can improve students’ intercultural and international communication skills. It is suggested that schools should organize similar activities and offer them for free or at a low price. Students who participate in such activities can gain extra credits (Cai, 2020, 2021; Huang, 2019; Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu & Song, 2019). Some researchers have suggested how to incorporate local internationalization into national policy. Galen and Watson note that the Dutch government is interested in increasing the number and impact of in-place internationalization in higher education, and that some Dutch universities are making in-place internationalization a standard part of “basic teaching qualifications” in teacher development programs. It is recommended that, at the level of higher education institutions, it is clearly stated that all programmers of study have international and intercultural competencies, and that it is specified in the policies of higher education institutions how these competencies should be tested or assessed. The government could also encourage certification of quality projects. Annetta suggested local internationalization as a quantitative indicator of the framework, arguing that it has the potential to create fairer conditions for multicultural development and to give international students a more prominent role. Suggestions are also given on how to implement local internationalization: to provide structured opportunities for students to communicate across cultural boundaries, to guide students’ interaction and to put domestic students and foreign students on an equal footing. Effective local internationalization programs need to encourage students to be more reflective to bring together the voices of students with different cultural perspectives. A high level of internationalization is a common feature of the world’s first-class universities. Its main contents include having an international vision and philosophy of running a university and being able to stand in the forefront of thinking about the development mode and future development direction of the university. It can cultivate elite talents from all walks of life with international vision and global competitiveness. Capable of carrying out cutting-edge, transnational or cross-border research projects and producing world-leading research results, it can provide high-quality social service products on a global scale and solve the common problems faced by mankind. Therefore, internationalization of higher education is no longer a macroscopic school-running idea but has already become one of the core characteristics of today’s world-class universities and an important means to maintain the vigor and competitiveness of the school. The internationalization at home is a new concept of higher education internationalization. Different from the traditional emphasis on
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overseas mobility, its essence is to think about the local training of international talents and to emphasize the connotation construction of the internationalization of local universities. In the post-epidemic era, we should not only see Western countries gradually closing the “door” of talent flow, but also see China’s great power and cultural charm in the fight against the epidemic attracting talents from all over the world. Different from previous studies, we put forward the idea of internationalization in China not only for the lack of international mobility of Chinese students, but also for the sober recognition that with the change of global economic and political environment, the flow mode of international higher education may be reorganized after the end of the epidemic (Cai, 2020, 2021; Huang, 2019; Wang, 2020a; Wu & Song, 2019). In short, the internationalization of higher education in the future will be not only about studying abroad, but also about studying abroad. Change study idea, from abroad out of the country “in place” to rely on to attract international talents “in students” study and communication in China, the largest extent, help all students on the premise of not to leave home to accept international and cross-cultural education, colleges and universities of the cross-border flow of international is no longer just rely on the native students to provide students with international and cross-cultural knowledge. Instead, through the diversity of the sources of international students, the culture itself and the cultural way of thinking collide in China, so as to realize the exchange and integration of local and international students. Internationalization can take the form of internationalization of courses, credit transfer agreements, establishment of cooperative networks, courses taught in foreign languages and communication between local and foreign students. Curriculum internationalization had been under way in North America for many years prior to the publication of this position paper. In Europe, the past all think students through the exchange of project for cross-border flow is the only or the best way of education internationalization, but changing the idea, now considered curriculum internationalization into the course of internationalization and cross-cultural elements will not only affect the content of the university goal even for a long time, more effectively encourage students to study abroad, but also make more students to benefit. It is more effective than a single international movement of students (Cai, 2020, 2021; Huang, 2019; Li, 2021; Li & Xue, 2021; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu & Song, 2019).
5.3.3 The Internationalization at Home Consists of Two Phrases The internationalization at home consists of two phrases: locality and internationalization, which are co-existing at the same time, blending and symbiosis to serve the high-quality and efficient development of local universities. Specifically, local undergraduate university in sex refers to her throughout the organization, which is based on discipline construction and professional development, give full play to
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the education and scientific research advantage, relying on the power of knowledge to cooperate with the government, and industry and relative social programs, form a cluster of academic disciplines and value orientation in practice innovation, mutual transformation between knowledge and practice. To provide talents, ideas and technical support for the economic and social development of the places where they belong, to create a sustainable and prosperous industrial zone and intelligent zone, and to form a good situation of organic and interactive development of the intelligent city and the industrial city. Further, the sex refers to the internationalization and synchronization in sexual development, and local undergraduate universities improve the occasion by national preferential policies and the openness of the city area to actively seek international resources, create conditions and build all kinds of knowledge platform for teaching, scientific research, with the international higher education service, culture and other all-round exchanges and cooperation. It will comprehensively enhance its international level and moral education capability, actively participate in global governance practices and contribute its wisdom to the lasting well-being of mankind’s peaceful development. Since the 1990s, to reverse the unfair allocation of higher education resources caused by the traditional mode of internationalization, some European countries, represented by Sweden, have initiated and promoted the “in-place internationalization movement” of higher education. As an alternative traditional internationalization mode, on the ground and internationalization with its “based on local school”, “for the students”, “enhance the internationalization of all students and cross-cultural literacy” characteristics in the field of higher education internationalization rapidly boom, many countries have unequivocally on the ground and internationalization as its effective pattern of the internationalization of higher education. For a long time, the education internationalization strategy, which is characterized by cross-border education, has been facing difficulties in the fields of educational fairness and educational effect. The implementation of local internationalization strategy can not only effectively promote the fair distribution of higher education resources in China, but also help universities to obtain better social, economic and cultural benefits. In addition, China has laid a series of solid foundations for the implementation of this strategy in the aspects of personnel exchange, curriculum setting, management mechanism and technology application. To ensure the smooth implementation of the internationalization strategy in the future, we should promote the internationalization of higher education on the concept, from the “western” to “the west” in the system design and transformation of completed from the “first” management to the “service for this” transformation, the education environment in from “capital” to the reform of the “culture based on”. The internationalization strategy of higher education in China will face challenges in the process of advancing, which requires us to keep alert to all kinds of difficulties on the one hand; on the other hand, we should maintain the determination of reform and implement this important strategy steadily and firmly (Cai, 2020, 2021; Huang, 2019; Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu & Song, 2019). Internationalization at home means to build an international atmosphere and enhance internationalism based on our school. Without going abroad, students
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can meet world-class teachers, listen to world-class courses and freely communicate with students from different countries, so as to gain the maximum benefits at the minimum cost. The internationalization at home mainly refers to the use of “school-based resources to enhance internationality” on campus, including relevant “personnel resources” such as exchange programs to enhance international students at the university, international students and foreign experts, exchange scholars and so on. In the report, the researchers conducted several case studies through a mix of online surveys and interviews and suggested that the government should incorporate IaH’s indicators into the performance agreements and financial plans of universities. Universities should actively carry out discussions and communication with all teachers and students on cross-cultural values and benefits, adopt the criteria of IaH in job recruitment and performance appraisal, set up relevant courses in departments, integrate IaH elements into the classes and evaluate the cross-cultural competence acquired in core courses. The teaching staff should improve cross-cultural teaching methods and foreign language competence that are suitable for the multicultural classroom and strengthen the assessment of international vision and cross-cultural competence.
5.4 Summary The internationalization at home is a new concept of higher education internationalization. Different from the traditional emphasis on overseas mobility, its essence is to think about the local training of international talents and to emphasize the connotation construction of the internationalization of local universities. There is no denying that the ideas of many scholars at home and abroad are unforeseeable perfect assumptions. However, no matter how difficult it is in practice; if it is rational and reasonable, it is worthy of people’s serious treatment and promotion. In the view of many scholars, compared with the various internationalization “modes” and “paradigms” that are currently popular, local internationalization not only has rich practical value, but also has profound theoretical significance. Through the comprehensive coverage of student groups, local internationalization can avoid the lack of education universality caused by the scarcity of high-quality higher education resources and the imbalance of social and economic development to the greatest extent and make up for the imbalanced and insufficient defects of the traditional training mode of international talents in universities in terms of student beneficiary groups. By means of international comparison, it has expanded the traditional and original courses, such as the courses of international comparative education to train students to engage in international professions and provided students with opportunities to contact international educational resources and transnational cultures in its own country, so that the same or better educational effects can be obtained without transnational education (Cai, 2020, 2021; Huang, 2019; Li, 2021; Li & Eryong, 2020; Li & Xue, 2021; Wang, 2020a, 2020b; Wu & Song, 2019). The current era is an era of globalization. Global talent flow and global talent competition are the important characteristics of talent
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training in the new era. The cultivation of competitive international talents is not only the trend of education development in the world, but also an important goal of education reform in China. What is a globally competitive international talent? First, they should master the basic theories, cutting-edge knowledge and professional skills of relevant professional fields; second, talents who should be at the highest international level in terms of knowledge, skills, emotions, attitudes and values and be able to engage in dialogue, cooperation and competition with international counterparts in their respective disciplines and industries; thirdly, they should master multiple languages, be familiar with different cultures in the world, be familiar with international rules, have a global vision and cross-cultural communication ability and be able to participate in international affairs and international competition. We should speed up the construction of “Double First-Class Universities” and turn several highlevel universities into highlands for China’s knowledge innovation and high-level academic talents with international characteristics. We should speed up the transformation of local colleges and universities and build several local universities into highlands of China’s technological innovation and high-level application-oriented international talents. We should speed up the development of a vocational education system with Chinese characteristics that is of an internationally advanced level and turn several vocational schools into highlands of China’s technological innovation and international talents with high-level skills. At the same time, the cultivation of international talents with global competitiveness focuses on the higher education stage, but the foundation is in the basic education stage. Our country should deepen the reform of basic education, comprehensively promote quality-oriented education and train the new era youth with all-round development of morality, intelligence, physical education, beauty, work and international vision. The goal of cultivating international talents with global competitiveness can only be realized when all levels and all kinds of education are cooperatively cultivated (Cai, 2020, 2021; Wu & Song, 2019).
References Cai, Y. L. (2020). Internationalization in the region: A research field that needs to be further developed in the post-epidemic era. Research in Educational Development, 41(03), 29–35. Cai, Y. L. (2021). Internationalization in the region: A research field that needs to be further developed in the post-epidemic era. Research in Educational Development, 41(03), 29–35. Huang, Y. (2019). The connotation and practical path of local university internationalization. Journal of Sichuan University of Science and Technology (social Science Edition), 34(04), 58–69. Li, J. (2021). Shaping “The belt and road initiative” international higher education: A qualitative study of international students from South-Asian countries in Chinese universities. Beijing International Review of Education, 3(1), 22–37. Li, J., & Eryong, X. (2020). Unveiling the ‘logic’ of modern university in China: Historical, social and value perspectives. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 52(9), 986–998. Li, J., & Xue, E. (2021). Returnee faculty responses to internationalizing “Academic ecology” for creating world-class universities in China’ elite universities. Higher Education, 81(5), 1063–1078.
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Wang, P. (2020a). A preliminary study on the concept and practice of higher education “Internationalization in China.” Science and Technology Vision, 20(03), 210–213. Wang, P. (2020b). Preliminary study on the idea and practice of higher education “Internationalization in local areas.” Science and Technology Vision, 20(03), 210–213. Wu, C., & Song, Y. (2019). The value orientation and performance evaluation system construction of higher education internationalization under the background of “Double first-class” construction. China Higher Education Research, 20(05), 6–12.
Chapter 6
The Practical Models of Internationalization at Home
The internationalization at home is a new school-running concept, which refers to the introduction of foreign educational ideas based on local education, to cultivate high-level international talents. Internationalization in Hong Kong, as a new thing, rapidly moves from concept to practice in a very short time, from one country to many countries, which is a general trend of future development. Internationalization in Hong Kong can promote the communication between different cultures, but it has also experienced many difficulties and challenges due to the differences between different cultures. Although international education in China is facing some challenges, it has been developing and becoming mature gradually. The internationalization is oriented to the whole world. It is more about the integration of one’s own culture and foreign culture, and it can also be said to be intercultural communication. Locally internationalized means to build international campuses in one’s own country to promote learning and exchange between different cultures. Local education internationalization is the inevitable result of economic globalization and the inevitable trend of improving international competitiveness. In this way, we can keep talented people in our country to serve the economic development of our country and expand the cultural soft power of China’s education system.
6.1 The Practice of American International Curriculum 6.1.1 The International Programme The International Programme imparts international and cross-cultural knowledge and skills, with the aim of preparing students professionally, socially and emotionally to work and live in an international and multicultural setting. Knowledge and skills are the commonwealth of all mankind and have the nature of global mobility. To take the © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_6
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lead in the increasingly competitive field of higher education and the international higher education market, the governments and universities of all countries have consciously explored the strategies suitable for their own internationalization of higher education according to the objective reality. In this context, the idea of local internationalization came into being in Western Europe and gradually influenced other countries. To cope with the development trend of internationalization of higher education in the world, American universities have strengthened the construction of international curriculum, defined the goal of international curriculum, increased the proportion of international curriculum and made pioneering exploration in the types of international curriculum, the choice of international curriculum content and other aspects. American colleges and universities have always emphasized that the concept of internationalization should be integrated into the curriculum field, and clearly take the cultivation of “talents with a global vision” and “citizens of the world” as the goal of the international curriculum. Universities such as Harvard, Yale and MIT claim to train globally minded people who can lead the world. American universities not only explicitly include the internationalization of courses as the overall goal of their curriculum development, but also take the understanding of the internationalization development trend of the discipline and the ability to deal with problems in the corresponding field under the background of globalization as the specific requirements in the training goals of specific courses. Among its overall goals, Yale says it will highlight “students’ ability to provide leadership and service to an increasingly interdependent world”. In summary, the goal of international courses in American universities can be summarized as: to broaden students’ international vision, enable them to master advanced international knowledge theories, understand the history, culture and current development trends of other regions of the world and have the ability to use professional knowledge to work and communicate in the context of globalization (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
6.1.2 The Aspect of Curriculum Internationalization American universities have made many beneficial explorations in the aspect of curriculum internationalization and have achieved some results. Overall, however, the current development of internationalization of American universities is basically disordered, and there is a lack of clear definition, clear boundary and framework. The effects of the internationalization of university courses are sporadic and temporary, and their impact is limited. But American universities’ efforts to internationalize represent a meaningful shift in the development of higher education that is far more important than its achievements. The above practice provides us with cases to think about the operability of course internationalization. First, there is a deeper and more specific learning purpose for international courses. It is not a single goal to gain a global perspective. The international curriculum
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consists of three relatively distinctive types of learning: knowledge (students’ knowledge of the facts of international events), emotional impact (attitudes and values toward others) and language (the ability and attitude toward foreign languages). In the design of international curriculum, not only one purpose should be considered, but also the deep meaning of the curriculum should be considered comprehensively. As we can see from the internationalization practice of American university courses, many schools combine general education with professional education. The courses not only impart knowledge but also focus on practical experience. At the same time, combined with foreign language teaching, they provide multi-level and all-round experience. Second, in the process of promoting the internationalization of courses, each university considers its own history, funding sources, scale, management methods and even its geographical location, to realize the internationalization of courses in a deeper and more practical way. All universities have built on the original foundation, such as making full use of the existing teachers’ professional knowledge, transforming the original curriculum into international factors and taking advantage of geographical advantages to promote the internationalization of curriculum. We also note that in the internationalization of higher education, it is university teachers who play a key role. Many American universities start with the training of teachers first, because without teachers with international vision and interdisciplinary teaching ability, the internationalization of courses is impossible (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019). Third, universities are not limited to one aspect of their efforts in curriculum internationalization but realize curriculum internationalization through comprehensive reconstruction. Although curriculum internationalization is mainly embodied in specific forms such as foreign language learning and overseas study, internationalization is more important as a kind of spirit, which is integrated into various courses. All aspects of the higher education curriculum can promote internationalization, including language learning, internship design, overseas study services, etc. The internationalization of higher education curriculum is a comprehensive process, which is embodied in the reform of general education curriculum, the addition of language and culture content into professional education curriculum, and the realization of interdisciplinary and cross-curriculum. Curriculum internationalization is the synthesis of the whole school curriculum, rather than the description of a certain course or a certain part of the course, let alone by opening one or two courses. Fourthly, from the practice of curriculum internationalization in American universities, we find that only by strengthening the consciousness of internationalization and the obligation of internationalization in American universities, so that more people can participate in the practice of education internationalization, can the benefits of internationalization appear. In terms of internationalization consciousness, we may pay more attention to its competitiveness and benefits, but less attention to its obligation. The practice of American universities gives us important enlightenment: internationalization benefits are long term, and obligations and benefits coexist (Cheng
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et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
6.2 Taiwan Internationalization Practice in Taiwan 6.2.1 Taiwan’s Long-Term Pursuit of International Development Taiwan’s long-term pursuit of international development overseas equates internationalization with the flow of teachers and students, which is not conducive to the comprehensive and effective cultivation of students’ international literacy. The orientation of internationalization in place emphasizes the development in place and surpasses the flow, which provides a thinking direction for the internationalization development of higher education in Taiwan. To deepen the internationalization of higher education in Taiwan, the educational administrative departments and institutions of higher learning have begun to strengthen the development of internationalization in Taiwan. Taiwan’s education administration has gradually strengthened the local identity of higher education internationalization through policy formulation and improvement of evaluation programs. At the beginning of the new century, the policies related to the internationalization of higher education in Taiwan were all centered on the overseas study of local students and the recruitment and tutoring of foreign students. Until recent years, the policies paid more attention to the construction of local internationalization. Education authorities in Taiwan issued the “Rewarding Points for the Pilot Plan of Establishing International Quality Guidance Mechanism for Colleges and Universities”, which conducted a single inspection on the international quality of colleges and universities. The subsidy fund of this plan is dedicated to improving the international quality of the school. It clearly aims to cultivate the global mobility of local students and highlights the relevant measures or activities to enhance the international level of local students, including the relevant measures or activities to enhance the international mobility of young people. Responsible for teachers’ international professional quality development plan, multicultural and intercultural communication courses are offered. Yang Mingling, Director General of the Department of International and Cross-Strait Education in Taiwan, pointed out that the main policy directions for the internationalization of higher education in Taiwan are to recruit foreign students, create a good learning environment and build the internationalization of local colleges and universities. To further improve, the campus international visit mechanism will become one of the important ways to comprehensively promote the campus internationalization. With the construction of modern universities and the improvement of the evaluation mechanism, Taiwan’s higher education autonomy has been continuously decentralized to promote the internationalization of higher education. The evaluation indexes related to the internationalization of higher education gradually weaken the quantitative orientation
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of the flow of teachers and students and begin to integrate the internationalization construction projects into the daily education and teaching activities and pay attention to the construction of the internationalization connotation of specific institutions. Taking university affairs evaluation as an example, in the 2004 school affairs evaluation, the degree of internationalization is listed separately as a first-level index, and the quantitative data on the surface is taken as the main standard to measure the degree of internationalization. Specifically, it includes seven items: the number of foreign students enrolled, the proportion of English-taught courses, the proportion of English level examinations, the proportion of foreign teachers, the number of papers published in international journals and submitted by teachers in seminars and the number of international cooperation of the school. Compared with the school affairs evaluation index in 2004, the current university affairs evaluation index no longer lists the first-level index items with a distinct word of “internationalization”, and there is no concrete international evaluation content in the second-level index, and the expression of all evaluation indexes is highly abstract. However, the content of internationalization development must be integrated into the self-evaluation report of each university, and the internationalization construction must be implemented in the education and teaching activities of the university. In addition, the evaluation of internationalization of higher education in Taiwan focuses on the concept and practice of “self-positioning” of universities and requires universities to comprehensively reflect on the direction and characteristics of internationalization development by SWOT analysis. Accordingly, leaders of various universities attach great importance to the internationalization development of the university, pay attention to the characteristics of the school, attach importance to the use of school-based resources to develop the internationalization and strengthen the guidance of the localization of higher education from the level of educational leadership (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
6.2.2 Local Internationalization of Higher Education Local internationalization of higher education needs organizational guarantee, and the organizational structure of higher education internationalization should be a combination of centralization and decentralization. A study has found that universities with high international levels have centralized “single window” offices to promote, consult, coordinate, implement and maintain all international activities. At the same time, the colleges, departments, centers and other decentralized internal units of the university each perform their respective duties to propose appropriate international education programs. The construction of international higher education organizations in Taiwan focuses on the effective coordination between centralization and decentralization. First, all universities in Taiwan set up specialized units for international affairs, which centrally manage the internationalization construction within the university. According to statistics, by 2015, about 86% of colleges and
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universities, or 126 in total, had set up units dedicated to international affairs. Second, more and more international affairs units, academic affairs office, secondary schools, departments and other joint efforts to actively promote international secondary management and tertiary management. For example, Taiwan University has launched the “International Baccalaureate Program”, which is taught in English. The ratio of international students and local students with good English proficiency is nearly 2:1, breaking through the previous class organization model of artificial separation between local students and international students. Taiwan University further promotes the effective interaction of Taiwan’s local students and foreign students, provides Taiwanese students experience local internationalized atmosphere, breaks the previous separation between Taiwanese students and foreign student’s accommodation system, a Taiwanese students and foreign students mixed residential pattern, by Taiwan’s recognition, and generally follows the example of other colleges and universities. The internationalization of university education and teaching mainly includes course internationalization, teaching internationalization and teacher internationalization. Among them, the internationalization of curriculum and teaching is the core of in-place internationalization, and the internationalization of teachers is the key to in-place internationalization. To cultivate high-quality international talents, colleges and universities in Taiwan gradually start from the aspects of curriculum, teaching and teachers, and actively explore the internationalization of higher education in in-place (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019). In recent years, colleges and universities in Taiwan have paid attention to integrating international issues or bringing international orientation into curriculum content, and paid attention to cultivating graduates’ soft and hard power. For example, the Department of Medicine of Kaohsiung Medical University included “inclusive international macro vision” in the index of students’ core competence; Tamkang University has incorporated students’ international vision into its core curriculum planning. Practical universities offer international exchange programs and international courses. To cultivate students’ intercultural knowledge and ability, universities in Taiwan not only attach importance to including international issues in their professional courses to expand students’ international perspective, but also attach importance to the function of general education courses to promote students’ multicultural learning. Higher technical and vocational colleges actively offer international certification courses, plan courses according to international standards and regulate the core competence of graduates in various fields. In addition, promoting foreign language courses and strengthening foreign language learning is an important strategy for the internationalization of higher education curriculum. Derived by the policies of the Taiwan government, various plans to improve college foreign language ability and build a foreign language environment have been introduced and implemented. For example, in 2012, the education authorities in Taiwan issued the “Key Points of the Plan for Subsisting Colleges and Universities to Enhance English-only Degree Classes” to subsidize English degree classes of colleges and universities and encourage colleges and universities to offer English-based foreign
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language courses and improve the language exchange and communication ability of local students. To meet the needs of international development, colleges and universities in Taiwan have reformed their teaching methods and emphasized the autonomy of students in learning. The development of current information technology provides an online platform for the internationalization of university teaching. Universities in Taiwan make full use of network technology to promote distance international teaching. For example, the “China Research Institute” of Taiwan Normal University conducts distance teaching with many schools in Japan. Tamkang University implements the program of “International Distance Course” for junior students; that is, “International Distance Course – Russian Conversation” for students in the Russian Department who have not gone abroad to study is offered in local distance teaching or jointly with the Russian Far Eastern Federal University. The same program is implemented. The premise of curriculum and teaching internationalization is the internationalization of teachers, and the internationalization of teachers includes the internationalization of teacher composition, as well as the internationalization of teachers’ ability and accomplishment. Taiwan colleges and universities actively introduce foreign teachers to promote the internationalization of the faculty structure. For example, Ming Chuan University attaches great importance to the recruitment of teachers of different nationalities, inspects teachers who can teach in English in various departments and forms an international teaching group in each department to discuss the internationalization of curriculum and teaching. In addition to optimizing the structure of teachers, colleges and universities in Taiwan implement the mode of combining overseas study and in-school training to enhance the internationalization level of teachers. The university attaches great importance to the improvement of teachers’ international teaching and research capabilities. For example, Furen University provides resources related to English teaching through the Teacher Development and Teaching Resource Center, including global dialogue teacher training courses and overseas English teaching training for teachers. The R & D Department of Furen University has also formulated the “Key Points for Supporting Crossuniversity Academic Activities of Furen University” to reward teachers for internationalization of their research. In addition, colleges and universities adopt the mode of co-teaching with foreign teachers to strengthen the interaction and learning between local teachers and foreign teachers and provide students with diversified teaching experience (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019). Through research, Professor Jiang Lijuan found that Taiwan colleges and universities mostly talk about internationalization in the aspect of “rhetoric”, but seldom in the aspect of “teaching”. Although the name of the course is marked with the word “international”, such as “international relations”, “public international law”, “international finance”, “international marketing” and so on, which declares internationalization in the way of philosophy, it does not mention how to present the concept of internationalization in the planning and design of school-based curriculum. In addition, the promotion of curriculum and teaching internationalization in Taiwan institutions of
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higher learning is hindered by many aspects, especially the obvious deviation between different teachers’ cognition and practice of curriculum and teaching internationalization, which makes the promotion of curriculum and teaching internationalization easily fall into the superficial effort. Curriculum and teaching are the core of local internationalization of higher education. Only displaying the word “international” in the course name or teaching project, without making efforts to internationalize the course content and teaching methods, is obviously unable to substantially promote the internationalization of higher education in the local area. From this perspective, Taiwan colleges and universities should focus on strengthening the internationalization of curriculum content and teaching methods. The internationalization construction of curriculum and teaching requires teachers to have international literacy and international vision. Therefore, Taiwan colleges and universities should improve the overall level of teachers’ internationalization through internal training and external introduction, especially pay attention to the role of university teacher development center and make the improvement of teachers’ internationalization literacy become the normal training (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
6.3 Analysis of International Curriculum in Japanese Higher Education … 6.3.1 The Overview of AIU and Internationalization Concept Founded in April 2004, Akita International University (AIU) is a public university located in Akita Prefecture, Japan. Akita International University has a dream of becoming a university connected with the world. Its educational philosophy is to cultivate talents with English as the leading language, professional knowledge of international communication and practical ability, to make contributions to the international community and the national society. At present, the university has established cooperation and exchange partnerships with 187 universities in 47 countries and regions on all continents. As a result, many international exchange students participate in mutual exchanges between universities in their home countries and universities in friendly countries every semester. In fact, at any given time, about a quarter of the undergraduate students studying at AIU are international exchange students, so such international students can be found in almost every classroom. The backgrounds of the teachers are also very diverse. In any given semester, more than half of the teachers are not Japanese nationals. In addition, most of the Japanese teachers have lived abroad for a long time and have a multicultural background. The Japanese word “education” means liberal education. According to the philosophy of Akita International University (AIU), in an era of rapid change and globalization, the ability to identify with multiple values, solve problems together and create the future
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is indispensable today. Therefore, AIU advocates a new teaching concept of “International Education”, which aims to develop excellent communication skills based on English and other foreign languages. The mission is to contribute to the international community and the national society by having a wealth of literacy, professional knowledge with a global perspective and the ability to effectively execute talents.
6.3.2 AIU Curriculum Design Students can decide at the beginning of the exchange program once they have met the AIU’s academic standards. The school will assign an AIU teacher to each student as an academic tutor, who will give students advice on course taking and guidance on academic performance, so that students can achieve effective, purposeful and conscious study during the study abroad period. With the approval of the academic supervisor, courses taken at AIU will be eligible for AIU graduation credits. Since students are accustomed to academic English courses before going abroad, they can often successfully connect with the courses of foreign schools. Both international students and Japanese students expressed that through the collision of different cultural values, they would naturally know how to look at different cultures and understand various cultures from a more open perspective. Combined with the fact that freshmen must live in dormitories with international students for a year, this gives Japanese students the opportunity to spend a lot of time with international students. Therefore, students also must face and deal with various problems in life and school, so as to develop the ability of multicultural tolerance. Gap-year activities before admission allow students to find motivation to study in college and raise awareness of problems. After admission, academic tutors give timely suggestions to the course, making the learning content richer and more systematic, and connecting these issues to each other in a global framework. With rich overseas experience and timely tutoring, students can maintain high motivation to study, and their learning content can be more consistent, so that the cultivation of global vision and international literacy can be integrated into the learning process of university, rather than the fragmented or one-time experience learning. Although AIU is an international university, it is not isolated from the Japanese society. Instead, it is committed to communicating with various regions in Akita Prefecture, which is one of the main goals of the establishment of AIU in Akita Prefecture. It is to promote the development of Akita Prefecture through internationalization. In addition to various exchange activities between international students and residents, lectures related to international exchange are also held regularly to bring internationalization into the community. Through studying together with local students, Japanese students have formed a “mutually beneficial coexistence” relationship, which has played a positive role in cultivating students’ awareness of “mutual respect and coexistence”. From the interviews with students, it can be found that AIU practices the internationalization of human-centered education. In the era of globalization and knowledge-based economy, the higher education of all countries is seeking for international talents
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with global vision, ability to respond to the ever-changing information, cross-cultural sensitivity and good communication skills. Its educational philosophy is embodied by many innovative designs, such as a one-year exchange study system, an international liberal arts education and all courses taught in English. AIU’s curriculum design and a series of supporting measures comprehensively improve students’ international communication skills and global vision and make the graduates of AIU popular in the international market and Japanese enterprises.
6.4 International Curriculum Experience in Developed Countries The fundamental purpose of internationalization at home in higher education system is to cultivate talents with international consciousness and vision, comprehensive knowledge and skills, understanding of the world, and competitive ability both at home and abroad. Internationalization of higher education has two different forms: one is the cross-border education and the other is “internationalization”; the “in” strategy can include cross-cultural and international dimension in the process of teaching, research, extracurricular activities, and the local culture and the relationship between ethnic community groups, and foreign students and scholars into the campus life and activities. Arguably, these two forms of internationalization complement each other. With reduced mobility of students, teachers and researchers, an “in-place” international approach may be more effective for educational exchange and collaboration. Therefore, the internationalization of education should be expanded. “Onsite” internationalization initiatives, particularly the internationalization of curricula, support and expand students’ global learning. For example, during the epidemic, a significant number of institutions of higher learning created new opportunities for “on the ground” collaboration with their partner institutions, such as virtual movement, sharing resources and so on.
6.4.1 The International Curriculum of Developed Countries There is a huge gap between the international curriculum of developed countries and developing countries, which is reflected in the different degrees to which universities in different countries can realize the construction of international curriculum in terms of the types of institutions, development missions, student size and existing resources. When designing international courses, colleges and universities need to define the connotation of the four core elements of course content, teaching resources, teaching methods and students’ learning results according to their own development orientation. Colleges and universities should have four functions: “adaptation”, “goal realization”, “integration” and “potential protection”. The trend of internationalization of
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education is developing very rapidly in recent years. China should seize the opportunity, to adapt to the modern economic development in the cultivation of human capital and the development of internationalization of education, by strengthening links with the foreign education make our education can keep up with the trend of the development of international education, cultivate interdisciplinary talents conform to the requirements of the modern economy. Therefore, it is necessary to draw lessons from the experience of developed countries in education internationalization and discuss the development law of China’s education internationalization. Since World War II, the US Government, in partnership with universities and other educational institutions, has funded many programs designed to help American citizens acquire the international experience and skills they need to meet the challenges of an increasingly interdependent world. During this same period, American universities also developed a system of education whose reputation attracted international students from all over the world. Such international activities have brought enormous benefits to the United States. In addition to the immediate economic benefits, there are also many potential benefits and influences that have not yet been revealed. In addition, there are many cabinet members or congressmen who have studied in the United States, and their decision-making and administration tend to be supportive of the foreign policy and international activities of the United States. The internationalization of American higher education has direct or indirect effects on economic help, international mutual understanding and national defense diplomacy. In a speech on international education policy in April 2000, President Clinton clearly pointed out the importance of the internationalization of education for the United States. American leadership also depends on connecting with those who will lead the political, cultural and economic development of the country in the future. A consistent and coordinated international education strategy will help the United States meet the twin challenges of preparing their citizens for a global environment while continuing to attract and educate future leaders from abroad. The British government actively promotes overseas cooperation in running schools, and British universities have greater autonomy in running schools. With the further development of the internationalization of higher education, the British government and universities, while vigorously developing the international student market and actively recruiting overseas students, are also actively exploring the overseas education market, that is, by cooperating with foreign educational institutions to run schools abroad. There are two types of educational models: one is for a British university to establish a new university with its foreign counterparts to jointly carry out teaching and research; the other is for a British university to train students in a joint venture with a foreign university. The teaching methods can be divided into the following two types: the first is the whole process of teaching abroad; that is, the students have completed all the courses in the local educational institutions. Second, students finish two years or most of their courses locally and then transfer to British universities for the last year or the last stage. After completing the required courses and obtaining satisfactory results, students will be awarded degrees and qualifications by British universities. Take the University of Nottingham as an example. The University of Nottingham has 22,000 students, among which 4500 are foreign students from about 130 countries and regions. Moreover, they study in almost every
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major of the university. To ensure the international reputation of UK higher education, the United Kingdom’s guidelines lay special emphasis on the teaching level and education quality of overseas schools. For example, it stipulates that students’ admission qualifications, curriculum and length of schooling must be consistent with the corresponding regulations in the United Kingdom, and British universities must have complete control over examination and assessment methods. In addition, in 1996 and 1997, two field visits were made to overseas cooperative schools. There are three main experiences in the internationalization of British education. First, the openness of British higher education is vigorously publicized to overseas; second, the United Kingdom to recruit overseas students to schools to adopt preferential policies; third, adjust the disciplines, curricula and academic system, greatly increase the number of international courses to meet the needs of overseas students and treat higher education as an important export industry to the world to earn foreign exchange. Especially, the education of foreign students and overseas cooperation in running schools is particularly prominent.
6.4.2 The Important Trend of Education Development and Reform Education internationalization is an important trend of education development and reform in the process of globalization. We should draw lessons from the experience of education internationalization of developed countries and integrate Chinese higher education with international education to make education adapt to the development needs of current economic globalization. An important goal of internationalization of education is to cultivate talents who can adapt to economic globalization, information globalization, international consciousness, international communication and international competition ability. The United States, the United Kingdom and other countries are based on their own reality, the development of education internationalization objectives. Drawing on the experience of foreign countries, we believe that the training objectives should be clear as follows: train students to have international concepts and international awareness and establish the concept of opening to the world; to cultivate students’ international communication ability, to get along with foreigners in harmony, to respect foreign customs and religious beliefs, and to safeguard China’s national dignity and legal authority; to train students to be proficient in at least one foreign language. Modern universities are the main institutions to implement higher education. The fundamental task of modern universities is to train senior professionals needed by the society. Therefore, it is an important symbol of the internationalization of higher education whether to cultivate a group of outstanding creative talents who not only have noble humanistic spirit and good scientific accomplishment, but also have pioneering spirit of innovation and practical ability, global consciousness and strong international competitiveness. To train high-quality talents to meet the requirements of economic globalization, higher education must adjust the
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training objectives of talents vigorously, deepen the reform of education and teaching, and improve the quality of talent training. Therefore, the curriculum reform should be deepened continuously with the adjustment of discipline and specialty structure. Select and update the content of teaching materials and speed up the updating of teaching materials; reform the training mode and accelerate the innovation of the teaching system. We will strengthen the construction of the teaching staff and strive to raise the level of teaching. With the economic globalization and the opening of China’s education service market after China’s entry into WTO, the pace of China’s education resource allocation reform will be further accelerated. This requires the government departments to change the management mode, more use of market mechanism to expand and allocate educational resources, and improve the efficiency of resource use. Higher education institutions, as independent legal persons, will more autonomously face the society and mobilize and utilize social resources through the market. At present, we should consider the following three aspects: to establish a pluralistic system of higher education investment, striving to diversify the subjects and forms of running schools. We will expand the decision-making power of institutions of higher education in accordance with the law. Modern education itself is an open system. For a long time, foreign cooperation and exchange in education has been an important part of China’s opening up policy. After China’s entry into the WTO, the degree of opening of education will be further enlarged, which will provide a broader space for all kinds of schools to carry out inter-school exchanges at home and abroad. Internationalization of higher education means to make full use of international educational resources and open domestic educational resources to foreign countries to promote the development of higher education.
6.5 Problems and Challenges of Internationalization at Home 6.5.1 The Continuous Development of the Global Economy With the continuous development of the global economy and the increasing enhancement of international and regional cooperation, promoting the internationalization of higher education has become a major issue in the field of education at present. At the same time, the task of promoting the internationalization of higher education in the region is facing many new problems and challenges. An international curriculum and the interaction of domestic and international students through inclass and extracurricular activities are at the core of this concept. It also helps all students to receive cross-cultural and international education to the greatest extent without leaving their home countries. Because of local practice, there are too many uncontrollable factors to be considered, including some conditions that are difficult to achieve, so they are faced with many problems and challenges. The development of local international education in China needs high-quality teachers with international
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education experience as the guarantee. Although college students have advanced degrees and are generally capable of scientific research, many of these students have no experience in international learning and education, nor have they received cultural influence from international background, which limits their international vision. In the practice of international education in colleges and universities, it is difficult to better develop disciplines, especially some courses with high international relevance, which cannot meet the requirements of local international education. At present, the college emphasizes the internationalization of higher education, but the original model is directly imported training plan and course system, the introduction of foreign teachers directly, but for various reasons result in circulation, and other foreign students encounter will make a lot of students go abroad to study, and the demand of international education, so the original internationalization needs for potential new education mode (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
6.5.2 The Shortage of Education Funds Shortage of education funds is long plagued the problem of education. Some schools put main energy to focus on the construction of infrastructure, the expansion of school scale, teaching equipment, etc., with the increase in the quality of higher education resources shortage, not well satisfy people demand for higher education, especially the high-quality higher education resources, many students go overseas, along with the outflow of student’s education capital also followed a large outflow. With the deepening of teaching and scientific research activities in colleges and universities and the increasingly close connection with the society, higher education has higher and higher requirements for experimental instruments, equipment and sites, books, documents and other material conditions. Without a solid material foundation, the development of higher education and universities at all levels will inevitably be difficult. Such as: internationalization of education needs to use some foreign textbooks, some teaching material price is higher, the student in their economic ability is unlikely to be many books, so the teaching reference books rely mainly on the library, and schoolbooks for this storage are not enough, and students cannot obtain course in the teaching material from their hand actual required many of the content and influence the learning effect. Due to the limited financial support, limited foreign cooperation resources, limited management system and other factors invite overseas experts to give lectures, teachers and students to participate in international exchanges; academic conferences and other activities are restricted to a certain extent; and the coverage is also very limited. Modern universities have the dual characteristics of high resource dependence organization and strong independent development organization. On the one hand, universities increasingly rely on the government, market and society to provide resources and motivation for their development; on the other hand, universities can compete with other forces by relying on their own organizational strength, academic reputation and social influence. In
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essence, the game between university and government is the dynamic balance of autonomy and control. While universities are firmly in the international camp, the views of academia are unlikely to have much influence on a government bent on a nationalist path. The government has little control over the internationalization of higher education through policy, funding and visa policies. Although universities have taken various measures to explore the international education market, it is difficult for them to maintain their efforts due to the lack of policy support. Given the limited resources, some universities must “give up” the local internationalization projects that cannot directly create economic benefits. The curriculum of local international education needs to take international education concept as its purpose and coordinate the content of international education with that of ethnic education. However, in the current course design of colleges and universities, many colleges and universities focus on the introduction of education courses, westernize the curriculum altogether and neglect the traditional education content. The curriculum is instilled with many international and diversified cultural knowledge, resulting in the whole curriculum with international culture as the main phenomenon. The lack of cultural integration in China leads to the serious Westernization of many students, but they do not have a clear understanding of traditional culture. In the subsequent career development process, it is often difficult to develop in a better all-round way.
6.5.3 The Relatively Weak International Level of Teachers The relatively weak international level of teachers, the fragmentation of the international teaching system, the lack of international teaching atmosphere and other problems, to a certain extent, restrict the implementation of international curriculum teaching strategies in some higher education institutions in China. Some colleges and universities pay too much attention to the formal “internationalization” and recruit foreign teachers with various preferential policies or material treatment, instead of making their own strength reach the international level through stable discipline construction and talent echelon cultivation. This kind of international education mode, which emphasizes the form but ignores the content, may not only lead to the loss of teachers, but also greatly increase the teaching cost and the consumption of educational resources, and cannot guarantee the due international teaching quality for a long time. The lack of effective cooperation between domestic and foreign teachers team, is not yet perfect; teachers in ordinary faces from aspects such as teaching, scientific research and other increasingly strengthen examination pressure; teachers have more time, energy and money to cultivate talents, to improve the discipline and to prepare more different teaching contents and research methods, and in the face of greater research pressure to engage in improved new delivery models that may not be recognized by performance evaluation criteria. As a result, the number of teachers who can actively participate in curriculum internationalization teaching is reduced, and the depth and breadth of their participation are also limited, which greatly weakens the leading role of college teachers in the practice of
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curriculum internationalization teaching and intensifies the deviation degree between the concept of curriculum internationalization and the practical application (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019). The cognition of the university itself and the individual students to the concept of internationalization in place still needs to be deepened. The lack of attention to the construction of higher education internationalization in place is onesided and instrumental in the concept cognition and practice, which is not conducive to the connotation construction and sustainable development of internationalization in colleges and universities. Part of the school curriculum system is not perfect; the school is not good at keeping up with the trend of The Times and social and economic conditions to improve the teaching content and make the teaching content internationalization. In terms of the selection of course content, there are a lack of reference to foreign textbooks and a lack of relevance among disciplines. After learning the course, most students cannot relate and sort out the relevant knowledge well, and they do not have a good knowledge framework. Individual students’ awareness of international development is weak, and they lack the initiative of international learning. The school lacks reasonable regulations and relevant activity settings, which cannot well mobilize students’ interest in learning. Meanwhile, international education is not open to all students. Part of school education target is not clear, the lack of its own characteristics, curriculum and teaching content characteristic is in the imitation and follow, so keep talents, some students choose to study abroad, still think overseas education will improve the employment prospects and professional development, in the face of foreign education environment and good prospects for development, part of the overseas students choose to remain in local.
6.6 Suggestions 6.6.1 Enhance the Support of Local Policies for the Internationalization of Higher Education The government regulates the internationalization of higher education through policy allocation and visa policy. In terms of policy, the government can make the social and political environment of the country become more and more friendly through the globalization economic policy and the exclusive foreign policy, to affect the international reputation and status of the university and strengthen its absolute advantage in the international education market. In terms of funding, the government has increased its support for universities, especially public universities, by appropriately increasing research funding and funding for international projects. In terms of visa and immigration policies, relaxed conditions, reduced procedures and increased job opportunities have made many international students less deterred.
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6.6.2 Cultivate the Source of International Education Students In the process of local international education, we should pay attention to the cultivation of international students. Colleges and universities should provide students with more opportunities for international exchange and study. Local colleges and universities should increase investment, and with the international high level in colleges and universities to establish cooperation mechanism, selection of outstanding students to participate in the international study on a regular basis increases the chances of participation in international teaching, and to encourage good students to contribute to the international education academic institutions, and published papers with high level in international education class publications, etc. In this way, more outstanding students can be encouraged to improve their international education ability. In local international education, it is necessary to open the door to attract international students to participate in the study of colleges and universities. These students with foreign background are themselves a kind of integration of international culture, which can bring different classroom learning experience for domestic students.
6.6.3 Strengthen Special Funding Support to Promote Internationalization of Learning In the current situation of insufficient education funds, local schools should fully tap their educational potential, greatly improve the utilization rate of existing resources, rationally use their existing teaching equipment, instruments, books and other resources and strive to make education funds play their biggest role in the construction of international education. Competent departments should clarify and implement management and service responsibilities, strictly control the expenditure of funds, clarify the scope of use and expenditure standards of funds, allocate funds in a practical, scientific and reasonable manner in accordance with regulations and avoid arbitrary and repeated expenditure. It is necessary to improve the allocation of funds for the construction of style of study, reduce intermediate links, achieve unified management and dedicated funds and ensure that the funds are timely in place and international education activities are carried out on time.
6.6.4 Optimize the Curriculum of International Education In the course setting of local international education, we should combine the development law of globalization and combine the university curriculum with the international curriculum. The curriculum should adhere to the concept of diversified
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culture and take the real international economic examples as the course content, so that students can participate in the international economic training in the study, students’ international participation ability. In international education, students can expand their international vision through foreign-related courses. Especially in the education of national culture and international culture, it is necessary to improve the integration of curriculum teaching and train students to understand the cross-cultural connotation from the international level. Colleges and universities should try their best to use original international textbooks in course content, which can not only exercise students’ foreign language ability, but also help students feel the characteristics of international cultural background from the original textbooks, thus laying a foundation for students to better conduct international communication and participate in international projects (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
6.6.5 Cultivate from Inside and Introduce from Outside and Build Up the Teacher Team Needed for Local Internationalization To strengthen the training of existing teachers in the university, it is necessary to strengthen their international academic foundation, improve their teaching level and help them to bridge the gap between teaching and research through various ways. Actively support and fund teachers to attend or host international academic conferences, encourage teachers to read foreign literature resources and books at home or in school, encourage teachers to participate in the reception of foreign visiting scholars, encourage teachers to take the initiative to communicate and exchange with international teachers and students in China or in school. The introduction of foreign talents should be strengthened. The number of foreign teachers should be increased, and their specialties and nationalities should be diversified. With the introduction of foreign teachers, students know more about the legal systems of different countries, which satisfies young students’ thirst for new ideas and new cultures, broadens their way of thinking and sets up an international vision of their professional field. Combined with the introduction of foreign teachers and the optimization of the structure of teaching staff, foreign teachers at different levels are classified and enriched into different discipline teams according to the different needs of discipline development. Schools can adopt the cooperation mode of foreign teachers and local teachers; local teachers and foreign teachers keep regular contact to help solve the problems of foreign teachers’ daily work; and at the same time, foreign teachers can make local teachers know more about foreign teaching philosophy, teaching methods, etc., to promote the construction of international teachers.
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6.6.6 Create Its Own Characteristics and Build an International Campus The school should perfect the curriculum teaching system, perfect the international curriculum setting, should combine their own actual situation and explore the appropriate international education mode and teaching means. Schools should, according to the actual development of their own schools, take full account of the advantages and characteristics of their disciplines and choose to offer specialized courses that have strong international versatility and are easy to connect with and communicate with foreign schools. Cultivate diversified talents, constantly find out suitable for their own practical and accurate positioning in the practice of cultivating talents, adhere to their own advantages in the development, make full use of resources, gradually form their own regional characteristics and promote the local and international construction based on the university. Strengthen the building of the organization and planning ability of international campus cultural activities of various units within the school and jointly hold academic seminars with partner schools to expand the international academic exchange platform in a “local” way. Famous scholars at home and abroad are invited to visit the university to give lectures, create a strong academic atmosphere and build a distinctive international campus, so that most teachers and students can feel the cutting-edge achievements in the development of the discipline, and effectively stimulate the interest of students in learning. With its characteristics of “based on the local school”, “for all students” and “effectively improve the internationalization and cross-cultural literacy of all students”, local internationalization has rapidly aroused a boom in the field of higher education internationalization. Many countries have clearly taken local internationalization as an effective mode to promote the internationalization of their higher education. Higher education internationalization strategy will face challenges in the process of advancing, which requires the state to keep alert to all kinds of difficulties on the one hand and on the other hand to maintain the determination of reform, steady and firm implementation of this important strategy, to better make higher education facing the open world and the future innovation era. Internationalization and localization of higher education are complementary to each other, and the construction of the local internationalized curriculum teaching system of higher education with Chinese characteristics should not ignore the due cultural criticism spirit while pursuing internationalization, nor should it ignore the preference for high-quality culture while criticizing multiculturalism. Only in this way, we can better avoid the atrophy of localization consciousness brought by the invasion of the cultural hegemony of “the other” and the damage to the good genes of the national culture of “the other”, and we can ensure the development of the internationalization of higher education in China in accordance with local conditions to form an internationalized, systematic, efficient, diversified and characteristic higher education training mode with international competitiveness. At the same time, through continuous exploration and practice, the construction of international curriculum has achieved some obvious results, attracting more and more
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international students to exchange study or study for degrees, which plays an extremely important role in promoting the process of internationalization and improving the level of internationalization. However, it should also be recognized that the construction of international curriculum group in our school currently adopts the promotion mode of focusing on major theme modules and taking relatively mature courses as the pilot. There is still room for improvement in the systematic design and overall optimization of the curriculum system. As a matter of fact, isolated international courses are lack of systematisms and sustainability, and a complete training plan is needed to establish a complete training system of international courses. How to seek breakthroughs in ideas and measures, innovate in methods and systems, establish a sound international curriculum system and promote the construction of international talent training projects is a topic worth discussing in the next step. In a word, international curriculum work is an important strategic step to promote the internationalization of higher education, which requires continuous in-depth research, optimization of working mechanism and improvement of curriculum system, to better improve the quality of talent cultivation.
6.7 Conclusions and Remarks In recent years, with the higher requirements of the international talents training in the economy and society of various countries, some deficiencies in the traditional international talents training mode of universities have become the bottleneck restricting the cultivation of high-level international talents in universities of various countries. Internationalization has become a priority for universities around the world. It is now widely accepted that encouraging students to study abroad is the ideal way, even the only way, for universities to cultivate international talents. In the era of knowledgebased economy, countries and universities can only develop by integrating into globalization. It is believed that education internationalization is the only way of education modernization and an important means of promoting education modernization. We want to better develop education, better training of high-level international talents, so we want to better develop in the international; this is also a general trend, and we should conform to this trend, unswervingly go on. Because of cultural differences, and the influence of other factors, many people also questioned to the internationalization; they think we, if it is good to develop its own culture, don’t try to learn foreign especially the Western culture, because each country has different culture, may be other countries think reasonable; we think it is wrong. Local international education is a brand-new concept of globalization, which pays more attention to the identity and cultural differences brought about by place differences in globalization and emphasizes the value of multiculturalism in the era of globalization. Just like the reflection on culture in the reflection on globalization, globalization is accompanied by cultural globalization, and Western culture has become a dominant culture, affecting the cultural development in many places. Local international education is a kind of reverse transmission idea of how local culture and local knowledge respond to
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globalization. The development of localization is restricted by many cultural factors and faces many challenges. The development is still restricted by many aspects. We should take a more positive attitude to meet the challenges and develop localization internationalization (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Li, 2010; Wang & Qian, 2010; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019). “Internationalization at home” is one of the trends of higher education development and is also an important way for colleges and universities to train international talents. Under the new historical conditions, there are still many problems and challenges to promote the internationalization of higher education in China. For example, the COVID-19 epidemic has hindered the flow of international students, many shortcomings of distance learning and the rise of populism to stigmatize China, all of which have had a negative impact on the internationalization of higher education in China. In addition, some problems existing in China’s higher education itself also hinder the process of local internationalization. Therefore, China should formulate the internationalization development strategy and improve the internationalization level of higher education in China through multiple incentive mechanism and system. In the post-epidemic era, we should not only see Western countries gradually closing the “gate” of talent flow, but also see China’s great power and cultural charm in the fight against the epidemic attracting talents from all over the world. In this paper, we mentioned that internationalization in China, different from previous studies, is not only for the lack of international mobility of Chinese students, but also for a clear understanding that with the change of the global economic and political environment, after the end of the epidemic, the flow mode of international higher education may be reorganized. It is expected that the total number of international students will decline, the preferred destinations will change, and English-speaking countries will continue to be a strong draw in global higher education for the foreseeable future, while East Asian countries will continue to play an increasingly important role in international education. Higher education in countries such as the United Kingdom, United States and Australia will not recover as quickly from the epidemic as it did in Japan, China and South Korea, which means that some of the flow of Western students will shift to East Asian flows, and some of the changes will be permanent. A slowing outflow of Chinese students and a greater chance of attracting the world’s best will usher in a new model of “domestic” study abroad. In short, the internationalization of higher education in the future will not only be about studying abroad, but also about studying abroad. Change study idea, from abroad out of the country “in place” to rely on to attract international talents “in students” study and communication in China, the largest extent, help all students on the premise of not to leave home to accept international and cross-cultural education, colleges and universities of the cross-border flow of international is no longer just rely on the native students to provide students with international and cross-cultural knowledge. Instead, through the diversity of the sources of international students, the culture itself and the cultural way of thinking collide in China, so as to realize the exchange and integration of local and international students. The internationalization at home is one of the trends of higher education development and an important way for colleges and universities to train international talents. Under the new historical conditions, there are still many
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problems and challenges to promote the internationalization of higher education in China. For example, the COVID-19 epidemic has hindered the flow of international students, many shortcomings of distance learning and the rise of populism to stigmatize China, all of which have had a negative impact on the internationalization of higher education in China. In addition, some problems existing in China’s higher education itself also hinder the process of local internationalization. Therefore, China should formulate the internationalization development strategy and improve the local internationalization level of higher education through multiple incentive mechanism and system. With the further development of economic globalization and globalization society, people pay more and more attention to the problem of internationalization, especially higher education internationalization; it emphasizes the local internationalization and through cross-cultural education pays attention to cultivate the student’s ability of diversification, with emphasis on local culture, universality and the internationalization of education as the main characteristics of the environment. All countries in the world in combination with the domestic colleges and universities on the basis of the reality of implementation path of internationalization actively grope for optimization in the internationalization of the internationalization course become after research and explore the first choice of many countries, “by allowing all students in school period has a chance to accept international concept and the influence of cross-border, to enhance their own ability and the qualification, To respond to the needs of a changing, globalized world”. Different countries adopt different types of “international curriculum”, such as AP Advanced Placement courses in the United States, A-Lexel high school courses in the United Kingdom, IB International Preparatory Certificate courses, integration of international issues or national aspects, and bilingual courses; second classroom colleges and universities actively organize community activities and so on. The most important goal of local internationalization is to cultivate interdisciplinary talents who are adaptable to globalization, informatization, international consciousness, international communication and international competition ability. The cultivation of globalization includes the globalization of the function of higher education, the globalization of scientific research, the globalization of social service and the cultivation of talents of the globalization of higher education, among which the globalization of higher education requires the cultivation of all-round development, the cultivation of high-quality and innovative people, the cultivation of personalized people and the cultivation of modern people. In this era of globalization, with the deepening of international exchanges and the strengthening of international competition, it is inevitable to cultivate competitive international talents, which is not only the trend of the development of education in all countries in the world, but also an important goal of China’s education reform. In this regard, Chinese universities have adopted a series of educational policies for “internationalization in local areas”. First, “internationalization” was explicitly used for the first time in the Outline of the National Medium - and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Program (2010–2020) in 2010, which established the development direction of internationalization of higher education and provided a good policy environment for the development of internationalization of universities. Second, we should build “double first-class” education in universities, “first-class disciplines”
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and “first-class undergraduate education” in line with international standards. Third, the implementation of the new open education concept. Under the positive guidance and encouragement of policies, “local internationalization” is developing in a good direction (Cheng et al., 2014; Jiang, 2008; Zhang, 2018; Zhang & Liu, 2017).
References Cheng, Y., Zhang, M., & Zu, Y. (2014). Data investigation and statistical analysis of the internationalization development of China’s key universities. Higher Education Research, 20(8), 23–29. Jiang, L. (2008). Research on the internationalization of higher education curriculum in the era of globalization. Research Information, 20(6), 12–18. Li, M. (2010). The internationalization policy of American higher education—A tool for powerful and proliferating states. Comparative Education Research, 20(10),12–18. Wang, X., & Qian, X. (2010). Experience and countermeasures of internationalization of American higher education. Review of Education Development‚ 20(11), 13–18. Zhang, Y. (2018). Research on teaching strategies of internationalized courses in higher education in China. Journal of Southwest Jiaotong University (Social Science Edition), 19(04), 101–102. Zhang, W., & Liu, B. (2017). Internationalization in China: New trend of higher education development in China. University Education Science, 20(3), 11–18. Zhong, Y. (2019). Local internationalization: A new way to cultivate internationalized talents in Chinese universities. Shandong Higher Education, 7(1), 11–19.
Chapter 7
Investigating the Landscape of Internationalization at Home: Context, Experience and Strategy
This chapter examines the context, experience and strategy of the practice of internationalization at home worldwide. “Internationalization at home” started from the European reflection on the traditional model of internationalization in the 1990s and then gradually received the attention and recognition of the higher education circles around the world. Its characteristics, such as “attaching importance to local training”, “group universality” and “international education environment”, provide a new logical paradigm and practical direction for dealing with the problems in the training of international talents in universities in China. Traditional colleges and universities in China, international talents cultivation model in the education of the plight of universality, education effect, only the “shift” “mechanism” and “internationalization of education environment, the combination of” to be able to in internationalization of talents training in colleges and universities to provide more aboriginality and practical theory framework and strategy thinking.
7.1 Policy of Internationalization of Education Development in China 7.1.1 The Cultivation of International Teachers In the process of local international education, we should pay attention to the cultivation of international teachers. Colleges and universities should provide teachers with more opportunities for international exchange of learning, to increase investment, and with the international high level in colleges and universities to establish cooperation mechanism, on a regular basis to select excellent teachers to participate in the international study, to increase the chances of participation in international teaching and to encourage good teachers contribute to the international education © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_7
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academic institutions, published papers with high level in international education class publications, etc.. In this way, more outstanding teachers can be encouraged to improve their international education ability. In local international education, the door should be opened to attract international teachers to participate in the teaching of local colleges and universities. In the course setting of local international education, it is necessary to combine the development law of globalization and integrate university curriculum with international curriculum.
7.1.2 The Concept of Diversified Culture The international curriculum should adhere to the concept of diversified culture, international real cases as the course content, so that students can participate in the international case training in the study and improve the ability of students to participate in the international. In international education, students can expand their international vision through foreign-related courses. Especially in the education of national culture and international culture, it is necessary to improve the integration of curriculum teaching and train students to understand the cross-cultural connotation from the international level. In the discourse theory of political science, “discourse” is regarded as a specific professional knowledge system, which is a set of thought expression ways to organize opinions and behaviors (exemplified by legal professional terms, religious rituals and ideological traditions), and it reveals the meaning of things and behaviors. Local evaluation of international education should conform to the goal of international education. In the evaluation of teaching quality, we should always adhere to the purpose of educating people. While meeting the teaching objectives, social needs, technical conditions, students’ feelings and other aspects should be included in the evaluation system, so that students can comprehensively improve their comprehensive quality in the process of international learning. During international education, colleges and universities should broaden the educational channels, enrich the teaching forms and combine the Western educational spirit with the traditional educational goal. In the teaching process, we should deeply explore the blending point of Chinese and Western culture, and strengthen faith education, responsibility education and moral education. The survival and development of human beings need a suitable external environment, and the development of universities and disciplines also needs a good educational environment. Therefore, the construction of campus culture should be emphasized to promote the internationalization strategy of higher education in China. From a certain point of view, how to give full play to the advantages of colleges and universities to create a benign campus education environment suitable for the development of internationalization in China has become the key to the smooth development of internationalization of Chinese colleges and universities in the future. Internationalization requires universities not only to conduct research on “cross-cultural and international teaching processes, scientific research, extracurricular activities, and cross-cultural relationships between local cultures and different ethnic groups”, but also to pay attention to “the life and
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activities of foreign students and scholars on campus”. In the past, the internationalization of Chinese colleges and universities mainly focused on talent training after capital investment, while local internationalization put forward more complex and strict requirements for managers. It not only requires universities to invest economic capital, but also requires universities to build an appropriate and international campus environment (Chen & Chen, 2019; Li, 2014; Liu et al., 2015; Nie, 2011; Shen, 2019; Shen & Piao, 2020; Song & Song, 2010; Wang, 2020; Wei & Jin, 2013; Wu, 2019; Zhou, 2002).
7.2 Internationalization at Home Policy in the International Context At present, China is during the strategic situation of the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation and the unprecedented changes in the world in a century. The COVID19 epidemic exacerbates the “changes” of the two overall situations. As General Secretary Xi Jinping pointed out at the 2020 Two Sessions, “We are still faced with a deep recession of the world economy, substantial contraction in international trade and investment, turbulence in international financial markets, limited international exchanges, adverse currents of economic globalization, prevailing protectionism and unilateralism in some countries, and rising geopolitical risks. We must pursue our development in a world of greater instability and uncertainty”.
7.2.1 Actively Promoting the Correct Policy of “Bringing in” and “Going Global” In the post-epidemic era, both the “One Belt and One Road” and the building of a community with a shared future for mankind are facing a grim and complex environment. The epidemic reminds us that building a community with a shared future for mankind is a long-term and arduous task. It will inevitably encounter various obstacles and even destructive forces. But on the other hand, we should be soberly aware that the crisis will also turn into an opportunity to promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind. There are many precedents in human history in which epidemics have caused disruption in the world structure. The spread of the COVID-19 in the process of “globalization” has exerted more impact on global regional politics and global governance than any other time before, becoming the most significant and fundamental new situation of globalization since the twenty-first century. Whether it is the development of “One Belt and One Road” or the construction of a community with a shared future for mankind, local internationalization will be conducive to the mutual integration of national history and culture. It is the most “tangible” intersection of civilizations, and it is also the most effective and acceptable
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means and path to realize the co-construction and sharing of “globalized cultures”. Introduce in and go out, promote the development of domestic education, cultivate students’ international vision, improve the overall education level of the country, help narrow the educational differences between regions, help cultivate more international talents and promote the whole society to develop toward internationalization and realize the equity of educational resources for all students. Cultivating Internationalized Talents Internationalization is a process of deepening the interconnection and mutual influence of higher education institutions and organizations around the world. It is not a process of homogenization, but an evolutionary process full of tension and even differences (Li, 2014; Liu et al., 2015; Song & Song, 2010; Wang, 2020).
7.2.2 Promoting Internationalized Curriculum in Higher Education Under the background of internationalization, the internationalization of education has become a worldwide trend of thought in education. Internationalization of higher education is an inevitable trend for higher education to participate in international competition. Local universities, as an important part of the higher education system, want to play an important role in the internationalization of education. Cultivating international talents is the only way for the development of internationalization. Strengthening the cultivation of international talents is not only the need to improve the level of running schools, but also the need to accelerate the pace of international development. In view of the problems existing in the current situation of the cultivation of international talents in local colleges and universities in China, such as the lack of education funds and platform for the cultivation of international talents and the relatively low level of internationalization of teachers, the teaching system of courses is not perfect, the curriculum is not perfect, and so on. The author puts forward that the local economy should be vigorously developed. We will continue to improve the training of international talents in local universities.
7.2.3 Vigorously Developing Local Economy and Guarantying Funds for Training International Talents From the mutual relationship between education and economy, economic development has laid a solid material foundation for education. The local government supports the local colleges and universities with sufficient education funds, which
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solves the problem of lack of construction funds after the expansion of local colleges and universities and improves the overall international education environment of local colleges and universities. In turn, education can also promote economic development. Local universities are mainly funded by local governments. Local universities should adhere to the educational philosophy of localization. Serving local governments and receiving support are the source of their sustainable development. Areas of science and technology level of ascension, and the optimization of industrial structure will inevitably increase the regional economic development demand for international talents; local colleges can be combined with the actual situation, through the use of local advantages of resources, vigorously develop industrial, agriculture, commercial industries in various fields such as needed to the internationalization of talents and give full play to their talents in the development of the important role in promoting the local economy. Attracted by the local advantages of resources, more and more domestic and foreign colleges and universities take the initiative to enter and become a part of it to realize the leapfrog development of the local economy and guarantee the funds for the cultivation of international talents. In addition, local authorities should actively seek more sources of education funds. For example, by establishing cooperation with well-developed local enterprises, the enterprises can provide the required international professionals for the enterprises. In return, the enterprises can provide education funds to support the cultivation of international talents in local colleges and universities. At the same time, the investment of educational funds should be reasonably arranged. The internationalization degree of faculty is a key index to evaluate the internationalization degree of a university. Local universities have the characteristics of “local investment”, “local management”, “running at the local level” and “serving the local level”. Contributing talents to the local economic and social development is their due meaning of serving the society. At present, the local university to consciously strengthen the cooperation with local society, the university and society more and more closely the university, has more and more involved in the social activities and transaction, local university education internationalization depends on international faculty, and outstanding international teachers are an important force in realize the goal of talent training. According to the survey, BJU has cultivated the international vision of the majority of teachers and accelerated the teaching reform. Every year, about 100 groups and more than 200 people visit on business, mainly to participate in international conferences, long-term visit, cooperative research and short-term lectures, which effectively promoted the cultivation of international talents in BJU. The self-cultivation of teachers needs a long process, and the introduction of excellent teaching talents can make up for this shortage. Local colleges and universities should introduce some flexible policies to attract excellent teachers. To create a good working and living environment for the imported excellent foreign teachers, so that they can work at ease. For outstanding Chinese talents overseas, we should also mobilize their sense of responsibility at home and attract them to serve back home.
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7.2.4 Establishing a Typical Incentive Group of Teachers to Improve Their Own International Literacy For teachers with outstanding performance in international teaching of professional courses, local colleges and universities should strengthen their training and support and encourage more teachers to actively improve their international literacy through their exemplary role, to better serve the training of international talents in colleges and universities. The internationalization of higher education not only refers to the introduction of foreign advanced technology and precision instruments, or the complete application of foreign successful experience in education internationalization. The gap between China’s higher education and Western developed countries is not due to the advanced equipment and technology. It lies in the formulation of training objectives and the selection of training methods, which play a crucial role in the cultivation of international talents. With 10% of international students studying in China in 2018, the country has become the world’s third and Asia’s top destination for overseas students. By 2020, China is expected to host 500,000 international students, which lays the scale foundation for China’s goal of building a highland of overseas education. Therefore, with the rapid development of global higher education internationalization, leaders at all levels of local universities should follow the national strategic direction, actively learn advanced education internationalization concepts and gradually integrate internationalization elements into the formulation of university talent training objectives and selection of training methods. American sociologist and politician Daniel Patrick Moynihan said, “The central truth is that it is culture, not politics, that determines the success of a society”. While absorbing the successful experience of international talent cultivation in universities at home and abroad, it is also necessary to fully tap the disciplinary advantages from the perspective of internationalization based on the development situation of the education market and its own actual situation, highlight its own school-running characteristics and improve its own shortcomings in the reform. In general, the more economically developed regions have a greater demand for international talents. Local colleges and universities should make full use of disciplinary advantages, combine curriculum theory with practice, form a set of characteristic school-running ideas and ideas suitable for the development of local colleges and universities, and further promote the cultivation of international talents. Under the background of globalization, educational globalization has become a worldwide trend of thought in education. The competition of education market promotes the trend of internationalization of higher education. As the main body of running a school, it is necessary to make positive changes and innovations and participate in international cooperation and competition in order to improve its level and quality of running a school (Chen & Chen, 2019; Li, 2014; Liu et al., 2015; Nie, 2011; Shen, 2019; Shen & Piao, 2020; Song & Song, 2010; Wang, 2020; Wei & Jin, 2013; Wu, 2019; Zhou, 2002).
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7.3 International Curriculum Practice The internationalization of education is the trend of today’s education, and the construction of an international curriculum system is the basis and core of training international innovative talents in colleges and universities. Colleges and universities try to reform the teaching of international courses, aiming to combine characteristic teaching with international teaching, so that students can meet world-class teachers and listen to world-class courses without going abroad. In fact, in the higher education under the background of globalization, China’s colleges and universities to participate in global competition, attracting the world’s best students, have not only limited to a single course, but it needs to develop international awareness, intercultural communication and exchanges and the international competition ability of talent as the goal, to establish a more complete international curriculum system.
7.3.1 Set Up Special Funds to Carry Out University-Level International Curriculum Construction Projects Colleges and universities have successively opened some international courses, but they are scattered in various disciplines. Since 2014, some universities have officially launched the “International Curriculum Group Construction Project”, which is divided into two levels: the department level and the university level, with different amounts of funding. Each teacher should first apply for the project in the school and then apply for the project at the university level after the evaluation and selection of the school. It also puts forward the construction concept of building an international curriculum group, breaking the situation of scattered and unsystematic distribution of various courses, designing the broad framework of the curriculum group, realizing the cross integration of disciplines and creating disciplinary advantages. The construction of course group requires at least four or more majors related or similar single course group composed of reasonable structure, clear level of the course group, the course should be related to each other and cooperate with each other. Based on the department-level courses and the university-level courses as the core, it effectively establishes a three-level linkage system of the province, the university and the college. Through the implementation of international curriculum construction projects, the number of international courses in universities has been greatly increased. Many departments have gradually increased the number of international courses, and the number of international courses has gradually deepened and systematized from scattered to various departments, which has promoted the construction of university-level international curriculum projects.
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7.3.2 Introduction of High-Level Foreign Experts and Scholars Each school makes full use of its international communication network, introduces external resources and specifically invites overseas experts and scholars to carry out teaching activities. The university has set up key programs such as “Overseas Academician Lecture Hall” and “Key Support Program for Senior Overseas Experts in Humanities and Social Sciences”, inviting internationally renowned experts and scholars to visit and give lectures and participate in relatively concentrated classroom teaching and lectures. It is necessary to give full play to the initiative and enthusiasm of the department and the university, establish long-term and stable cooperative relations with famous universities or research institutions, establish expert database, and use intermediary recommendation, etc., standardize the system and expand channels in the selection and recruitment process, implement effective management and ensure the advancement and matching degree of the selection and recruitment of experts. At the same time, we will do a good job in the service of teaching experts to ensure that competent and competent experts are fully engaged in the teaching of international courses. Therefore, the selection and recruitment management of lecturing experts should be more standardized and high-end. The first is to standardize the teaching language. According to the requirements of international curriculum construction, all members of the foreign teaching team are required to be able to teach in English. Most of the course members are required to have overseas teaching experience and are fully qualified for the language requirements of course teaching, so that students can be interested in the class and participate in the class, which is conducive to talent cultivation. The second is to clarify the teaching content. Chinese language and professional, for example, according to the “international standard of Chinese teachers”, “international Chinese teaching general outline” and “international Chinese teacher certificate exam outline” requirements, an introduction to Chinese as a foreign language the teaching content of covering the basics of Chinese teaching, Chinese language teaching methods, teaching organization and classroom management, Chinese culture and cross-cultural communication aspects of content. Through the study of this course, we try to make students have a certain rational understanding of the subject of “Chinese as a foreign language”, improve students’ knowledge of mother tongue theory, enrich students’ professional English vocabulary of “Chinese as a foreign language”, and at the same time cultivate students’ awareness and ability of cross-cultural communication. The teaching team and teachers work with each other to show their abilities and teach Chinese teaching skills and intercultural communication skills as much as possible in the limited classroom teaching. The same should be true for other majors (Chen & Chen, 2019; Nie, 2011; Shen & Piao, 2020; Wei & Jin, 2013; Zhou, 2002).
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7.3.3 Clarify the Construction Objectives and Overall Design of the International Curriculum The international curriculum serves for the training of international and innovative talents, and universities should strengthen the overall design and planning of the international curriculum closely around this goal. In the actual implementation process, it is found that some international courses reflect some problems, such as looser, less goal-oriented and divorced from the needs of discipline development. The core to solve this problem is to solve the strategic problem of university curriculum construction and development, and its foothold and starting point are the needs of national and social and economic reform. At the same time, the internationalization course construction to grounding gas, professional development school itself after careful analysis, the advantages and disadvantages of course system, teaching practice, targeted and purposefully launch international curriculum design planning, don’t aim high, to highlight the key, pragmatic and only in this way, the internationalization course construction can truly play the role of expectations. In addition, first-class teaching organization and arrangement is not only a necessary condition to ensure the smooth implementation of international courses, but also an important starting point to improve the overall management level of the school. Ensure that the organization of the international curriculum should be more rigorous and scientific.
7.4 Internationalization of Teaching Methods and Means 7.4.1 The “Flipped Classroom” Model First, in terms of teaching methods, the “flipped classroom” model is introduced to truly achieve “student-centered”. Although the teaching idea of “student-centered” has long been deeply rooted in the hearts of the people, the concrete practice is unsatisfactory. The essence of “flipped classroom” is to change the traditional teaching focus from knowledge transfer to internalization of knowledge absorption, and truly return the classroom to the students. Second, in terms of teaching content, the diversity and openness of education content should be ensured. International curriculum aims at cultivating interdisciplinary talents with international vision, leading role in the future industry and innovative consciousness. Teaching not only teaches ideas and methods, intercultural communication theories and competencies, but also trains students to have the appropriate competencies, such as thinking ability, active communication, broad vision and language proficiency (bilingualism), to meet the needs of society. The practice and exploration of international curriculum will promote the internationalization process of higher education in colleges and universities, shorten the gap between domestic colleges and universities and international first-class universities, and better meet the needs of social and economic development and reform. It is a new teaching mode that universities try to carry out international curriculum
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teaching, which conforms to the current reform situation of internationalization of higher education. It stimulates the initiative and enthusiasm of college students from the aspects of ideology, cultural consciousness and multi-curriculum, and improves their comprehensive quality comprehensively. Many practices carried out by the country and institutions of higher learning accord with this international trend.
7.4.2 The Establishment of International Curriculum With the acceleration of the process of economic globalization, the replacement of information technology and the gradual formation of the world integration pattern, the establishment of international curriculum has become an important trend of the world education reform and development. Therefore, all countries in the world are trying their best to build a more open education market and seek a new path that is more conducive to the development of education. In the long run, although the goal and value of human education may be diversified, the ultimate goal and general value of education should be unified, which is the theoretical premise of education internationalization. This concept mainly involves two issues: first, what kind of people can become international talents, and second, how to cultivate international talents. We always believe that in the process of education internationalization, promoting the all-round development of people and the common progress of mankind is the focus of international talent cultivation. The establishment of the goal of cultivating international talents should be placed under the background of globalization, focus on the future of students and carry out an overall design. This requires the school to train international talents with a correct world outlook based on its own national culture. In terms of personnel training objectives, we focus on cultivating people who are based on the local, have a global view, have national consciousness and international consciousness, and have the ability of international communication and international competition (Chen & Chen, 2019; Li, 2014; Liu et al., 2015; Nie, 2011; Shen, 2019; Shen & Piao, 2020; Song & Song, 2010; Wang, 2020; Wei & Jin, 2013; Wu, 2019; Zhou, 2002).
7.5 The Pathway of Internationalization of Basic Education Curriculum The development path of the internationalization of basic education is the key to promote the internationalization of basic education and is also an effective way to train international talents. Among them, doing a good job in curriculum construction
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and reform is the core of basic education internationalization, and the internationalization of curriculum and teaching system is the key to education internationalization. It can be said that curriculum is the main front of education internationalization, and teaching is the main way to achieve education internationalization. The main characteristics of the internationalization of basic education are reflected in several aspects, such as pluralism, integration, openness and interaction.
7.5.1 Pay Attention to Openness and Wholeness in Curriculum Setting Internationalization of curriculum construction is the main mode to realize the cultivation of international talents. Schools should provide students with diverse choices and opportunities to understand internationalization. Only when diversified courses are open to all students, they can return to the original meaning of international education and promote the reform of basic education in the process of internationalization. The school should make innovations in curriculum setting, teaching methods and selection of textbooks to change the curriculum structure. The school should adopt the mode of compulsory course, conditional elective course and free elective course. In addition, schools should pay more attention to international education and integrate international education into students’ classes and campus activities through the development and setting of courses.
7.5.2 Pay Attention to the Implementation of Multicultural Education in Curriculum Construction The goal of human value and human culture is diverse. Therefore, international education should respect students’ individual needs and provide students with multiple choices for their academic development. Based on this understanding, it is particularly important to respect students’ individual differences and implement multicultural education for students. The school should set the curriculum objective of multicultural education so as to provide an effective way for the cultures of various countries and nationalities. In addition, the school should cultivate students’ sense of identity with their own national culture, cultivate students’ awareness of respecting traditional culture and let students establish the cultural concepts and attitudes of equality and tolerance.
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7.5.3 Focus on the Integration of Localization and Internationalization in Curriculum Implementation The internationalization of course content is not only the international curriculum, but also the all-round integration of international curriculum and localized curriculum. In order to improve the level of internationalization of basic education and cultivate international talents of basic education, schools need not only to change their educational philosophy and adjust the way of teaching and learning, but also to effectively integrate international curriculum and localized curriculum.
7.5.4 Pay Attention to International Cooperation and Interaction in the Course Implementation Mutual cooperation and common development are the theme of international education today. Only based on global exchange and interaction, we can better build an educational environment for international cooperation and exchange. The school should strengthen the communication with the outside world and promote the communication between students and the outside world. In addition, in the curriculum setting of science and technology, art and physical education, schools should adhere to the integration of art and physical education and science and technology education, applied education and elite education complementary ways to promote the implementation of international curriculum. We should start with the curriculum system of talent training program to promote the internationalization of the curriculum. Establish international knowledge courses in the curriculum system, such as international politics, international relations, foreign literature, etc. The foreign language courses not only pay attention to the teaching of college English, but also strengthen the teaching of professional English and emphasize the integration of cultural factors in English curriculum. In the construction of professional courses, bilingual teaching is encouraged, original English textbooks are introduced, and all-English classes are encouraged. It offers international and cross-cultural knowledge and skills in elective courses and encourages students to take online courses from famous teachers from world famous universities. The overseas experts or trainers with relevant quality are employed to set up and teach courses in the form of “workshops”. By means of cooperation in running schools and exchange of students, we encourage the establishment of transnational degree courses or double degree courses and encourage students to participate in training courses for international professional qualification examination. Curriculum internationalization is not only to infiltrate international factors into the curriculum content, but also to integrate them into the course implementation process, such as learning methods, teaching methods, teaching process, teaching time and place, students’ grouping, students’ acceptance and so on. In view of the reality of curriculum internationalization, it is suggested that we should first
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optimize the implementation of curriculum internationalization from the perspective of teachers, set up a special research team of curriculum internationalization, theoretically solve the problems of concept content and implementation, and create a curriculum with team efforts instead of fighting alone, to ensure the scientific nature and sustainability of the curriculum. Second, the development and implementation of international curriculum should focus on the cultivation of students’ learning ability and strengthen the research on students’ cognitive ability, emotional characteristics and behavior patterns (Chen & Chen, 2019; Li, 2014; Liu et al., 2015; Nie, 2011; Shen, 2019; Shen & Piao, 2020; Song & Song, 2010; Wang, 2020; Wei & Jin, 2013; Wu, 2019; Zhou, 2002). Teachers are an important guarantee of curriculum internationalization, but they are also one of the problems faced by the implementation of international curriculum reform in colleges and universities. How to solve it? First, encourage the internationalization and upgrading of the existing teaching staff, and encourage teachers to study abroad, visit schools or participate in important overseas academic activities. Second, improve the evaluation and assessment mechanism of the existing teachers of international courses and improve their work enthusiasm and subjective initiative. Third, according to the needs of the implementation of international curriculum, the qualification threshold of new teachers should be appropriately raised, and the value of their international learning experience and experience should be valued. Fourth, the standards and procedures for the selection and appointment of foreign teachers and overseas experts, and the teaching and research ability as well as the ethics of teachers should be promoted simultaneously. The United States not only pays attention to the development of cross-higher education, but also commits itself to the internationalization of its university curriculum to cultivate global citizens. After World War II, the federal government accelerated the internationalization of university courses by issuing a series of laws, such as the National Defense Education Act and the 2000 Goal: American Education Act. American colleges and universities in the aspect of curriculum increase the state economic and trade geography, the history of the world, east Asia, limited and across disciplines, together experts in the field of economy, society and language, and other common area study, in a deeper understanding of other countries, at the same time will be the country’s ideology gradually penetrate other countries. The United States places the development of higher education in the world system, strengthens the joint education with universities in other countries, encourages cross-cultural research and imparts international vision and ideas to students. With the development of information technology, American colleges and universities began to carry out national and shared communication through the Internet (Chen & Chen, 2019; Nie, 2011; Shen & Piao, 2020; Wei & Jin, 2013; Zhou, 2002).
7.6 Summary In the context of globalization, international curriculum has become an important field for countries to enhance their international competitiveness. Our country is in
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the primary stage of cultivating international talents. Encouraging students to study abroad is still the main way of cultivating international talents in our universities. The contradiction between the huge demand for high-level international talents and the unbalanced and unsatisfactory training of international students reflects two practical paradoxes in the training of international talents in Chinese colleges and universities: one is the contradiction between the universality of education and the insufficient educational opportunities; the other is the contradiction between the investment in international education and the unsatisfactory education effect. In this aspect in China started relatively late, weak foundation, there are many to be perfect; therefore, we should absorb the experience and lessons of developed countries, developing our country’s higher education internationalization course (Chen & Chen, 2019; Li, 2014; Liu et al., 2015; Nie, 2011; Shen, 2019; Shen & Piao, 2020; Song & Song, 2010; Wang, 2020; Wei & Jin, 2013; Wu, 2019; Zhou, 2002).
References Chen, J., & Chen, L. (2019). The enlightenment of higher education internationalization in developed countries. Education Review, 20(12), 41–45. Li, Z. (2014). Research transformation of local universities in the context of concentration development. China Higher Education, 20(01), 24–28. Liu, J., Xu, M., & Ren, X. (2015). Research on the concept and practice of high-level international curriculum construction for graduate students. Academic Degrees and Graduate Education, 7(06), 103–107. Nie, M. (2011). The characteristics and enlightenment of the internationalization development of British higher education. Academic Forum, 20(11), 210–214. Shen, Y. (2019). Exploration and practice of international curriculum construction in universities under the global background—Taking Nanjing University as an example. Journal of Higher Education, 6(24), 23–25. Shen, Q., & Piao, J. (2020). Exploration on the development path of higher education internationalization in ethnic areas from the perspective of “double firsts”. University: Teaching and Education, 20(12), 9–11. Song, Y., & Song, Z. (2010). The development strategy choice of local universities. Journal of National Institute of Education Administration, 20(12), 23–29. Wang, P. (2020). A preliminary study on the concept and practice of “local internationalization” of higher education. Perspective of Science and Technology, 26(03), 210–213. Wei, D., & Jin, H. (2013). Inspiration from the internationalization of higher education in developed countries. Science and Education Journal, (2010), 37–38. Wu, C. (2019). Reform of internationalized educational organization structure of universities under the background of “double first-class” construction—From the perspective of structural functionalism. Chongqing Higher Education Research, 7(05), 50–52. Zhou, Y. (2002). The basic experience and enlightenment of higher education internationalization in Australia, Britain and the United States. Journal of Chongqing Normal University (Social Science Edition), 20(04), 106–110.
Chapter 8
The Implications of Implementing Internationalization at Home: From Multiple Scopes
This chapter concentrates on exploring the implications of implementing the internationalization at home from the multiple scopes. The discussion about internationalization at home first arose in the late 1990s. The concept was put forward by Bent Nilsson, vice chancellor for international affairs at the University of Malmo in Sweden, at the 1999 Spring Forum of the European Association of International Education. He thought, “international” refers to “happened in the field of education in addition to overseas students flow of all activities related to international affairs”, its goal is “by allowing all students in school period has a chance to accept international concept and the influence of cross-border culture to improve their own ability and the qualification, in response to the changing requirements of the globalization of the world”. Moreover, in recent years, with the deepening of the research on the internationalization of higher education, many people have realized that the economic and social globalization and the increasing importance of knowledge and technology are putting forward higher requirements for the internationalization of higher education.
8.1 Historical Perspective of Internationalization of Education System 8.1.1 The Traditional Model of Internationalization The traditional model of internationalization can largely be seen as a “rich class” activity—a high-investment-based game that leaves most Chinese students without academic capital or financial resources locked out. The internationalization of this mode cannot face all students, so that all students can enjoy high-quality higher education opportunities and resources relatively equitably. In terms of educational effect evaluation, restricted by various realistic factors, it is difficult for individuals, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_8
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schools, government agencies and social groups to objectively measure the educational level and learning results of cross-border students. As a result, the implementation effect of internationalization becomes a “muddle”, and each participant can only “describe” it according to his own subjective feelings and interests. This approach is not only unconvincing, but also provides examples for people to attack its shortcomings. Overall, China’s long-standing traditional internationalization model is facing various challenges and dilemmas at present. To change this situation, local internationalization, as an alternative to the traditional mode of internationalization, has quickly aroused a surge in the field of internationalization of higher education with its characteristics of “based on the local school”, “facing all students” and “effectively improving the internationalization and cross-cultural literacy of all students”. Many countries take local internationalization as an effective mode to promote the internationalization of their higher education.
8.1.2 The Development of “Internationalization at Home” Under the Economic Globalization The impact of globalization on education in various countries is extremely extensive, comprehensive and profound. Firstly, in terms of educational philosophy, the background of globalization will require countries to cultivate global citizens with international quality, help students develop the global quality needed under the background of globalization, and have a global world view, values and outlook on life. Secondly, globalization also has a profound impact on educational goals: the global economy based on innovation will require the education of all countries to establish an educational concept with innovation as its essential feature, focusing on the cultivation of innovative educational talents. In addition, in the curriculum and teaching content, it is required to highlight the status of international communication courses and moral education. But an outstanding reality is that economic globalization brings the globalization of talent competition. This is reflected not only in the scramble to train high-level talent and improve its quality, but also in the already serious migration of talent to rich countries. According to a report by the United Nations Development Program, between 1960 and 1990, the United States and Canada received more than 1 million professionals and technicians from developing countries. With the development of economic globalization, the number of people from developing countries studying abroad in developed countries has increased rapidly, while the proportion of people returning to serve after graduation is very small. Moreover, the higher the level of talents, the more serious the loss of talents, resulting in the shortage of talents in developing countries and affecting their economic development, making it more difficult to retain talents. In response to the situation of this vicious cycle, developing countries must quicken the steps of popularization of higher education, education reform and strive to improve the quality of education, and one thousand ways to implement talent introduction plan, especially dedicated to the construction
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of some internationally competitive, world-class level of colleges and universities, making it the culture, to attract, use and communication talent base. We cultivate talents, must adapt to the growing international economic exchanges and the needs of the growing national strength competition, this by no means confined to trade and foreign professionals, but for most of the requirements of professional talents, because today any enterprise, no matter whether it is realized that the great pattern of all have to face the world competition, all technical personnel, must keep an eye on the vagaries of the international market. Every college student, not only to improve the level of foreign language, but also in professional and knowledge exchanges to obtain the international common language. In the context of globalization, setting up global educational values is an important embodiment of education adapting to the trend of globalization. The cultivation of citizens facing the world is a manifestation of the globalization of educational values. In the context of globalization, education should prepare its students to become global citizens. The global literacy that a “global citizen” should possess includes: Global awareness: To help students realize the global interdependence and develop their awareness of interdependence, world integration and peaceful development, such as international understanding and environmental protection awareness. Global knowledge: In addition to understanding the history and culture of their own country, students should also understand the global knowledge of world history, geography, international politics, economy and current affairs. Global skills: The learning and future work to adapt to a variety of knowledge and ability, with the basic survival skills. Recognize and accept the values that exist in all cultures, and develop the ability to process information, communicate and cooperate with others, manage and resolve conflicts, criticize and innovate, and learn throughout life. Global values: It is a global ethic of respect for human life, concern for the planet, responsibility and sharing of resources with others. Global behavior: Students should be able to consider issues from a global perspective, have the consciousness to build a pluralistic and peaceful world, and actively participate in the construction of such a world. Of course, in education, the cultivation of “world citizen” quality mentioned above should be combined with students’ traditional learning objectives. It should not only not relax the study of their national culture, but also strengthen the cultivation of students’ global literacy. While learning local culture, it helps students to understand the world from multi-dimensional perspectives and form a global vision. Make them realize the existence of cultural differences and seek consensus based on adhering to diversification; to understand their own social background and the whole world environment, and ultimately to gain the ability to compete globally. The relationship between economic globalization and education: When we talk about the relationship between economic globalization and higher education, we see that education is increasingly in a key position affecting the economy, and economic globalization also poses sharp challenges to education and provides new opportunities for development. Therefore, it is easy for us to look at problems purely from the perspective of economy and technology. And when we look around the
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world, we see: the new century has not only brought about great advances in science and technology, highly advanced material civilization, receding world wars and crises, and peace and development still being the theme of human society. Moreover, the gap between rich and poor countries has widened, ethnic and religious conflicts have become increasingly prominent, local wars have continued, the natural environment has continued to deteriorate, population expansion has increased employment pressure, and natural resources are increasingly exhausted. But these crises and threats cannot be solved by economic and technological means alone. Therefore, we should not simply regard education as a tool to win in the competition of economic globalization, but should see the historical and moral responsibility of education for the future development of human society. Both advantages and disadvantages: Under the influence of economic globalization, as well as the rapid development of network education and distance education based on modern information technology, all countries and higher education have further strengthened exchanges, contacts and cooperation. Despite the world’s political system, cultural tradition and geographical features, there are huge differences, however, also has a lot in common, face the same challenges and have their own advantages and special features in different degrees, should complement each other, each other completely complementary advantages, make full use of the international education resources to develop the country’s higher education. However, we cannot help but notice that a few developed countries have absolute advantages in information technology and cultural resources, while developing countries often can only become the “audience” on the Internet and are in a very passive position, and a few poor countries are even excluded from this progressive network culture (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
8.2 “The Internationalization at Home” Development Under the Political Background In the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Educational Reform and Development (2010–2020), the Chinese government clearly states that: “We should strengthen international exchanges and cooperation, persist in promoting reform and development through opening up, carry out educational exchanges and cooperation at various levels and in a wide range of areas, improve the internationalization level of China’s education, and cultivate a large number of international talents with an international vision, a good understanding of international rules, and the ability to participate in international affairs and competitions”. The proposal of this goal not only fully affirms the importance of education, especially the internationalization of higher education, for talent cultivation and national competitiveness enhancement from the height of national strategic development, but also points out the direction for the future development of higher education in China. Party committees and governments at all levels should give priority to the development of education
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as a basic requirement for implementing the Scientific Outlook on Development, and earnestly ensure that educational development is given priority in economic and social development plans, that financial funds give priority to educational input, and that public resources give priority to meeting the needs of education and human resources development. We need comprehensively improve the quality of higher education. Higher education should undertake the major tasks of training senior specialized personnel, developing science, technology and culture, and promoting socialist modernization. We should firmly establish the central position of personnel training in the work of colleges and universities and focus on cultivating highquality professionals and top-notch innovative personnel with persistent faith, good moral character, rich knowledge and excellent skills. The overall level of personnel training, scientific research and social services will be improved; several internationally renowned institutions of higher learning with distinctive features will be established and several them will reach or approach the level of world-class universities; and the international competitiveness of higher education will be significantly enhanced (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
8.2.1 Internationalized Cultural Background The internationalization at home means that all students can receive international education courses without going out of their home schools, experience multicultural learning, improve cross-cultural literacy and broaden their global vision. The concept of “locally internationalized” was first put forward in the field of higher education. Although it is oriented to different subjects, it coincident with international schools in many aspects in terms of its characteristics such as “based on local conditions”, “effectively improving students’ internationalization and cross-cultural literacy”, “international campus” and so on. Due to the internationalization of advocating based on local, so it can be well balanced with other countries, cultures and civilizations, we the relationship between self and others to ease or even bridge the cultural conflicts between the era of globalization in different countries, to better serve their interests, which can effectively relieve the impact brought by the outside world culture and values. In addition, the emphasis on local internationalization provides enough space for different colleges and universities to carry out internationalization work, thus encouraging them to explore different educational goals, achieve differentiated development and build distinctive campus culture. Because in the local internationalization is based on the local, so even if we do not go abroad, do not go out, we can still learn and understand a lot of foreign culture and the differences between the domestic culture, which has brought great convenience to a lot of domestic people. It is no longer limited to those who have the money and ability to learn international culture (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
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From the perspective of educational practice, local internationalization can be open to all students and provide students with a relatively fair opportunity to enjoy high-quality higher education resources, so that students can benefit more widely. At the same time, local internationalization can make full use of the existing highquality international education resources in China, improve the efficiency of the use of resources, so that students can stay in the international learning atmosphere and educational environment without leaving their home country, and keep abeam of the international academic frontier trends by using convenient and high-frequency communication with international academic circles. In internationalizing helps to build a kind of internationalization and diversification of colleges and universities campus culture environment and can promote the reform of the internationalization of China’s higher education itself, the international higher education advanced concepts, models and methods introduced, China’s universities to help construct a world level, the modern higher education system with Chinese characteristics. Overall, internationalization at home can help colleges and universities obtain better comprehensive social benefits. Internationalization will not only bring great changes to the politics, economy and culture of the country, but also play a vital role in the social development of the country. No matter what aspects of the country’s development have been promoted by internationalization, its goal is to develop the economy and promote social development and progress. However, as local internationalization means that one can learn and understand the development situation of foreign countries in one’s own country, it also reflects from the side that the number of domestic populations who want to visit foreign countries will decrease, which will also bring certain losses to the development of domestic science and technology. Internationalization at home has both advantages and disadvantages on one side of the domestic society, which is a double-edged sword. The goal of local internationalization is to enhance the international literacy and intercultural competence of all students by creating an international curricular centered learning environment that enables local universities to successfully cultivate international talents. This year’s new crown outbreak this case, the new outbreak causes global liquidity education continues to weaken, countries around the world for epidemic prevention and control of the strict immigration control, grounded suspension, closed boundary control measures, such as two-way worldwide to study abroad, students and the cross-border flow of imbalanced supply of and demand for international education to accelerate the differentiation. It makes people pay attention to the thinking and importance of internationalization in the place again. As a result of this year’s COVID-19 epidemic, many people had to stay at home and stay in the same place for the Spring Festival, which restricted people’s freedom and everyone who wanted to cross the border to learn about foreign cultures. In such a situation, people can truly appreciate the importance and convenience of internationalization in the local area (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
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8.2.2 Internationalization of Higher Education Since the 1990s, to reverse the unfair allocation of higher education resources caused by the traditional mode of internationalization, some European countries, represented by Sweden, have initiated and promoted the “in-place internationalization movement” of higher education. For a long time, the education internationalization strategy characterized by cross-border education, which is prevalent in Chinese colleges and universities, has been faced with difficulties in the fields of educational equity and educational effect. The implementation of local internationalization strategy can not only effectively promote the fair distribution of higher education resources in China, but also help universities to obtain better social, economic and cultural benefits. In addition, China has laid a series of solid foundations for the implementation of this strategy in the aspects of personnel exchange, curriculum setting, management mechanism and technology application. However, the internationalization strategy of higher education in China will face challenges in the process of promoting, which requires us to keep alert to all kinds of difficulties, on the one hand, on the other hand, we should maintain the determination of reform and implement this important strategy steadily and firmly. There are profound social and economic reasons for the rise of internationalization in China. Compared with the traditional internationalization mode, its most distinctive feature is that it aims to improve the international ability and intercultural accomplishment of all students, including those individuals who have the conditions and ability to realize cross-border mobility, and those who cannot realize the spatial and geographical displacement of education. From the source, local internationalization is put forward in response to the problem of insufficient international mobility of students, and its goal is to help all students to receive cross-cultural and international education to the greatest extent without leaving their home countries. It emphasizes the impact of internationalization on all students in all the programs the school conducts and therefore does not rely on cross-border mobility to provide students with international and cross-cultural knowledge. The most distinctive feature of internationalization in Shanghai lies in its group universality, which strives to ensure that all students on campus can receive international education and cross-cultural influence. Different from the previous overseas study scholarships and financial aid programs to support some students, the term “all students” here refers to all students who can and unable to conduct international study. Through the comprehensive coverage of student groups, local internationalization can avoid the lack of education universality caused by the scarcity of high-quality higher education resources and the imbalance of social and economic development to the greatest extent and make up for the imbalanced and insufficient defects of the traditional training mode of international talents in universities in terms of student beneficiary groups. Enlarging the scope of students’ benefit groups does not mean canceling international study and generally lowering the quality and standards of training international talents. Rather, it means making full use of existing international resources based on ensuring the quality of individual training to achieve the overall optimal talent training. The particularity of
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local internationalization lies in that it emphasizes that the internationalization of a school should be based on the construction of its own campus cultural environment and benefit everyone in the school by creating a campus atmosphere oriented to all students and centered on international curriculum. Internationalization in China does not place students’ overseas work, study and volunteer experience as the most important part of their educational programs. Instead, it emphasizes the internationalization of universities through the development of a “domestic curriculum” with international elements (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019). The internationalization at home has become a new trend in the development of higher education. As an alternative to the traditional model of university internationalization, local internationalization has been welcomed by Sweden, the Netherlands, Finland and France. According to the EAIE, by 2015 56% of European universities had incorporated local internationalization into their strategic plans, and 64% said they would take substantial action to promote the process. In internationalization not only can bring economic benefits to school and international cooperation opportunity, at the same time it can also “in the school set up a kind of heterogeneity, mixed language, cultural diversity and ethnic diversity of cultural and academic ecological environment, so as to make the different cultural conflict and fusion in the university, different thinking patterns here get complementary and transformation, So that a large number of high-quality, highly innovative first-class talent here to get edification, training and improve” (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019). Cultural differences make it difficult for local media to internationalize. Different cultures of different countries have created different aesthetic tastes. Different aesthetic tastes mean that foreign audiences cannot understand and appreciate our culture, and we cannot understand what they are suitable for and what they need. For example, there are some foreign talk shows that we don’t think are funny, but their audiences laugh their heads off. And language differences, so that we cannot communicate with foreign countries. In such a special situation, international schools have more prominent advantages in cultivating international talents. First, it contributes to the strengthening of “education for international understanding”, which UNESCO defines as the ability to communicate sincerely with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The ability to show respect for differences and diversity and the willingness and ability to understand empathize with and act on global challenges. International schools carry out international understanding education, so that students can learn to respect different people and different cultures, deepen the understanding and recognition of local culture and world culture in a cross-cultural context, improve international understanding ability and cope with the diversified global challenges in the future. Second, it helps to promote the opening of education. International schools play a positive role in expanding international exchanges and cooperation in the field of basic education, strengthening friendly exchanges with other countries in the world, promoting the opening of basic education and expanding the international influence of Chinese education. Third, it will help speed up the development of international education in China. In the future, we will make use of the advantages of educational resources with Chinese characteristics to open
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the education market to foreign countries, recruit many international students, and at the same time “export” our educational ideas, teachers and other educational products to foreign countries, to form an international industry of education. Nationality belongs to the world. The deeper globalization and internationalization, the more prominent localization and nationality will be. Nationality belongs to the world. The deeper globalization and internationalization, the more prominent localization and nationality will be. Cultural values are universal. Only culture can transcend time and space, national boundaries and differences, resolve differences, increase consensus and form a better basis for identity and public opinion. To further deepen exchanges, integration and dissemination of ethnic history and culture and build a community with a shared future featuring cultural integration is of profound significance and far-reaching impact. The curriculum of local international education needs to take international education concept as the purpose, coordinate international education and ethnic education, and gradually establish an independent curriculum system with Chinese characteristics that integrate the essence of domestic and foreign education (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
8.2.3 Internationalization of Chinese Social Sciences Research Internationalization of Chinese social sciences research level is on the rise, but still lags behind that of the natural scientific research during 2003 to 2012, the number of total Chinese social science theses and the number of published papers on SSCI trend diagram can be found that in recent 10 years, the number of papers included in SSCI database shows a tendency of increase year by year, especially after 2007. At present, the internationalization level of China’s natural scientific research is very high, and the number of SCI papers ranks second only to the United States in the world. At the same time, under the influence of the internationalization of natural science research, domestic social science researchers attach more and more importance to the development of international research and international academic exchanges. Although there are still some social science researchers in mainland China who have little awareness of international communication, some scholars even believe that China cannot be in line with the international standards due to the huge differences in national systems and values between China and Western countries, more scholars have realized that under the general premise of economic globalization. Like Western countries, China will face many social problems such as unemployment and employment, national security, terrorism, public environment and health. Therefore, the trend of internationalization of social science research in China is inevitable. It is suggested that the government should further strengthen the management of social science research, actively promote and focus on the cultivation of social
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science research with international advanced level, attach importance to the cultivation of talents, the construction of disciplines and research funds, increase scientific research awards, and gradually narrow the gap between the mainland and Hong Kong and Taiwan in the internationalization level of social science research. In addition, it is necessary to attach importance to the allocation of resources in the scientific research of law, politics, philosophy and other ideology-related disciplines, to promote the development of these subjects with low international level to a higher level, to realize the comprehensive international development of Chinese social science research field. The administrative regions with low internationalization level of social science research should increase research input, reasonably allocate academic research resources, and accelerate the improvement of internationalization level of social science research in disadvantaged areas. Economic globalization and knowledge economy society all sorts of change, at the same time, also make the countries all over the world in the political, economic, cultural, military, education and so on produced more fierce competition, the talented person, put forward the more pressing needs, especially the international talents that the talent cultivation of universities put forward higher requirements. As is known to all, the key period for training professional talents is in the stage of higher education, and it is particularly important for undergraduate education to occupy the basic position of higher education. In 2018, the Ministry of Education held the National Conference on Undergraduate Education in Colleges and Universities in the New Era and issued the “40 Articles on Higher Education in the New Era”, both highlighting the basic position of undergraduate education. Since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, leaders of the Party and the state have attached great importance to culture, emphasized cultural confidence, and regarded cultural confidence as an important task of higher education. As one of the components of higher education, ethnic education is the main place to train talents, especially the specialized talents of ethnic minorities. It is one of the missions of higher education undertaken by ethnic colleges and universities to train undergraduates with international literacy to better serve ethnic minorities and ethnic regions. The current training mode of the internationalization of national institutes widely used research universities to cultivate students’ literacy for internationalization mode; this kind of education mode is not completely suitable for national colleges and universities, and has little effect, on this basis, this paper puts forward “the internationalization” implemented in national colleges and universities, training strategies, as to promote the internationalization of student literacy. As a part of the internationalization of talent cultivation in higher education, “in-place internationalization” shifts the focus of international development to the local students who do not have transnational learning, which alleviates the learning needs of undergraduates in national colleges and universities in economic conditions to some extent. International training on local campuses can alleviate the language learning problems faced by undergraduates through international education (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
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8.3 The Significance of the Implementation of University Internationalization at Home In many cases, the traditional model of internationalization tends to reflect the Matthew Effect, where “more people make more poor people stay poor”. This is because those who can carry out cross-border flows are the enrichment of educational resources in China. They either have more economic resources or have stronger intellectual capital. The “poor” who cannot achieve cross-border mobility are greatly different from the former due to the lack of impact of international vision and the cultivation of cross-cultural ability. The formation of this “difference” is obviously against the requirements of social justice. The promotion of higher education internationalization strategy can effectively make up the loopholes of the traditional internationalization model which is too narrow in terms of the beneficiary groups. It targets the internationalization of education at all students, which is a reversal of the internationalization concept in terms of the target positioning. If traditional international compliance is a kind of instituting the more “optimum” elite education concept, in the earth while the internationalization on the target internationalization can promote comprehensive benefit of our country’s colleges and universities in the presence of the internationalization itself is deepening of internationalization of traditional pattern is characterized by cross-border flows of criticism and transcendence of internationalization strategy.
8.3.1 The Important Challenge Faced by Universities and Colleges For China, internationalization itself is an important challenge faced by universities and colleges. However, restricted by realistic factors, the traditional internationalization model, which focuses on cross-border flow, cannot well respond to this demand. The emergence of the local internationalization model can not only effectively integrate the scarce educational resources, but also significantly improve the overall level of internationalization of Chinese colleges and universities and achieve better social comprehensive benefits. From a theoretical perspective, the promotion of local internationalization can avoid the ideological risks caused by the traditional mode of internationalization of higher education. Countries (usually European and American countries) at the center of internationalization of higher education will shape themselves as dominant, mission-bearing individuals with superior values. Those participating on the periphery are not subservient—the inevitable challenge of a model of internationalization characterized by cross-border flows. From the perspective of educational practice, local internationalization can be open to all students and provide students with a relatively fair opportunity to enjoy high-quality higher education resources, so that students can benefit more widely. At the same time, local internationalization can make full use of the existing high-quality international
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education capital rate in China, so that students can stay in the international learning atmosphere and educational environment without leaving their home country and make use of convenient and high-frequency communication conditions with international academic circles to keep abeam of international academic frontier trends. In internationalizing helps to build a kind of internationalization and diversification of colleges and universities campus culture environment and can promote the reform of the internationalization of China’s higher education itself, the international higher education advanced concepts, models and methods introduced, China’s universities to help construct a world level, the modern higher education system with Chinese characteristics (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
8.3.2 Possibility of Implementation of Internationalization at Home With the popularization and development of in-place internationalization, people realize that “in-place internationalization” is not a fixed conceptual paradigm, but an “undecided thing” to be enriched and deepened, and its connotation will expand with the in-depth development of practice. With the deepening of the research, the theoretical circle has made new progress in recent years on the meaning of internationalization in place. The goal of local internationalization is to enhance the international literacy and intercultural competence of all students by creating an international curricular centered learning environment that enables local universities to successfully cultivate international talents. The key to the successful implementation of local internationalization strategy is the cultivation of cross-cultural and international educational atmosphere in the school. The construction of local internationalization is an overall project centered on the campus learning environment. Many supports in the international expert thinks, all strategies and solutions to the internationalization of higher education are closely rooted in local culture and national characteristics, that will increase in course teaching language to English or only some elective courses in the field of cross-cultural (or activities) and not in the curriculum idea and study effect evaluation of the introduction of international and cross-cultural dimensions, it’s not really internationalizing. To achieve the desired results, we must foster a “campus learning environment” centered on an international curriculum and achieve “ASAP”, or “All Projects for All Students”. The particularity of local internationalization lies in that it emphasizes that the internationalization of a school should be based on the construction of its own campus cultural environment and benefit everyone in the school by creating a campus atmosphere oriented to all students and centered on international curriculum. Internationalization in China does not place students’ overseas work, study and volunteer experience as the most important part of their educational programs. Instead, it emphasizes the internationalization of universities through the development of “domestic curricula” with international
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elements. “With the deepening of reform and opening up, the beneficial experience of foreign higher education development has been continuously introduced to China. The exchanges between students and teachers are increasingly frequent, and the cooperation between teaching and research is gradually deepened. Internationalization has become not only a slogan of China’s higher education development, but also a concrete practice”. After efforts and explorations in recent years, it can be said that China has already met a series of practical conditions to carry out the internationalization of higher education in localities, which lay a solid foundation for us to promote the strategy of internationalization in localities in the future. In terms of the implementation status of the internationalization strategy of Chinese colleges and universities, the external conditions that are conducive to the promotion of local internationalization include.
8.4 Summary 8.4.1 Prospects for the Implementation of Internationalization at Home The implementation of internationalization at home is entirely possible, we should continue to accumulate experience, don’t give up the exploration, not cope with the target, keep up with the pace of the world situation, constantly create in the environmental conditions of the internationalization development of higher education and promote needed to meet the internationalization development of higher education in the condition. In many aspects, foreign universities have expanded more forms of international cooperation, which is also one of the trends of the international development of foreign higher education. Among them, the main forms include distance education, cooperative teaching or cooperative school, mutual recognition agreement of certificates and so on. With the leapfrog development of modern transportation and communication technology, the distance between time and space has been greatly shortened, which greatly reduces the restrictions of international higher education among countries and provides convenient conditions for the international sharing of educational resources. It is no longer the only way to conduct international exchanges in the form of studying abroad. For example, since 2012, top universities in the United States have successively set up online learning platforms (MOOCs), which provide free course resources on the Internet. Later, similar course providers have emerged, providing more and more university students at home and abroad with more systematic learning resources from world-class universities. It greatly improves the efficiency of the flow and sharing of excellent international teaching resources. One of the most important measures of cooperative teaching is that cooperation between universities can train outstanding students jointly, which is more conducive to cultivate outstanding students to advance to a higher level of degree. During the period of students’ degree study, students can study in two or more universities in
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different countries. Cooperation is also a shortcut to internationalizing a country’s higher education. It saves the cost of sending large numbers of students abroad, while allowing them to learn international courses and earn degrees from foreign universities. In recent years, a rapidly developing way of international cooperation is to reach various forms of agreements among colleges and universities. These agreements will enable universities to form trans-regional cooperation or alliance on a global scale, so that students can have more opportunities to experience international learning. Internationalization in China not only provides students with a more convenient learning channel, but also expands students’ learning channels, broadens their horizons, learns more knowledge in various aspects and receives different education. The traditional education internationalization model may have some problems, but the local internationalization will reduce the occurrence of these problems or even do not appear. For example, the traditional internationalization of education means that some colleges and universities will send some students to study abroad in some countries. With overseas experience, they will also further their studies. In internationalization can be geared to the needs of all students, providing students with relatively equal chance to receive high quality of higher education resources, make the students benefited range more widely, at the same time, the internationalization can also make full use of domestic existing high-quality resources, improve resource utilization rate, so that the students do not have to leave the local to place oneself in international learning environment and education environment, make use of convenient and high-frequency communication with international academic circles to keep abreast of the trends of international academic frontiers (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
8.4.2 The Beneficial Experience of Foreign Higher Education Development With the deepening of reform and opening, the beneficial experience of foreign higher education development has been continuously introduced to China. The exchanges between students and teachers are increasingly frequent, and the cooperation between teaching and research is gradually deepened. Internationalization has become not only a slogan of China’s higher education development, but also a concrete practice. After efforts and explorations in recent years, it can be said that China has already met a series of practical conditions to carry out the internationalization of higher education in localities, which lay a solid foundation for us to promote the strategy of internationalization in localities in the future. The traditional education internationalization model may have some problems, but the local internationalization will reduce the occurrence of these problems or even do not appear. For example, the traditional internationalization of education means that some colleges and universities will send some students to study abroad in some countries. With overseas experience, they will also further their studies. In internationalization can be geared to the needs of
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all students, providing students with relatively equal chance to receive high quality of higher education resources, make the students benefited range more widely, at the same time, the internationalization can also make full use of domestic existing highquality resources, improve resource utilization rate, so that the students do not have to leave the local to place oneself in international learning environment and education environment. Internationalization in China will be the new direction of higher education development, but it will also be faced with the problem of how to further promote in practice. It can be said that all countries are struggling to explore the internationalization strategy of higher education development suitable for their national conditions. On the one hand, it indicates that higher education pays more attention to the quality of students’ education and the all-round development of students. On the other hand, it also indicates the urgency of the reform of local curriculum and the construction of cross-campus culture. Therefore, the practice of local internationalization in China is not permanent. Of course, people gradually realize that the benefits of internationalization should not be some students, but all students. Local internationalization caters to the above trend, which also points out the direction for the future development of global higher education internationalization (Liao, 2019; Ma & Zhang, 2010; Ren & Wan, 2021; Zhang & Liu, 2017; Zhong, 2019).
References Liao, L. (2019). Practice and thinking on the internationalization of higher education in Taiwan. Exploration of Higher Education, 20(05), 63–88. Ma, W., & Zhang, W. (2010). The impact of the disease on international student mobility and strategy selection in China: A risk society perspective. Higher Education Administration, 15(01), 1–9. Ren, C., & Wan, X. (2021). Thinking on the international training of postgraduates in local area under the background of “double first-class”. Fortune Today, 20(01), 15–37. Zhang, W., & Liu, B. (2017). Internationalization in China: New trend of higher education development in China. University Education Science, 20(03), 10–120. Zhong, Y. (2019). A new way to cultivate internationalized talents in local universities in China. Shandong Higher Education, 207(01), 35–41.
Chapter 9
The Conclusion of Exploring the Internationalization at Home in Different Contexts
This chapter examines the holistic overview of exploring the internationalization at home in different contexts. With the continuous progress and rapid development of social and economic life, the internationalization in the country is also constantly in-depth. Especially in the recent two years of severe epidemic situation abroad, students choose to stay in China to study for their own safety. To make students feel more international education, the development of international education in China is worth studying and discussing. At present, it is found that there is a shortage of educational investment in local internationalization. We might seek truth from facts, admit the problem and solve the problem, and analyze the specific problem in a concrete way, to promote the development of local internationalization toward a better direction.
9.1 Background of Exploring the Internationalization at Home in Different Contexts Knowledge economy brings about economic globalization and social changes, but also makes the worlds political, economic, cultural, military, education and other aspects of the more intense struggle. The demand for talents, especially the internationalized talents, is more urgent, which puts forward higher requirements for the talent training of higher education. As is known to all, the critical period of cultivating professional talents occupies a very important position in the stage of higher education. The year 2020 would be a special year in the development of human history. In this year, mankind has experienced great tests. The COVID-19 epidemic has affected all sectors of society, and international education in universities is also facing a crisis. The COVID-19 epidemic has had a significant impact on all sectors of society, including higher education. The global economy has plummeted, international relations have undergone drastic changes, and the development process, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_9
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affected scope and social order uncertainty caused by the epidemic, as well as the prominent cultural and ideological differences between China and foreign countries in the epidemic will affect the international development of higher education in various countries for a long time in the future. In this context, the internationalization of China’s higher education is faced with the pressure and challenges, but also ushered in the “transformation” of the internationalization of higher education opportunity, emphasis on independent development and innovation, it would be on the main melody of internationalization of Chinese education, also for China’s higher education and higher education in the world to provide a new development direction for teaching and learning. As the cradle of cultivating high-quality talents, domestic colleges and universities need to re-examine their development paths in the face of the culture shock presented by COVID-19.
9.1.1 Economic Globalization Economic globalization has not only brought military, political, cultural and other aspects of the society, but more importantly, education has also had a great impact. It may have made our culture more diverse and integrated with the international community, but it also made our education broader. The communication between different countries is becoming more and more obvious, and the culture is becoming more and more diversified, so that the culture is becoming more and more integrated. Therefore, economic globalization has created an opportunity for the development of local internationalization. The cultural exchange between different countries is more convenient, the communication of educational equipment is more convenient, and the exchange and collision of cultural thoughts are more and more internationalized. All these make the development of local internationalization, and different countries also have different branches and schools of ideas for local internationalized courses and goals (Liu, 2017, 2020; Wang, 2020; Xu & Kan, 2021; Zhong, 2019). Since the 1990s, to reverse the unfair allocation of higher education resources caused by the traditional mode of internationalization, some European countries, represented by Sweden, have initiated and promoted the “in-place internationalization movement” of higher education. As an alternative traditional internationalization mode, on the ground and internationalization with its “based on local school”, “for the students”, “enhance the internationalization of all students and cross-cultural literacy” characteristics in the field of higher education internationalization rapidly boom, many countries have unequivocally on the ground and internationalization as its effective pattern of the internationalization of higher education. For a long time, the education internationalization strategy, which is characterized by cross-border education, has been facing difficulties in the fields of educational fairness and educational effect. The implementation of local internationalization strategy can not only effectively promote the fair distribution of higher education resources in China, but also help universities to obtain better social, economic and cultural benefits. In addition, China has laid a series of solid foundations for the implementation of this strategy in the
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aspects of personnel exchange, curriculum setting, management mechanism and technology application. To ensure the smooth implementation of the internationalization strategy in the future, we should promote the internationalization of higher education on the concept, from the “western” to “the west” in the system design and transformation of completed from the “first” management to the “service for this” transformation, the education environment in from “capital” to the reform of the “culture based on”. The internationalization strategy of higher education in China will face challenges in the process of advancing, which requires us to keep alert to all kinds of difficulties, on the one hand, on the other hand, we should maintain the determination of reform, and implement this important strategy steadily and firmly.
9.1.2 The Education Internationalization The emergence of the “area” the education internationalization, and the internationalization of education is a reflection of social progress and development, the emergence of “One Belt And One Road”, not only promote the development of a variety of culture in our country, and it also makes our education more get more international exchanges, let more people by different cultural edification and infection. However, because local internationalization is based on the combination of local culture and local conditions, the curriculum of local internationalization may be set more often based on local time and the characteristics of students’ development. Of course, it makes the cultural conflict between our culture and the culture of other countries better serve the interests of our country and bring better development effect for the country. Global political internationalization brings about the internationalization of all aspects of society, especially the internationalization of education is obvious. The so-called education internationalization is mainly to improve the teachers’ awareness and level of international education, as well as the conditions of the hardware and software of the school’s international education. More importantly, the internationalization of education aims to broaden the vision of college students, cultivate their international thinking and help them enhance their awareness of global responsibility, which is the goal of higher education in modern society. The internationalization of higher education enables domestic colleges and universities to have more opportunities to cooperate with international universities in running schools. During the development of these programs, students can have more opportunities to contact with global academic exchanges, and the teachers and teaching materials they are exposed to are more diverse and diversified. While learning, students’ social consciousness will gradually change. Through international education, teachers should pay attention to cultivate students’ critical thinking, train students to view the development of education from various aspects, help students adapt to the process of internationalization, improve students’ self-cultivation and make appropriate improvements in educational methods and strategies, so as to realize the internationalization of ideological and political education in modern colleges and universities (Liu, 2017, 2020; Wang, 2020; Xu & Kan, 2021; Zhong, 2019).
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9.1.3 The International Education Funds of Local Colleges and Universities The international education funds of local colleges and universities are an important support for the realization of international development, and an important factor affecting their school performance is mainly realized through government appropriations. When other funding sources remain unchanged, the more government appropriations, the better the internationalization level of local colleges and universities will be promoted. Since the enrollment expansion of colleges and universities in 1999, local colleges and universities, as the main force of the enrollment expansion, have seen significant growth in the school scale and the number of teachers and students. Therefore, colleges and universities should invest in the expansion of teaching sites and the purchase of corresponding teaching equipment to create a high-quality education environment for students, to ensure the smooth development of daily teaching activities. In this case, the local government needs to increase the investment of education funds to make up for the shortage of available funds for colleges and universities. At present, China is actively promoting the construction project of “Double First-class”, so it is necessary to increase the investment of educational funds. Under the pressure of multiple funds, the growth rate of the government’s investment in higher education is much lower than the growth rate of the development of higher education, and the investment in higher education is obviously insufficient. The financial support for colleges and universities at different levels is also different. The central colleges and universities receive significantly more support from the government than the general local colleges and universities, so they can take the lead in establishing excellent education platforms and implementing international talent training projects. In contrast, local universities lack international talent training platforms due to government support and geographical location. School is a place to educate people. For students, the campus environment is known as the third teacher of children. Its quality has a profound impact on the development of students. To create a good environment suitable for education, to meet the needs of students in many aspects, so that students can develop in a good learning environment. Internationalized campus environment includes objective environment and humanistic environment. According to the successful experience of higher education institutions at home and abroad with a higher degree of internationalization, campus environment is one of the basic conditions for a university to realize internationalization. The internationalization of objective environment is mainly reflected in standardized foreign experts and students’ apartments, spacious and bright modern teaching buildings and so on. The internationalization of cultural environment is firstly reflected in the internationalization of the school-based personnel composition, such as the proportion of the faculty and staff who have received foreign education or training, and the students who have studied abroad. When students are in a colorful international campus environment, it is conducive to the development of students will be of great help. However, the international environment is lacking in Chinese schools. Schools do not have a strong atmosphere of international campus, and international
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activities and competitions are very poor. The school should set up a campus environment featuring diverse forms, languages, cultures and ethnicities, innovate the way of activities and cultivate students’ innovative ability and courage to challenge things boldly (Liu, 2017, 2020; Wang, 2020; Xu & Kan, 2021; Zhong, 2019).
9.1.4 Teacher Is the Important Subject of Higher Education Teacher is the important subject of higher education, is bearing the weight of the spread of knowledge and the function of education, the teachers troop internationalization is the key to the internationalization of higher education, internationalization of faculty construction is the nature of intercultural education background of multinational, nationalization of teachers, mainly includes the internationalization of teaching structure and teaching level of internationalization. Local colleges and universities face severe challenges in training international talents, among which the most important challenge is the lack of international teachers. The most fundamental task of university teachers is to teach and educate students. As a person who imparts knowledge, imparts knowledge and solves doubts, they also play a pivotal role in the training of international talents. The level of internationalization of teachers will directly affect the quality of international talents training of the school. Local colleges and universities due to their own conditions, the influence of multiple factors such as funds, teachers don’t have a lot of opportunities to study abroad and study, although concern in today’s information can be through the network platform, learning international advanced knowledge, but due to heavy teaching tasks, will also have a scientific research project of the teacher in his free time more spent on scientific research work. The lack of active understanding of the principles of international talent cultivation in universities in surrounding countries and regions, the lack of thinking of international professional teaching methods and the lack of broad international vision are difficult to integrate with the current advanced international education concepts, which to a large extent affect the quality of international talent cultivation in local universities in China. Secondly, teachers have received little international education and lack of oral English expression ability, so they cannot set a good example for students. Finally, foreign teachers are flexible and not restricted to the content of textbooks and courseware. They like to expand extracurricular knowledge and impromptu explain foreign anecdotes. The classroom atmosphere is very active, which is greatly welcomed by students. However, the number of foreign teachers in colleges and universities is too small to meet the needs of all students. Foreign teachers are mainly responsible for teaching students in the School of Foreign Languages, while students in other colleges are mainly local teachers, so it is impossible for all students in the school to learn international knowledge and expand their international ability. Since the reform and opening in 1978, a total of 3.0586 million Chinese people has studied abroad, and 1.4442 million have returned after completing their studies. 72.38 percent of Chinese people studying abroad have chosen to return to China. In 2019, the total number of Chinese students studying abroad reached 703,500, an increase of 41,400
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or 6.25% over the previous year. The total number of returnees of all types of overseas students was 58,300, an increase of 60,900 or 11.73 percent over the previous year. From 1978 to 2019, a total of 6.60600 people were studying abroad of various types, of whom 1.6562 million were studying or doing research abroad. 4.9044 million have completed their studies, and 4.2317 million have returned to China after completing their studies, accounting for 86.28 percent of the total. The Blue Book “Report on the Development of China’s Overseas Studies (2020 ~ 2021)”, jointly compiled by the Global Think Tank (CCG) and the Development Institute of Southwestern University of Finance and Economics (SWUFE), was officially published in Social Sciences Academic Press. The report reflects the latest situation of the development of overseas study in China, interprets the latest trend of overseas study under the COVID-19 epidemic, analyzes the new status of the development of Chinese returnees and explores a new path for the development of education opening to the outside world. According to the report, under the current international situation, China’s overseas study shows the following 11 trends: (1) the destination countries are becoming more diversified. (2) The trend of policies related to study abroad in developed countries is different, and there may be more changes in the pattern of international student flow. (3) The proportion of PhD students studying in the United States has dropped sharply, and other countries and regions may welcome new opportunities for high-level talent competition. (4) The epidemic has restricted the cross-border flow of international students, and the epidemic prevention and control prospects are unclear. The overseas study and related industries are facing a crisis. (5) The number of people studying abroad in China continues to maintain a growth, and the COVID-19 epidemic has not significantly affected the actual demand for studying abroad. (6) The number of Chinese students studying in the United States may hit a turning point, and the era of diversification of overseas study destinations for Chinese students is coming. (7) Studying abroad at one’s own expense is still the most important group in China, and the trend of the popularization of studying abroad is more obvious. Sino-foreign cooperative education has played an important role in the epidemic period, and “studying in local” may embrace new development opportunities. (9) The number of overseas students returning to China continues to increase, and international vision has become the new core competitiveness of returnees. The enthusiasm of overseas returnees to return home for development continues to rise, and the new first-tier cities are more attractive. Overseas returnees recognize the achievements of the globalization of Chinese enterprises and have high entrepreneurial enthusiasm. The report points out that due to the epidemic and the international situation, studying abroad is hindered in the short term. At the same time, “studying abroad” in Chinese-foreign cooperative universities is becoming a new alternative. In particular, during the COVID-19 epidemic, Chinese-foreign cooperative institutions and Chinese institutions with Chinese-foreign cooperative programs that have good cooperative relationships are becoming important carriers for online and offline learning for Chinese students who should be studying in overseas cooperative institutions (Liu, 2017, 2020; Wang, 2020; Xu & Kan, 2021; Zhong, 2019).
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9.2 The Influence of Internationalization at Home 9.2.1 Strengthening “Education for International Understanding” It is conducive to strengthening “education for international understanding”. UNESCO defines “education for international understanding” as the ability to communicate sincerely with people from different linguistic and cultural backgrounds. The ability to show respect for differences and diversity and the willingness and ability to understand, empathize with and act on global challenges. International schools carry out international understanding education, so that students can learn to respect different people and different cultures, deepen the understanding and recognition of local culture and world culture in a cross-cultural context, improve international understanding ability and cope with the diversified global challenges in the future. Through local international education, students have an international vision and concept. They can not only understand problems from the perspective of their own country, but also have a more thorough understanding of problems from the perspective of foreign culture. In addition, they will be more capable of international empathy and have the concept of globalization. They will feel that they live in a “global village” and will not have the mentality of not being concerned about globalization and will have a stronger sense of global responsibility. It helps to promote the opening of education to the outside world. International schools play a positive role in expanding international exchanges and cooperation in the field of basic education, strengthening friendly exchanges with other countries in the world, promoting the opening of basic education to the outside world and expanding the international influence of Chinese education. The opening of education to the outside world not only includes the internationalization of educational ideas, educational objects and educational contents. International exchanges and cooperation among international schools not only have an impact on China’s curriculum, but also make the choice of content more internationalized. By setting up international curriculum, China can not only integrate the world more, but also bring the world closer to China. It will help accelerate the development of China’s international education industry. In the future, we will make use of the advantages of educational resources with Chinese characteristics to open the education market to foreign countries, recruit many international students, and at the same time “export” our educational ideas, teachers and other educational products to foreign countries, so as to form an international industry of education. As of October 2010, 322 Confucius Institutes and 369 Confucius Classrooms have been established around the world since the inauguration of the world’s first Confucius Institute with the main mission of promoting Chinese language internationally in Seoul, South Korea, on November 21, 2004. Confucius Institutes are taking root in many countries, promoting Chinese language education, spreading Chinese culture, and becoming a successful case of Chinese culture going global and a “Chinese sample” for world cultural exchanges. Educational resources with Chinese characteristics go abroad. The charm of language lies
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in the culture behind it, which is the excellent national spirit. The recognition and praise of Confucius Institutes around the world are inseparable from the extensive and profound Chinese culture. The aim of “Internationalizing at Home” is to prepare all students to have an international perspective and receive an international curriculum. However, there is a phenomenon of unbalanced economic development in the east, middle and west of China. The survival and development of human beings need a suitable external environment, and the development of universities and disciplines also need a good educational environment. Therefore, the construction of campus culture should be emphasized to promote the internationalization strategy of higher education in China. From a certain point of view, how to give full play to the advantages of colleges and universities to create a benign campus education environment suitable for the development of internationalization in China has become the key to the smooth development of internationalization of Chinese colleges and universities in the future. Internationalization requires universities not only to conduct research on “cross-cultural and international teaching processes, scientific research, extracurricular activities and cross-cultural relationships between local cultures and different ethnic groups”, but also to pay attention to “the life and activities of foreign students and scholars on campus”. In the past, the internationalization of Chinese colleges and universities mainly focused on talent training after capital investment, while local internationalization put forward more complex and strict requirements for managers. It not only requires universities to invest economic capital, but also requires universities to build an appropriate and international campus environment. For example, Tsinghua University launched the “International Education Capability Enhancement Plan”; Vice President of Peking University said, “To build a world-class university, Peking University must start from internationalization”. Several well-known universities have raised funds for the construction of international campus to build a demonstration area for the overall internationalization of university education, which has done a good job of scientific top-level design and planning for the implementation of local internationalization.
9.2.2 Local Internationalization as a New School-Running Concept With the development of economic globalization, local internationalization, as a new school-running concept, has brought a new world for the development of higher education. At present, a relatively mature theoretical system has been formed around the study of local internationalization. Under the background of politics, economy, culture and society, colleges and universities make use of the existing international high-quality education resources to build international campuses with national characteristics, providing opportunities for all students to contact with cross-cultural and international things on campus, and thus realizing the teaching goal of cultivating high-level international talents. The study of local internationalization pays attention
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to the study of local culture and the exchange of multi-cultures. Its development is gradually moving from concept to practice, from policy planning and formulation to policy implementation and promotion. There is a long way to go for the future development of internationalization in China and its influence on China’s higher education. Knowledge and skills are the common wealth of mankind, have the global flow of natural attribute, governments and universities, government and colleges and universities, especially the western developed countries have already realized that in the era of knowledge economy, countries and universities only to development of globalization, and think that the internationalization of education is the necessary way of education modernization, is also important means to promote the modernization of education. To take the lead in the increasingly competitive field of higher education and the international higher education market, the governments and universities of all countries have consciously explored the strategies suitable for their own internationalization of higher education according to the objective reality. In this context, the idea of local internationalization came into being in Western Europe and gradually influenced other countries.
9.2.3 The New Situation of Political Work of Higher Education in the Process of Internationalization The development of global internationalization process has led to the internationalization of all levels of society, especially the embodiment of education internationalization. The so-called international education is to enhance the awareness and level of international education of teachers, and the prerequisite of international education of schools. More importantly, international education aims to broaden the international vision of college students, cultivate an international thinking mode and help college students enhance their awareness of global responsibility, which is the goal of higher education in modern society. Through international education, teachers should pay attention to cultivate students’ critical thinking, help students adapt to the process of internationalization, improve students’ self-cultivation, and make appropriate improvements in educational methods and strategies, to realize the internationalization of ideological and political education in modern universities.
9.2.4 Opportunities and Challenges Brought by Internationalization to College Students’ Ideological and Political Education The process of internationalization has brought new opportunities and challenges to the education industry. With the optimization of educational resources, students have more choices and opportunities, and the broadened horizon is also conducive
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to the formation of their correct values. Especially in terms of ideology and politics, students can gain a deeper and broader understanding through international education and analyze domestic and foreign political phenomena from different perspectives. At the same time, teachers of ideological and political education should improve their own quality, keep up with the trend of international development and make use of fresh elements to achieve better education. The challenges that internationalization brings to our ideological and political education are as follows: first, the process of internationalization is of great help to broaden young people’s horizons, which is also reflected in their freedom of thought and speech. Nowadays, most teenagers have become more open-minded, and their own values are vulnerable to impact. Their self-control and self-cognition level are not enough, and they are easy to be deviated by bad remarks. Therefore, this is one of the driving forces for the transformation of traditional ideological and political education. Second, in addition to the process of internationalization, the development of modern science and technology is also one of the reasons for promoting the transformation of traditional ideological and political education. Modern education advocates the introduction of new media into the classroom, and the learning content and information carrier that students are exposed to have a great degree of change. In the past, ideological and political education was biased toward one-way guidance and preaching by teachers, but now students’ ability to accept new things has far exceeded the traditional education in the past. Therefore, teachers should also accelerate the transformation, change the teaching concept, enrich students’ learning resource carrier and learning information transmission mode, to achieve the actual teaching effect of ideological and political education. The quality of the staff engaged in ideological and political education needs to be improved. International education requires teachers to cultivate international thinking, strengthen their own understanding of the process of internationalization and apply the idea of internationalization to teaching in ideological and political education. In the process of sharing world education resources, teachers should learn to screen information sources and help students distinguish correct and true information. In practice, teachers should take part in more relevant practical activities and strengthen exchanges with foreign countries, to better guide students’ international thinking. The schools should carry out more cooperative programs to provide students with a platform for international exchanges, so that they can have more chances to go out of school to know the outside world. For example, schools can run some Sino-foreign cooperative education programs and introduce foreign teachers to teach bilingual education, which is of great help to students. Students can intuitively understand the foreign culture, and in the communication with teachers in the exercise of oral skills. Schools should keep these activities flexible to create opportunities for students to go abroad. More importantly, students should be encouraged to share what they have seen and heard after going abroad to form a cycle so that the overall educational atmosphere will gradually become internationalized in the process of practice. The creation of international education environment is very important, the school should actively guide the students to cultivate the overall awareness of internationalization, the use of public opinion to help the implementation of international
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education. We can discuss the construction of international ideological and political education environment in the new situation from the external environment and internal environment. From the external environment, the school can hold all kinds of foreign language evening parties and speech contests, hold foreign language festivals, create a diversified cultural atmosphere, encourage students to improve their English ability and practice their practical ability of English application. From the internal environment, the school can be combined with modern information technology, set up the ideological and political education of the new platform and interactive base, make the ideological and political education can deep into the students’ life in the environment, public opinion of network communication platform can also guide the student to the school the lasting development of the ideological and political education of the road. In the policy reform of higher education institutions to clearly define all programs of study, it is necessary to integrate international and crosscultural capabilities. Although higher education institutions enjoy a high degree of autonomy, national policies must reflect not only national economic goals, but also the core mission of higher education to be effective. When countries develop local frameworks for internationalization, it is important not only to provide direction and means, but also to give higher education institutions sufficient autonomy so that they can continue to experiment with learning programs and find ways to adapt them. The government could also encourage certification of quality projects. At the same time, taking local internationalization as a quantitative indicator, it has the potential to create fairer conditions for multicultural development and give international students a more important position. The implementation of local internationalization can also provide structured opportunities for students to communicate across cultural boundaries, guide students’ interaction and put domestic students and foreign students on an equal footing. Effective local internationalization programs need to encourage students to be more reflective to bring together the voices of students with different cultural perspectives to internationalize higher education. Internationalization in China has brought us more teaching resources and more advanced teaching experience, but we still need to find a suitable system in the process of transforming from traditional education to internationalized modern education. The traditional model of party building is no longer applicable to the values and lifestyles of students in the process of internationalization. In this situation, the party branch has improved its current teaching strategies based on foreign experience, carried out party building activities and connected Chinese and international students to strengthen communication and exchanges. Modern teaching information technology is introduced to create a network community forum of academic and life, from which students’ information and feedback on teaching are understood, so as to solve the practical problems in the transformation of teaching strategies. With internationalization, new teaching strategies have greatly facilitated the school’s management of students. In the traditional teaching, the teaching mode of teachers blindly knowledge is no longer suitable for students’ state of mind and values, and it is also difficult to manage students. Now many schools have introduced diplomatic teaching. The teaching of foreign teachers is a fresh experience for students. The teaching of foreign teachers is not only to impart knowledge to students, but also to
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interact with students, to shorten the relationship with students. In teaching, students can participate in a variety of activities, which is conducive to the enhancement of students’ international vision and taste, more conducive to the enhancement of students’ personality, and the management of the school can also be better carried out. With the continuous improvement of international exchanges and cooperation in education, the free flow of resources such as technology, talent and capital around the world has become one of the important features of economic globalization, which has driven the cooperation and exchange in the field of education around the world. In the development of local internationalization, economy and education are interdependent and restricted. The economic structure affects the educational structure, and the traditional educational methods and means are also faced with unprecedented demands for reform in thousands of years. With the advent of technological progress and information age, human society has suddenly developed at an extremely rapid speed in the twentieth century. The world economy has entered an era of great integration and opening. The barriers between countries, nations and regions have been gradually weakened and eliminated, and economic globalization has endowed education with a more far-reaching mission. The traditional teaching mode should be changed. However, the traditional classroom teaching that we are familiar with is generally unidirectional indoctrination by the teacher and passive acceptance by the students. The key is that the students, as the cognitive subject, are always in the position of passive acceptance of knowledge in the whole teaching process, and the initiative of the students in learning is ignored or even suppressed. At the same time, our country in recent years due to the increase in government education funding, the government within the business department have mastered a lot of project funds, the sector through project funding influence university teaching and scientific research plan, make university study is too utilitarian, lack of the strategic, long-term and fundamental and make the teaching mode of the university of single rigid. It has lost the unique characteristics that are most needed in university teaching. The sudden outbreak of COVID-19 in 2020, which isolated people from each other and prevented countries from preventing each other, has led to a sudden change in the mode of international communication from flow and integration to isolation and isolation. It has had a profound impact on global politics and economy, and disrupted global education flow on an unprecedented scale. Faced with the increasingly complex and severe international situation, education opening to the outside world must be prepared to deal with the external environment changes for a long time in thought and work. On the other hand, due to the interweaving of COVID-19 and the confrontation between China and the United States, as well as the inherent structural problems of China’s economic development, China’s economic growth is also slow. Under such circumstances, China has rapidly shifted from pursuing quantitative development to qualitative improvement by adjusting and expanding the policy of international students. Many international students, lured by generous scholarships, have been dragged in. And the epidemic is not only affecting international student movement itself, but also posing significant financial risks for trade-oriented Western universities in Western countries. The financial crisis has led Western countries to
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turn the flow of international students to trade in services. Many of these Western countries have reduced the financial burden of higher education and given financial support. Others are trying to reduce their budget deficit by enrolling more foreign students in exchange for higher tuition fees. The outbreak has had a severe impact on the global economy. Many families are less willing and able to pay for their own study abroad. Governments and universities in the United States, the United Kingdom and other countries are preparing for a possible 50–75% drop in the number of international students. As the external demand for opening to the outside world shrinks sharply, the number and scale of international students in China may decline significantly. In addition, the restrictions of the United States on the subjects and majors of overseas students in China have greatly impacted the international expansion of China’s education chain and talent chain. In this context, the internationalization of China’s higher education is facing all kinds of pressures and challenges, but also facing the opportunity of transformation. Emphasizing independent development and innovation, strengthening local international education, etc., will become the main melody of China’s international education. In addition, the epidemic situation abroad is still serious. Out of safety concerns, most universities decide to continue to teach online and enjoy superior education and resources in “staying at home”. To improve the international level and ability of all students by learning advanced transnational culture and international concepts in local international courses. With the development of economic globalization, the relationship between higher education and economy is constantly developing and changing. In modern economic society, economy has more and more active influence on higher education and plays an increasingly important role. The international development of higher education is decided by the social economy and the stage development demands of higher education. On the one hand, higher education responds to the differentiated demands of different stages of social and economic development through the change of internationalization model. China’s higher education needs to have the corresponding competitive ability to participate in the global international competition. Internationalization provides a path for higher education to build international competitiveness. The international education hub has become an important path for some countries to promote the internationalization of higher education and enhance the development level and international influence of higher education. China raises funds for educational development through training professionals and carrying out scientific and technological consultation, so that universities can use them flexibly according to their actual development goals and needs. Higher education is closely related to the development of science and technology and global economic competition. In developed countries, there is fierce competition between public and private universities for funding through market dominance. Chinese universities can promote the internationalization of higher education through government-led investment and university governance. Therefore, China’s higher education development model is complementary to the model of developed countries. China has invested a lot of funds to build world-class universities, while emerging countries also learn from the experience of China, the largest developing country in the world, in building universities.
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In the past, Chinese colleges and universities adopted the traditional mode of internationalization, which is mainly characterized by one-way cross-border flow of personnel. The development of this mode is mainly faced with difficulties in ideology, educational justice and educational quality. In thinking, a lot of people because of the influence of traditional thinking, will be “international” simply considered the “westernization” or “Americanization”, this makes the most of the people will as the mainstream of Western culture, or in order to “international standards” and to reform their education system, so easy to make the higher education to become subservient to the west. Such concerns are justified, as Laraine points out: “The process of internationalization was and is a process of control and distribution of power. In this process, the dominant cultural pattern of the society becomes the model, which is the goal that other people must pursue”. The traditional mode of internationalization ignores or even despises its own cultural characteristics, and once it loses its own characteristics, China will become a vassal state of cultural hegemony. In practice, the problems of the traditional internationalization model are mainly reflected in the following two points: first, the problem of educational inequality; the second problem is brain drain. In terms of educational equity, the traditional model of internationalization is largely seen as an upper-class activity—a game based on high investment that leaves most students without academic capital or financial resources locked out. The internationalization of this mode cannot be oriented to all students, so that all students can receive high-quality educational opportunities and resources in a relatively fair way. In terms of the flow of talents, academic talents flow from the south to the north in large numbers, that is, from the developing countries to North America and Europe. The country invests a lot of money and resources to cultivate talents, but cannot stay in the country, resulting in the interests of the country. This also forces our country to break the malpractice of the traditional internationalization mode and change the traditional internationalization mode. The internationalization of education is a weapon for developing international relations and seeking welfare for the country. Since the reform and opening, China has actively communicated with other countries in the world and put forward the “One Belt and One Road” strategy based on the China-led intercontinental development and cooperation framework. “One Belt and One Road” construction to promote higher level of education opening to the outside world is a key move in the face of complex external environment. Based on the needs of local higher education, the form of international education keeps emerging, and the embryonic form of regional international education center is beginning to appear, mainly in the southeast coastal provinces with developed economy. In the process of internationalization, some institutions of higher learning combine existing international education and teaching resources with their internationalization development strategies, and build international institutions based on “resource integration and agglomeration” based on the foundation and development needs of regional higher education. In this case, China’s culture and education to the world while facing the world at the same time constantly absorb the culture of other countries. Due to the internationalization of advocating based on local, so it can be well balanced with other countries, cultures and civilizations, we the relationship between self and others to ease or even bridge the cultural conflicts between the
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era of globalization in different countries, to better serve their interests, which can effectively relieve the impact brought by the outside world culture and values. In addition, the “One Belt and One Road” strategy is in urgent need of many foreign pioneering talents, and education is the main way of human resources development, is an important platform for cultural exchange. Therefore, to promote the development of local-based internationalization and establish local-based international curriculum is not only the overall requirement for the transformation of China’s educational development mode, but also the individual requirement for the types, specifications and quality of talent cultivation in different regions. The relationship between the international goal and the national goal is the same as that between the individual goal and the social goal, which has both the opposite side and the unity side, so we can seek the integration between the two according to the principle of “harmony without uniformity”. Let students learn to be responsible for the international, international competitiveness, the course goal, must have a global orientation, on the other hand, students also need to have the Chinese traditional virtues and patriotic quality, national pride, so the course goal is not a national orientation. Therefore, for the world’s advanced educational theories and curriculum theories and models, we should avoid rigid transplantation and should combine their own reality to draw lessons from. Moreover, the excellent Chinese culture is itself a part of the splendid world civilization. We should have more cultural confidence and present our own culture on the world stage so that other countries can learn from it. For multinational educators, it’s not just about the culture of their own country. They need to understand all kinds of issues related to beliefs, world outlook, politics and so on. Students and scholars in different countries will be on the economy, geography, history, political problems, such as different opinions, cultural differences will make educators need to build in the internationalization course, countries will face competition from around the world, the university will need to adapt to the international cultural exchange, the curriculum from the cultural environment will be an advantage to a certain extent. The strategy of strengthening China’s education also needs to transform the population advantage into talent advantage and improve the international integration and integration strength. An international curriculum for all students can meet this need. Due to the scarcity of high-quality higher education resources and the unbalanced characteristics of social and economic development, although cross-border flow is regarded as a practical strategy to effectively promote the internationalization of education, high-quality higher education resources cannot be enjoyed by most students. In most cases, the traditional model of internationalization presents a society in which those who can go abroad are getting richer while those who are poor remain poor and the gap between the rich and the poor is widening. This is because those who can carry out cross-border mobility are the concentrated owners of educational resources in China. They either have more economic and educational resources or have stronger intellectual capital. Those who cannot achieve cross-border mobility are greatly different from the former due to the lack of cultivation of international vision and cross-cultural ability. The formation of this “difference” is obviously not conducive to the development of social justice. In this context, local internationalization is a good solution to this problem. Its “based on the local school”, “for the
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students”, “enhance the internationalization of all students and cross-cultural literacy” characteristics can bring a loophole in the very good make up for the traditional education, let relative more equitable allocation of education resources, the popularization of higher education resources is relatively fair to each student, to realize the transformation from the traditional elite education concept of “the best are the best” to the democratic education concept of “benefiting all” in local internationalization. This will also reduce the huge gap between the rich and the poor in our society. Since the 1980s, the trend of economic globalization has clearly emerged, and the impact of economic globalization on higher education is very significant. In the context of economic globalization, firstly, other member states can provide cross-border education services to Chinese consumers within their territory, such as online education and correspondence education. In this way, students can understand and learn foreign knowledge through self-learning on the Internet and the explanation of teachers from other countries on the Internet, to achieve the effect of cross-border flow to a certain extent. Secondly, educational service providers from other Member States can set up educational institutions in our country. Studying in educational institutions set up by teachers from other countries enables some non-university personnel to learn more about knowledge and culture without having to travel across borders. Finally, educational service providers from other member states can enter China as natural persons to provide services, such as foreign teachers coming to China to teach. This provision can enable universities to fully absorb foreign teachers, improve the education level of foreign knowledge and enable university students to acquire knowledge of other countries without cross-border flow, broaden their horizons and narrow the gap with cross-border flow students. In a word, under the background of economic globalization, it is easier to realize local internationalization, which provides more convenient conditions for the implementation of local internationalization and promotes the implementation of local internationalization. On the one hand, the benefits of internationalization will be extended from people who can or are willing to move across borders to a wider range of social classes. However, different levels of discipline and teachers’ input will also lead to unfair distribution of local internationalization. The idea of internationalization in Shanghai is like a big tree. In the process of growth, different schools have emerged, among which the most striking idea is the idea of internationalization of curriculum. Nowadays, more and more universities are beginning to pay attention to internationalization of courses. However, internationalization is not out of date in local areas. It is still a useful concept for specific purposes in specific contexts. The local model of internationalization that originated in Western Europe does not necessarily work in other countries. In Western Europe, the geographical distance between countries is very short, and teachers can always take students to visit neighboring countries for a period. And air travel is getting cheaper and cheaper. Universities can incorporate short-term student mobility into their curriculum design in ways that are unlikely to be possible in the rest of the world. We can constantly explore and improve the practice under the guidance of the local internationalization concept. The internationalization of higher education has a long history, its formation and development is not smooth, nor is it permanent, it is definitely not formed by accident. It not only
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needs the joint efforts of all aspects, but also needs to be formed and developed under the action of various factors. In fact, many ideas are a kind of perfect assumption that cannot be met. No matter how difficult it is in practice, if it is rational and reasonable, it is worthy of people’s serious treatment and promotion. We need to do is to overcome the difficult in practice, at the same time also want to know whether it is a kind of theory is not perfect, we found in the process of implementation to deficiency in theory, then according to the actual situation and its deficiency in the development of the society improvement theory, promote the continuous development of it, let it glow vitality in constant practice. Let the theory of local internationalization play its biggest role in China’s education cause, and let it continuously promote the development of China’s higher education cause in the process. So that it can benefit every college student in our country to the greatest extent.
9.3 Summary The post-epidemic era has brought opportunities to the governance of universities in China. The organizational system of higher education has been optimized and innovated, and the running philosophy of higher education has been continuously internationalized, which further promotes the internationalization of local education, promotes the development of higher education and fosters students’ international vision and ideas. The higher education of our country has been developed slowly by learning from the successful experience of Western developed countries. Therefore, as an important part of higher education, local colleges in solving international talent training in all kinds of problems in the process, other colleges and universities must not completely copy the Western model of education, must be based on their actual situation, highlights its own characteristics, out of a distinctive international talent training and then promote the development of internationalization of higher education in China. Only by facing the world and combining with the actual situation, formulating the training path of international talents in line with their own development and highlighting the characteristics of schooling can they accelerate the pace of internationalization development and better conform to the development trend of education internationalization (Liu, 2017, 2020; Wang, 2020; Xu & Kan, 2021; Zhong, 2019).
References Liu X. (2017). The impact of cultural communication on higher education in the context of “one belt and one road”. Reform and Opening-up, 20 (19).10–12. Wang, P. (2020). Preliminary study on the concept and practice of higher education “Internationalization in local areas.” Science and Technology Vision, 20(03), 210–213.
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Liu, J. (2020). Research on the implementation path of international education in Ningbo universities under the background of COVID-19 epidemic. Journal of Hubei Open Vocational College, 20(11), 13–17. Xu, X., & Kan, Y. (2021). Entering the new globalization—challenges and countermeasures of China’s education opening to the outside world in the New Era. Educational Research, 42(01), 129–137. Zhong, Y. (2019). Local internationalization: A new way to cultivate internationalized talents in Chinese Universities. Shandong Higher Education, 7(01), 35–41.
Part III
International Education Development in China: Contexts, Policies, and Implications
Chapter 10
Exploring the International Students in China: Political and Cultural Context Analysis
This chapter examines the international students in China from multiple contexts. The stable political situation and good higher education environment have created favorable conditions for the development of international students’ education. The rapid development of economy also has a significant impact on people’s life, in addition to food, clothing, housing and transportation, and more importantly, it has an impact on Chinese students studying in China. From today’s point of view, China, as one of the four ancient civilizations, has a long history and profound historical and cultural deposits, which attracts scholars from all over the world to come to China to study in China and truly experience the integration of Chinese history and modern times. The stable political situation in the present era has promoted the development of studying in China. The current situation of studying in China cannot be achieved without the support of the Chinese government. Many policies of the Chinese government provide favorable conditions for studying in China. Reform and opening have opened a door for China to embrace the world and opened the arms of foreign countries to enter China. After the reform and opening, more and more foreign students choose to study in China. In recent years, the “One Belt, One Road” policy has not only driven China’s development, but also promoted the development of the world. The construction of the Belt and Road has attracted foreign students to study in China and appreciate the charm of Chinese culture. China has also promulgated many policies to promote the development of overseas education in China, such as setting up scholarships to attract high-quality foreign students to study in China.
10.1 Political Background of International Students Studying in China In today’s world, peace and development have become indisputable themes, and the internationalization of graduate education in various countries has entered a period of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_10
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comprehensive development. The stable political situation and good higher education environment have created favorable conditions for the development of international students’ education. According to the website of the Ministry of Education, 195,503 international students came to China in 2007, the highest number since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. To further improve the education quality of overseas students in China, we must expand the number of students with high-level academic qualifications. Training overseas students with academic qualifications in China, especially overseas graduate students in China, can not only improve the internationalization level of postgraduate education in China, but also expand the influence of Chinese universities in the world.
10.1.1 The Early days of the Founding of the People’s Republic of China From the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the days before reform and opening, China was faced with the arduous task of breaking through the imperialist blockade, winning broad international support, maintaining the socialist system and consolidating the new regime. To complement this political strategy, China regards studying in China as an international obligation and has formulated corresponding policies to focus on accepting students from friendly countries and cultivating specialized construction talents for them through intergovernmental agreements. Reform and opening: Stage1: 1978–1991. Stepping into the period of reform and opening, building socialist modernization and promoting social opening have become the focus of national work. Modernization needs many construction talents, especially those who master international advanced technology and management experience. To cooperate with the reform, opening and modernization drive, China has formulated relevant education policies for foreign students and actively created conditions to enrich the categories and sources of foreign students. By increasing the acceptance of students from capitalist countries, opening the channels for selffunded study in China and expanding the scale of acceptance, China has gained more opportunities to send overseas students to developed countries, thus speeding up the talent training for China’s modernization drive and promoting the social opening to a certain extent. Moreover, the reform and opening greatly expanded the development space of the education of international students in China and provided a good institutional guarantee for the development of the education of international students in China. In 1978, China received 1,236 international students from 72 countries. In February 1979, the State Council approved the report of the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Culture, the Ministry of Finance, and the State Planning Commission on the expansion of the scale of foreign students. The report put forward that the total number of foreign students accepted by institutions of higher learning should reach 12,000 by 1985. On this basis, the Administrative Measures for Foreign Students was formulated, which was approved and issued by
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the State Council in 1985. With the accelerating process of socialist modernization, the number of overseas students applying to study in China is also increasing year by year. In order to meet the demand of more coming to China to study abroad, in 1989, the Ministry of Education official post, regulation of colleges and universities can accept foreign students at his own expense; this is for foreign students studying in China provides a wider channel, also raised the enthusiasm and initiative of receiving foreign students in colleges and universities, greatly promoted the development of the foreign student’s education career. From 1980 to 1989, 13,036 foreign students from 129 countries were enrolled, of whom 4,697 were from Asia, accounting for 36.0 percent; 2,260 from Africa, accounting for 17.3%; 285 from Latin America, accounting for 2.2%; 4740 people from Europe, accounting for 36.4%; 797 from the United States and Canada, accounting for 6.1%; and Oceania 257, accounting for 2.0%. In addition, it has accepted about 20,000 self-funded long-term and short-term students, who are distributed in 110 universities in 16 provinces and cities. In 1990, the total number of foreign students in China exceeded 10,000, and the number of self-funded students also exceeded the number of government-funded students for the first time (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020). Stage 2: 1992 to present. In 1992, Deng Xiaoping’s Southern Tour Speech and the 14th National Congress of the Communist Party of China pointed out the right direction for the education of international students in China, and the education of international students in China gradually moved toward the direction of institutionalization and scale. In accordance with the requirements of the Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development, the State Education Commission has started the reform of the educational system for foreign students. In terms of the relationship between the government and the university, according to the principle of separating government from business, the government began to strengthen the macro-management and regulation of the work of international students through legislation, appropriation, planning, evaluation, information service, policy guidance and administrative means. The State Education Commission has gone beyond the direct management of the affairs of foreign students and highlighted the legal person status of the university. Since 1992, the university has gradually given the admission power, the power of rewards and punishment, the right to withdraw from school and the right to negotiate with foreign students. The scale, specialty and charging standard of enrolling self-funded students are all decided by the university itself. It has greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of colleges and universities for the education of foreign students, expanded the autonomy of running schools and improved the vigor of running schools. Since 1992, the average growth rate of the number of foreign students has exceeded 30%, among which the growth rate of self-funded students has exceeded 40%. In 2001, there were 61,869 international students from 169 countries in China, including 41,226 long-term international students, accounting for 66.63% of the total; 20,643 short-term overseas students (studying for less than 6 months), accounting for 33.37% of the total number of overseas students. In 2002, the number of foreign students in China increased to 85,800. In 2003, the number of international students in China decreased by 9.45% due to SARS. In 2004, the education
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of international students in China resumed its development, with the total number of international students in China exceeding 110,000, marking the largest annual increase in the number of international students in China in the past decade. In 2005, the total number of students in China reached 141,087. In 2006, 162,695 students from 184 countries and regions studied in 519 institutions of higher learning and other teaching and research institutions in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government (excluding Taiwan Province, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions). In 2007, China accepted 195,503 international students, the highest number since the founding of the People’s Republic of China (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020).
10.1.2 Further Expanding the Opening of Education to the Outside World Since the 1990s, with the idea that “whoever masters the education oriented to the twenty-first century will be in the strategic active position in the international competition of the twenty-first century”, “further expanding the opening of education to the outside world and strengthening the international educational exchange and cooperation” has become one of the important strategies of China’s reform and development. To cooperate with the in-depth reform and sustainable development and to promote the modernization of higher education, the Chinese government has promulgated a series of policies on the education of international students, established the dominant position of colleges and universities in recruiting and training foreign students, and encouraged colleges and universities to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation. It promotes the mutual learning, penetration and integration of higher education between Chinese colleges and universities and other countries and regions in the world. In 2001, China successfully joined the WTO. In the WTO system, the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) clearly stipulates those educational services are the fifth category of service trade. Among the four modes of education trade, China has made the most thorough commitment to overseas consumption, without any restriction on its market access and national treatment. This means that China’s education market opens important fields to foreign countries. Overseas education has become the main form of overseas consumption in international education service trade. Since China’s accession to the World Trade Organization (WTO), studying abroad in China has become a new path for China’s opening up. In 2014, studying in the national work conference Xi Jinping made important instructions for the job: general secretary study work to adapt to the developing trend of country and the party and the nation’s overall work, overall plan of studying abroad and study abroad in China, the integrated use of international and domestic two kinds of resources, to train more talents, efforts to create a new situation study work. Thanks to policy
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promotion, the trade in services for studying abroad in China has not only changed in scale, China has begun to rank among the world’s top five host countries for foreign students, but the number of Chinese universities receiving foreign students has also increased year by year. At the same time, the structure of international students in China has also undergone a series of changes: in terms of the source of students, Asian students accounted for most international students in the early stage, and in the past 20 years, African and European countries have seen a substantial increase in the number of overseas students in China. From the perspective of overseas study, overseas students in China choose non-academic education in the early stage, such as short-term training, and in recent years, more and more young students choose to receive academic education in China, which makes the development of long-term higher education outstanding. From the perspective of disciplines, the early overseas students in China mainly received Chinese language training. In recent years, with the preference for academic education in China, more and more young students have begun to receive academic education in multiple disciplines including medicine, humanities, science and technology in China for a long time. In general, the “Study in China” brand is gradually becoming popular (Bai, 2020; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010). Since President Xi Jinping put forward the idea of jointly building the Silk Road Economic Belt in his speech at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan on September 7, 2013, the Chinese government has steadily promoted the implementation of this initiative, and now remarkable results have been achieved. The implementation of the Belt and Road Initiative has deepened the level of China’s opening to the outside world. It has not only achieved remarkable achievements in economy and politics, but also built a bridge of interconnection in culture and education. According to statistics, the number of foreign students pursuing academic education in China has increased year by year since 2015. A total of 489,200 students came to China to study in 2017, and the number is expected to grow by 10 percent annually, making China the largest destination for students in Asia and the third largest in the world after the United States and the United Kingdom, according to the Ministry of Education on March 30. Among them, 317,200 were students from countries along the Belt and Road, accounting for 64.85% of the total, an increase of 11.58%, higher than the average growth rate of all countries. According to the National Development and Reform Commission in March 2015, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Ministry of Commerce jointly issued the “push to build the silk road economic belt and the twenty-first century the vision and action of the Marine silk road”, promote the hearts and minds of countries along the interlinked to the construction of “area” is the social foundation, and expand the scale of mutual study abroad, conduct cooperation in running schools, is an important approach to realize the confidence of the people is same. Subsequently, the Ministry of Education also issued “promote to build” area “education campaign” this guidance document is put forward for the “area” all the way along the national special training industry leader talents and skilled talents, improve the student’s quality of personnel training, to build China into a welcome by students from along the study abroad destination countries. With the release of a series of guiding documents, various ministries, local authorities and colleges have
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also quickly set up a number of specific projects and support plans for foreign students from “One Belt and One Road” countries, such as the establishment of “One Belt and One Road University Alliance” and the establishment of scholarships for foreign students in China. China’s Ministry of Education and education systems at all levels have issued a series of guidance documents to promote educational cooperation with One Belt and One Road-related countries. In October 2015, 47 universities from 8 countries related to the “One Belt and One Road” established the “One Belt and One Road” University Strategic Alliance in Dunhuang, Gansu Province. By 2017, the membership of the alliance has reached 148 universities, covering 27 countries. At present, a total of 46 countries and regions have realized the mutual recognition of academic qualifications and degrees with China, of which 24 are One Belt and One Road-related countries (Bai, 2020; Li et al., 2019; Zheng, 2010).
10.1.3 Attracting “Belt and Road” Students to Study in China China’s higher education development has certain advantages in attracting “Belt and Road” students to study in China. In the past ten years, China’s higher education has developed rapidly, and the quality of education has improved rapidly and significantly. China has grown into the third largest international student importing country only after Europe and the United States. In 2016, a total of 33 universities from the Chinese mainland were in the top 720 of the QS World University Rankings, and 24 were in the top 500. Tsinghua University ranked 24th, ahead of the University of Tokyo and the University of Hong Kong. In Asia, it was second only to the National University of Singapore and Nanyang Technological University. Peking University, Fudan University and Shanghai Jiao Tong University also made the top 100. In the latest QS World University Rankings 2017, the number of Chinese mainland universities in the top 100 has increased to 39. Besides Tsinghua, Peking, Fudan and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Zhejiang University and University of Science and Technology of China have also made it into the top 100 universities in the world. The development of higher education in China is in sharp contrast to the lack and imbalance of higher education resources in the countries along the “One Belt and One Road”. Pakistan, with a population of nearly 200 million, has only one university ranked in the top 501–550. Vietnam, a country of nearly 80 million people, does not have a single university on the list. Many countries along the “One Belt and One Road” are still facing the problem of lack of higher education resources, and there is a great demand for overseas study (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020). Supported by the Chinese Government. In July 2010, the CPC Central Committee and the State Council promulgated the Outline of the National Medium- and LongTerm Plan for Educational Reform and Development (2010–2020), which clearly stated that “we will further expand the number of foreign students studying in China and implement the Study in China Plan”. On September 28, 2010, the Ministry of Education announced the “Study in China Plan”, which plans to offer students to
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study in mainland universities, primary and secondary schools throughout the year until 2020. The impact of economic development on education is obvious to all. Nowadays, many people can freely choose to study abroad without being restricted by economic conditions. Of course, due to economic development, our country also attracts many foreign students to study in China, such as Indian students. In 2003, India had only 132 students studying in China, ranking 31st in the country. In 2004, it reached 765 students, ranking 19th in the country. Since then, it has seen a surge of growth, reaching 8,145 students in 2008, ranking 7th in the country. In 2010, the Ministry of Education of China formulated the Study in China Plan, which clearly put forward the 16-character policy of “expanding the scale, optimizing the structure, standardizing the management and ensuring the quality”. As the primary goal of the 16-character policy, “expanding the scale” has become the focus of the work of studying in China in recent years. From 2009 to 2018, the number of Indian students studying in China has increased year by year. In 2009, the total number of students studying in China reached 238,184, among whom 8,468 were Indian students, accounting for 2.56 percent of the total. By 2018, the total number of international students in China reached 492,185, double the number a decade ago, and the number of Indian students reached 23,918, nearly triple the number a decade ago, accounting for 4.71 percent of the total number of international students in China. In the past decade, the average annual growth rate of the number of international students in China is 8.27 percentage points, while that of Indian students is 11.18 percentage points, 2.91 percentage points higher than the average annual growth rate of Chinese students in China. In particular, the proposal of “One Belt and One Road” in 2013 attracted more Indian students to study in China, and the number of Indian students rose sharply, with the growth rate exceeding 10%, 5.83 percentage points higher than in 2012. Since 2010, the number of graduate students studying in China from “One Belt and One Road” countries has been increasing year by year, and it accounts for a large proportion of the total number of graduate students studying in China in the world. The number of graduate students studying in China increased from 12,099 in 2010 to 46,096 in 2017, and the total number of graduate students studying in China accounted for 60.8% of the total number of graduate students studying in China, up from 48.7% in 2010. The Belt and Road Initiative has continuously promoted the economic and trade cooperation and cultural exchanges between China and countries along the Belt and Road. The continuous promotion of Confucius Institutes and Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools has stimulated the enthusiasm of studying in China, the cross-border flow of students has increased frequently, and the scale of international students has continued to expand. The higher the level of economic development, the more sufficient the research and development funds of higher education research departments, the greater the amount of economic cooperation with China, the larger the number of students in China and the larger the scale. Since the reform and opening, China’s economy has developed rapidly, and the achievements of economic development are obvious to all. They have made great contributions in terms of food, clothing, shelter and education. Sustained growth in
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recent years, the number of the students in our country, the scale expands unceasingly, largely due to the economic development of China, the high level of economic development of our country provides foreign students with a great deal of material guarantee, let them in studying abroad at the same time also can ensure their good living conditions, it is also one of the reasons to attract foreign students to study abroad. I believe that with the increasing prosperity of our country’s economy, more and more foreign students will come here (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020).
10.2 Cultural Background of Studying in China 10.2.1 Traditional Chinese Cultural Background Culture is the social attribute of human beings and has supernatural characteristics. Everything that happens in the nature outside human beings and their activities does not belong to human culture. However, human beings themselves are the products of nature, so human culture is inseparable from nature and takes nature as the basis and premise for survival and development. While providing people with living conditions, nature is also tempering people’s will and giving people a lot of pressure. Only by constantly overcoming these pressures can human beings reproduce and survive and continue to develop. Therefore, in the beginning of human beings, understanding nature and transforming the environment have become the priority of human survival, and will become a lifelong mission. In the process of labor, man creates culture and guides himself to know and transform nature with the cultural view. To understand nature, human beings must have an active effect on the environment. On the contrary, the environment also restricts human beings through the eternal action of natural laws. The two bodies, subject and object, coexist and depend on each other, co-living in the cycle and changing living tense. This is the dynamic relationship between man and the natural environment. In the primitive stage of human beings, the focus of survival dynamics was on the side of natural environment. People could only passively be subject to the environment but could not choose the nature autonomously. People were basically slaves of the environment. When man began to learn to grow, keep poultry and build houses, the total dependence on the natural environment began to change, which meant that man began to have the initiative to survive. From this moment on, the cultural landscape created by man appeared on the earth. Cultural landscape is relative to natural landscape. The latter generally refers to the natural scenery on the surface, which can be divided into regions according to the geomorphic features, such as forest landscape, grassland landscape and so on. The former is a landscape created by human beings consciously using nature. The emergence of cultural landscape is of great importance for human beings. It can make the inaccessible places full of vitality and make people find a place to make a living
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in the places where there were no living conditions before. For example, oasis is created in desert, irrigation network is built in the land devastated by drought and so on. The living space of human beings has been greatly expanded, so they have greater freedom to live. Because of the restriction of the natural law, the cultural landscape must be created on a natural basis. On the one hand, nature provides advantages in his favor, sometimes insignificant, and he seeks to enlarge them until he can survive and develop. On the other hand, nature is an objective force different from consciousness. It has its own natural way and geography, and even the cultural landscape, which is relatively independent from nature, is still subject to the ecological laws of nature. Human beings must obey and follow such laws, otherwise they will be mercilessly retaliated by nature (Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012). From ancient times to the present, no matter whether human beings depend lightly or heavily on the geographical environment and nature, the laws of nature and geographical factors will exert certain influence on human beings. Therefore, to study the early history and cultural origin of human beings, we must consider the geographical environment factors. There is no doubt that geographical factors and natural factors have a very important impact on human beings, especially their survival. Even in the early society of human beings, the geographical environment indirectly acted on human psychology, and the effect was obvious. However, the geographical environment is external to the society after all, when the human society has reached a certain stage of development, the influence of geographical environment will not play a major role. In other words, for the development of human society and the formation of national character, geographical environment is a factor, but not the only factor, let alone the dominant factor. In view of this, when we introduce the cultural function of geography, we will take the humanized nature—cultural landscape as a corresponding factor and focus on the early history of mankind. Although Chinese culture originated in the river basin, it has adopted a variety of cultivation methods due to the complex terrain, and there is no need to be obstinate on the fertile soil given by the river. At the same time, there are five major river systems from north to south, which echo each other and facilitate the migration of ethnic groups and cultural exchanges. Especially in the ancient time when the means of land transportation was not developed, the use of river transportation became more important. In the Neolithic Age, different cultural regions interpenetrated with each other, which was based on the characteristics of river distribution in China.
10.2.2 Modernization of China’s Traditional Culture Traditional culture and modernization are two links formed during historical development, which are mutually linked and contradictory. Traditional culture is the accumulation of yesterday’s cultural creation activities and the cultural achievements that can influence later generations. Modernization is the goal of the current historical process, which is different from each other but also related to each other. It
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is biased to adopt the attitude of quintessence or national nihilism toward traditional culture. Traditional culture is the civilization achievement created and accumulated by a nation in historical practice. It may be expressed in the material carrier, such as architecture, sculpture, production tools, living utensils; or in language and writing; or in abstract character, ability, national mentality, way of thinking, way of life, standard of value; or the accumulation and storage of all kinds of knowledge and information. In a word, traditional culture is a cultural accumulation accumulated and handed down in the course of history, which is constantly developing and changing. People’s creative activities today will be deposited in the long river of history tomorrow. While forming new cultural relics, they will also influence the future civilization with their own historical existence. Like the relic of stone culture gave birth to the bronze culture and then gave birth to the iron culture. This gradual inheritance of mutual cause and effect is a historical objective existence independent of human’s subjective will. Traditional culture cannot be obliterated. Human culture cannot develop without inheritance. Each of us lives and grows up in a certain traditional culture. Everyone is nurtured by the cultural tradition of their own nation, and people’s way of life and way of thinking are all affected by traditional culture. The knowledge and ability acquired, as well as the way of thinking and working formed, will also be stamped with the brand of traditional culture. In today’s world, there have emerged examples of the combination of traditional culture and modernization, which shows that traditional culture and modernization are not diametrically opposed. Japan, Singapore and South Korea are more modern than we are, but they respect the role of traditional culture more than we do. Japan has made amazing progress in translating Confucianism into a collaborative sense of group. As we all know, human history is a continuous development. Tradition can only reflect the past. Once it has become a tradition, it solidifies, leaving the new life which is developing day by day and sometimes coming into serious conflict with it. Therefore, tradition has great inertia. No matter how long, how rich, how glorious, and how nostalgic traditional culture is, it often becomes a heavy burden on the progress of a nation. Tradition is the reflection of old life, not the radiance of a new era. We should have a calm and sober understanding of this, and respect traditional culture while getting rid of inertia. To deny traditional culture is to deny history. In a broad sense, traditional culture refers to the sum of the material and spiritual production capacity and wealth created by human beings in the social practice of transforming the world, including material civilization, spiritual civilization and institutional civilization. Culture in a narrow sense mainly refers to the spiritual production capacity and spiritual products. Traditional culture is the cultural heritage of material civilization and spiritual civilization accumulated in the long-term social practice of a nation, as well as the spiritual embodiment of a nation’s unique way of thinking. Traditional culture has both essence and dross, so we can neither deny it nor absorb it completely. We can only stand in the height of the times and pass the test of practice. Absorb the essence, remove the dross, is the correct play a role (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020).
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To modernize a country, it is necessary to have a culture based on its economy and politics. To deny traditional culture is also to deny history and national spirit. They cut their own roots artificially. White, an American cultural philosopher, said, “Culture is a continuum, and each stage of cultural development is generated in the earlier cultural environment”. “The present culture is determined by the past culture, while the future culture is only the current cultural trend”. It can be said that the history of the development of a nation is the history of the development and enrichment of its traditions. Similarly, the national spirit, as an important force to unite and motivate the people, is also the result of long-term edification and cultivation of traditional culture, and the crystallization of traditional culture. It is not terrible for a nation to fall into any predicament. What is terrible is to lose the spiritual support of the nation and have no spiritual support. Therefore, how to treat the problem of traditional culture is not simply a cultural problem, but a problem related to the development of the destiny of the nation. Many historical facts have proved that a country embarking on the course of national rejuvenation and modernization starts by carrying forward its national spirit. National spirit is the soul of a nation. The negation of traditional culture is bound to erase the national spirit. It is wrong to think that China’s modernization can only draw strength from different cultures, and that the process of trying to replace the traditional Chinese cultural model with the Western cultural model is called Westernization. The rich connotation of Chinese traditional culture is mainly reflected in the following aspects: Chinese culture has always focused on the reality of life. Confucius said, “How can one know death when one does not know one’s life?” He also said, “As heaven moves forward, a gentleman should strive for self-improvement”. It is this philosophy of life that has fostered the Chinese nation to fight tenaciously against all natural and social hazards and injustices. Since ancient times, the Chinese people have always believed that they do not believe in evil spirits and are not afraid of ghosts. They emphasize that one should create one’s own happiness. To achieve modernization, this spirit of self-confidence and self-respect must not be little. Traditional Chinese culture despises those who are greedy, ungrateful and chasing fame and wealth. The ancients, speaking of the pursuit of truth, said, “To hear the truth is to die in the evening”. Publicize the spirit of “the road ahead is long, but I see no end, I will search high and low”. This dedication to truth is a powerful driving force for modernization. As an ancient saying goes, “We are old and treat others as old, and our children as young as others”. Only when a society is strict with itself, tolerant to others, forms a social atmosphere of solidarity and mutual assistance, respect for the elderly and care for the young, can it be filled with warmth and harmony, and can it bring hope and strength to people. Chinese culture has been among the world’s advanced cultures for a long time and has spread to Korea, Japan, Vietnam, Central Asia, Arabia and Europe through various ways, affecting the local cultural development and people’s social life to varying degrees. The education of foreign students in China has a long history. It started in the Warring States Period. With the advance of history, the phenomenon of studying in China existed in the dynasties of ancient China. In the capitals of Chinese dynasties, there were often numerous overseas students, who came from different ethnic groups and regions and undertook the important task of learning and
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spreading the Han culture. In the Han culture circle of East Asia, China was the center of Han culture, so it became the center of absorbing foreign students and the export base of Han culture and education. For example, since the Sui Dynasty, there have been many students from Japan, Ryukyu, Korea Peninsula, Vietnam and other East Asian and Southeast Asian countries and regions to receive education in China. In the flourishing Tang Dynasty, more than 1,000 people studied in Chang ‘an, the capital of China. Therefore, as the political, economic and cultural center in the Sui and Tang Dynasties, Shaanxi Province was the earliest center and the most important birthplace of China’s education for foreign students and teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Historically, it has made significant contributions to the education for foreign students and teaching Chinese as a foreign language. In the Qin Dynasty, in search of the elixir of immortality, the First Emperor of the Qin Dynasty sent Xu Fu, an alchemist and many virginal men and women to the sea to seek immortals. This is the initial communication between China and Japan, and the initial understanding between China and Japan. From the third century BC to the second century AD, that is, from the Qin Dynasty to the Western and Eastern Han Dynasties. In this period, the political unification and the great integration of nationalities provided the conditions for economic development and cultural prosperity. The Tang Honglu Si provided them with food, clothes and houses, and were exempt from penal service. They were educated at the Imperial College of Tang and were still under the rule of the Silla government. There are two kinds of students with official expenses, one is mainly for education, and the other is mainly for health. Students with private funds can not only study in the academies under the Imperial Academy of Liangjing, but also receive education in the government schools of the prefectures and counties. Private students need to take care of all expenses by themselves, but they have more freedom of action. They can either go back to China at any time, or study in the Tang Dynasty for a long time or join the government. After graduation, students with official expenses or private expenses could take the Bingongke examination of the Tang Dynasty, and those who passed the examination could be appointed officials of the Tang Dynasty. Of course, the majority of those who returned to Silla after enthronement. After returning to China, they were entrusted with various official positions and were able to be put into a good position. They actively and effectively spread advanced Tang culture, promoted the cultural exchanges between China and Korea, and played an important role in the cause of Tang culture. The first cultural exchanges between Japan and China began in the Western Han Dynasty, in A.D. 57, when Japan sent an envoy to China. The Book of the Later Han and Chronicles of the Three Kingdoms both record in detail the cultural and economic exchanges between China and Japan at that time. After the end of the sixth century, from the beginning of the seventh century to the end of the ninth century, for about two and a half centuries, especially during the Tang Dynasty of China, the exchanges between China and Japan became increasingly close. In the history of cultural exchange between China and Japan, the imperial envoys played an incomparable and important role. To learn Chinese culture, Japan sent a dozen emissaries to the Tang Dynasty. The number, scale, duration and richness of these events are unprecedented in the history of cultural exchanges between China and Japan. Japan sends overseas students to China on a
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large scale to learn Chinese laws and regulations, culture and art. When describing Japan, we often say that Japan and China, facing each other across the sea, are our neighbors across a strip of water. The Japanese envoys to Japan have made great contributions to the development of Japanese society and the promotion of friendly exchanges between China and Japan, and they have borne fruitful fruits (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020).
10.2.3 Analysis of the Historical Background of Studying in China As early as the Spring and Autumn Period, Guan Zhong carried out a reform to strengthen the strength of Qi, providing convenience and preferential conditions for merchants to come to Qi, and developing border trade. After Qin Shi Huang unified the six states, he established the first centralized state and established China’s foreign trade. To strengthen the relations with the surrounding states, he set up one of the nine ministers in charge of foreign trade and commerce. Based on border trade, foreign trade was further deepened in the Han Dynasty, and the policy of mutual trade was carried out. At that time, the policy of opening to the outside world remained above, and no clear ideas had been formed. Take the Han and Tang dynasties for example. In the Han and Tang Dynasties, the country was unified, and the political power was stable, which provided the precondition for opening to the outside world. The Han and Tang Dynasties were the prosperous period for the development of China’s feudal society. The unification measures of Emperor Wudi of the Han Dynasty weakened the power of the princes politically, strengthened the centralization and prevented the country from splitting, which was conducive to social stability and the realization of such grand events as the “Zhenguan Regime” and the “Kaiyuan Era”, and provided a favorable environment for the implementation of opening to the outside world. Therefore, we can draw the conclusion that the stability of a country’s political environment is an important factor for opening to the outside world. Economic development and the improvement of comprehensive national strength are the key factors in opening to the outside world. During the reign of Zhenguan in the Tang Dynasty, Emperor Taizong was determined to reform, knew people and made good use of them, rectify the officials and restore the development of society. After experiencing the “Kaiyuan Era” in the reign of Emperor Xuanzong, the situation of “Da Tang Era” appeared in the Tang Dynasty. The opening up of the Tang Dynasty also showed a prosperity, backed by strong national strength. The Tang Dynasty’s silk, porcelain, astronomical calendar and other commodities were continuously exported to India, Arabia, the Persian Gulf and other parts of the world, and countries from all over the world came to study and do business in Tang. The Tang Dynasty at that time was called the “Great Tang Kingdom”. Taking history as a lesson, today, we are deepening reform and opening to the outside world considering
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our national conditions. Based on equality and mutual benefit, we are opening wider to the outside world and attracting more international scholars to study in China. Scholars who come to China are attracted by our Chinese culture, which reflects the confidence of Chinese culture. For example, the foreign trade characteristics and advantages of the Han and Tang Dynasties are the guarantee for the development of opening to the outside world. Silk, lacquerware and porcelain have been the three pillars of export trade since the Han Dynasty to the Tang Dynasty. Silk has been favored by the upper classes in many countries, and China has been known as the “capital of porcelain” since ancient times. In ancient times, when opening to the outside world was mainly based on foreign trade, China took the initiative to go abroad. Today, we in the inheritance of foreign Han characteristics, on the basis of constant element for opening to the outside world into a new era, opening to the outside world adhere to the “introduction” and “going out”, the use of the combination of Chinese labor, infrastructure and other advantages, market, talent, use of crossborder investment, to achieve “win–win”, constantly in international affairs issued a “voice” in China, “wisdom” in China. Let the scholars in China feel the infinite charm of China (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020).
10.2.4 Modern Historical Background of Studying in China The history of overseas study education in China has a long history. As early as the Spring and Autumn Period and the Warring States Period, there was a precedent of training students to study in China. It reached its peak in the Tang Dynasty and even in the Qing Dynasty. In modern times, due to historical reasons, the history of studying in China has mainly been sorted out and divided into four periods since the founding of “New China”. Start-up period: 1950–1966. After the Second World War, the international situation has gradually changed, and the capitalist camp led by the United States and the socialist camp represented by the Soviet Union formed a confrontation situation. On June 25, 1950, Zhou Enlai, Premier of the State Administration Council, personally chaired a meeting to study the proposal of the Czechoslovakia and Poland on the exchange of foreign students and instructed the Culture and Education Committee of the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education to form a special group to formulate a plan to discuss the exchange of foreign students with relevant countries. According to the instructions of Premier Zhou Enlai, besides agreeing to exchange students with Czechoslovakia and Poland, respectively, the Chinese government also proposed to the governments of Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and other countries to exchange students. These countries responded positively and soon reached agreements. On August 31, 1950, the Culture and Education Committee of the State Council officially transferred the power to the Ministry of Education. With the development and changes of the international situation, the enrollment scope is further expanded to countries in Asia and Africa that have established diplomatic relations with China. In August 1963, the
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First National Conference on Foreign Students’ Work was held, which made it clear that the reception of foreign students should serve the overall situation of China’s political and diplomatic work, serve the cultural exchanges of various countries and enhance the understanding and friendship between China and the rest of the world. From 1950 to 1965, China received 7,239 students from 68 countries in 94 schools in 17 cities across the country. Among them, 6,571 were from socialist countries, accounting for 90.8% of the total number of foreign students in China. There were 533 students from other Asian, African and Latin American countries, accounting for 7.3% of the total. There are 135 international students from Western Europe, North America and Japan, accounting for about 1.9% (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020). In the 28 years from 1950 to 1978, China has accepted and trained 12,800 students in China, almost all of whom were funded by scholarships from the Chinese government. While receiving foreign students in our country’s quantity and scale, the country is very limited, but these students after graduation, many people became ambassador to China in the future, Chinese language expert, professor of history, the news agency’s chief reporter, etc., to promote their respective countries to conduct friendly exchanges and cooperation with China because we have done a lot of work. During this period, China’s overseas education in China was mainly to fulfill its internationalist obligations, train talents for friendly countries and implement a “one-sided” policy in politics, that is, to side with the socialist camp. In a situation of severe shortage of funds, the government set aside precious funds to train Chinese students from former socialist countries in Eastern Europe, to enhance the political influence of socialist countries in China, which was basically in line with the political nature of international education at that time. The period of chaos and reorganization: 1966–1978. In 1966, the education of studying abroad in China was severely impacted by the “Cultural Revolution” and could not be carried out normally. According to premier Zhou, Lin Piao the central leading comrades and the business a careful study of the opinions of the State Council, the Ministry of Education in 1966 on September 19 the sunshine will on foreign embassy in China, 22, inform the related colleges and universities all over the country, and foreign students stop class, to drop out of school for a year, returning to China time prior notice, round-trip international traveling expenses shall be borne by China. With a few exceptions, more than 4,000 students have ended their studies in China and returned to their home countries. In 1971, China’s lawful seat in the United Nations, after President Nixon’s visit in February 1972, many countries have put forward exchange student from China, particularly in the United States and other developed countries consider China agreed to send students to the visit to China the biggest breakthrough, at that time, the “cultural revolution” is not over, education is not to get rid of the fate, China was not correspondingly fully satisfied with accepting foreign students, but began a difficult period of rehabilitation. From 1973 to 1976, under the influence of the extreme “Left” ideology, the education of overseas students in China was difficult and developed slowly. In 1973, China began to accept foreign students, but the scale of foreign students in China was very small. There were 383 students in China, 378 in 1974, 432 in 1975 and 469 in 1976. The number of students in China
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hovered between three and four hundred until 1978. During this period, the Chinese government was still the main body of overseas education in China. After giving free assistance to foreign students for the purpose of politics and diplomacy, the work of studying in China had to stop under the influence of the “Cultural Revolution”. According to statistics, between 1973 and 1977, China received only 2,063 overseas students (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020). Reform and opening period: 1978–1992. In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee was held, and the focus of the whole party’s work shifted to socialist modernization. The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee is a sign of a new historical period, China finally woke up from the nightmare of catastrophe, and the education of overseas students in China stepped on the right track. Since then, China has entered a new stage of historical development, and studying in China has become an important part of opening. In 1978, for the first time, China admitted foreign students through examination. In 1979 and 1984, the second and third National Working Conference on Foreign Students were held, respectively, and the main goals of studying in China were put forward: to strengthen cooperation with the third world; studying in China is an important part of China’s foreign aid work, and it is a long-term and strategic work. In 1979, the State Council approved the “Request for Instructions on the Fee Standard for Receiving Self-funded Foreign Students in China”, which paved the way for the work of self-funded study in China. In 1980, China issued the Notice on the Issue of Offering Short Courses in Chinese for Foreigners in Institutions of Higher Learning, which created conditions for domestic colleges and universities to accept self-funded students for short courses. In 1984, the total number of foreign students studying in Chinese colleges and universities increased to 6,144, among which the number of self-funded students increased to 3,551. From 1978 to the end of 1980s, the scale of Chinese government scholarship students continued to grow, the source countries of students gradually expanded, and the number of self-funded students grew rapidly from nothing. In 1989, the state education commission issued a “about enrolling at” the relevant provisions of the foreign students in China, giving greater autonomy of college recruit power, can be directly in the face of the international student market in colleges and universities, it is coming to China to study education, a milestone in the history of major initiatives, to expand the scale of foreign students to provide the policy basis. On December 18, 1989, the Association of Education and Management for Foreign Students in Colleges and Universities was founded in Tongji University. It is composed of cadres, teachers, experts and scholars who are specialized in the education and management of foreign students. In 1978, for the first time, China adopted the practice of enrolling foreign students through examinations, which ensured the quality of foreign students. In 1979, the State Council approved the “Request for Instructions on the Fee Standard for Foreign Students at Their Own Fees”, which provided conditions for studying in China at their own expense. In 1980, the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on the Issue of Offering Short-term Chinese Training for Foreigners in Colleges and Universities, which greatly promoted the development of short-term Chinese class education in China, and exerted an
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important influence on the development of education for students studying in China. Official post in 1989, the Ministry of Education, regulations of colleges and universities can accept foreign students at his own expense, this is since 1979, when the post-regulation of colleges and universities can accept short-term fee-paying international students after another major move, and the original approval authority of the state education commission to accept students colleges to provinces, municipalities and autonomous regions by the competent department of education, the enrollment of overseas students number is determined by the school autonomy. These measures have greatly stimulated the enthusiasm of schools to develop overseas education in China, which does not account for the planned enrollment targets issued by the state. In addition to the importance attached by the government to the education of foreign students in China, the academic activities of MIN have also initiated the research on the education theories of foreign students. In 1986, L5 institutions of higher learning voluntarily established the first mass academic group in Beijing Language and Culture University, which specialized in studying the education of overseas students. It marked the transformation of the management of the education of overseas students in China from experience-based to scientific-based. Beijing Language and Culture University (BLCU) has established the first academic research institution devoted to the education of international students—the Institute of Education and Management for Foreign Students. Later, similar organizations were set up in Shanghai, Guangdong and Jiangsu. In February 1989, the National Association for Education and Management of Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning was established in Shanghai, and a special academic journal, Study on the Work of Foreign Students, was also published. During this period, the number of foreign students in China increased steadily. In 1978, the total number of foreign students in China was 1,900, all of whom enjoyed government scholarships, and in 1989, the number rose to 6,379. It is worth mentioning that self-funded students developed greatly. In 1990, the number of institutions of higher learning eligible to accept foreign students increased to more than 100. This year, for the first time, the number of self-funded foreign students exceeded the number of scholarship students, reaching more than 3,800 (out of the 3,600 scholarship students). In 1991, the total number of overseas students exceeded 10,000 for the first time, 10 times that of 1978. Among them, the number of self-funded students more than doubled from 1990 to more than 8,300. The education of studying abroad in China has made great progress, but some fundamental problems have not been solved. Although those responsible for training, for example, the Chinese government scholarships to Watson’s school students be allowed to enroll at its own cost, but the country still of recruit students at the school and the school recruitment of students scale even to examination and approval and management of student directly, that is to say, the government has yet to transform function, the school also didn’t really become the subject of study in education in China. Although China has enrolled self-funded students, it seems to keep up with the international trend, but it is far from aware of the nature of overseas education industry, let alone the awareness of advocating marketization. In the era of planned
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economy, the concept of overseas education is ten years behind the international one, and the pace is even slower. Great development period: 1992 to present. After Comrade Deng Xiaoping’s speech on his southern tour in 1992, China entered a new historical period of deepening reform, expanding opening up and building socialism with Chinese characteristics, and the education of students studying in China also ushered in an unprecedented period of great development. Especially on 14th made to establish a socialist market economy important decision, the State Council promulgated the “Chinese education reform and development compendium”, request to establish “with the socialist market economic system and political system reform to adapt to the new education system”, put forward to transform government functions, from the point of view of the government to strengthen the function of macro-guidance and regulation by the state education commission. It highlights the legal status of universities, expands the autonomy of institutions of higher learning, makes universities become the main body of overseas education in China, and self-funded students become the mainstream of overseas students in China. In 1992, the number of self-funded foreign students exceeded 10,000 for the first time, and the number of international students in the whole year reached more than 14,000. In 1993, China issued the Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development, which proposed the establishment of a new education system suited to the development of the market economy. Since then, colleges and universities have truly become the main body of overseas education in China, and the number of foreign students, especially self-funded foreign students, has increased rapidly. In 1994 and 1995, the number of overseas students increased by about 10,000 over the previous year for two consecutive years, reaching nearly 26,000 and 36,000, respectively. In 1996, the number of international students enrolled in 289 institutions has increased to more than 41,000, including nearly 37,000 selffunded international students, leaping into the world’s top eight receiving the most international students. Over the past five years, the average growth rate of the number of students studying in China has exceeded 30%, among which the growth rate of self-funded students has exceeded 40%. Both the growth rate and the number of self-funded students have completely exceeded the number of government scholarship students. Despite the serious financial crisis in Southeast Asia in 1998, the number of foreign students studying in China continued to maintain a stable scale. In 2000, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security promulgated the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Colleges and Universities in the form of Decree No. 9, which provides a reference coordinate for the enrollment and management of foreign students in colleges and universities. At this stage, many colleges and universities set up specifically for international students in language teaching and management institutions, institute of international education college or Chinese culture arises at the historic moment, such as in under the guidance of the teaching as the center, the thorough research on ontology and method of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, foreign language became a discipline, set up a team specializing in teaching Chinese as a foreign language teacher. The education of studying abroad in China has developed steadily. After entering
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the twenty-first century, studying in China has entered a period of rapid development. With China’s accession to the WTO, the “One Belt and One Road” initiative put forward by the Chinese government, and the establishment of the cultural exchange mechanism between China and many other countries, studying in China has become the highlight of China’s opening in the new era, an important content of China’s international cooperation and exchange in education, and an organic part of the country’s overall diplomatic work. Party and state leaders have made solemn promises on many important occasions to increase the number of Chinese government scholarships for students studying in China. In 2011, during the second round of the China-US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, China announced that it would provide a total of 10,000 scholarships to the United States for people-to-people and cultural exchange by 2013. In July 2012, at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), President Hu Jintao pledged to provide 18,000 Chinese government scholarships to Africa in the next three years. During President Xi Jinping’s visit to Trinidad and Tobago in June 2014, he announced that 1,000 Chinese government scholarships of various types would be provided to nine Caribbean countries in the next three years. In June 2017, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security jointly formulated the Administrative Measures on the Recruitment and Training of International Students by Schools, which emphasizes on improving the management of institutions of higher learning, improving the quality, and making education in China more attractive. It also puts forward a series of new requirements in the aspects of standardized management and optimized service. This document is of great significance to the overall improvement of the quality of studying in China. In October 2018, the Ministry of Education, issued by the “law of higher education for students studying abroad quality specification”, is the first in view of the higher education for students studying abroad since the founding of the formulation and implementation of unified national basic specification, which is a key in the process of transformation of education for students studying abroad development, basic work, for the construction of the foreign student’s education quality guarantee system laid the foundation. The Ministry of Education will continue to urge local governments and schools to strictly follow the spirit of relevant documents and policy requirements, carry out their main responsibilities, further improve the standards of enrollment, teaching and examination, ensure the quality of students and training and improve the level of management and service. History shows that the student’s education is an important part of national strategy, is the important content of China’s opening to the outside world, is the important way to international diplomacy, is one of the important gripper people-to-people and cultural exchanges, is an important method of “area” talent training, helps to set up a good China’s international image and spread Chinese culture, speaks good Chinese story. The study abroad education in China is becoming an important part of the internationalization of China’s higher education and an important embodiment of the country’s comprehensive national strength. We have every reason to believe that with the increasing improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength, its increasing contribution to the world and its increasingly
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far-reaching role and influence on the community of shared future of mankind, more and more international students will choose to study in China (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020).
10.3 Summary 10.3.1 The Popularity of Studying in China The popularity of studying in China is inseparable from the rapid development of China’s economy. Since the reform and opening, China’s economy has developed rapidly. With this advantage, China has become a strong developing country in the world. Our country has made outstanding achievements in all aspects of the economy. The rapid development of economy has accelerated the transformation of China’s economic model. From the state-owned economy to the market economy, all kinds of economy have achieved development. Economic development has met the needs of people in all aspects of food, clothing, housing and transportation. China’s economy in various fields including real estate, online shopping and other aspects have achieved excellent results. Increasingly rich economic background has attracted many foreign students to study. Economic development has provided favorable conditions for studying in China. Economy not only represents the wealth of a country, but also strengthens the background of a country. Human society has entered a modern civilization characterized by industrialization, universal education and scientificalization. The time-honored traditional culture provides the main content for studying in China. As is known to all, China is one of the world’s four ancient civilizations with a history of 5,000 years. Chinese culture originated in the Yellow River area, and Chinese traditional culture has a long history. The invention of Chinese characters laid a foundation for the communication and dissemination of Chinese culture. Chinese traditional culture is rich and diverse. At the center is the ethical and political culture with Confucian ethics as the core, promoting good and suppressing evil, unifying the true, the good and the beautiful, and aiming at cultural enlightenment. Chinese culture has strong integration and cohesion, strong vitality and innovative development. Human society has entered a modern civilization characterized by industrialization, universal education and scientificalization. Developing education for overseas students is an important work with far-reaching significance, which is closely related to improving China’s international status, creating economic interests, strengthening scientific and cultural exchanges and introducing outstanding talents. It is an important part of China’s diplomatic work, and an effective way to realize education internationalization and promote education development. The education of foreign students in China is an important work of profound significance, which is closely related to political, economic diplomacy, science and technology, and is an important part of China’s diplomatic work. Receiving foreign students to study in
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China is an important symbol of China’s reform and opening, as well as a symbol of the strengthening of China’s comprehensive national strength and the improvement of its international status. Studying in China is an important channel to strengthen the friendly exchanges between China and the people of other countries, expand China’s political, economic and cultural influence, and a bridge for China to establish friendly relations with other countries. Taking the road of education internationalization is the future development trend of Chinese colleges and universities, and the development of international students’ education is undoubtedly an important factor to pull the internationalization of Chinese colleges and universities. Expanding the number of foreign students is also a measure of how international higher education is. The influence of China’s status as a major country and the improvement of its international influence on the cause of studying in China. China’s international status is constantly improving, and it is playing an increasingly important role in international affairs. Many major international issues cannot be resolved without China’s participation. China has become an important force in safeguarding world peace and stability and has established an image as a responsible major country in today’s world. Our foreign policy of independence and peaceful development has made us more and more friends. In such a big era, more and more foreigners are eager to know China and communicate with Chinese people. The prospect of China in the future gives them a great attraction, so they come to study in China one after another. Since the reform and opening, we have narrowed the gap between education and advanced countries by inviting foreign experts and scholars to give lectures in China and carrying out academic exchanges in various aspects. Peace and development are two major themes in today’s world. However, countries are interdependent and fighting each other for the interests of their own countries and families. From the very beginning of the international student work, it has been linked with the international political system, ideology, customs, cultural tradition and lifestyle. In the process of new environment, foreign students will be imperceptibly influenced by foreign culture, be imperceptibly influenced, accept or identify with new values, establish a new outlook on life and world and further develop feelings for the country where they study, and finally show this tendency in political stance. Many countries make full use of this characteristic to cultivate students’ feelings and publicize and influence them in their thoughts. Receiving and training more and more high-quality international students will also help expand the influence of China’s education in the world and promote China’s education to the world. Graduation certificate and degree certificate in Chinese colleges and universities at present in many countries has not been acknowledged that as more and more graduates coming to China to study abroad, in a growing number of countries with our country university graduation certificate and degree certificate in search of work, and through their creative labor proved that most of them are qualified senior specialized talents, will encourage more countries to acknowledge the university graduation Certificates and degree certificates, thereby enhancing the international status of our education. At present, vigorously expanding the scale of international students’ education is very beneficial to China’s long-term and short-term economic benefits and can also supplement or expand China’s educational funds. China is becoming an important destination for
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international student flows. If I can recruit 100,000 overseas students and calculate the total cost per capita at $5,000, I will have an annual income of $500 million. This income can play an important role in alleviating the shortage of educational funds and improving the teaching conditions in colleges and universities. German Minister of Education, Scientific Research and Technology Changchengite and Foreign Minister Kinkel have jointly issued a statement saying: many countries have realized that foreign cultural and educational policies are an important part of foreign economic and scientific and technological cooperation. They urged the German government and universities to create conditions to attract more young foreigners to study in Germany, especially those from the fast-growing Asia–Pacific region. He calls them “the key to Germany’s economic future abroad”. In 1994, there were 450,000 students studying in the United States, most of whom were self-funded students. According to the statistics of the US government, the tuition income of foreign students in the 1994–1995 academic year reached 7 billion dollars, and the annual cost of foreign students in the United States was about 3.5 billion dollars, and the two items together exceeded 10 billion dollars. The United Kingdom collects about $1 billion a year from international students. According to statistics, the United States accepts 50,000 Chinese students a year, which is equivalent to the total number of graduates from more than 20 famous Chinese universities in one year. The economic benefits are obvious. Chinese culture is a culture with a long history, extensive and profound, and linked together. However, the work of exporting Chinese culture is far from enough, and the international cultural community still lacks “Chinese cultural resources”. Therefore, we still have the responsibility to carry forward our national culture. Enrolling and training many foreign students will enable this task to be accomplished successfully and enable Chinese culture to continue to create inestimable social benefits for mankind. At the same time, it will help deepen the understanding and trust between the people of other countries, develop non-governmental exchanges, enhance mutual friendship and promote world peace. The unique Chinese academic tradition, profound historical and cultural deposits, and the fine culture of respecting teachers and valuing education have provided China with a profound foundation for attracting foreign students to China. The earliest overseas students in China can be traced back to the Tang Dynasty, when China was prosperous, politically enlightened, economically developed, technologically advanced and culturally prosperous. Many of them became famous sinologists, such as Matteo in Italy in the Ming Dynasty, Gianni go in France and James Legion in England in the Qing Dynasty. They translated many famous Chinese classics, such as Sun Tzu’s Art of War, The Book of Changes and The Four Books and Five Classics, etc., providing extremely precious materials for the culture, science and technology of various countries. Chinese culture advocates “a man of fine art”. “Bo” means erudite and literate, and “Ya” means refined and noble. Both aim at cultivating people with extensive knowledge and elegant temperament, to get rid of vulgarity and pursue nobility. The liberal arts education for international students is to integrate the extensive and profound Chinese culture into all levels of education, and to cultivate real China hands who are knowledgeable, open-minded and elegant in behavior. The main purpose of education for
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international students is to bring people in, while the main purpose of international promotion of Chinese is to go out. “Come in” and “go out” don’t contradict each other; they complement each other. The “Please Come in” mode enables international students not only to learn the language in the Chinese context, but also to experience the extensive and profound Chinese culture and truly understand China’s national conditions, people’s conditions and customs. The “go global” strategy is to facilitate local people to learn Chinese language blindness and have a brief understanding of traditional Chinese culture, to open a window for them to understand Chinese culture. The two are irreplaceable. Those who are really interested in studying or dealing with China will eventually choose to study in China, because it is the only way to understand this ancient country (Li, 2021; Xue et al., 2021).
10.3.2 The Improvement of International Education Quality and Ability Through the study and cultivation of international students in colleges and universities, the improvement of their quality and ability proves the advantages of our culture and education. Meanwhile, they also bring different regional cultures of different countries in the world. It is also a good channel and form for international students and Chinese students to study, live and communicate together, which can increase Chinese students’ understanding of all parts of the world and cultivate their multicultural communication ability and international communication ability. Receiving more and more foreign students will be beneficial to the general has not yet taken abroad through the contact and interaction with students, teachers and students to understand the world the new trend of development in science and technology, to understand the status of the foreign education and reform train of thought, through the comparative analysis, the pursuit of the true, absorbing others advanced, fill me of short, promote science and technology exchange. International exchange of education is an important feature and main content of education internationalization. It is an irresistible trend of the development of world education, especially higher education. It is also an effective way to realize education internationalization and promote education development. The education of international students is an important part of the educational exchange in many developed countries and also a new bright spot in the development of Chinese colleges and universities. With the increasing internationalization of education, the education of international students has become an effective way for higher education institutions in China to strengthen international exchanges and cooperation in education and to improve the scale and level of running schools. After the reform and opening, China’s education, especially the international exchange of higher education, has made great progress, no matter in scale. The level, scope, location, method and means involved are unprecedented in depth and breadth. The scale, level and level of international students are showing a good trend of development, and gradually formed a foreign study education and management mode with
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Chinese characteristics. Chinese universities are becoming more international. It is of positive significance to promote Chinese colleges and universities to go to the world and improve their international competitiveness. The Ministry of Education has made it clear that China wants to build world-class universities. The number of international students and the attractiveness of these universities to international students are a sign of internationalization. To build world-renowned universities and increase the discourse power of Chinese universities and higher education in the field of international higher education, we must strive to promote the internationalization of universities and colleges. This cooperation also provides a broad platform for universities to accelerate their internationalization. In view of the increasingly fierce competition for talents around the world, it is very necessary for us to take measures to expand the education scale of international students, especially to recruit more high-level international students, and at the same time, to take measures to attract high-level foreign talents to serve in China in various ways. In addition to political and economic benefits, the United States and other major capitalist countries receive and cultivate foreign students; there is also an important benefit, that is, the introduction of foreign talents of high intelligence. The predatory immigration policies of several developed countries, led by the United States, aggravate the loss of talents due to sending overseas students. In the United States, for example, one-third of all Nobel Prize winners “were born overseas”. The book, “Restoring the Relationship”, edited by David Lamberton, acknowledges that the Chinese government’s financial support for American students in the United States also finances the research programs of some American universities. Through strong cooperation with world-renowned universities and research institutions, joint training and cooperative research, and constantly increasing the intensity of open training, more and more Chinese scholars have access to international academic academia and the opportunity to participate in international competition, which has played a huge role in cultivating and cultivating top talents and leading talents in science and technology. High-level international students in China have also started to make a figure in the scientific research activities of Chinese colleges and universities, which has brought vitality to the discipline construction of colleges and universities and effectively promoted the process of internationalization of colleges and universities (Li, 2021; Xue et al., 2021). The recruitment and training of international students have narrowed the distance between China and the West. Let China learn more about the world, and let the world learn more about China. With the comprehensive development of China’s economy and society, especially since entering the twenty-first century, the work of studying in China has entered a new period of development. Facing the challenges and opportunities that international students face in the new century, we should seize the opportunity to meet the challenges and create a new situation of international students’ education. In recent decades, the progress and achievements of international students’ education make us full of confidence in the future development. However, compared with the education of foreign students in the United States, we still have a large gap in many aspects. The United States has many world-renowned universities, with the current education model, advanced management experience and the sense
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of continuous innovation and enterprising competition. In recent years, the value orientation and policy changes of the United States in the internationalization of higher education have also provided a good opportunity for the development of international students’ education. Therefore, in view of the reality, in view of the deficiencies in the education of international students in China, we should be more open and modest, learn and draw on the successful experience of other countries, absorb the advanced ideas of other countries and make use of their strengths and circumvent weaknesses for self-improvement (Bai, 2020; Hu et al., 2020; Li, 2012; Li et al., 2019; Wang, 2020; Yu, 2020; Yuan & Gao, 2020; Zheng, 2010; Zou & Tang, 2020).
References Bai, Y. (2020). Changes and enlightenment of China’s economic development concept since reform and opening up. Journal of Shenyang Cadres, 22(06), 17–21. Hu, R., Yin, H., & Zhu, W. (2020). The status quo, dilemma and strategy of graduate education in One Belt and One Road countries. Modern Educational Management, 20(05), 51–57. Li, D. (2012). A review of research on multiple intelligences in China in recent 30 years. Journal of Changzhou University (Social Sciences Edition).20 (3), 82–85. Li, J. (2021). Shaping “The belt and road initiative” international higher education: A qualitative study of international students from South-Asian countries in Chinese universities. Beijing International Review of Education., 3(1), 22–37. Li, Z., Ding, H., & Zhang, X. (2019). Study on the motivation and countermeasures of foreign students in the context of “One Belt and One Road.” Journal of Science, 20(23), 112–119. Wang, W. (2020). The current situation and development countermeasures of China’s agricultural economy in the new period. Economic Management Digest, 20(04), 166–167. Xue, E., Tian, S., & Li, J. (2021). The macro-level education policy in “The Belt and Road” strategy: A policy text analysis. Beijing International Review of Education, 3(1), 92–105. Yu, M. (2020). Analysis of China’s real estate economic development status. Green Environmental Protection Building Materials, 20(02), 221–228. Yuan, G., & Gao, Q. (2020). Analysis of influencing factors of study in China from “One Belt And One Road” countries. Karamay Journal, 10(05), 25–37. Zheng, X. (2010). Analysis on the significance and advantages of the development of foreign students’ education in China. Exploration of Higher Education, 20(5), 103–107. Zou J. Tang X. (2020). Research on the development of overseas study education in China under the background of “One Belt and One Road”. Science for the Public (Science Education), 20 (02), 152–168.
Chapter 11
Examining Status Quo of International Students Studying in China: Problems and Strategies
This chapter explores the status quo of international students studying in China. In recent years, the number of international students from other countries in China is increasing. It is an inevitable choice for China to continue to expand the enrollment scale of international students. China is now the world’s third and Asia’s largest source of overseas students. With the increase in the number of international students in China, international students are faced with many problems, such as language communication, management, teaching content and quality, construction of teachers, and uneven destination of study. At the same time, this chapter obtained the situation of Chinese overseas students over the years by searching for the Brief Statistics of Foreign Students issued by the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Education and described the number, distribution, country and structure of Chinese overseas students in the past ten years with data and charts. From the micro-point of view, from the perspective of the school, including enrollment, management, teaching and curriculum design, as well as the group of international students, as well as social management, it is worth our deep thinking to deal with the various problems of international students.
11.1 Problems Faced by International Students Studying in China 11.1.1 The Overall Statistics of International Students When exploring the problems faced by international students, the basic situation of international students should be clarified first. According to statistics, a total of 492,185 foreign students from 196 countries and regions studied in 1,004 institutions of higher learning in 31 provinces (autonomous regions and municipalities) in 2018, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_11
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an increase of 3,013 students over the previous year, with an increase rate of 0.62% (the above data do not include Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). The total number of Asian students was 295,043, accounting for 59.95%; the total number of African students was 81,562, accounting for 16.57%; the total number of European students was 73,618, accounting for 14.96%; the total number of students from the Americas was 35,733, or 7.26%; the total number of students from Oceania was 6,229, accounting for 1.27%. The total number of foreign students receiving academic education was 258,122, accounting for 52.44% of the total in Huasheng, an increase of 16,579 over 2017 and 6.86% over the same period last year. The total number of master’s and doctoral students was 85,062, an increase of 12.28% over 2017, of which 25,618 were doctoral students and 59,444 were master’s students. In 2018, there were 234,063 non-degree students overseas. There are 63,041 Chinese government scholarship students, accounting for 12.81% of the total number of Huasheng students. There are 429,144 other international students, accounting for 87.19% of Watson’s total. From these, we can see that China is increasingly becoming the first choice for students from other countries when they study abroad and when they send students from other countries. When foreign students study in China, most of them prefer to study in economically developed regions of China, and the education in economically developed regions is correspondently more developed. Students from other Asian countries account for the largest number of overseas students in China. With the continuous improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength, international status and better development in various aspects in recent years, students from other Asian countries are also more inclined to choose China as their study country. Although Mandarin is the official language of China at present, the country is so vast that dialects in different regions are quite different, and even “ten miles different sounds” may occur, especially between the north and the south of China. At the same time, Chinese has a long history, since oracle has experienced the development of thousands of Chinese characters, as a kind of pictograph has the characteristics of an association between form significance, for some first-time Chinese overseas students in China, how to use Chinese and Chinese characters and Chinese communication becomes the first problem they need to face in the process of learning. Most of the international students have mastered the basic level of Chinese and can meet the normal social communication, but most of the international students report that the biggest difficulty in learning Chinese is spelling, grammar and Chinese characters. They said that it is easy to feel less confident when communicating in Chinese, afraid that others will not understand them and that the culture is too different. Most international students have studied Chinese to a certain extent before coming to China. However, Chinese language system is relatively complex, and the differences in dialects in different regions may lead to problems in daily communication among international students. Most of the elderly in various regions can’t speak Mandarin or poor Mandarin, which may hinder the communication between international students and local people outside the school, which is not conducive to their understanding of local conditions and customs. At the same time, international students also have some difficulties in learning Chinese characters. Unlike other languages, Chinese characters are written in a square form, with their strokes arranged in a flat square
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box. The phonetic unit recorded by Chinese characters is Chinese syllables. Chinese characters are hieroglyphs, and there is a certain rationale between form, sound and meaning. The large number of Chinese characters and the complex structure of Chinese characters have a certain influence on the study of Chinese characters by international students. Language communication is the first and most common problem that international students need to face. To improve this situation, foreign students themselves can use Chinese in mobile phone APP, movies and social activities, besides in class. Chinese is a broad and profound language, which contains the knowledge and rich connotation of broadcasting. As the language with the largest number of speakers, Chinese teaching is now attracting more and more attention in various countries (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020).
11.1.2 The Cultural and Institutional Background Chinese traditional culture is so extensive and profound that it is not easy to choose the appropriate content to teach international students. The study of Chinese traditional culture by international students has not experienced a systematic and perfect process, and there is a certain gap with the convenience of Chinese students in learning traditional culture. Neither relatively unified the teaching content of Chinese literacy class, less relatively clear think standard, in the aspect of the curriculum has yet to reach complete, combined with the experience of most of the teachers in teaching foreign students’ Chinese literacy class, most of the textbooks and inadequate, which creates a Chinese culture course materials selected blindly, confusion and helplessness. International students also have limited access to traditional Chinese culture. Film and television works, translations of ancient and modern Chinese classics, etc., are one of the important ways for international students to get to know traditional Chinese culture in addition to classroom study. However, China’s current cultural industry is difficult to meet the needs of international students to understand Chinese traditional culture with the help of film and television works and literary translations; that is, China’s cultural output still needs to be strengthened. In addition, the interest of international students in Chinese traditional culture will also affect the progress of Chinese traditional culture teaching for international students in China. Different cultural backgrounds, customs and ways of education make the values of international students vary greatly. Therefore, it is a problem that Chinese colleges and universities need to consider how to conduct unified teaching for international students. Some international students hold a positive attitude toward China’s society and traditional culture, hoping to integrate into and further understand it. However, some international students have a prejudice against China’s society and traditional culture and hold an attitude of opposition and exclusion. To solve these problems, we must start from the students studying in China and our education. To enable foreign students to better adapt to the study of traditional Chinese culture, first of all,
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on the choice of teaching content should follow the principle of “take the essence to the dregs”, without screening, what content is to teach students in China, try to choose can response characteristics of Chinese society and the content of the mainstream values, positive content. Second in order to broaden the students to understand the way of Chinese traditional culture in China, our country should be combining Chinese excellent traditional culture with the time request, using the rich variety of art forms to express, to create a rich heritage, the outstanding problem of work, help foreign students to understand the culture in our country; the schools should also actively build cultural learning environment. To enhance the interest and enthusiasm of international students in learning traditional Chinese culture and reduce the obstacles of students’ traditional Chinese culture caused by emotional anxiety caused by social and cultural differences. In daily teaching, teachers should actively build a harmonious teacher-student relationship, treat each international student equally, respect their own culture, deepen the understanding of Chinese traditional culture for international students and make them truly accept Chinese traditional culture (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). Most colleges and universities in our country implement isolation management for international students. International students come from different countries and cultural groups. When they come to study in China, they enter a brand-new environment and have to face problems in language, climate, food, living habits and other aspects. International students come to China to study not only to learn knowledge, but also to understand the traditional Chinese culture. An important way to understand the traditional Chinese culture is to study together with Chinese students and communicate with them. However, Chinese colleges and universities separate international students from Chinese students, which hinders the communication between international students and Chinese students and is not conducive to the cross-cultural integration of Chinese and foreign students. Most foreign students live in special student dormitory, and Chinese students live not in the same building, various conditions are better than Chinese students and foreign students’ dormitory, may lead to Chinese students feel the unequal treatment, caused the Chinese students, the discontent may also be transferred to the student body, and this further hinders the communication between Chinese students and international students. In addition, some colleges and universities will conduct separate teaching for international students, and the teaching evaluation standard is not the same as that for Chinese students, which will further deepen the estrangement between Chinese students and international students. Most affected by the traditional management mode, for foreign students of management is a “nanny”, “closed”, the foreign students everywhere give special treatment, although this management mode, to a certain extent, can alleviate foreign students alone came to the homesickness of study in foreign countries. But everywhere to give special treatment to a certain extent, make foreign students have some bad for them to learn emotions, such as superior emotions, some reasonable foreign students could not alleviate the mood may cause they don’t follow the school management system, and affect the normal teaching order, the management order of the school, even can bring
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some to the campus safety hidden trouble. In addition to the students, the administrators of colleges and universities in China also have some problems. The number of international students is increasing, but China’s higher education is in the primary stage of development, and there is an extreme lack of staff for the management of international students. The management of international students has its particularity, which puts higher requirements on the managers of international students. However, most of the international students in China now have problems such as poor management ability and insufficient international communication ability. Foreign students from different countries, the language and the living environment are different, which requires the study managers need to master a foreign language at least, even need to use a second language in daily communication ability, at the same time also need to know the foreign students’ living habits of different countries and cultural practices and relevant knowledge. However, at present, Chinese administrators of overseas study are relatively lacking in this aspect, and foreign students may be affected when they study in China (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). To solve this problem, it is necessary for colleges and universities to standardize and improve the management rules and regulations. The management system of colleges and universities is formulated for students only to maintain the school order, so the management system should treat all students equally. At the same time, considering the other countries and different issues such as education management mode in our country, foreign students in China may not be able to adapt to the traditional management mode in our country, so in the designated management rules and regulations should also be fully considering the particularity of foreign students, according to the difference between foreign students and Chinese students, and formulate a set of perfect management system and reasonable. On the basis of fair and equal treatment of each student, we should also highlight the particularity of overseas students and implement the management concept of “people-oriented”, so as to improve the management level of international students in China. At present, our country lacks a sound teaching staff and neglects the teaching quality. Although more and more international students have come to China to study with the continuous enhancement of China’s national strength, the teaching quality of international students has been neglected to some extent. Of higher education in China is still in the primary stage of development, now there are problems and disadvantages, some schools only in pursuit of the interests of the eyes, at the same time of expanded recruitment of student’s scale, ignored the students improve the teaching quality, a serious lack of international concept, led to the decrease of the quality of the education internationalization in our country, the important influence on China’s international status. At present, most universities in China still lack a sound teaching staff, and the quality level of university teachers is uneven. Therefore, the special group of international students and the teaching work of international students cannot be well handled. The particularity of international students puts forward higher requirements for teachers, but a large part of teachers in colleges and universities in China does not meet this requirement. Teachers teaching of foreign students need to have a higher level of
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foreign language communication, able to skillfully use the foreign language teaching and in daily life can be smooth to communicate with foreign students, nowadays the lack of teachers in colleges and universities the ability for foreign students learning will play a certain effect. First outside courses for foreign students in Chinese universities and there is not enough, most of the colleges and universities for students of teaching in Chinese teaching, only to ignore the importance of English teaching, the lack of English curriculum arrangement, which to a certain extent, led to a decline in foreign students education in colleges and universities work quality, and reduce the attraction of the other country students in colleges and universities. Thus, students from other countries will have less choice to study in Chinese universities (Gao et al., 2018; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). The undertaking of studying in China is an important measure to continue to enhance China’s comprehensive national strength and enhance China’s international status, as well as an important part of building the “Chinese Dream”. Our country and the party have always been highly supportive of this undertaking. In the context of modern society, the education of international students is an important means to strengthen the communication between China and other countries. The importance China attaches to the education of international students is reflected in the continuous improvement of the education system for international students, the total number of international students, the source of students and the scholarship. Although our country has been improved education for students studying abroad business, there is no denying that foreign students to study in China still need to face many problems, and these problems may come from their own, may also come from China’s education system or education mode and want to solve these problems needs foreign students with Chinese universities to try. The so-called intercultural adaptation refers to the gradual process in which the subject of different formalities and cultural atmosphere gradually adjusts, accepts, adapts and blends into the object culture. The international students in China come from different countries and regions, and their background, educational background, age and occupation are different. When individuals or groups live and study in one familiar cultural environment to another unfamiliar cultural environment, cultural conflicts will occur due to cultural collisions in values, codes of conduct, habits and other aspects (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). The cultural differences faced by international students in China; the great cultural difference is the primary problem in the process of international students’ adaptation. As is known to all, there are huge differences in values between China and the West. China advocates collectivism. Lack of preparation before going abroad for international students; this is also a major obstacle in the process of adaptation. It refers to the lack of language preparation and adequate language training before coming to China, which makes it difficult for international students to communicate smoothly with Chinese people, make it difficult for them to adapt to daily life in China and also cause a lot of problems. Foreign students who do not understand Chinese customs will also have great unnecessary misunderstandings in their life and even cause conflicts. The problem of social support, local residents and Chinese students’
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attitude toward students will affect students to adapt to the situation in China, if the students are in the process of cross-cultural adaptation of Chinese students and local residents of discrimination and alienation will generate a lot of pressure and lead to foreign students back to their fellow circles of mental disorder. The social behavior problems of international students are partly caused by misunderstanding of cultural customs. However, these misunderstandings in cultural customs are mainly related to the degree of cultural openness and acceptance of Chinese students and residents. If both sides reject each other’s culture from the perspective of their own culture, misunderstandings and conflicts will easily result. When international students travel thousands of miles to study and live in China, they tend to stay away from Chinese classmates and rely on others to live together due to the similar culture and living habits of the same ethnic group. This kind of lifestyle will make the overseas students more accustomed to and feel more secure, but at the same time, it makes it difficult for them to adapt to the new culture in the cross-cultural communication, and they cannot take the initiative to accept the new things of Chinese culture. This will make it difficult for them to have a closer and more detailed understanding of the living customs and traditional culture of Chinese people, as well as the social norms of China, thus hindering their adaptation in China. The adaptability of foreign students is also influenced by their own factors: foreign students’ own factors, such as the way of self-evaluation, their own characteristics and the way to deal with problems. Many of the psychological and behavioral problems in cross-cultural adaptation of international students are influenced by their own factors. Some overseas students have too high expectation to study in China, and they feel anxious and impatient when they come to China and find that there is a gap between reality and ideal, which causes psychological problems. Some student’s psychological problems already, for larger cultural differences cannot adapt to new environment, make the already serious psychological problems, the quality of students in China is uneven, especially when students meet with huge economic pressure, if low moral quality will cause various illegal and even criminal behavior. Every country has its own development history and has formed its own communication rules through years of historical accumulation. It is difficult for foreign students to adapt to the rapid handling of things and the way to meet others when they come to China. Some individual uncivilized behavior images in the society, such as pedestrians crossing the street when running a red light, queue-jumping, etc. Littering on the ground will affect the impression of Chinese students in the study abroad center in China, and cause suspicion and resistance to Chinese culture, which cannot truly achieve cross-cultural integration and will bring extremely negative impact on the construction and development of foreign students and Chinese culture. Each country has its own greeting, farewell, for help, are different in daily to get along with often because of different communication rules, there is a misunderstanding between the Chinese and foreign students to get along with, can’t really misunderstand others kindness into the Chinese students in the circle of communication, the communication rules and habits differences and increased the difficulty of the foreign student’s cross-cultural adaptation. Traditional Chinese culture is too difficult to understand:
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Chinese culture to foreign students in the completion of the great pressure, extensive and profound Chinese culture is the world recognized culture of complex and difficult to learn, students have no foundation, it is difficult to keep up with the pace of the teacher, the teacher too fast speed feel great pressure, sometimes the teacher will also bring dialect, to make them more difficult when listening to lectures. After class homework is required to be completed in Chinese, which is another big difficulty for international students. Even with the help of teachers and classmates, they cannot finish the homework in time. As a result, some international students cannot finish their studies smoothly due to the excessive pressure and fear of difficulties. International students in their countries have formed mature values, have their own unique way of thinking logic and complete, this paradigm affected its ability to crosscultural adaptation, and foreign students’ own faith and culture idea and the conflict, they will subconsciously believe that their country’s ideology, to reject the cultural spirit of our country, there will be strong resistance to it, which is not conducive to cross-cultural adaptation (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). Teachers are not strong, and teaching language and methods need to be improved; due to the lack of qualified teachers in the market demand, there are very few courses that can be taught in English in colleges and universities. Dissatisfaction with teaching methods and curriculum settings is also one of the major problems for international students. The international students do not have a high evaluation on the teachers’ teaching content and the application of the teaching materials, language expression and teaching methods, teaching responsibilities, teaching attitude, academic level, teachers’ international teaching concept and communication, and students’ performance evaluation. The quality of overseas students in China is different; international students in universities existing, in addition to South Korea, the United States, Japan, Russia and a large number of students in our country, learning a language also has a lot of students, from the surrounding areas and underdeveloped areas in Africa, Asia, for example, Thailand, Indonesia, Vietnam, India, Pakistan and other countries of the students are the main force into the degree education in colleges and universities. Underdeveloped areas in Africa are more of a given the Chinese government funding to study abroad, so are the source of the foreign students extensively, and now most of the college enrollment requires only graduated from high school in the country, which leads to carry out teaching, from different backgrounds, students learn basic is uneven and teaching in difficult, plus for the control of teaching quality is not strict. The end result is often leniency, granting graduates regardless of whether they meet the graduation standards required by China, which in the long run can only lead to a bad reputation for Chinese qualifications and degrees in CICC. The level of course design is not high, and the degree of international connection is poor; the rapid development of science and technology has led to the emergence of many interdisciplinary subjects, marginal subjects, intermediary subjects, the emergence of large disciplines and wide specialty phenomenon. This has become a common direction of international discipline setting, while Chinese universities generally have narrow
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disciplines, subject catalogue and specialty setting, which are still under the influence of traditional higher education specialty setting mode. At the same time, Chinese universities can independently recruit students for foreign students and design the teaching curriculum system independently. Due to the different actual conditions of each school, the level of curriculum design is also uneven, mainly lies in the low degree of internationalization of curriculum setting and curriculum content, poor practicability of curriculum, inadequate design of interconnection between courses and almost no freedom of course selection. Moreover, most of the curriculum settings in China are quite different from those in foreign majors, which leads to the failure of courses for overseas students. One of the main problems facing China’s overseas education has always been the concentration of overseas students in China and the lack of attraction to developed countries. Among the top 10 countries of origin for international students in China, nine of them are neighboring or friendly countries. The total number of international students from these nine countries reached 201,842, which shows that the geographical factor is the main factor affecting the number and structure of international students in China. The reason is that, on the one hand, the quality of China’s higher education needs to be improved, and China’s higher education is not attractive to students from countries with higher education levels. Policy and training mode on the other hand are to study the lack of pertinence; most college students in different countries and regions in China are basically the same coming to China to study abroad policy and training mode, and not according to the different cultural backgrounds of students to adjust policies and training mode, ignoring the quality of teaching and communication management. This also leads to the mismatch between the understanding of the education work of overseas students in Chinese universities and the needs of foreign students, which affects the cultivation of foreign students (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). Study in unbalanced education development in our country, foreign students in the choice of destinations exist obvious regional difference tendentiousness, plays a significant role in regional education of foreign students in China; most of the region is China’s first-tier cities or a big education province, such as Shanghai, Guangzhou, Beijing, Shenzhen and other places, compared with other areas with better education resources. The uneven distribution of overseas study destinations will, to some extent, make the uneven distribution of educational resources in different regions of China more severe, which is not conducive to the development of education in China. On the one hand, because of the uneven distribution of national educational resources, these big provinces and first-tier cities can provide better environment and resources for overseas students to attract more overseas students. On the other hand, Shanghai, Zhejiang, Tianjin and other important remote areas in China occupy important geographical environment and share more cultural similarities with neighboring countries, which are attractive to overseas students. This also leads to the problem of uneven destination for overseas students to study. Through the above analysis of cross-cultural adaptation, ideological education, education quality, source of students
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and destination of overseas students, we can understand that China’s overseas education in China is facing major problems, and the training of overseas students in education is still in the initial stage. But because the history of education in China is too short. With the sustained, long-term and stable development of China’s economy and society, and the gradual advancement of the internationalization of China’s higher education, China’s education in China will also gradually develop. We still have a long way to go and a long way to go to make our education in China more competitive and make our international influence stronger.
11.1.3 The Number, Distribution and Country of International Students Studying in China In recent years, China’s economy has developed rapidly, its international status has been significantly enhanced, and its exchanges with other countries have been deepening and interworking. There has been remarkable progress in various fields. In particular, the development of higher education is the most significant, with the continuous advancement of internationalization of higher education, the increasing number of students in higher education, and the vigorous development of the education of foreign students in China. International students are becoming an important bridge for exchanges between China and other countries. They not only promote cultural, scientific, technological, economic and political exchanges and integration, but also deepen the interaction and cooperation between countries. Study abroad education in China is not only an important part of university internationalization, but also an important part of “One Belt and One Road”.
11.2 The Relevant Data of International Students The relevant data of international students in this chapter are mainly from the yearbook series of “Brief Statistics of International Students”, which are authoritative data sources. The statistics of foreign students in China mainly include the number of foreign students at all levels and in all types of academic and non-academic education received by higher education institutions in mainland China (excluding Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan). The yearbook divides the academic education of international students into four levels: junior college, undergraduate, master’s and doctor’s education. Its non-diploma education is further divided into three types: advanced students, ordinary students and short-term overseas students. In addition, the relevant data of international students in this paper also refer to the academic research of different scholars. In 2012, a total of 328,330 foreign students from 200 countries and regions studied in 690 institutions of higher learning, research institutes and other
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teaching institutions in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities (the figures above do not include Taiwan Province, Hong Kong Special Administrative Region and Macao Special Administrative Region), an increase of 35,719 over 2011, or 12.21%. (2) The country of the international students. Top 15, ranked by country: South Korea 63,488, United States 24,583, Japan 21,126, Thailand 16,675, Russia 14,971, Indonesia 13,144, Vietnam 13,038, India 10,237, Pakistan 9,630, Kazakhstan 9,565, France 8,386, Mongolia 8,210, Germany 6,271, Malaysia 6,045 and Singapore 4,250. Russia overtook Vietnam for fifth place, Indonesia passed Vietnam for sixth place and Malaysia overtook Singapore for 14th place, leaving the rest of the rankings unchanged from 2011. III. Regional distribution of international students studying in China. During this period, under the continuous efforts of the Chinese government and universities, the number of international students in China showed a growing trend year by year. In 2014, the total number of international students in China was 377,054; in 2015, the total number of international students in China was 397,635; and in 2016, the total number of international students in China was 442,773. Among them, the number of degree students is also on the rise. In the structure of degree education for overseas students in China, undergraduates occupy the majority, postgraduates account for far less than half of undergraduates, and junior college students account for the smallest proportion.
11.2.1 The Different Factors of International Students There are many factors that attract foreign students, among which the factors of universities themselves are very important. Statistics show that the top 20 Chinese universities in terms of the number of foreign students are mainly research-type universities, such as 985 universities, with a small number of non-research universities, namely 211 universities and local universities. These institutions of higher learning mainly rely on their own characteristics to attract foreign students. Language majors, such as Beijing language and culture university and Shanghai International Studies University, attract more foreign students majoring in Chinese. Overseas Chinese universities, such as Jinan University and Huaqiao University, have many overseas Chinese students and have more contacts with overseas Chinese, which have many advantages in attracting foreign students. Geographically advantageous universities, such as Donghua University and Shanghai University, are in the international metropolis of Shanghai, while Yunnan Province, where Yunnan University for Nationalities is located, borders or is close to ASEAN countries, which is conducive to attracting many ASEAN international students. The popularity and influence of colleges and universities are not necessarily positively correlated with the scale of overseas students, but they are certainly the most important factors to attract overseas students. Some related studies have also found that among the factors of education quality, the quality of university education is an important factor to attract the international students at the doctoral and master levels. From the statistical results of
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studying abroad regions, we can find that, first, the distribution of overseas students in regions is very uneven. Most international students are concentrated in economically developed regions such as Beijing and Shanghai, which account for 30% of the total number of international students, much higher than other regions. Second, the level of higher education and economic development affects the regional choice of overseas students. Most international students choose to go to Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Jiangsu, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Liaoning and other places in China, which have high levels of higher education and economic development. Third, most international students gather in big cities with a higher level of opening, such as Beijing, Shanghai, Tianjin, Guangzhou and so on. In the distribution of the origin of international students in China, the vast majority are from Asian countries, accounting for about 60%. Besides Asia, students from Europe and Asian countries also take a large proportion. Asia has become the main source of overseas students, mainly because of its large population, continuous economic development and students’ desire and pursuit of high-quality resources. Among Asian countries, students from South Korea account for a large proportion of international students in China, much higher than those from other regions. The United States ranked second and Thailand third (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020).
11.2.2 Status Quo of International Students in China from 2013 to 2019 First of all, the number of overseas students who choose to come to China has increased rapidly. Since the twenty-first century, the number of universities and scientific research institutions in China that enroll foreign students has been increasing year by year. The number of international students in China also increases year by year. From 2013 to 2019, the number of international students in China is 356,499, 377,054, 397,635, 442,773, 489,200, 492,185 and 512,766, respectively. In 2017, China ranked third in the world in the number of foreign students studying abroad, accounting for about 10% of the world’s total, after the United States with 24% and the United Kingdom with 11%. [16] In 2019, the number of foreign students in China has begun to exceed 500,000, which is a very large number. The students are mainly from South Korea, the United States, Thailand, India, Russia, Pakistan, Japan and other countries. Second, the number of universities and institutions accepting foreign students is increasing. With the trend of internationalization of Chinese education, more and more colleges and universities are willing to enroll foreign students. From 2013 to 2019, the number of universities and institutions receiving foreign students in China has gradually increased, with the numbers being 746, 775, 811, 829, 935, 967 and 973, respectively. Finally, the number of foreign students
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studying in China has not only increased rapidly in terms of the scale and quantity of education, but also has been gradually optimized and upgraded in terms of education level. Based on the purpose of study, foreign students in China are mainly divided into two categories: academic students and non-academic students. Among them, overseas students with academic qualifications mainly refer to foreign students who obtain academic degrees, including junior college students, undergraduate students and graduate students. Non-degree international students mainly refer to ordinary students, advanced students and short-term overseas students. In recent years, the number of overseas students who choose long-term academic education has gradually increased, especially the proportion of undergraduates and postgraduates growing most rapidly, while the number of non-academic students who come to China for short-term study has gradually decreased. While the total number of international students in China is increasing, the number of overseas students with academic degrees is increasing significantly more than that of non-academic students. The number of overseas students with academic degrees is significantly increasing year by year, which is 164,394, 184,799, 209,966, 241,500, 258,122 and 278,527, respectively, from 2014 to 2019.
11.2.3 The Number and Distribution of International Students from Countries Along the Belt and Road With the acceleration of globalization, the internationalization of higher education has also entered a stage of rapid development. According to UNESCO, the number of international students in higher education increased from 2.0319 million in 1999 to 5.0852 million in 2017, an increase of 2.5 times, with an average annual growth rate of 5.22%. During the same period, the internationalization of China’s higher education is also accelerating. The number of international students in China increased from 11,500 in 1999 to 241,500 in 2017, an increase of about 21 times, with an average annual growth rate of 18.43%. This growth rate not only far exceeds the growth rate of the total number of global students studying in the same period, but also far exceeds the expectation of the Chinese government’s study abroad plan. The main body supporting the rapid growth of foreign students is the foreign students from the countries along the One Belt and One Road. In terms of the total number, in 1999, there were only 3,244 graduates from countries along the Belt and Road. In 2017, the number increased to 145,000, an increase of nearly 45 times. From the perspective of proportion, in 1999, the number of foreign students from “One Belt And One Road” countries accounted for 28.27% of the total number of foreign students in China, which rose to 60.01% in 2017, and there is still a trend of continued growth. From the perspective of the composition of academic level, the proportion of graduate students in China has a “U” shaped structure, which first decreases and then
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rises. In 1999, there were 2,894 foreign students at the graduate level, accounting for 25.22% of the total number of foreign students. After that, the proportion began to decline sharply, reached the lowest point in 2006 and then began to rise rapidly, reaching 31.36% in 2017. This is mainly due to the accelerated growth of graduate students from One Belt And One Road countries. Similar to the overall trend, the proportion of students with degrees in China from countries along the Belt and Road also experienced a process of first decline and then rise, and the rise rate is faster. From the perspective of the proportion of graduate students from “One Belt And One Road” countries along the Belt and Road, it only accounted for 21.94% in 1999, and then increased rapidly, reaching 60.83% in 2017. In recent years, the international competitiveness of China’s higher education has been increasingly strengthened, and the number of international students in China has been growing steadily, reaching 492,185 in 2018, an increase of 843.79% over the 52,150 in 2010, making China the third largest international student destination in the world. As a province with a large population, Henan has a small number of overseas students and a relatively low education level due to its geographical location, economic and social development level and low higher education, which needs to be improved. In 2000, there were 10 colleges and universities in Henan Province recruiting foreign students with academic qualifications, 11 colleges and universities recruiting foreign students with non-academic qualifications and 8 colleges and universities recruiting both students with academic qualifications and non-academic qualifications. In 2000, there were 723 foreign students studying in Henan colleges and universities, including 236 students with academic degree and 487 students without academic degree. In 2018, the number of Henan universities enrollment international students increased to 34, 25 of which enrolled degree students. In that year, 6,080 international students studied in Henan universities. In 2018, a total of 1,004 colleges and universities in China were recruiting foreign students to come to China, and 34 colleges and universities in Henan Province were recruiting foreign students, including 25 universities for undergraduates, 25 for academic degree students, 30 for non-academic degree students and 24 for both academic and non-academic students. Among the 6,080 international students enrolled, 3,683 were degree students and 2,397 were non-degree students. There are 11 colleges and universities with more than 100 foreign students. They are: 2,469 from Zhengzhou University, 606 from Henan University, 556 from Henan University of Technology, 491 from Henan Polytechnic University, 236 from Xinxiang Medical College, 222 from Henan University of Science and Technology, 190 from Yellow River Conservatory College, 161 from Henan University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 127 from Songshan Shaolin Wushu Vocational College and 119 from Henan University of Economics and Law. There are 109 students in Zhengzhou Institute of Aeronautical Industry Management, and the number of foreign students in 5 other universities is less than 10 (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020).
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11.2.4 Problems Existing in International Students’ Development At present, the scale of international students in colleges and universities is one of the important indicators to evaluate the internationalization level of colleges and universities. To attract more international students to study for degrees in China, many colleges and universities expand the scale of enrollment by relaxing the admission policies and lowering the admission threshold. Analysis of the data from StudyinChina.com shows that more than 90% of the students who come to China for further study have been accepted by colleges and universities. Such a high admission rate leads to a generally low level of enrollment sources, and the expansion of the scale of international students mainly stays at a low level of expansion stage. It pays more attention to quantity than quality and only focuses on the number of international students while neglecting the development of the education quality of international students. The starting point of study abroad education is lowered, and the huge investment of the country is greatly reduced, which reduces the international competitiveness of China’s higher education. In the long run, the low entrance threshold for foreign students and the lax control of graduation conditions have greatly interfered with the improvement of the quality of education for foreign students in China, which is not conducive to the sustainable development of education for foreign students and is not conducive to the development of Chinese universities into international universities. Due to the weak professional foundation of some international students and their Chinese proficiency, the learning progress and effect of international students are not ideal. To ensure that most international students can successfully complete their studies, some universities take some special measures. It is reported that some universities to make students more graduated, of two different sets of students and Chinese students assessment standards, for students to broaden the academic requirements, measures of reducing the passing score, or undergraduate degree have very little to do with the professional basic course for students such as ways to reduce the student’s academic pressure. Without the right curriculum, students will eventually leave, even if they can get students. Some colleges and universities will exclude Chinese students, separate the international students into classes and take the “closed” small class teaching way; some difficult courses unified teaching, unified assessment, to ensure that international students can reach the standard of examination. In order to ensure the successful graduation of international students, some colleges and universities take various measures, but this “closed” education will only lead to the “low quality output” of foreign students, and it is difficult to achieve the high quality and sustainable development of international students’ education in such an educational environment. In recent years, there are still many problems in the faculty of colleges and universities. Some colleges and universities employ part-time teachers to teach international students. These teachers often lack teaching experience and only pay attention to the imparting of knowledge. They adopt cramming education in class and ignore the training of students’ divergent thinking, which is not conducive to the formation
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of students’ habit of diligent thinking and innovation. China’s higher education is not in line with economic development. On the one hand, it cannot provide enough talents to promote economic development; on the other hand, it cannot meet the demand of economic development for new talents. The reasons for the formation of this situation include the narrow field of study of students. There are many reasons such as unreasonable professional structure, outdated knowledge content and so on. The management of overseas students in China adopts a closed campus centralized management mode, which follows the management experience of Chinese students. It is difficult for foreign students to adapt to this management mode (Gao et al., 2018; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020).
11.2.5 Countermeasures for Sustainable Development of Education for International Students Combined with the current situation and existing problems of the education of overseas students, this paper puts forward some measures to improve the quality of students, reform the education mode, strengthen the construction of teachers and improve the level of management team. Formulate targeted enrollment manuals, especially overseas enrollment plans, establish a system of mutual recognition of academic credentials and cooperate with foreign institutions of higher learning; strengthen the teaching management, because of the difference of Chinese and foreign ideology, on the premise of guarantee the quality of teaching, should according to the characteristics of the foreign students, to write teaching materials, course arrangement, adjustment of teaching plan accordingly, to improve the students’ learning initiative, steadily promote the teaching reform of college education to achieve the purpose of attracting outstanding students to study abroad. To promote the reform of higher education and improve the international status of colleges and universities is the fundamental method to improve the student source level of colleges and universities, which requires colleges and universities to grasp the characteristic majors, improve the curriculum and realize the integration with international education. The education mode of studying in the same class with Chinese students, with regular teachers for guidance, is conducive to the better learning of Chinese culture and language for international students, which is a major mode for the current training of international students. For international students with poor Chinese knowledge and unable to study in regular classes, one-to-one tutoring will be provided by teachers who are proficient in English. This training mode is conducive to international students to learn relevant professional knowledge as soon as possible, and the teaching quality and effect depend on the teacher’s knowledge teaching level. However, the improvement of their Chinese proficiency and the learning of Chinese culture will lag, and this training mode is still in the early stage of exploration. Teachers should learn and train advanced teaching skills by strengthening foreign training and domestic assessment, especially to improve
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the teaching level of Chinese and English teachers in colleges and universities, and to train teachers in colleges and universities, especially young teachers, to improve their teaching ability and professional level. Introducing high-level teachers through multiple channels and establishing a relatively stable team of full-time teachers. In the case of shortage of teachers, excellent teachers from similar colleges and universities can be hired as part-time teachers to supplement and enrich the teaching staff. By attending academic conferences on international student education, teachers can get to know the latest academic trends and research results at home and abroad, which is conducive to promoting the development of teaching work for international students. Due to the differences in cultural concepts, customs and learning purposes, there are great differences among the individuals of overseas students. To establish a set of effective management system is an important measure to ensure the smooth development of international students’ education and a guarantee to create a good learning environment. The management of students, colleges and universities should update ideas, should be in line with the relatively reasonable management mode, combined with the developed countries advanced management idea and experience of students, “going out”, the comparison and reference, combined with the actual situation of our university, students’ management mode, explore suitable for China’s national conditions do can not only cultivate talents, but also accepted by most people (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020).
11.2.6 Strategies and Suggestions for Increasing the Scale of Foreign Students and Optimizing the Structure of Foreign Students Enlarge the scale of international students and optimize the structure of international students are the strategic means to promote the internationalization of China’s higher education, enhance the cultural exchanges among institutions of higher learning, broaden the horizon of teachers and students, and enhance the international competitiveness of higher education. At present, China is deepening the comprehensive reform in the field of higher education, vigorously promoting the construction of world-class universities and first-class disciplines and promoting the internationalization of higher education. Therefore, Chinese universities should expand the scale of international students and optimize the structure of international students according to their own subject characteristics and development needs. In the process of promoting the internationalization strategy of colleges and universities, the work related to international students should be regarded as one of the key development strategies of colleges and universities. Internationalization of talent training is an important indicator of first-class disciplines in first-class universities. Chinese colleges and universities, especially the key ones, should strengthen the guidance to the secondary colleges and advocate and establish the international consciousness
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and concept of talent cultivation at the college level. Only when the understanding of the university and the college is in place, the recruitment and training of international students be can based and guaranteed. Colleges and universities should enhance their awareness of international education and enhance their international competitiveness. The school level should make unified planning and strengthen external publicity. Colleges and universities should strengthen the construction of Chinese and English websites to enrich their contents, especially to strengthen the construction of information service platforms such as major introduction, course introduction, employment orientation and life service facilities. This is extremely important for young people who are highly dependent on the Internet. This is a very important window for foreign students to learn about the school. In addition, in the publicity of foreign enrollment, the characteristics and geographical advantages of the city where the school is located will be an attraction for foreign students who want to work in China or engage in business and trade work in the future, which will also help to improve the international reputation of the school. Colleges and universities should make full use of the Internet and other media as well as overseas enrollment publicity platforms to promote the university’s superior disciplines and teaching characteristics. In the process of enrolling international students, the admission department of the university and the department in charge of international affairs should keep close contact with each other to form an effective mechanism for enrolling international students and to ensure the smooth development of the enrollment of international students in universities. The role of Confucius Institutes should also be brought into full play in the admissions process. Up to now, China has set up 502 Confucius Institutes and 1,013 Confucius Classrooms in 137 countries, with a total of 1.4 million registered students worldwide and 500,000 students in online Confucius Institutes. As an important window to spread Chinese language and Chinese culture, Confucius Institutes have met the needs of more and more foreigners to learn Chinese language and Chinese culture. Colleges and universities should make full use of the platform of Confucius Institutes to promote the Chinese language and Chinese culture, and at the same time publicize and introduce the characteristics and advantages of their own disciplines and specialties to the students at Confucius Institutes, so as to attract more foreign students to study in China. In addition, colleges and universities can also rely on overseas study intermediary service agencies with good reputation and qualifications to introduce the school and recruit overseas students. It is worth noting that in recent years, the “One Belt and One Road” strategy at the national level has been widely recognized by the international community. Colleges and universities should follow the trend, actively deepen extensive exchanges and cooperation with Central, West and South Asian countries, and pay attention to the enrollment of students from “One Belt and One Road” countries. The lack of English courses is the bottleneck restricting the number and level of international students. In view of the impracticality of offering English-taught courses in colleges and universities, it can be considered to offer English-taught courses from the following aspects. One is to offer a series of cultural courses taught in English with Chinese elements, such as “Chinese Social Economy”, “Chinese History and Culture” and “Chinese Geography and Folklore”. These courses can
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attract more foreign students who are interested in China to study in China and have a better understanding of the country. Second, in the general education modules of colleges and universities, some general education courses suitable for humanities and natural science students are selected to carry out all-English teaching, to create course selection opportunities for foreign exchange students and degree students, so as to attract exchange students and degree students to study in China. Third, a series of courses taught in English are set up in all kinds of undergraduate innovative experimental classes in colleges and universities, especially in the whole English teaching of specialized courses. Fourth, for qualified colleges and universities, undergraduate senior professional elective courses can also be set up in the United Kingdom. Fifth, at the graduate level, for national and provincial key disciplines, we can consider setting up a series of English-taught courses in the whole discipline, so as to be more conducive to the cultivation of high-level talents and academic exchanges (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). Teachers are the key in talent training. To cultivate international talents, it is necessary to build an international teacher team with international vision. On the one hand, institutions of higher learning should base on the existing foundation and combine their own subject characteristics to do a good job in the international training of their teachers. It is necessary to select teachers with good professional skills and high quality to study advanced teaching concepts, methods and technologies in famous foreign universities, fund teachers to participate in international academic conferences, encourage our teachers to carry out joint academic research with foreign teachers and cultivate our teachers into high-level talents with international vision. On the other hand, we should increase the work of attracting talents, raise funds from various sources, adopt long-term and short-term employment mechanism, and recruit high-level foreign experts and foreign teachers as well as young talents who have studied abroad to work in the school. Build a teaching and research platform, so that the introduced talents can lead the team and students to participate in academic research on the basis of giving full play to their own disciplinary advantages and promote teaching through scientific research (Li, 2021; Xue et al., 2021).
11.2.7 The Future Development Trend of International Students in China Xi held in December 12, 2014, general secretary of the national important instructions on working conference to study abroad, study abroad work to adapt to the national development trend and the party and the nation’s overall work, overall plan of studying abroad and study abroad in China, the integrated use of international and domestic two kinds of resources, to train more talents, efforts to create a new situation study in work. We will continue to make new and greater contributions to the realization of the Two Centenary Goals and the Chinese Dream of the great renewal
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of the Chinese nation. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, studying in China and studying abroad have a distinct political color. The work of studying abroad serves the overall situation of educational reform and development, diplomacy as well as the promotion of the country’s comprehensive ability and competitiveness. In the new era, studying in China and studying abroad are more closely linked to China’s status as a great power, the great rejuvenation of the Chinese nation, the Chinese spirit and the Chinese plan. They are becoming an important vehicle for deepening cultural and people-to-people exchanges and enhancing the country’s soft power and competitiveness and are undertaking a new historical mission. China will complete the building of a moderately prosperous society in all respects and become an innovative country. The quality of higher education will be significantly improved. The number of foreign students studying in China will further expand and the structure will be optimized (Cui et al., 2017; Chen, 2018; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Zheng & Zhao, 2020; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020).
11.2.8 The Economy Aspect for Improve the International Student Development First, the economy. The development of overseas education in China is conducive to stimulating consumption. The expenditures of international students (including tuition, living expenses, medical expenses and accommodation expenses) have made a positive contribution to China’s consumption. According to statistics, in 2011, the per capita expenditure of international students was 2.7~3.7 times that of Chinese per capita consumption, and the total expenditure of international students reached 14.486 billion yuan. The development of overseas education in China is conducive to attracting foreign investment. International students have a good understanding of China’s investment environment and investment policies. After graduation, they will promote their enterprises’ investment in China. In addition, some foreign students choose to stay in China to start their own businesses after graduation. The development of overseas education in China is conducive to expanding the scale of foreign trade. The education of studying abroad in China is the export of China’s education service trade, and the education service trade is a special form of service trade. On the one hand, education service trade can promote the growth of other forms of service trade (such as communication service trade and transportation service trade). On the other hand, the development of trade in services will further promote the development of trade in goods. Second, the political dimension. The development of overseas education in China is conducive to the improvement of China’s political status. Study abroad education in China is the main platform to cultivate people who know China and are friends with China. During their study and living in China, foreign students will have a better understanding of Chinese ideology and traditional culture and become a friendly force that understands, loves and supports
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China. This will help China build a positive image and strengthen exchanges with other countries. Some overseas students have become active in the field of politics and diplomacy after they have completed their studies and returned to China, which has exerted a profound influence on China’s politics and diplomacy. Third, the cultural aspect. International students are the bridge of cultural communication between China and other countries. The development of overseas education in China is not only conducive to promoting the excellent Chinese culture worldwide, but also conducive to enhancing the mutual recognition and understanding of the cultures of the countries where the students come from, and ultimately enriching the world’s cultural resources. Fourth, soft power. The development of overseas education in China is an important way to enhance China’s soft power. A country’s political ideas, cultural resources, national quality and national image are the foundation of soft power. Studying and education in China are an important carrier to show China’s image and convey China’s voice, and plays a positive role in politics and culture, which is conducive to the promotion of China’s soft power. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, especially since the reform and opening, the number and quality of foreign students in China have improved rapidly. The number of international students in China has grown from 33 in the five Eastern European countries in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China to 442,773 in 205 countries and regions in 2016. The receiving institutions have expanded from the original Tsinghua University to 829 institutions of higher learning and research institutes in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. In addition, another 130,000 international students were enrolled in preschool education institutions and primary and secondary schools in China in 2016, with a total of 570,000 international students at all levels and categories. After the reform and opening, overseas education in China can be summarized as the stage of positioning adjustment, scale expansion and quality improvement, and is now entering the stage of quality and efficiency improvement. First, the positioning and adjustment stage. In the 22 years from 1978 to 2000, China trained a total of 350,581 foreign students, including 3,059 Chinese government scholarship students and 318,522 self-funded students. This period is the spring of China’s reform and opening, as well as the spring of studying in China and abroad. The scale of studying in China has been developed, various rules and regulations have been gradually established and improved, and the education of studying in China is no longer a passive acceptance. Instead, relevant policies have been formulated according to the characteristics of overseas students, and the enrollment, teaching and management of studying in China have been standardized, so that the management and service of studying in China have been gradually on the track of legal system and standardization. The source countries of overseas students in China have gradually expanded from neighboring countries, the former Soviet Union, socialist countries in Eastern Europe and the third world countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America to many countries in the world. The emergence of self-funded students and degree students has gradually expanded the scale of overseas students in China and improved the quality and level of overseas students. Second, expand the scale and quality improvement stage. In the 16 years from 2001 to 2016, the total number of international students in China reached 3.74 million, including 130,000 with degrees,
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375,513 with master’s and doctoral degrees, and more than 2 million with self-funded students. From 2012 to 2016, the total number of international students in China, the total number of degree students, the total number of Chinese government scholarship students and the total number of master’s and doctoral students showed a trend of annual growth. The education of studying abroad in China has gradually entered the stage of collaborative innovation, system efficiency and standardized management. Specifically, the number of countries or regions increased from 164 in 1999 to 205 in 2016, with an average annual growth rate of 2.8 countries or regions. The number of universities receiving foreign students increased from 354 to 829, with an average annual growth rate of 27.94. The total number of students studying abroad increased from 29,179 in 1999 to 442,773 in 2016, representing an average annual growth of 19.94%. The number of students with degrees increased from 11,479 in 1999 to 209,996 in 2016, representing an average annual growth of 20.25%. The number of postgraduates rose from 2,896 in 1999 to 6,386 in 2015, representing an average annual growth of 19.02%. It can be seen that during the period from 1999 to 2016, overseas education in China showed an increasing trend although it fluctuated due to some factors. Third, the stage of improving quality and efficiency. In recent years, with the promotion of the “One Belt and One Road” initiative, the number of foreign students from the countries along the “One Belt And One Road” has increased significantly. Compared with 2012, the number of students from Pakistan, Kazakhstan and Thailand has moved up by 5 places, 2 places and 1 place, respectively. In 2016, a total of 207,746 students from 64 countries along the Belt and Road were studying in China, a year-on-year increase of 13.6%, higher than the average growth rate of all countries (Cui et al., 2017; Chen, 2018; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Zheng & Zhao, 2020; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020). From the perspective of policy, the policy of studying in China has been increasingly improved since the reform and opening up. With the “Regulations on Recruitment of Self-funded Foreign Students” (1989), “Chinese Language Proficiency Test (HSK) Law of the People’s Republic of China (1992), Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic DeGRE es (2005), Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning (2000), Study in China Plan (2010), Opinions on Improving the Opening Up of Education in the New Era (2016), and Promoting the Joint Construction of the Belt and Road Initiative With the introduction of policies such as “Road Education Action” (2016) and “Management Measures on School Recruitment and Training of International Students” (2017), the work of studying in China has become more flexible in policy and more similar in management, with a great breakthrough in scale and a significant improvement in quality. It has gradually formed a legal, scientific, standardized and socialized management and service system for studying in China, which has weakened the political color that international students are “outsiders”, “guests” and “foreign guests”, narrowed the distance between Chinese and foreign students, and promoted the integration of multi-cultures. At the same time, the administrative department of education and the student’s management cadres abroad and at home are not regular exchange and training, widen our sight, exchange experience,
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improve management and service level, so that in the specific work, do have law legal system country, the target system, the status of the management, to cultivate students according to their aptitude, suit the remedy to the case method. In terms of subjects and majors, more international students have chosen majors other than Chinese language and culture in recent years. Compared with 2012, the number of students choosing education, science, engineering and agriculture has increased significantly, with an increase of more than 100%. The number of students majoring in economics, Western medicine, literature, law and management all increased by more than 50%. The fastest growing subject was engineering, up 5.2 percentage points from 2012. Among the degree students, the subjects with the largest number of students are Western medicine, engineering, economics and management in turn. The Chinese language major dropped from the 2nd place in 2012 to the 5th place in 2016. In recent years, China’s economic strength has been greatly improved, providing a solid economic foundation for the development of higher education, and the work of international students has made considerable progress. While the number of foreign students in China is increasing rapidly, more and more institutions of higher learning and educational institutions are accepting foreign students. The proportion of students with degrees increased from 28.52% in 2004 to 35.8% in 2008, showing a steady growth. Students come from 189 countries and regions, and the distribution is becoming wider. By 2020, China will be built into an innovation-oriented country, and the improvement of science and technology and higher education level will provide a broader prospect for attracting foreign students to China. The scale, structure and level of foreign students in China will surely undergo great changes. By 2020, the scale of international students in China will gradually expand, and their share in the world overseas study market will gradually increase. The number of foreign students enrolled by China has increased in recent years, but the proportion of the total number of foreign students is still relatively low, less than 2% in 2006, and the proportion of domestic higher education students in schools is even lower, only 0.22%, which is not commensurate with China’s economic scale and international status. This shows that the number of international students enrolled in our country still has a great space for development. We should strive to attract more foreign students to study and research in our country, not only from Asian countries, but also from developed countries in Europe and the United States and from developing countries in Africa and Latin America (Cui et al., 2017; Chen, 2018; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Zheng & Zhao, 2020; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020). The scale of studying in China in 2020 will be judged by three aspects: first, the growth of the country’s overall strength and the improvement of its international status, the potential value of studying in China will be more and more recognized, and the attraction of studying in China will be greater and greater. In the next decade or so, China’s national economy will continue to develop. Taking 2008 as the base year and assuming an average annual growth rate of 8%, China’s GDP will reach 75.7 trillion yuan by 2020. With a population of 1.41 billion, the per capita GDP will reach 53,687 yuan, which will provide strong economic support to attract foreign
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students. Second, the international competitiveness of China’s colleges and universities is increasing, and the strength of receiving international students is getting stronger and stronger. Higher education in our country has developed from the stage of expanding scale to the stage of improving quality. In 2008, the gross enrollment rate was 23.3%, and by 2020, the gross enrollment rate will reach 40%. The total number of students in higher education in China will reach 33.6 million, with an average annual increase of 1.4 percentage points. Future more than 10 years of higher education in our country will develop from the leapfrog development to routine, scale of higher education will be from rapid growth to steady growth, assuming that higher education investment growth rate remains the same, countries continue to increase investment in higher education can be more on the quality of ascension, especially in a number of world-class discipline and the establishment of several world-class universities, and will increase the attractiveness and competitiveness of China’s higher education for international students. Third, universities are more active in accepting foreign students. The percentage of international students a school accepts is often considered an important indicator of how international a school is. To build world-class disciplines, world-renowned universities and firstclass universities, Chinese institutions of higher learning have a very strong desire to receive international students. They will take the initiative to participate in international competition and adopt a variety of effective measures to attract international students. In terms of the degree structure, the proportion of overseas students with degrees has not changed much. The data from 2004 to 2008 show that from the perspective of the composition of students’ academic qualifications, most international students in China are non-academic students; during the five years, the proportion of non-degree students showed a decreasing trend, accounting for 71.48% in 2004 and 64.2% in 2008. At the same time, the proportion of overseas students with degrees showed an increasing trend. In 2004, the proportion of overseas students with degrees only accounted for 28.52%, and in 2008, it increased to 35.8%, with an average annual growth rate of 5.8%. According to the data of the past five years, the number of overseas students with degrees increased rapidly from 2004 to 2005, while the number from 2006 to 2008 increased relatively steadily and irregularly. The types and levels of overseas students will present a new trend. The main performance is three points: first, the number of degree students continues to increase; second, the increase of exchange students; third, the number of international students in the natural sciences has increased. However, due to the rise of China and the improvement of its global influence and competitiveness, there may be a “blowout growth” of international students in a period. The growth rate of short-term students and language students in China may exceed the growth rate of degree students, so the proportion of degree students in international students will not change much. Due to the improvement of China’s overall strength and the quality of higher education, the Chinese government has provided more and more scholarships. Many international students, especially those from neighboring countries and developing countries, will have a stronger desire to study in China and obtain a degree, and the number of degree students will increase significantly. At the same time, more and more international students from developed countries will come to China as exchange students to
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learn Chinese language and culture. With the improvement of China’s economic and technological level, especially the building of an innovative country, the number of international students coming to China to study natural science and technology will increase, which will change the current situation that 80% of international students majored in liberal arts. A few high-level universities and some universities with outstanding characteristics will become the main body of students with degrees, and the number and proportion of students with degrees will be greatly increased. From the perspective of regional structure, Asian students will still dominate the international students in 2020. It is expected that Asian students will still dominate the international students in the future, and the proportion will still be in the decline stage, while the proportion of international students from other continents will increase. Data from 2004 to 2008 show that the distribution of international students in China is increasing. In 2004, international students came from 178 countries and regions, while in 2008, they came from 189 countries and regions. In 1997, Asian students accounted for about 76.87%, and in 2007, about 72.47%, a decrease of 4.4 percentage points. Students from Europe, America and Oceania accounted for 20.35% in 1997 and 24.5% in 2007, an increase of 4.15 percentage points; statistics show that from 1997 to 2007, the proportion of students from Asian countries decreased, while the proportion of students from developed countries increased, both at about 4 percentage points. Therefore, it is expected that the change of the source structure of overseas students in China will be mainly reflected in two aspects. On the one hand, due to cultural and geographical factors, closer economic ties and low cost of studying abroad, the majority of overseas students in China will still be from Asia, but the proportion of overseas students from South Korea will decrease. On the other hand, China’s economic scale will reach 75.7 trillion yuan in 2020, achieving initial rise and initially establishing its position of global influence. As a result, the potential demand for students from outside Asia to study in China will increase, and the proportion of students from developed countries will continue to rise (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Yang, 2017). According to the above analysis, in the future, the average annual growth rate of international students will reach 10%, the total number of international students will be no less than 700,000, and China will become the largest destination country for overseas students in Asia. In the future, there will be no significant change in the proportion of students with degrees. However, the number of international students in degree, exchange and science fields will continue to increase. In 2020, Asian students will still dominate the international students studying in China. However, as China’s economy becomes stronger, more and more international students from other continents will choose China as their destination country. Study abroad education in China is an important part of the national strategy. The work of studying in China is an important way for China to exert its influence as a major country, spread Chinese culture and construct a bridge for international exchanges and friendship. It is also an important aspect of education reform and opening up that serves China’s educational development, overall diplomatic situation and economic construction. We must understand the status and function of studying in China from the height of national long-term interests and strategies. At present, the international economic
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system and the pattern of interests are facing restructuring, China’s “pole” status in the evolution of the world pattern is enhanced, the potential value of studying in China will be more and more recognized, and the attraction of studying in China will become more and more. The development of overseas education is conducive to the enhancement of China’s international competitiveness and influence, and the enhancement of national soft power. Throughout the development history of all countries in the world, any strong and prosperous country, based on its hard power, will exert its soft power in the world and seek the maximization of national interests. At present, China is in a major strategic opportunity period of development and its international status is rising day by day. This is also an important period for the construction of national soft power, and the work of international students is an important part of the construction of national soft power. We must recognize the importance of education for overseas students from the perspective of serving the overall national development strategy (Li, 2021). During his visits to Kazakhstan and Indonesia in 2013, President Xi Jinping proposed the major cooperation initiatives of the Silk Road Economic Belt and the 21st Century Maritime Silk Road, referred to as the “One Belt and One Road” initiative. The Belt and Road Initiative aims to build a system that spans the continents of Asia, Europe and Africa and their adjacent oceans, establish and strengthen connectivity partnerships among countries along the Belt and Road, and achieve balanced, sustainable and independent development of all relevant countries. Among them, education and cultural cooperation are important parts of the “One Belt And One Road” initiative. The exchange and integration of education and culture will drive economic cooperation and development, realize cultural inheritance and innovation, promote regional mutual understanding and cooperation, bring peace and achieve common development. On December 5, 2015, the forum of “One Belt and One Road and International Talents Training” was held in Beijing. Liu Hong, a scholar, said at the meeting that “the factor of the five-connecting people of the Belt and Road is an important link as well as a key support”. Cultivating professionals who are familiar with international rules and understand international politics, economy and culture has become a common problem faced by educational institutions, policy-makers and practitioners of professional think tanks. In 2016, the Ministry of Education issued the document “Promoting the” One Belt and One Road “Education Action”, which proposed to enhance the role of regional education and build an education community with countries along the Belt and Road. International students are an important part of the development of education internationalization in the “One Belt and One Road” initiative, which promotes cultural exchanges, mutual communication and harmony among the people, and provides human resources for the implementation of the “One Belt And One Road” initiative. The employment of graduates has always been an important standard to measure the quality of training, and it is also a key link to form a virtuous circle of talent training. The same is true of the university education for students studying in China. Since China is a non-immigrant country, from the long history, the policy environment of internship, employment and entrepreneurship for international students has been in a tense state. With the rapid development of China’s economic and social, the status of China in the world more and more
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high, especially in the “area” initiative and human destiny fate community under the trend, China’s exchanges with the international community are increasingly close, to understand China, and internationalization talented person’s demand more and more large, to understand the world in order to adapt to the demand of state and market, in 2017. As the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education jointly issued a new policy to allow outstanding foreign college graduates to work in China, foreign students have more options besides leaving China to work, and some colleges and universities began to explore the employment guidance work of studying in China. But from the current view, rarely in our country colleges and universities to establish a complete highlevel foreign students employment guidance system, in order to service the needs of national diplomatic strategy, and need to maintain good human capital and reserves, as well as promoting economic progress and the needs of the development of enterprises, the most important is to promote the students overall quality education needs, etc. It can promote the improvement of the working system of studying abroad in China and thus has a positive promoting effect (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). The central government pays more attention to the international student market while playing the role of macro-control. In September 2010, issued by the Ministry of Education put forward in the Study in China Plan, by 2020, our country should strive to create a number of international students, a breakthrough in 500,000 Asia’s largest destinations, this is our government’s long-term goal, but in the actual process of the implementation of the long-term goal of gradually phased goal slowly. In the education management of international students, the Chinese government has increasingly defined its macro-control role, defined the internationalization goals and development direction of institutions of higher learning, and formulated relevant policies to guide subordinate institutions and institutions of higher learning to fully cooperate with the development of higher education. At the same time, in order to strengthen publicity, China has set up non-profit recruitment institutions to promote Chinese higher education in countries with a large number of students, relying on the Confucius Institutes around the world. Universities pay more attention to quality services to improve the quality of education for international students. International students are a special group in any country. On this basis, Chinese colleges and universities pay more attention to the people-oriented service concept, strengthen the “cross-cultural awareness” and respect the religious beliefs and living habits of international students. Dormitory administrators are taking more and more into account the food hygiene and dietary taboos of international students from different countries. Meanwhile, the dormitories for international students are more centralized, and there are also dormitories shared with students from their own countries, which is more conducive to the integration of international students into campus life. Gradually improve the medical insurance, in order to reduce the economic pressure and mental pressure of international students. Due to the different cultural customs, Chinese colleges and universities also pay more attention to the spare time life of overseas students, and carry out traditional
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cultural activities with Chinese characteristics, such as Hanfu performance, calligraphy, Peking Opera… Chinese colleges and universities are paying more and more attention to the self-management of international students and their mental health. Because of language problems, academic problems, as well as the cultural adaptation, students influenced by “stereotype” think they do psychological consultation by the people around you comment and discrimination, Chinese universities pay more attention to professional counseling services to the school of publicity, such as printed brochures, video propaganda and related activities. Increase the ability of student’s management counseling, such as full-time counselor or teacher positive attention to students’ psychological tendency, psychological counseling teachers have better foreign language communication ability, familiar with international students’ source of folk customs, customs, religious belief, cultural value, so as to more accurately grasp the causes of psychological problems of students. Find a more effective way to solve it (Li, 2021). Expanding the scale of international students is a crucial step in the internationalization of higher education in China. The country should ensure the quality of overseas students while formulating more relaxed policies to expand the scale of foreign students in China. For example, a broader scholarship system; make full use of official websites, embassies abroad, Confucius Institutes and other channels to actively publicize China’s study abroad policy. We will encourage non-governmental friendship groups and multinational corporations to strengthen their ties and enhance the popularity of overseas education in China. We will urge colleges and universities to strengthen exchanges and cooperation with foreign universities and deepen the understanding of other countries on China’s higher education. The trinity of government, society and colleges and universities has been working together to expand the channels and scale of international students. Students from developed countries tend to study in China in the fields of language learning and management, economy, culture and law with Chinese characteristics. For students from developed countries, colleges and universities should speed up the construction of English courses and establish characteristic English-only programs. We will actively expand cooperation agreements signed with universities in developed countries, carry out double degree cooperation and expand the number of students from developed countries in a way that complements the strengths and weaknesses of disciplines. Developing countries tend to study in China in degree programs. Schools in accelerating the construction of the English courses and professional at the same time should step up publicity, actively take part in the education exhibition in developing countries and organize all the departments to school mainly from national key universities propaganda, face-toface communication selection, for students in developing countries more opportunity to get to know Chinese universities and channel, depth excavation excellent students in developing countries. Domestic students mainly include degree students, language students and exchange students who have already studied in China. This group of students are usually familiar with China’s domestic environment and have strong adaptability, and understand China’s education and teaching methods, so they can quickly adapt to the teaching and research life in domestic colleges and universities. Some students also have a solid foundation of Chinese and can accept majors
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taught in Chinese. The source of domestic students is one of the important source channels for the university to develop the degree education abroad, and it is also the most easily neglected part of universities, so we should pay more attention to it. We should improve the teaching environment of colleges and universities in the Central and Western regions and accelerate the development of overseas education in the region. For example, on the one hand, the state can appropriately increase the educational funds of colleges and universities in the Central and Western regions and improve the structure of the teaching staff and teaching facilities. On the other hand, we will speed up the project to extend the number of elite universities, encourage key universities to set up branch campuses in backward areas, strengthen exchanges between schools at different levels, promote matching support between regions and schools, and help disadvantaged colleges and universities in the Central and Western regions improve their educational performance. At present, it is a common problem that colleges and universities do not pay attention to the development of international students’ education in China. One of the main manifestations is the lack of initiative in the recruitment of foreign students. The education of international students is one of the important bases to measure the internationalization level of a university. The university should realize its importance, based on its own characteristics and adopt various ways to publicize and promote itself. At the same time, we should strengthen exchanges and cooperation with foreign universities and academic research institutions to fully show their own characteristics and advantages in the process of cooperation and attract foreign students (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). After the English-only courses and English majors have reached a certain stage of development, the university should encourage each international student enrollment department to steadily promote the construction of some brand English-only programs that meet international standards, meet the needs of international education market and have flexible training mode. Colleges and universities should focus on the teaching quality, expand their own specialties and improve the curriculum system for international students. In view of the differences between Chinese and foreign students, courses should be arranged and teaching plans made according to students’ own characteristics. To avoid the education of full teaching style, develop suitable teaching methods for overseas students and improve their enthusiasm in class. Different methods should be adopted to teach students in accordance with their aptitude according to their internal learning conditions. Colleges and universities in China should re-construct and optimize the departments and institutions involved in the education of international students, establish specialized departments for the management and service of international students, and at the same time, set up a three-dimensional, orderly and clear responsibility and power management mechanism. In addition to the daily management and service institutions, universities can also set up a special internationalization steering committee if conditions permit. Committee so as can be in charge of foreign student education departments leadership and enthusiasm in the work of the internationalization of teaching teachers, education reform from the aspects of macroscopic guidance internationalization, participate in major matters discussed, carry out the quality of
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education investigation, evaluation, review and supervision, provide scientific decision for the university education for students studying abroad and comprehensively improve the quality of education of international students. Foreign students’ education requires teachers not only to have a high level of professional knowledge, but also to master good foreign language teaching and communication skills, and on this basis to implement cross-cultural education teaching. In view of the particularity of teaching overseas students, it is particularly important and urgent to build a team of teachers with a high sense of responsibility to adapt to the teaching work of overseas students. Especially, in the new situation of international education, it is necessary for us to establish a scientific and reasonable goal system, and to achieve clear thinking and clear direction in the construction of international teachers. Therefore, it is necessary to focus on the central task of comprehensively improving the quality of teachers. On the one hand, it is necessary to strictly enforce the relevant conditions for the promotion of teachers’ professional titles and post appointment. According to the actual situation of the school, it is necessary to gradually include the overseas study and participation in the teaching of foreign students into the conditions for the appraisal of professional titles and post appointment. On the other hand, it is necessary to strengthen the foreign language training of teachers, improve the foreign language level of teachers in schools by selecting and assigning teachers to strengthen the foreign language training, and take practical measures to continuously improve the examination and incentive mechanism of foreign students’ teachers (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). High-level student resources have always been the object of contention by governments of all countries. High-level international students’ good professional quality, broad international vision and diversified cultural background are undoubtedly one of the most valuable resources of a country. Therefore, China should actively learn from the excellent experience of developed countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, combine with the actual situation of our country, improve the relevant policies on employment and settlement of international students in China as soon as possible, and provide appropriate convenience for the high-end professionals in urgent need of our country to help them integrate into the working life of our country as soon as possible. Different cultural backgrounds mean that different international students have different living habits, educational experiences and learning needs. Colleges and universities should focus on the differentiated characteristics of international students, have an in-depth understanding of the needs of international students and provide precise and personalized services for international students in a demand-oriented manner. For example, special training courses are set up for foreign students with limited Chinese proficiency to help them improve their Chinese as soon as possible and better integrate into the overseas study life. To provide scientific curriculum arrangement for international students with professional needs, so that they can learn more and improve the quality of international students’ training. For international students with special living needs, we should try our best to arrange special services in line with their religious beliefs and living habits. In addition, colleges and universities should regularly organize overseas students to participate
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in local cultural life, so as to bring Chinese culture to the world while training overseas students. International students should constantly strengthen their own quality and improve the ability of cross-cultural adaptation. As the main body in the process of crosscultural adaptation, the international students’ cognitive ability, volitional quality, knowledge reserve, communicative scope, social practice ability and Chinese language learning and application ability fundamentally determine the emergence of cross-cultural adaptation. Before coming to China, international students must strive to improve their cognitive level, will quality, communicative ability and comprehensive application ability of Chinese language. Foreign students must fully realize the importance of Chinese in their study abroad career, learn to make full use of the real Chinese environment to improve their comprehensive application ability of Chinese, dare to actively use Chinese to interact with people around and actively use the Internet, mobile phones, libraries and other tools to expand their channels of learning Chinese. Students both before and after coming to China all must learn to allocate their time, efforts to learn professional knowledge skills and social norms, values and life common sense, continue to expand their knowledge reserves at the same time, actively participate in various types of China’s social practice, common sense in practice to strengthen their own professional accomplishment and cross-cultural ability to adapt. At the same time, international students must learn to actively learn Chinese culture-related courses based on their original cultural identity, or actively participate in various cultural fellowship activities for international students, or with the help of various modern media, through documentaries or movies and so on to deeply understand and accept Chinese culture. International students should try to expand their own communication scope, deepen the level of emotional communication with Chinese students, try to respect and understand the cultural differences between the two sides based on enhancing the feelings of both sides and further strengthen their own social network support and cross-cultural adaptability. In addition, international students should also strive to strengthen their personal willpower and psychological ability to resist pressure and to enhance their internal motivation for cross-cultural adaptation. To manage the ideological education of international students in different countries and ensure the smooth development of ideological and political education, it is necessary to provide institutional guarantee from the perspective of departmental system structure. Appoint specialized teacher for students ideological and political education work, complete the students ideological and political education related to the construction of curriculum system, draw lessons from Shanghai university lecture hall know China way, proposed by reasoning, to carry out similar knowledge lecture hall, invite relevant authoritative experts and scholars for international students about the Chinese story, let them understand China, love China. Lead them to participate in social practice activities and feel the development of China in the social environment. Chinese and foreign students jointly carry out extracurricular activities to strengthen the sense of integration of international students. Foreign students belong to a minority group. Some extracurricular activities organized by some schools exclude foreign students, and even some school sports meets are held separately by Chinese and foreign students. Foreign students are too independent in
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study and life, and do not know much about Chinese culture. Therefore, the school should organize international students to participate in university-wide extracurricular activities, such as the ancient poetry recitation competition and the school host competition, to strengthen the communication between Chinese and foreign students and integrate them into the campus life. The school should carefully create extracurricular activities for international students and brand school or cross-school cultural activities, so as to not only meet the teaching objectives of the school, but also meet the needs of students. At present, some overseas students’ extracurricular activities tend to focus on entertainment, and the educational effect of experiential activities is poor. In this regard, the school must be thoughtful when designing activities, cannot be hasty. For example, Chinese traditional festival activities and outside visiting activities should be equipped with guides, Chinese calligraphy and painting interest classes should be equipped with professional teachers to guide, and practical activities should have on-site coordinators. In this way, the teaching effect can be improved, and an educational mechanism linking teaching with practice and classroom with society can be established. In addition, the design of extracurricular activities should also be targeted. Schools can design extracurricular activities according to the years of study and learning goals of international students to help them have a comprehensive and in-depth understanding of Chinese culture. For foreign students in lower grades, the school can arrange Chinese traditional festivals and cultural experience activities such as sightseeing to help foreign students integrate into Chinese life. For senior international students, the school should design in-depth activities, such as professional learning and practice activities, volunteer service activities, from the material culture level to the spiritual culture level. The university should improve the understanding, attention and enthusiasm of international students to club activities, so that more international students can participate in club activities. Club activities can break through the classroom teaching, enrich the students’ study and life, and improve the students’ practical ability and creative ability, which play an irreplaceable role in extracurricular activities, and students often attend international students association and Chinese and foreign students fellowship groups extracurricular activities, club activities for them, schools should encourage students to participate in the Chinese students’ club activities. For example, they can join Chinese students’ sports clubs such as volleyball and basketball, and artistic clubs such as music and dance, so as to stimulate international students’ interest in Chinese culture from multiple perspectives. In short, carrying out good extracurricular activities for international students can improve their practical ability, improve their learning experience and enhance their psychology toward Chinese culture. It is an important task for China to build a world-class university and serve the national strategy of higher education to improve the quality of overseas students’ education in China and cultivate useful talents from all walks of life globally. Therefore, China should fully understand the strategic supporting role of overseas students’ education in China and further improve the educational status and international competitiveness of overseas students. The basic feature of a world-class university is to gather talents from all over the world to nurture them. The construction of a first-class university is also an important part of attracting high-level international
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students. The reality is that in recent years, the proportion of international students and the proportion of international students in the first batch of first-rate universities in China have been decreasing year by year, and the advantages of high comprehensive quality of first-rate universities have not yet been exerted. We will gradually delegate authority over pricing adjustments for students studying in China, give full play to the market role in the development of education for students studying in China and encourage universities to provide education services for students studying in China (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). Teaching quality is the decisive factor in attracting international students and the key to accelerating the internationalization of Chinese higher education and enhancing international recognition. Under the background of construction of “double top”, our country’s higher education schools will further enhance the quality and, on this basis, should pay attention to foreign students in the important role of “double top” construction, combining the current education for students studying abroad are the overall lack of enrollment scale, imbalance of education structure, countries to engage in different professional teachers should formulate the foreign student’s education. Different levels of teaching qualifications, the establishment of a scientific and efficient teaching quality monitoring system and management mechanism further open up high-quality higher education resources, attract highlevel international students to study and further study in China, so as to achieve the sustained and healthy development of the education of international students. We should further strengthen the internationalization of higher education teachers. High-level and international teachers are the basic conditions to ensure the quality of high-level talent cultivation. In the process of vigorously developing overseas education in China, we should further enhance the internationalization of teachers and provide professional teaching assistants for overseas students in China. To increase the supply of overseas education in China from the aspects of curriculum system design, teaching technology improvement, teaching support work and living security for overseas students. In addition, increase the investment in the education of international students and improve the attractiveness of international quality students. At present, the scholarship for overseas international students in China is mainly government scholarship. It can be predicted that with the deepening of the internationalization process of higher education in China and the continuous effect of “One Belt and One Road” initiative, more and more overseas students will come to China to study and exchange, and the demand for scholarship is bound to increase. Therefore, it is necessary to explore the merits of the international funding system for higher education in the United States based on China’s national conditions, attract and encourage funding for international students from civil society, enterprises and private individuals, establish relevant guarantee mechanism, and integrate and manage resources from non-governmental organizations. Set up special funds or scholarships or grants in the name of enterprises or individuals to subsidize overseas international students to study and live in China. On the other hand, China should make full use of the favorable conditions brought by globalization, rationally integrate, optimize the allocation
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of educational resources in the global scope and more effectively serve the practice of China’s higher education internationalization. In addition to increasing the intensity and scope of scholarships, providing more perfect support and services for international students, creating a more comfortable and safe living environment, and improving the quality of overseas study services are also the key factors to attract overseas students and enhance China’s competitive advantage in the increasingly fierce international study market. In the past, the scale advantage of international students’ education in countries along the Belt and Road was determined by geographical characteristics, and external institutional space and policy environment with inclination and orientation were created to promote the coordinated development of international students’ education in different regions of countries along the Road. Studies have shown that students from developed countries are more driven by their own factors to study in China, while students from developing countries are more driven by China’s development potential and opportunities. Improve the students education policies and regulations which is the basic guarantee of enlarging the scale of education for students studying abroad, clear strategic objective orientation, change the past responsibility main body fuzzy the adverse situation, quality monitoring system, perfect the policy of “area” all the way to China to study abroad education laws and regulations, and formulate a set of services in the laws and regulations system, the foreign student’s education. In addition, relevant institutions should be set up to protect the legitimate rights and interests of overseas students. Policies and regulations for foreign student education have important influence on development, give full play to guide the policies and regulations, predictive and proactive, in the process of policy implementation, evaluation and adjustment in time, and gradually perfect the lead students the development of education, the internationalization level of developed countries have strong international initiatives across the country and the international strategy of character are closely related. China should draw lessons from the experience of developed countries and formulate international education strategies with Chinese characteristics. The authority of international education management between the government, universities and society should be clarified, and the central government should be the maker of international education development strategies, laws and regulations and policies, local governments should be the transmitter and implementer of various laws and policies, universities should be the implementer of international education, and the society should be the service provider of international education. Forming a perfect international education management system of “government-university-society” trinity. The quality of education is the lifeline of the development of education for foreign students. High-level education is the fundamental reason to attract foreign students, and it is also the basic guarantee to promote the continuous progress of education for foreign students. Career education in our country opening to the outside into the mass transfer efficiency of the basic features of the new historical period, foreign students education has entered the scale and quality and pays more attention to the quality of the key period and the implementation of connotation development; quality of foreign students education will directly affect our country’s international reputation, therefore, to improve the quality of higher education in China. It is very necessary
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to establish the education quality evaluation system for international students. We will enhance the soft power of international education. Certified establishment and the control and supervision and construction service function in the integration of internal quality assurance system, to transform the daily education practice for quality assurance action, really become the champion of the construction of quality education for students studying abroad and actors, continuously enhance education for students studying abroad endogenous traction and attract more foreign students.
11.3 The Conclusion and Remark Colleges and universities as organization implementer directly, the foreign student’s cross-cultural management is the management of the department of subjectivity, should attach great importance to the quality of student management in China, adopting diversified means of cross-cultural management, constantly improve the cross-cultural management methods, innovation of cross-cultural management mode and improve the level of cross-cultural management of international students. Management rules and regulations issued by the government, because it is geared to the needs of China’s colleges and universities; it is mostly the Chinese version of policy text format, recruitment of students colleges and universities to convey to the students in China; it should be translated into the international common language of English text format, conditional language situation in colleges and universities should also be against their college students source, using a variety of translation talents, translate all policies and regulations into management rules and regulations in other foreign languages, so as to improve the interpretation accuracy of international students and avoid the misunderstanding of cross-cultural texts caused by the differences in language level of new students (Li, 2021; Xue et al., 2021). At present, with the constant progress of the society and the individual liberation of student management in the process, students participate in the growing trend, whether Chinese students or students in China, “students” management of universality, group characteristic, the foreign student’s unique more students of its management provide a strong basis. Reasonable to absorb a number of foreign students to enter daily in the students management, will meet certain management conditions of students in China as a “bridge” between managers and students groups, cultivate students management backbone assistant, develop student backbone and avoid cross-cultural understanding differences unnecessary management caused by misunderstanding. Under the existing foreign student management system, in colleges and universities should also constantly together its own power management, communication and close cooperation between various management departments, further straighten out the internal and external relations, especially the school with, block and block, bar and block, through swap communication discussion, meeting to discuss student recruitment management service work. In order to better summarize the experience and draw lessons in the future work and plan the future of the management service for international students. Negotiate with overseas students more about
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management experience and problems, so that they can give more practical respect, understanding and support in the management process, and improve the humanized “temperature” of cross-cultural management. The general trend of socialization in modern university management also has a significant impact on the cross-cultural management of international students. Institutions of higher learning should take an open management mentality, actively cooperate with various types of social forces, give full play to the management effect of diversified social forces and participate in the cross-cultural management of foreign students in an all-round way. It can effectively improve the living and learning level of international students, enhance the effective understanding and recognition of Chinese culture in various aspects, and promote the development of China’s sense of identity and friendship. And most of the foreign students in our country from Asian and African countries, the main reason is our country’s higher education quality as a whole is higher than most other Asian and African countries, therefore, should use the opportunity of China’s construction of “double top” colleges and universities, according to the construction of the first-class university school and first-class professional disciplines as a starting point, to improve China’s institutions of higher learning and disciplines of the ranking, to build a truly world-class university and first-class disciplines, especially highlighting the advantages of Chinese language, Chinese literature and other disciplines with Chinese characteristics, so as to improve the international recognition of China’s higher education and the value of degree education, enhance the competitiveness of international students in the international market and establish a good brand and image of Chinese universities. Only by exporting high-quality education in China can the international competitiveness and recognition of China’s higher education be truly improved, and the important role of education in serving the national strategy be truly brought into play. In the era of economic globalization and information globalization, students must master global ability. In order to cultivate international talents, China’s higher education must first enhance its own internationality. China’s higher education should be according to the construction of “double top” as an opportunity to respond to the United Nations educational, scientific and cultural organization of ideas, the internationalization of higher education continuously broaden the international perspective of higher education, internationalization of strengthening the teachers team construction, better courses in internationalization, more and more extensive participation in international education exchange, research collaboration to education in developed countries, gradually increase the proportion of teaching in English, build a group of world-class universities and first-class disciplines, build internationally competitive advantages and characteristic disciplines, enhance the attractiveness of “study in China”, make the level of higher education in China tend to the international standards of talent training and better promote the development of education for international students. On the one hand, it is necessary to strengthen efforts to cultivate internationalized teaching staff by introducing overseas outstanding talents with international background and actively introducing and swindling outstanding scholars from abroad and abroad to come to the university for academic leave, giving lectures and guiding
References
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graduate students, so that teachers and students can keep abreast of international academic trends and conduct academic exchanges. We will gradually increase the proportion of teachers and foreign teachers who have studied or worked abroad. On the other hand, we should carry out international training for the existing teachers, actively organize regular oral English training for young and middle-aged teachers, increase the intensity of sending teachers abroad for further study every year and make full use of the resources of China Scholarship Council and other departments. Excellent young teachers with great development potential will be selected to study and exchange in high-level universities and scientific research institutions abroad in various forms such as visiting scholars and degree study (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020). Subcontractors for the construction of colleges and universities are the quality of education in our country and the main body, to cultivate international education curriculum system with distinctive characteristics, to attract more foreign students to study and optimize the structure of training, improve the training level, the establishment of brand internationalization education characteristics, increasing foreign student education endogenous traction, attract more excellent students to study abroad, gradually optimize the education structure of overseas students, constantly improve the quality of talent training for overseas students, implement the external macro-supervision of overseas students’ education, so as to build a quality assurance system of cooperation between universities and the government, and promote the continuous improvement of the quality of overseas students’ education in China. Foreign students’ education work itself is not only a kind of international education and intercultural communication, is also a part of the national diplomacy strategy, cross-cultural communication is not only the national cultural strategy, is also a social integrated systems engineering, the influence of the social atmosphere and the role of interpersonal interaction is a kind of exert a subtle influence on the whole people “humanistic spirit” infection and “emotional investment returns” (Chen, 2018; Cui et al., 2017; Fang & Mao, 2014; Gao et al., 2018; Lai, 2018; Li et al., 2014; Liu & Zhang, 2018; Yang, 2017; Yi, 2020; Zheng & Zhao, 2020).
References Chen, Y. (2018). Research on the problems and countermeasures of overseas education in China. World Education Information, 90(48), 52–73. Cui, J., Wang, Y., & Li, X. (2017). Liang Guichun. On the ideological and moral education of international students. Comparative Study of Cultural Innovation, 20(10), 19–20. Fang, B., & Mao, F. (2014). A comparative study on the status quo and development trend of education for foreign students between China and America. Journal of Henan University of Science and Technology, 41(4), 1–13. Gao, Z., Li, N., Yang, L., & Gao, Z. (2018). Research on the status quo and development countermeasures of overseas study education in China. Education Modernization, 50(43), 286–287.
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Lai, Z. (2018). A survey of Chinese language use and language attitudes among Foreign students in China. Curriculum Education Research, 20(17), 112–119. Li, Q., Zhang, L., & Zhao, A. (2014). Study on the phenomenon of “culture shock” among international students. Management Observation, 20(11), 157–158. Li, J. (2021). Shaping “The Belt and Road Initiative” international higher education: A qualitative study of international students from South-Asian countries in Chinese universities. Beijing International Review of Education, 3(1), 22–37. Liu, B., & Zhang, J. (2018). Evolution and trend of China’s overseas study education policies in the past 40 years of reform and opening up. Journal of Northwest Normal University (Social Science Edition), 5(6), 91–97. Xue, E., Tian, S., & Li, J. (2021). The macro-level education policy in “The Belt and Road” Strategy: A policy text analysis. Beijing International Review of Education, 3(1), 92–105. Yang, P. (2017). Research on the problems and countermeasures of Chinese cultural education among international students. Science and Education Guide, 20(2), 119–219. Yi, L. (2020). Study on the status quo, problems and countermeasures of Foreign students education in Henan Province. Journal of Nanyang Institute of Technology, 12(3), 66–71. Zheng, H., & Zhao, Y. (2020). Evaluation and tracking research on the status quo of training international students’ practical ability of application innovation. Modern Business and Commerce Industry, 41(36), 77–78. Zong, X. (2020). LI TingSong. Distribution evolution and trend prediction of international students in “One Belt and One Road” countries. Higher Education Exploration, 20(4), 91–99.
Chapter 12
Improving International Students’ Educational Quality in China: A Systematic Policy Document Analysis
This chapter aims to explore the international students’ education policy through a policy document analysis perspective. Since the 18th CPC National Congress, the total number of international students in China has increased from 328,000 to 492,000 in 2018. Students from 196 countries and regions are studying in 1,004 institutions of higher learning in China’s 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities. China has become the largest destination country for overseas students in Asia, and the match degree between the attraction of studying in China and the comprehensive strength of the country has been further improved. After 70 years of gradual development and evolution, China’s policy on studying in China has formed a relatively complete system, and its specific contents have been constantly changed, adjusted and improved with the changes of domestic and foreign situations. Chinese government has always attached great importance to the acceptance and training of foreign students and regarded it as an important part of our foreign exchanges.
12.1 Introduction 12.1.1 The Statistical Review of International Student Studying in China In 1950, China accepted the first group of 33 students from Eastern European countries. In the 51 years to 2000, the relevant institutions of higher learning in China have accepted 405,000 students from more than 160 countries. Among them, about 88,000 students received scholarships from the Chinese government and 317,000 paid by themselves. Since the reform and opening, the work of studying in China has entered a new period of development. In the 22 years from 1979 to 2000, a total of about 394,000 students of all kinds have been admitted to China. Especially since 1992, © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_12
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under the guidance of the Fourteenth National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s social and political stability, economic construction have achieved, sustained and high-speed development, comprehensive national strength and international status has been significantly improved, and the work of studying in China has also achieved unprecedented development. The number of foreign students in China has increased by a large margin, from 14,000 in 1992 to 41,000 in 1996, with an average annual growth rate of more than 30%. The level of international students has also improved significantly. As a sign of the development of overseas study in China during this period, the number of self-funded students increased greatly and became the mainstream of overseas students in China. Despite the serious financial crisis in Southeast Asia in 1998, the number of foreign students studying in China continued to maintain a steady scale. While the number of international students from Asia declined, the number from Europe, the Americas and Africa increased significantly, with a total of more than 43,000. In 2000, a total of 52,150 international students from 166 countries studied in 346 institutions of higher learning in 31 provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities (excluding Taiwan Province, Hong Kong and Macao Special Administrative Regions). Among them, there were 35,671 long-term students and 16,479 short-term students (studying for less than six months). In accordance with the educational exchange agreements and programs between China and relevant countries, the Ministry of Education offered Chinese government scholarships to 152 countries in 2000. In September 2000, 1,664 new students from 130 countries received Chinese government scholarships to study in Chinese institutions of higher learning. Including the students already in school, there were 5,362 international students from 148 countries studying in China on Chinese government scholarships in 2000, accounting for 10.28% of the total number of international students in the whole year. Among them, 2,648 scholarship students came from Asia, accounting for 49.38% of the total scholarship students: 1,320 from Europe, accounting for 24.62%; 1,154 from Africa, accounting for 21.52%; America 205, accounting for 3.82%; and Oceania ranked 35, accounting for 0.65%. There were 3,044 scholarship students receiving academic education, accounting for 56.77% of the total number of scholarship students. Among them, 396 were doctoral students, an increase of 19.28% over 1999; 904 postgraduate students, up 14.43%; 1,744 undergraduate students, an increase of 1.40%. In addition, there were 352 advanced students enjoying Chinese government scholarships, up 11.04%: 1,966 ordinary students, a decrease of 4.19% (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018). In order to strengthen the legal management of education for international students, standardize and simplify the application procedures for foreign students in China, and promote the healthy development of education for international students in China, the Ministry of Education has promulgated the “interim measures for primary and secondary schools to accept foreign students management” (on July 21, 1999, education ministry make no. 4) and the regulation on administration of institutions of higher learning to accept foreign students (January 31, 2000 the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the public security ministry make the
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9th); in addition, in order to expand China’s propaganda education, attract more foreign students to study abroad, the China Scholarship Council and the China Service Center for Scholarly Exchange (CSCS) have opened special columns about studying in China on their respective Internet websites, and CSCS organizes universities to hold seminars on studying in China abroad. In the coming period, China will continue to adhere to the policy of “deepening reform, improving management, ensuring quality, and actively and steadily developing” in studying in China. With the goal of expanding the scale and improving the level, China will continue to improve the teaching and living conditions of overseas students and the education level of overseas students. The Ministry of Education encourages qualified schools to offer professional courses taught in foreign languages to foreign students on the premise of quality assurance, and to actively try to cooperate with overseas educational institutions to carry out education for foreign students at home and abroad in various forms. Teaching in the school system and logistics management system reform, on the basis of the education ministry, will closely cooperate with relevant departments, actively promote the establishment and the perfect combination of school and society students live off-campus, work-study, medical insurance and other social services, a new mode of management, efforts to create a better social environment for study abroad education in China. After 70 years of reform and development, China’s education for overseas students in China has made great progress. In February 2019, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China and the State Council issued “Chinese Education Modernization 2035” and put forward the strategic task of “creating a new pattern of education opening to the outside world”, which guided the direction for the further development of overseas education in China. Historically, China started its education in China in 1950 with 33 students from Eastern European countries, a late start and a low starting point. However, in the academic year 2012–2013, China has already started to rank among the world’s top three destinations for overseas students, receiving 397,635, 442,773 and 489,200 international students, respectively, in the academic year 2015–2016, 2016–2017 and 2017–2018. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, China’s policy on studying in China has undergone a long and complicated evolution to support, guide and guarantee the development of education for studying in China. As an important theory of political science, historical institutionalism provides an appropriate analytical framework for the public policy field to study the process, path and power of policy changes in a long historical period. Therefore, this research tries to use the perspective of historical institutionalism analysis of the students in our country since the founding of the People’s Republic of China policy system logic, historical evolution and its concrete consists of three parts: one is the historical evolution analysis, mainly on the basis of some landmark event will be a long time within the scope of the policy evolution course is divided into several phases, and summarize its policy priorities; the second is the change path analysis, mainly based on the concept of “key nodes” analysis of the decisive role of key events in the process of historical evolution on the establishment of policy change path, according to the “path dependence” model to explore the stability mechanism of policy change path; the third is the analysis of the dynamic
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mechanism, mainly analyzing the influence of the dynamic factors on policy changes. According to the landmark events or key policy documents in the historical evolution process, the development of the policy for studying in China since the founding of the People’s Republic of China can be divided into five periods: initial exploration, normative construction, adaptation and adjustment, improvement and development, and promotion and innovation. The policies of different periods not only present the coherence of historical logic, but also have the uniqueness of their times.
12.1.2 The Initial Exploration from 1949 to 1977 From 1949 to 1977, China’s policy on studying in China went through a period of initial exploration. More nuanced, the period can be divided into three phases. The first stage (1949–1954) was the initial stage of China’s policy of studying in China. At this stage, China’s economic and social development level was relatively low, and its diplomacy was also in the initial development stage. China mainly developed overseas education in China by signing intergovernmental agreements (including agreements on cultural cooperation and exchange of foreign students). The content of the agreement mainly includes the number of foreign students, admission conditions, majors and sources of fees, etc., and the objects are mainly the people’s democratic countries in Eastern Europe and the neighboring socialist countries. In 1954, the former State Administration Council approved the Interim Measures for the Administration of Foreign Students in the People’s Democratic Countries (Draft), which provided a policy basis for the administration of foreign students in China. At this stage, the relevant management regulations are mainly scattered in some intergovernmental agreements and notices, regulations and explanatory documents issued by relevant departments. China has not yet formed a clear and perfect policy system for studying in China.
12.1.3 The Second Stage (1955–1965) The second stage (1955–1965) was the exploratory stage of China’s policy on studying in China. At this stage, China began to issue some unified policies for all countries and systems to study in China in a real sense. The Trial Regulations on the Work of Foreign Students (Draft) (1962) was the first legal document on the management of foreign students promulgated since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. It made detailed provisions on the reception, teaching, life management, social management and funds and expenses of foreign students. “Standard of foreign funding for students studying abroad” (1958), “the notice about foreign student scholarship standards (1961)”, about out-of-pocket expenses burden for international students in China notice (1963), and other policy releasing, the means that our country started to establish foreign student standard system of expenditure.
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12.1.4 The Third Stage (1966–1977) The third stage (1966–1977) was the stagnation and recovery stage of China’s policy of studying in China. The round-trip travel expenses of returning home will be borne by our country. The specific time for these students to study in China will be announced later. [8] From then on, China did not issue any policy on studying in China until 1972, when it signed cooperation agreements with Tanzania and Zambia to recruit students due to political reasons. It was only in May 1973 that the Report on the Plan of Acceptance of International Students in 1973 and Some Issues Concerning the Work of International Students was issued, which marked the full recovery of the education of international students in China during the “Cultural Revolution”. The main purpose of China’s work of studying in China is to fulfill its internationalist obligation and train talents for friendly countries. Through a series of bilateral agreements and the signing and promulgating of relevant policies, China has initially established a policy system for studying in China. However, the formulation of policies for studying in China during this period was still relatively arbitrary and irregular. Due to the unstable political system, economic situation and foreign policy, China was still in the initial stage of exploration. During this period, the management of overseas students in China was carried out under the direct management of the central government, and the management power of local governments and universities was extremely limited. The Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee held in December 1978 marked the end of the highly centralized planned economy system established after the founding of the People’s Republic of China following the example of the Soviet Union and the beginning of the policy of internal reform and opening to the outside world. Based on this social background, the policy of studying in China, to adapt to the national opening strategy, foreign policy and the needs of economic and social development, gradually moves from “nearly closed” to “comprehensive opening”. During this period, China successively introduced a series of policies, which opened a new chapter of education for students studying in China and laid a solid foundation for the improvement and development of the subsequent policy system. First, China has introduced a series of policies to standardize the comprehensive management of international students. In 1985, China promulgated the Measures for the Administration of Foreign Students, which made detailed provisions on the reception, teaching and management of foreign students, and stipulated that “the work of foreign students shall be under the exclusive management of the State Education Commission”. The Regulations on Foreign Students’ Study in China, issued in 1986, made more detailed stipulations on the whole process of foreign students’ application, enrollment and graduation. In addition, the promulgation of relevant laws and regulations in China during this period provided a good guarantee for the orderly management of international students. In February 1980, the standing committee of the National People’s Congress passed the law of the People’s Republic of China degree regulations, formally established the academic degree system of our country, and points out that “foreign students to study in our
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country and foreign scholars engaged in research work and can apply to the degreeconferring unit degree”, awarded to foreign students for colleges and universities degree provides regulations basis. During this period, China also issued HSK Grading Standards and Grading Outline (Trial) (1988) and HSK Grading Outline (Primary and Secondary) (1989), which laid an important foundation for the orderly development of international student enrollment. Secondly, decentralizing the management of overseas students was an important feature of China’s policy of studying in China during this period. In 1979, the Regulations on the Trial Implementation of the Work of Foreign Students (Revised) was promulgated, which began to give local governments certain authority to manage foreign students. However, universities still face certain constraints in the management of foreign students. In response to the reform of the country’s education system, the Measures for the Administration of Foreign Students approved by the State Council in 1985 clearly stipulates that “students who are ordered to drop out of school or be expelled from school shall be examined by the higher competent department of the university and submitted to the State Education Commission for approval. Other disciplinary measures shall be decided by the university”. The measure gives colleges and universities some autonomy in the management of foreign students. The Notice on Strengthening and Improving the Management of Foreign Students in China issued in 1987 proposed that “the cases of foreign students violating the rules of the university shall be dealt with mainly by the university and in accordance with the rules of the university”, which further expanded the power of independent management of universities. Finally, expanding the right to recruit foreign students in universities is another important feature of China’s policy of studying in China during this period. The Revised Regulations on the Work of Foreign Students promulgated in May 1979 stipulates that “All foreign students sent by the government shall be accepted by the Ministry of Education; Any other way to send to foreign students, by the relevant departments or schools accept” after the Ministry of Education, and points out that by foreign institutions and units to receive foreign students “conducted in accordance with the requirements of the examination, selection, examination and approval to the Ministry of Education”, marked the beginning of our country step by step down student recruitment permissions and exam the selection of the permissions. In March 1980, the Ministry of Education issued the Notice on the Establishment of Summer Chinese Language Courses in 1980, which for the first time empowered the 11 designated colleges and universities to recruit short-term foreign students independently. The Notice on the Provision of Short-term Chinese Studies for Foreigners by Institutions of Higher Learning issued in December 1980 further stipulates those comprehensive universities, normal colleges and foreign language colleges, where conditions permit, may hold short-term Chinese studies for foreigners with approval and on the premise of reporting. In May 1985, the Central Committee of the Communist Party of China promulgated the Decision on the Reform of the Education System, which pointed out that “institutions of higher learning have the right to use self-raised funds to carry out international educational and academic exchanges”. This reform of the education management system further promoted the decentralization of the right to recruit
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foreign students. In October 1985, China promulgated the “measures for the administration of foreign students, made clear that” under the premise of the institutions in the national mission, through international exchanges or other way to accept foreign students, by the accepting institutions authorized, submitted to the competent department and the state education commission for the record”, ranging from short-term students will enroll at colleges and universities students expanded to all categories of students, further expand the autonomy of universities to accept foreign students. In a word, since the reform and opening up, the main purpose of China’s study in China is to enhance the friendship and understanding between the Chinese people and the people of other countries. The focus of overseas study in China has shifted from neighboring countries to developed countries such as Europe and the United States, from non-degree students to degree students, and from government exchange students to self-funded foreign students. Introduced a series of policies and regulations in our country makes the students education work step on track, but this time many don’t adapt to the situation of the development of the management system has not been fundamentally solved, still directly by the central government management patterns of foreign students exposed many problems and don’t adapt to 11, schools and the serious lack of local government management function. The promulgation of the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (1995) and the Higher Education Law of the People’s Republic of China (1998) made it clear that colleges and universities have the status of independent legal persons, and endowed colleges and universities with relatively full autonomy in running, enrollment, teaching and management. In this context, China has entered an important period of adaptation and adjustment and promulgated a series of policies and regulations to reform the management system of studying in China (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018).
12.1.5 The Policy Review of International Student Education Development First, the policy of studying in China follows the development vein and logical clues of the previous period, and further improves the comprehensive management policies on the enrollment of foreign students, the Chinese language proficiency test, the issuance of academic certificates and the fee standard. In 1992 the former state education commission issued by the “accept foreign coming to China to study in the graduate student try out method” regulation, the state education commission, ministries and commissions under the State Council or the people’s governments of provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government approval to accept foreign students in institutions of higher learning, with a PhD, master’s degree award authority, may be open to the public the disciplines and
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specialties of all can accept foreign doctoral or master study in China. The Measures for HSK (Chinese Language Proficiency Test), promulgated in 1992, clearly stipulates the nature, level, effectiveness, procedures and administration of the Chinese language proficiency test. Secondly, management and recruitment autonomy were further decentralized during this period. The Regulations on Recruitment of Selffunded Foreign Students promulgated in June 1989 delegated the examination and approval power of enrolling self-funded foreign students to provincial education administrative departments, expanded the scope of institutions of higher learning to receive foreign students and endowed institutions of higher learning with the power of independent enrollment. It creates favorable conditions for institutions of higher learning to actively participate in the flow of international students and truly promote the development of overseas education in China. The promulgation of this policy document greatly increases the admission authority of foreign students in universities, marking a new stage of rapid development for overseas study in China. On June 20, 1996, China Scholarship Council was established to take charge of the specific management of students studying in China. Since then, China’s education for students studying in China has realized the transformation from the unified and centralized management of the government to the three-level management mode of macro-management by the central government, coordinated management by local governments and independent management by colleges and universities. Finally, the establishment of the degree system and the strengthening of quality control are the key themes of China’s policy on studying in China during this period. In October 1991, the academic degrees committee of the State Council issued “about ordinary institutions of higher learning awarded to foreign students try out method” in China, the country’s first issued in view of the policy, the foreign student’s degree system in China to foreign students degree awarded by conditions, standards and procedures to make the detailed rules, marks the coming to China to study abroad education toward the institutionalization and standardization of our country. Published in 1995 “about accepting foreign higher college graduates in China for undergraduate diploma course related issues notice” pointed out that “accept foreign higher college graduates for undergraduate diploma in China, should be in line with strict, careful, gradually carry out the principle of”, intended to regulate the phenomenon such as disorderly recruit students, loose hair diploma, to ensure the quality of education for Chinese students studying in China and the international reputation of higher education. The introduction of this policy marks the sprout of quality assurance of the policy of studying in China. In a word, the policy of studying in China follows the development vein and logical clues of the previous period to develop in depth and gradually establishes the three-level management system of the central government, local government and colleges and universities, and colleges and universities gradually become the main body of the education management of international students in China. It has also established the degree system for international students and the annual evaluation system for Chinese government scholarships, which has greatly promoted the scientific and standardized administration of overseas students in China. However, the quality control policies in this period were still in the embryonic state,
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and it was urgent for China to promulgate relevant policies to improve the quality of overseas education in China. The optimization of the management system is still the invariable topic of China’s policy of studying in China during this period. Due to the change of national strategic policy and the reform of higher education management system, the previous policies have been unable to adapt to the management of foreign students in the new situation. Therefore, on January 31, 2000, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security issued the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning. It makes comprehensive provisions on the enrollment of foreign students, management system, teaching management, campus management, social management and scholarship system, and points out that “the number of foreign students enrolled by institutions of higher learning is not limited by the quota of the national enrollment plan”. In 2009, the Notice of the Ministry of Education on Regulating the Acceptance of Foreign Students by Chinese Institutions of Higher Learning made further clear provisions on the recruitment of foreign students. In 2004, China issued the Notice on the Establishment of the National Training System for Administrative Cadres Studying in China and the Training Plan for 2004. In 2001 and 2007, it issued the Notice on Reforming the Measures for the Administration of Academic Certificates for Foreign Students, the Notice on the Electronic Registration of New Student Names and Academic Certificates for Foreign Students in Regular Institutions of Higher Learning, and the Notice on the Implementation of the National Management Information System for Foreign Students in China in 2004. The above-related policies made the management of studying in China present the characteristics of institutionalization, standardization and informatization in this period. The establishment, perfection and improvement of Chinese government scholarship system are an important theme of China’s policy of studying in China during this period. In order to encourage and fund outstanding students and scholars from all over the world to study and research in Chinese universities and colleges, the Regulations on the Administration of Chinese Government Scholarships issued in 2001 stipulate the administration measures on the categories, recipients, duration, application conditions and application methods of Chinese Government Scholarships. In 2008, China issued the Notice on Adjusting the Living Cost Standard of Scholarship for Foreign Students, raising the amount of scholarship for international students, taking into full consideration the living needs of foreign students and the factors of rising prices. The release of a series of policy texts makes China’s scholarship system for studying in China more and more perfect. The strengthening quality control is also reflected in the policy of studying in China during this period. In response to the problem that higher education at that time was blindly pursuing scale and efficiency while ignoring quality, China promulgated the Interim Provisions on Quality Control Standards for Medical Undergraduate Education (Teaching in English) for Foreign Students in 2007. This reflects that in the twenty-first century, China has actively issued relevant quality control documents to promote the healthy development of education for students studying in China, so as to promote the transformation of the development model of education for students studying in China from scale
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priority to quality and benefit priority. In a word, during this period, the purpose of China’s overseas education in China returned to the nature of education, aimed at promoting international exchanges and cooperation among colleges and universities, and strengthened the standardized management of the acceptance and training of foreign students. Through further simplifying administration and delegating power, reforming the management system of academic certificates for overseas students, establishing the training system for management cadres of overseas students in China, and improving the Chinese government scholarship system, the policy of education for overseas students in China became more and more perfect during this period, and further promoted the education for overseas students in China to enter the standardized and institutionalized development track. However, the quality control policy texts in this period were still few, low in level and narrow in scope of application, which could not meet the requirements of the construction of the education quality assurance system for international students in China. The promulgation of the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Education Reform and Development (20,102,020) (hereinafter referred to as the Outline) and the Study in China Plan in 2010 marked a new period of promotion and innovation in China’s education policies for studying in China. Then, in 2016, Several Opinions on Doing a Good Job in the Opening Up of Education in the New Era and the Action on Promoting the Joint Construction of “One Belt and One Road” Education were promulgated successively, which promoted China’s education policy of studying in China to enter a new stage of prosperity and development. During this period, the goal and emphasis of China’s policy on studying in China have been adjusted. First, several important planning texts issued during this period highlighted the focus of the work of studying in China. In 2010, the Outline pointed out that the current focus of China’s education work in China is to further expand the scale of foreign students, increase the number of Chinese government scholarships, focus on financing students from developing countries and optimize the structure of students studying in China. In the same year, the Ministry of Education issued the “Study in China Plan” and put forward the medium- and long-term development goal of “making China the largest destination country for overseas students in Asia by 2020”. It is the key to study abroad in China in the new era. In the same year, the Ministry of Education issued the Action to Promote the Joint Construction of “One Belt and One Road” Education, pointing out that the focus of China’s future education work in China is to “comprehensively improve the quality of talents training in China, and build China into a destination country welcomed by students from countries along the Belt and Road”. “Modernization of Chinese Education 2035” further emphasizes the implementation of the Study in China Plan, the establishment and improvement of the quality assurance mechanism of education for study in China, and the overall improvement of the quality of study in China. Secondly, the optimization of the management and service system for studying in China is still the focus of China’s current policy on studying in China, including the improvement of the regulations on the management of foreign students, the employment regulations and the management mode of academic certificates. Specifically, China issued the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of
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Education on Further Improving the Management of Academic Certificates and Electronic Registration of Foreign Students in 2011. In 2017, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security jointly issued the new edition of the Administrative Measures on the Recruitment and Training of International Students by Schools, which stipulated the specific rules on the management of international students under the new situation. 2017 human resources and social security ministry, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education issued to allow qualified foreign college graduates employment related matters notice in China, it is based on the 1996 issued by the regulation on administration of foreigners employed in China for the first time formulated specifically for excellent foreign college graduates’ employment policy text in China. Finally, improving the scholarship management system and establishing a quality assurance system are the key themes of China’s policies for studying in China during this period. Several important strategic planning texts of China have repeatedly mentioned the need to further expand the scale of Chinese government scholarships, with the focus on financing students from developing countries. In 2015, China issued the Notice on Improving the Chinese Government Scholarship Funding System and Raising the Funding Standards to further strengthen the management of Chinese Government Scholarship. In 2018, the Ministry of Education issued the Higher Education Quality Standards for Foreign Students in China (Trial), which provides unified guidelines for colleges and universities to carry out the education work of overseas students in China, marking the formal establishment of the quality assurance system of education for overseas students in China. In a word, the current policy system of studying in China is constantly improving and innovating, which involves the management system of foreign students, scholarship management system, employment system, quality assurance system and many other fields, and promotes the development of studying in China to the direction of expanding the scale, optimizing the structure, standardizing the management and improving the quality.
12.2 Status Quo of China’s Policy on International Student Studying in China Since the founding of new China, China has gradually resumed the recruitment of international students, in this process has made a series of achievements, but at the same time there are many problems. This paper explores and analyzes the development of the policy of studying in China in the past 60 years to reflect and adjust it. From the perspective of policy text, this paper reviews and sorts out China’s development policies for studying in China from the aspects of policy background, characteristics, implementation results and comments. From the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China to the period before the reform and opening up, the background of the promulgation of the law on studying in China was at that time, China’s new regime had just been established, it was still in the period of economic
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recovery, and there were a lot of things to be done. In the diplomatic relations, the Soviet Union and other socialist countries are friendly to China, and western countries blockade China. From the international environment, the two camps are in a state of mutual reliance. The policy direction of studying in China at this stage was based on the needs of the formulation of diplomatic strategies, which mainly trained talents for the socialist countries that have established friendly diplomatic relations with China, and all the students in China enjoyed the scholarships provided by the Chinese government. A series of policy texts, such as the Interim Administrative Measures of the People’s Democratic Countries for Studying in China, the Interim Provisions on the Sending of the Teaching and Management of Foreign Students, and the Trial Regulations on the Work of Foreign Students, were all relevant laws and regulations issued at that time.
12.2.1 Two Characteristics China’s Policy on International Student Studying in China Two characteristics can be seen from these regulations: (1) Many legal documents related to international students have been issued. (2) Most of these regulations are non-public documents. At this stage, the foreign student policy has been well implemented and achieved certain results, which strengthened the exchanges and cooperation with socialist countries. With the development of China’s relations with neighboring countries and countries in Asia, Africa and Latin America, there are also students from Vietnam, North Korea and other countries continuing to study in China. In addition, according to the statistics from 1950 to 1965, China received and trained 7,259 students from 68 countries, among whom the number of students from socialist countries accounted for about 90.8% of the total number of students in China (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018). During the period when China began to implement reform and opening up, the state promulgated several laws and regulations. For example, the Regulations of the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China on the Admission of Foreign Students to Chinese Institutions of Higher Learning promulgated in 1980, the Regulations on the Study of Foreign Students in China promulgated in 1986, and the Interim Regulations on the Recruitment and Training of Foreign Postgraduates for Study in China promulgated in 1988. At this stage, the policy direction of China’s foreign students is to gradually open the limit on the enrollment scale of foreign students, initially expand the proportion of self-tuition, and improve the level of foreign students. At that time, the policy of studying in China had its specific background. Firstly, from the international point of view, China’s economy has risen quietly, and the western developed countries have also strengthened their ties with China in all aspects. Secondly, after the Third Plenary Session of the Eleventh Central Committee, China began to implement the reform
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and opening-up policy. During this period, there were several changes in the policy of studying in China: (1) the categories and levels of students were expanded. In the Regulations on Foreign Students’ Study in China issued in 1986, China expanded the categories of international students from three categories to five. (2) Expand the scale of self-funded students. (3) Decentralization of autonomy to study abroad. Embodied in 1988 on the recruit and train line foreign coming to China to study in the graduate student’s temporary provisions specified in the about foreign student admission examination and enrollment form: can attend unified exam, also can attend school separate proposition examination, individual talents, also will be exempted from the recommended way to direct admission. (4) The policy of studying in China is standardized and open. At this stage, the policy has accomplished the following aspects: (1) forming an all-around and multi-level opening pattern for overseas students. The number of international students in China has also increased significantly, and the national composition of international students has also changed a lot. The number of international students in developed countries has increased rapidly. From 1978 to 1989, China accepted 26,522 self-funded foreign students. (2) It has completed the transformation from the government providing scholarships to the expansion of self-funded students in the early days of the founding of New China. According to statistics, in 1978, the number of self-funded students in China was only 29, but in 1981, the number of self-funded students increased to 1809, surpassing the number of scholarship recipients for the first time, 1631. (3) Gradually transition the control power of the government and stimulate the interest of local, university and international students to participate. The landmark policy of the third phase of the reform and opening up period is the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Colleges and Universities issued by the Ministry of Education in 2000. In addition, several regulations on the administration of foreign students in China are also issued: the Interim Measures on the Awarding of Chinese Academic Degrees to Foreign Students by Regular Institutions of Higher Learning issued in 1991, and the Notice of the Ministry of Education on the Implementation of the Administrative Regulations on the Acceptance of Foreign Students by Institutions of Higher Learning issued in 2000. In addition, the Education Law of the People’s Republic of China and Higher Education Law of the People’s Republic of China, which were subsequently promulgated after 1995, have specific chapters that stipulate the rights and obligations of foreign students. At this stage, the policy direction of China’s foreign students is to further deepen the reform, expand the opening up, and delegate the examination and approval power of institutions of higher learning accepting foreign students to the education departments of various provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities directly under the central government. [3] Improving management and further delegating autonomy became the main policy body of this period. The specific social background of this period is as follows: first, from the international situation, the Soviet Union disintegrated and the world multi-polar pattern. Second, China’s economic development is robust, its international political status is rising day by day, and international exchanges are becoming more frequent and closer. During this period, there were several changes in the policy of studying in China: (1) the content of
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decentralization of autonomy was gradually specific and clear. If the relevant policy stipulated in 1992, the university could recruit foreign students directly and set the tuition standard by itself. In 1999, the Higher Education Law of China delegated the power of enrolling international students to universities in terms of program, scale, discipline and specialty setting. In 2000, the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning explicitly expanded the enrollment quota of foreign students in China, indicating that the enrollment quota is not restricted by national planning targets. (2) Emphasis on the training quality of students studying in China. In 1993, the State Education Commission issued the Notice on the Implementation of the Interim Provisions on the Administration of Academic Certificates of General Higher Education among Foreign Students and the Detailed Rules for its Implementation, which required strict examination and approval and regular verification of the universities that have the qualification to recruit foreign students. In addition, it is also stipulated that the university should set up a special organization to manage international students. In 2000, the General Office of the Ministry of Education issued a notice on the issuance of the minutes of the national conference on education and foreign affairs, which stipulated the guidelines for studying in China: “deepen reform, improve management, ensure quality, and develop actively and steadily”. All of these can be seen the importance of the quality of education for international students. (3) Improve the management of international students. In 1996, China established the Scholarship Council to manage the affairs of overseas students. In 2000, in the notice of the minutes of the National Conference on Education and Foreign Affairs, it was first proposed to improve the logistics management of overseas students in China and strive to create a better environment for overseas students in China. At this stage, the policy has accomplished the following work: (1) the scale and quality of international students in China have been simultaneously improved. According to the statistics from 1990 to 1999, China has accepted and trained 284,424 international students, four times the total number from 1950 to 1989. The quality of students has also been greatly improved, and many students have become the pillar of their country’s economic construction after returning home. (2) Standardized management of international students. The content of management from degree to logistics, gradually systematic in-depth. The fourth stage of China’s accession to WTO and its commitment to GATS is marked by China’s accession to WTO, and the internationalization and Informa ionization degree of China’s policy of studying in China are significantly enhanced. Which in this period, our country has issued several education laws and regulations, these regulations have special provisions in the relevant content of coming to China to study abroad, such as the 2004 promulgated the “degree regulations of the People’s Republic of China, the national education career development plan for the period of” 11th five-year plan “, national medium and long-term teaching education reform and development plan outline (2010 ~ 2020)”. In addition, China has also issued the Notice of the General Office of the Ministry of Education on the Implementation of the National Management Information System for Foreign Students, the Notice of the Department of International Cooperation and Exchange of the Ministry of Education on the Promotion of Comprehensive Insurance for Foreign Students in 2006,
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and the Registration of Foreign Students in Regular Institutions of Higher Learning and the Trial Measures for the Electronic Registration of Academic Certificates of Foreign Students and other regulations directly related to the specific matters of studying in China. At this stage, the policy direction of Chinese foreign students is as follows: China officially takes studying in China as a way of service trade and improves the standard level of studying in China to adapt to the internationalization trend of higher education. At this time, the formulation of the policy of studying in China had its specific historical background. First, from the economic point of view, China’s economic development level continues to improve. In 2008, China became the third largest economy in the world. By 2011, China had surpassed Japan to become the world’s second largest economy. Secondly, from the perspective of the international situation, China’s economic status has been enhanced, and China’s international political status has been enhanced day by day. International exchanges have become more frequent and closer. Thirdly, the competition in the international higher education market is increasingly fierce.
12.2.2 Several Changes of China’s Policy on International Student Studying in China During this period, there are several changes in the policy of studying in China. (1) The policy of studying in China clearly regards studying abroad as one of the items of higher education industry and service trade. (2) The informatization level of management of international students in China has been further improved. At this stage, the policy has accomplished the following work: (1) the total number of foreign students in China continues to expand, of which the self-funded students accounted for 95% in 2009. (2) The number of majors to study in China increases, and the scope of scientific fields expands. (3) The types of overseas students studying in China have changed to some extent. For a long time, China regards studying in China as a kind of welfare, and the purpose of the policy for studying in China based on this idea is more ambiguous. For example, in March 2000, the Ministry of Education promulgated the Circular of the Ministry of Education on Issues Related to the Implementation of the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning, which stipulated in Article 1: “To enhance the understanding and friendship between the people of China and the rest of the world, and to promote international exchanges and cooperation among institutions of higher learning”. Obviously, such policies had played a great role in the early days of the founding of New China. From the early days of the founding of New China to the 1950s, Western developed countries isolated and restricted China’s development politically, economically, and culturally. At that time, to coordinate with the implementation of its political and diplomatic strategy, the Chinese government tended to focus on the development of cultural exchanges with socialist countries, so as to promote the close diplomatic relations through cultural exchanges. At present, the
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concept of China’s foreign policy has become “peaceful development”; “Harmonious World”; “Mutual benefit” and a new type of diplomatic relations are being established with more and more countries. At the same time, with the process of global economic integration, China’s policy of studying in China is also facing new adjustments. In addition, in 2001, China officially joined the WTO. Under this special background, the policy of studying in China has not been adjusted in time and remains at the level of aid. Therefore, in the future policy formulation process of international students, it is necessary to clarify the policy objectives of studying in China, so that the policy can reflect the important role of promoting the educational cause and economic development of the whole country. 2. With the update of science and technology, the education policy may lag the development of the society. The Ministry of Education put forward the implementation of the National Management Information System for Foreign Students in 2004, began to promote the comprehensive insurance for foreign students in 2006 and implemented the electronic registration measures for new student status and academic certificate of foreign students in regular institutions of higher learning in 2008. It can be seen that China’s education policy lags behind the international level of development. Moreover, many of China’s policies on foreign students, such as enrollment and employment, information management, scholarship and insurance systems, also lag behind those of other countries. Therefore, China’s policy on studying in China should pay attention to the following issues in the future: the formulation and adjustment of China’s policy on studying in China should be sensitive, and the trend of social development must be accurately grasped, and even the problems that will appear in the future should be predicted when formulating the policy. Only in this way can problems arise in studying in China be prevented to a certain extent. 3. The work of studying in China has always been affected by the highly centralized planned economy. The handling of every business for foreign students can only be carried out after the approval of the superior, and ordinary colleges and universities have very little independent power. After the 1980s, especially since the reform and opening up, China gradually began to reform the market economic system because the original economic system could no longer meet the needs of social development. The country’s laws and regulations clearly give schools more autonomy. For example, the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Students Accepted by Institutions of Higher Learning published in 2000 pointed out that higher institutions have direct power in the enrollment, education and daily management of foreign students. It is clear from these constantly published laws and regulations that the power of the Chinese government has weakened, and the power of universities to independently manage international students has increased. The Chinese government has gradually realized the transformation from the centralized management mode to the indirect and macro-management mode in the affairs of studying in China. In the formulation and revision of the policy of studying in China in the future, the administrative power should be continuously delegated. The adjustment of the policy of studying in China not only requires the transformation of government functions, but also requires universities to continuously improve their ability in the management of studying in China, provide high-quality services in various aspects of admission, rewards and punishments, and foreign exchanges, and strive for better
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resources for overseas students. 4. Perfecting the Scholarship System and Setting Up Various Types of Scholarships Since our country enrolled foreign students in China, our government has provided scholarships to support and encourage them to successfully complete their studies. The Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning promulgated in 2000 stipulates that the scholarship for foreign students can be divided into three types: undergraduate scholarship, graduate scholarship and advanced scholarship. But yes, in fact, these three types of scholarships are just a kind of scholarship, namely “government scholarship”. Compared with various types of foreign scholarships, China’s scholarship is really a little thin (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018).
12.2.3 The Historical Development of China’s Policy on Studying in China The education of foreign students in New China has begun in the early days of the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Up to now, the development of education for international students has become an important part of China’s “grand diplomacy” and the construction of world-class universities. With the continuous development of education for international students, education policies for international students have also experienced a process of continuous development and gradual improvement. Through the text of the policy, we can find that the education policy for international students is not only a supplement to China’s higher education policy, but also an important part of China’s foreign policy, which has its own path and characteristics of change. Since the founding of the People’s Republic of China, studying in China has been an important part of the national strategy. After the Second World War, the international situation has gradually changed, and the capitalist camp led by the United States and the socialist camp represented by the Soviet Union formed a confrontation situation. The United States and other capitalist countries adopted a policy of political isolation and military hostility toward New China. In order to quickly open the diplomatic situation, by the end of 1949, New China had established diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union, Bulgaria, Romania, Czechoslovakia, Hungary, Korea, Poland, Mongolia and Albania, which were in the socialist camp. In order to achieve the goal of consolidating the socialist regime, China began to actively accept and train students from countries in the socialist camp. On June 25, 1950, Zhou Enlai, Premier of the State Administration Council, personally chaired a meeting to study the proposal of the Czechoslovakia and Poland on the exchange of foreign students and instructed the Culture and Education Committee of the State Council, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Education to form a special group to formulate a plan to discuss
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the exchange of foreign students with relevant countries. According to the instructions of Premier Zhou Enlai, besides agreeing to exchange students with Czechoslovakia and Poland, respectively, the Chinese government also proposed to the governments of Romania, Hungary, Bulgaria and other countries to exchange students. These countries responded positively and soon reached agreements. On August 31, 1950, the Culture and Education Committee of the State Council officially assigned the task of receiving the students from the above five countries to the Ministry of Education. From 1950 to 1951, the “Chinese Language Course for Eastern European Exchange Students” at Tsinghua University accepted 33 foreign students from five Eastern European countries, including Romania, Poland, Hungary, Czech Republic and Bulgaria. In September 1952, Tsinghua University’s “Chinese Language Course for East-European Exchange Students” was incorporated into Peking University and renamed as “Chinese Language Course for Foreign Students”. This year, we also accepted two batches of 89 North Korean students to practice at Peking University. With the development and changes of the international situation, the enrollment scope is further expanded to countries in Asia and Africa that have established diplomatic relations with China. In August 1963, the First National Conference on Foreign Students’ Work was held, which made it clear that the reception of foreign students should serve the overall situation of China’s political and diplomatic work, serve the cultural exchanges of various countries and enhance the understanding and friendship between China and the rest of the world. From 1950 to 1965, China received 7,239 students from 68 countries in 94 schools in 17 cities across the country. Among them, 6,571 were from socialist countries, accounting for 90.8% of the total number of foreign students in China. There were 533 students from other Asian, African and Latin American countries, accounting for 7.3% of the total. There were 135 students from Western Europe, North America and Japan, accounting for 1.9%. After that, the work of studying in China had to stop under the influence of the Cultural Revolution. On September 19, 1966, the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China sent a note to the relevant embassies and consulates in China, advising the overseas students to suspend their studies for one year after returning to China. The time of their return to China will be notified separately. The round-trip travel expenses will be borne by the Chinese government. The enrollment and education of international students in China have been interrupted for 7 years, and most of them have stopped their studies in China. In 1973, China resumed accepting foreign students, but only on a small scale. According to statistics, between 1973 and 1977, China accepted only 2,063 students. In the 28 years from 1950 to 1978, China has accepted and trained 12,800 students in China, almost all of whom were funded by scholarships from the Chinese government. While receiving foreign students in our country’s quantity and scale, the country is very limited, but these students after graduation, many people became ambassador to China in the future, Chinese language expert, professor of history, the news agency’s chief reporter, etc., in order to promote their respective countries to conduct friendly exchanges and cooperation with China because we have done a lot of work. In December 1978, the Third Plenary Session of the 11th CPC Central Committee was held, and the focus of the whole party’s work shifted to socialist modernization.
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Since then, China has entered a new stage of historical development, and studying in China has become an important part of opening up. In 1979 and 1984, the second and third National Working Conference on Foreign Students were held, respectively, and the main goals of studying in China were put forward: to strengthen cooperation with the third world. Studying in China is an important part of China’s foreign aid work, and a long-term and strategic work [2]. In May 1979, the Ministry of Education revised the Trial Regulations on the Work of Foreign Students. The primary purpose of this revision is to expand the overall scale of foreign students studying in China, and actively implement the opening up to the outside world, so as to cultivate talents in urgent need, so as to meet the development needs of China’s modernization. China has begun to set relevant acceptance standards for international students to improve the quality of enrollment. In 1986, China formulated the relevant study regulations for international students, which clearly stated the admission requirements for international students at different educational levels of bachelor’s, master’s and doctor’s as well as the examination requirements of the subject they are studying. We began to adjust the financial assistance to reduce the government’s burden on the funds and allowed students who chose to study in China at their own expense to be accepted. We divided the items, scope and standards of fees for foreign students who chose to study in China at their own expense in detail. From 1978 to the end of 1980s, the scale of Chinese government scholarship students continued to grow, the source countries of students gradually expanded, and the number of self-funded students grew rapidly from nothing. In 1978, for the first time, China admitted foreign students through examination. In 1979, the State Council approved the “Request for Instructions on the Fee Standard for Receiving Self-funded Foreign Students in China”, which paved the way for the work of self-funded study in China. In 1980, China issued the Notice on the Issue of Offering Short Courses in Chinese for Foreigners in Institutions of Higher Learning, which created conditions for domestic colleges and universities to accept self-funded students for short courses. In 1984, the total number of foreign students studying in Chinese colleges and universities increased to 6,144, among which the number of self-funded students increased to 3,551. In 1989, the state education commission issued a “about enrolling at” the relevant provisions of the foreign students in China, giving greater autonomy of college recruit power, can be directly in the face of the international student market in colleges and universities, it is coming to China to study education, a milestone in the history of major initiatives, to expand the scale of foreign students to provide the policy basis. On December 18, 1989, the Association of Education and Management for Foreign Students in Colleges and Universities was founded in Tongji University. It is composed of cadres, teachers, experts and scholars who are specialized in the education and management of foreign students. By 2017, there were 935 member colleges and universities. The Society launched its journal, “Studies on the Work of Foreign Students”. In 1993, China issued the Outline of China’s Education Reform and Development, which proposed the establishment of a new education system suited to the development of the market economy. Since then, colleges and universities have truly become the main body of overseas education in China, and the number of foreign students, especially selffunded foreign students, has increased rapidly. In 2000, the Ministry of Education,
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the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Ministry of Public Security promulgated the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Colleges and Universities in the form of Decree No. 9, which provides a reference coordinate for the enrollment and management of foreign students in colleges and universities. At this stage, many colleges and universities set up specifically for international students in language teaching and management institutions, institute of international education college or Chinese culture arises at the historic moment, such as in under the guidance of the teaching as the center, the thorough research on ontology and method of teaching Chinese as a foreign language, foreign language became a discipline, set up a team specializing in teaching Chinese as a foreign language teacher, education for students studying in China has developed steadily. After entering the twenty-first century, studying in China has entered a period of rapid development. With China’s accession to the WTO, the “One Belt and One Road” initiative put forward by the Chinese government, and the establishment of the cultural exchange mechanism between China and many other countries, studying in China has become a highlight of China’s opening up in the new era, an important content of China’s international cooperation and exchange in education, and an organic part of the country’s overall diplomatic work. Party and state leaders have made solemn promises on many important occasions to increase the number of Chinese government scholarships for students studying in China. In 2011, during the second round of the China-US High-Level Consultation on People-to-People Exchange, China announced that it would provide a total of 10,000 scholarships to the United States for people-to-people and cultural exchange by 2013. In July 2012, at the Fifth Ministerial Conference of the Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC), President Hu Jintao pledged to provide 18,000 Chinese government scholarships to Africa in the next three years. During President Xi Jinping’s visit to Trinidad and Tobago in June 2014, he announced that 1,000 Chinese government scholarships of various types would be provided to nine Caribbean countries in the next three years. On November 22, 2011, the inter-ministerial coordination mechanism for studying in China was established jointly by the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the National Development and Reform Commission, the Ministry of Public Security, the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Human Resources and Social Security. In 2016, the central office issued since the founding of the first comprehensive guide of the development of education in our country opening to the programmatic document, “about to do a good job of opening education in the new period of the several opinions, as its supporting documents, issued by the Ministry of Education on the same year in July” promote to build “area” education campaign “notice”, The notice from the “education mission”, “vision”, “cooperative principle”, “key”, “China education” and “creating a beautiful future education” six parts of our country education orientation “in” education campaign, “area” education goal, the cooperative principles of “area” education action, all the way “area” education action The action framework, the institutional guarantee for the implementation of the “One Belt And One Road” education action, and the participation plan of the countries along the Belt and Road in the “One Belt And One Road” education action are clearly explained. By 2018, the “One Belt And One Road” education initiatives
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have achieved initial results in the “Five Connections for Education Action” as the basic initiatives, the “Four Promotion Plans” as the supporting initiatives, and the “Four Contents” as the leading initiatives. In 2017, General Secretary Xi Jinping presided over a meeting of the Central Leading Group for Deepening Overall Reform, which deliberated and adopted the Opinions on Strengthening and Improving People-to-people and Cultural Exchanges between China and Foreign Countries. This is the first time that the party and the state have formulated a special document on the work of people-to-people and cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries, setting a new direction for such exchanges in the new era. The connotation of China’s opening up to the outside world has been enriched by the vigorous development of bilateral cultural and people-topeople exchanges. That same year, the national education career development “much starker choices-and graver consequences-in planning” formally “actively participating in global governance” education emphasizes the deepening multilateral education cooperation, depth of participate in the development of international education rules, actively develop education international aid, to strengthen the exchange and cooperation in the multilateral education in our country the image of a responsible big country and in the leading role of the construction of education system in the world. During this period, under the strong leadership of the CPC Central Committee with Comrade Xi Jinping as the core, the internationalization level of education in China has been comprehensively promoted. China’s education opening up is gradually taking on a new all-dimensional, multi-level and wide-ranging pattern with “One Belt and One Road” education action as the guide, overseas education and Sino-foreign cooperation in running schools as the cornerstone, bilateral and Sinoforeign cultural exchanges and multilateral international educational exchanges and cooperation as the two wings. The new situation of studying in China puts forward higher requirements for the education and management of studying in China. After years of rapid development, the education of studying in China will also produce some new problems. In this regard, relevant departments around the theme of “standardized management, improve quality and efficiency”, to study in China to ensure the quality of specific deployment. General office of the central committee of the Communist Party of China in 2016 and issued by The General Office of the State Council “about to do a good job of opening education in the new period of the several opinions, points out that improving the quality of the students, optimizing the students studying in China country, professional layout, build the students socialization and specialization service system, make” study in China “brand, is the key to the students work in new period. In the same year, the Ministry of Education issued the Action to Promote the Joint Construction of “One Belt And One Road” Education, pointing out that the focus of China’s future education work in China is to “comprehensively improve the quality of talents training in China, and build China into a destination country welcomed by students from countries along the Belt and Road”. “Modernization of Chinese Education 2035” further emphasizes the implementation of the Study in China Plan, the establishment and improvement of the quality assurance mechanism of study abroad education in China, and the overall improvement
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of the quality of study abroad in China [5]. In June 2017, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, and the Ministry of Public Security jointly formulated the Administrative Measures on the Recruitment and Training of International Students by Schools, which emphasizes on improving the management of institutions of higher learning, improving the quality, and making education in China more attractive. It also puts forward a series of new requirements in the aspects of standardized management and optimized service. Foreign students refer to foreign citizens who hold foreign passports and are registered in Chinese institutions of higher learning to receive formal or non-formal education. The international students discussed in this paper mainly refer to the foreign students who are currently receiving education in colleges and universities or other educational institutions in mainland China. The educational development policy refers to the standards or regulations issued in the authoritative form by state organs, especially educational organs, in order to promote the development of national education and international cooperation and exchange. It includes the goals to be achieved, the principles of action to be followed, the clear tasks to be accomplished, the working methods to be implemented, the general steps and specific measures to be taken for the education cause of studying in China in a certain historical period. This paper discusses the background and effectiveness of the policy of studying in China under the new situation and puts forward some policy suggestions for universities to develop the education of studying in China under the new policy. According to statistics, since 1950, when China began to accept the first group of 33 students from Eastern European countries, by 2020, China has accepted a total of about 2 million international students studying in China. Review of new China’s history study in China, from 1950 foreign students more than 30 people, more than 260,000 people by 2010, from only three eastern European socialist countries of foreign students, to now more than 190 countries and regions have foreign students, from the 1950s only a few colleges and universities such as Tsinghua university, Beijing university of receiving foreign students, up to now, more than 600 universities and educational institutions have accepted foreign students. China’s education for overseas students in China has gone through a road of starting, exploring, adjusting and developing. It has made great contributions in coordination with the overall situation of national diplomacy and in promoting international educational exchanges and has become an important driving force for serving China’s economic development and building high-level universities. Since 2001, the education of students studying in China has entered a stage of rapid development. According to data released by the China Scholarship Council, the average annual growth rate of the number of overseas students in China exceeded 20% during the period from 2000 to 2010. In 2010, the total number of international students in China was 265,090. Students from 194 countries and regions in the world are studying in 618 universities and other institutions in China. The policies discussed in this paper mainly focus on this stage. Since the beginning of the new century, the education of students studying in China has entered a period of rapid development. China has become one of the important destinations for international student flows: China’s political stability, rapid economic
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development and continuous improvement of the quality of higher education. The environment for studying in China has been improving, and the educational value of studying in China has been increasingly recognized by international students. At the same time, in the current era of international financial crisis, the international economic, financial, military, educational pattern and strategic environment have undergone drastic changes, and the overseas study destination countries represented by Europe, the United States, Japan, South Korea, Australia and other countries and regions have adjusted their education policies for overseas students. Under the action of these resultant forces, the overseas education in China faces the situation of both opportunities and challenges. How to effectively grasp the demand and dynamic changes of the international education market, timely and actively introduce effective policies and measures, expand the fields and ways of studying in China, build a reasonable structure of education in China, optimize the environment for studying in China and ensure the sustainable development of the cause of studying in China? It will become an important starting point for the policy formulation of overseas education in China (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018).
12.2.4 Study in China Policy Formulation Under the New Situation and Study in China Plan Since 1999, to promote the healthy development of education for students studying in China, the Ministry of Education has promulgated the Interim Measures for the Administration of Foreign Students in Primary and Secondary Schools and the Regulations on the Administration of Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning, which specifies the students education management system, student recruitment and admission of students, scholarship system, teaching management, school management, social management, entry and exit and residence procedures, etc., become after more than ten years until today to guide and standardize the students education of important documents, in addition, the Ministry of Education to ensure the quality of education of foreign students. It has also established and improved a series of overseas education management and service systems, including the national management information system for overseas students, the medical insurance system for overseas students, the professional training system for cadres staying in management and the evaluation and certification system for institutions recruiting foreign students. The Ministry of Education has also issued the Interim Provisions on Quality Control Standards of Medical Undergraduate Education for Foreign Students (Teaching in English) and the Implementation Measures on Electronic Registration of Foreign Students’ New Student Names and Academic Certificates of Regular Institutions of Higher Learning, to optimize the environment for studying in China and ensure the quality of overseas students’ training. In September 2010, the Ministry of Education
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issued the Study in China Plan, for 10 years after coming to China to study in the development of the education goal, main task, the guiding ideology, working principle, development ideas, policy support, management system and working mechanism, promote, admissions, training mode, professional courses, teachers’ construction, quality assurance, education management, the management team, life service, social practice and scholarship system construction, graduate work, etc. 2 Among them, the main goal is to make China the largest destination for overseas students in Asia by 2020, according to the plan, with a total of 500,000 foreign students studying in universities, primary and secondary schools on the mainland by 2020. Under the new situation, the implementation and implementation of the development policy of education for students studying in China have made an important contribution to the great development of education for students studying in China, which is well adapted to the rapid expansion of the number of students studying in China from 52,150 in 2000 to 265,690 in 2010. Its effectiveness is analyzed as follows: first, the new policies for studying in China have systematically and comprehensively constructed and improved the operating system and overall framework of the current education for studying in China. The Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Colleges and Universities have set up the overall working framework and operational system for the whole country to carry out the education for studying in China. A series of subsequent information systems, medical insurance, evaluation and quality control standards are subsystems to improve this work framework, while Study in China Plan put forward a comprehensive and systematic plan for the following ten years of study in China education, which will become a programmatic document for the development of education in China in the future. Second, study the implementation of education policies in China to adapt to the new situation the expectations and the reality from the foreign student’s scale expansion point to see the foreign student’s scale, the administration of institutions of higher learning to accept foreign students provisions after really well adapted to the rapid expansion of foreign students in the new century situation, and then introduced a series of supporting measures. In particular, the development and implementation of the national management information system for international students are the integration and upgrading of the original management system. The new “Study in China Plan” is based on the scientific analysis and prediction of the characteristics of the development of the scale of international students in the future. Third, quality control is one of the main throughout the study abroad education in China, this will create “study in China” brand, whether it is “the provisions on the administration of institutions of higher learning to accept foreign students”, or “study in China plan”, regard “quality assurance” as the students an important aspect of education work policy is clear. During this period, the evaluation system and the implementation of quality control measures such as medical department all emphasized the quality of international student training. Fourth, overseas education in China adopts the hierarchical management mode of “Ministry of Education - provincial education administrative departments - overseas education institutions in China”. Education department, foreign affairs, public security, finance, human resources and social security, health and other departments to coordinate, to form the division of responsibilities clear,
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reasonable, scientific decision-making, smooth enforcement, ensuring the effective management mechanism, the regulation on administration of institutions of higher learning to accept foreign students establish the platform of multilateral coordination and after a series of comprehensive measures relation are inseparable. For example, the management cadre business training system, medical insurance system, as well as the relevant education in China academic degree management system. Fifth, “peopleoriented, strengthen services, optimize the environment for studying in China” into the work of studying in China. It has contributed to promoting the flow of international students and the internationalization of universities. Sixth, the Chinese government scholarship policy has become an important driving force for the development of education for students studying in China. For more than 60 years, the Chinese government has provided scholarships to support foreign students to study in China, which has played a great guiding and supporting role in the development of education for students studying in China. In 2008, the Ministry of Education significantly increased the scholarships and living expenses provided by the Chinese government to foreign students. As the international financial crisis continues to spread, the appeal of Chinese government scholarship is further enhanced with the improvement of living conditions. Take 2010 as an example. A total of 265,090 students were studying in China that year. Among them, 22,390 students received scholarships provided by the Chinese government (excluding those provided by local governments and educational institutions themselves), accounting for 8.45% of the total. The students come from 174 countries and regions and are distributed in 180 universities and educational institutions in provinces and cities across the country. The major they study are engineering, Chinese language, economics, western medicine, management, literature, law, science and agriculture. Overall, the students education policy formulation and implementation are successful, to adapt to the foreign students in the new century scale expansion of administrative management, education institutions, education quality and so on various aspects of requirements, but need to see at the same time, the students need to further strengthen the education policy in the legislative level, in order to compete for international education services 1:3 market. Many western developed countries, such as Europe and the United States, have established a complete set of normative policies and legal systems. Australia in 2000 promulgated the overseas student education services act, “overseas student education service fund security law” and “overseas students education service registration law”, in 2001, issued the “regulations on the administration of overseas students education service”, so as to protect the interests of to international students in Australia and maintain their own education reputation, to provide legal basis for export the smooth development of education. However, China’s international education legislation is relatively backward, so far there is still no basic laws and regulations on the education of students studying in China. Existing legal provisions in some ways the lack of adequate specification function and binding at the same time, the whole study abroad in China education system for systemic risk and exogenous emergency response to the need to further improve, improve the whole study in education in China’s ability to response and protection against systemic risk, strengthen the dynamic stability of coming to China to study abroad education scale, reduce the influence of exogenous
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factors on the education of studying abroad in China. In addition, in cultivating the comparative advantages of international students’ education, building majors taught in non-Chinese, promoting the recognition of Chinese education credits abroad and so on. Policy design and guidance need to be further strengthened. It can be predicted that the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning and a series of subsequent supporting measures, especially the Study in China Plan. It will become an important document and planning program for the development of overseas study education in China in the coming years. The emergence of overseas education is the result of the difference between international science and technology, culture and education. In view of the characteristics of international students, we will establish a number of competitive professional curriculum systems for bachelor’s and master’s degrees with English as the language of instruction, and give full play to our comparative advantages to create a brand of Chinese higher education. Second, to explore the market, do a good job in the module design of educational products, highlighting flexibility and standardization, to meet the needs of different international students. Since the new century, the United States, Europe, Australia, Japan, South Korea and other countries have adjusted the education policies of international students, strengthened the concept of market, and encouraged domestic schools to join the competition for the international student market. Chinese colleges and universities should also join the international tide with an open vision and scientific methods. Schools should strengthen research on the international student market, integrate resources, design educational products with flexible standards from the perspective of educational marketing, and provide them to international students with different needs. Third, we should strengthen the quality control of overseas education in China. High-quality higher education is the most important factor to attract foreign students. In the recruitment and training of foreign students, we should pay attention to quality and create a real international brand. The development of overseas education in China is not only reflected in the growth of scale, but also depends on the improvement of quality. Without basic quality requirements, the expansion of scale is meaningless, and the improvement of quality is inseparable from professional brand building. The vitality of studying in China and the sustainable development ability of colleges and universities are ultimately determined by the gold content of the brand. This requires the school to rationally allocate resources, strengthen discipline construction, do a good job in curriculum design, from the foreign language teaching, teaching methods, teaching evaluation and tracking, graduation design and other aspects of the design of a set of teaching process management system suitable for the development of overseas education in China. Fourth, to build a high-quality management team for overseas students and high-level teaching staff for overseas students, to provide humanized services and teaching, people-oriented is the core of the scientific concept of development, is also the starting point and destination of the work of studying in China, the development of education for overseas students in China fundamentally depends on the teaching staff and management of these two teams. These two teams are the development and growth of the work of studying in China. The Ministry of Basic Education has emphasized the construction of the
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management team of studying in China for many years and established the training mechanism of the management cadre of studying in China. In this regard, universities should also uphold the concept of people oriented. From the introduction and on-the-job training “learning by doing” and other aspects. We will build two teams for the education of overseas students. Fifth, strengthen the publicity, establish a clear division of labor, information exchange, resource sharing, coordination and interaction of the enrollment system for overseas study in China, in the process of enrollment, colleges and universities should also develop targeted recruitment publicity strategies. Including formal and effective enrollment brochures, website construction, international students’ exhibition, etc.
12.2.5 Future Development Directions of Education Policy for Students Studying in China Globally, we are facing an increasingly competitive international student market. Since the beginning of the new era, the global competition for international students has become increasingly fierce, and the share of countries in the international student market is fluctuating. Traditional destination countries and emerging countries of overseas education have listed international student education as a national strategy, and the global trend of international student flow is undergoing profound changes. However, compared with the traditional destination countries such as the United States, the United Kingdom, Australia, Germany, Canada, France and so on, there is still a big gap between overseas education in China and facing great challenges. At present, China is in the decisive stage of building a moderately prosperous society in all respects and at a crucial stage when socialism with Chinese characteristics has entered a new era. As stated in the report to the 19th CPC National Congress, “China’s door of opening-up will not be closed but will only open wider”, “China will remain committed to the path of peaceful development and promote the building of a community with a shared future for mankind”, and “China will continue to play its role as a responsible major country and take an active part in the reform and development of the global governance system. “Continuing to contribute Chinese wisdom and strength”, “talent is a strategic resource to achieve national rejuvenation and win the initiative in international competition”, “gather the world’s talents and use them to speed up the building of a nation of talented people” and other important positions, viewpoints and conclusions have put forward new requirements and given new missions to the education of overseas students in China. In the face of the new situation, new requirements and new mission, we must earnestly grasp the future policy direction of the education for studying in China, create the advantages of the education for studying in China in the policy and boost the education for studying in China to achieve greater achievements and achieve greater development. Based on this, based on sorting out the evolution of China’s study abroad education policies in the past 40 years of reform and opening and combining with the existing problems
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in the current policy, the following suggestions are proposed for the future direction of the policy. Compared with the international student education policies of developed countries such as the United States and Australia, China’s international student education policies are at a lower level. We should absorb the useful experience of developed countries for reference, to gradually change the current study abroad education policy in China, the present situation of the low level, legislation to clear the students education of strategic positioning, the central and local governments, and the power and responsibility division of the school, international students’ rights and interests protection and the legal relief, etc., will be coming to China to study abroad education into the legal framework. We need to standardize education in China through legislation, form a policy system for education in China with the International Student Education Law as the core, provide legal basis and guarantee for the development of education in China, and improve the level of education administration in accordance with law. The formulation of policies should focus on improving efficiency and timeliness; otherwise, the effectiveness of policies will be greatly reduced. In the face of the rapid development of overseas education in China today, we should grasp the pace of the development of overseas education in China, increase the strength of policy research, improve the efficiency of policy-making, so that policy-making keeps pace with The Times. On the one hand, in view of the new situation and new problems in the study abroad education in China, we should promptly introduce new policies; on the other hand, we should promptly revise and update existing policies in light of changes in the objective situation. To improve the efficiency of policy-making, we need to: enhance the awareness of problems, adhere to the problem-oriented policymaking; do a good job of investigation and research before policy formulation, insist on no investigation and no formulation. We should increase grass-roots participation in policy-making, respect grass-roots initiatives and combine top-level design with grass-roots exploration. We should further improve the policies related to education in China to ensure the enforceability of the policies. At present, due to the lack of supporting measures, some of the policies are difficult to be implemented in the school-running practice. As mentioned above, due to the lack of supporting measures, the management of assimilation of international students has not achieved satisfactory results in practice. In this regard, we should try to explore the management mode of assimilation of overseas students from colleges and universities with Chinese characteristics in some colleges and universities, and introduce specific supporting measures through summarizing experience, so as to gradually promote it throughout the country. The same is true for the policy of international student counselors. We should introduce a specific plan for the team construction of international student counselors as soon as possible and improve the supporting measures for the policy of international student counselors. Through the establishment of the admission and professional development system for international student counselors in China, a team of international student counselors with qualified politics, fine style and excellent professional skills will be built to provide a strong management team guarantee for the long-term development of international student education in China.
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Policy implementation is a process in which policy executors transform the contents of policy ideologies into practical effects by establishing organizational structures, utilizing various policy resources and adopting various activities such as explanation, publicity, experiment, implementation, coordination and monitoring, to achieve the established policy objectives. In the implementation process of the education policy for studying abroad in China, on the one hand, we should increase the publicity and publicity of the policy and organize the training of relevant personnel, improve the awareness and understanding level of the policy in local and university, enhance the ability of policy implementation, and build a good policy environment for the effective implementation of the policy. On the other hand, we should be in accordance with the law in accordance with the rules set up effective supervision mechanism and the responsibility mechanism of policy implementation, will be incorporated into the implementation of the policy of the local and universities normalized track evaluation system, strengthen the supervision and control to the process of policy implementation, to correctly perform their duties conscientiously implement policies, the local colleges and universities, and related personnel, shall be investigated for their responsibility. Due to the influence of politics and economy, the education policy in the early stage made the education management system in China shows the characteristics that are suitable to the planned economy system: the origin of students from a single country, student activities are limited, and highly centralized and unified management. The management of foreign students’ affairs has a tendency of “specialization” from policy-making to affairs implementation and has formed a relatively “closed” or “semi-closed” management mode. Later, as the main body of China’s international student education, universities gradually gained autonomy in the management of international student education and became more and more targeted in the management of international student education, which well responded to the expansion of the scale of China’s international student education. To make the principle of quality and standard management for the education policy of international students in the historical period of our country. At the same time, the international perspective also makes the education of international students more in line with the international standards, to keep up with the pace of internationalization. Therefore, the indelible contribution of China’s international students promotes the steady development of China’s international students’ education. In recent years, the scale of international students tends to be stable, the level of international students is significantly improved, the discipline distribution tends to be reasonable, and the major structure is constantly optimized. In addition to the attractiveness of economic development, the attractiveness of higher education in China is also an important factor for countries and regions along the “One Belt and One Road” routes. After the founding of the People’s Republic of China, Chairman Mao Zedong attached great importance to studying in China. At that time, China mainly engaged in foreign exchanges with the Soviet Union and the socialist countries in Eastern Europe. According to the decision of a meeting chaired by Premier Zhou Enlai, from the end of 1950 to the beginning of 1951, 33 students from Czechoslovakia, Poland, Romania, Hungary and Bulgaria successively entered China, becoming the
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first group of students to study in China after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. After the 1954 Asian-African Conference (Bandung Conference), the establishment of diplomatic relations between New China and its neighboring countries and independent countries in the Asian, African, and Latin American national movements has been increasing. By 1969, the number had reached 51. Students from relevant countries have come to China one after another, and the origin of students has become increasingly diverse. In the early 1960s, China began to accept a small number of students from Western Europe, North America and Japan to study abroad, and the origin of students from different countries and regions covered all continents. In 1971, China resumed its lawful seat in the United Nations. By 1978, the number of countries that had established diplomatic relations with China had rapidly increased to 117. The number of students studying in China has also increased year by year. Based on many national achievements such as the atomic bomb, artificial satellites, nuclear submarines, transport planes and Galaxy computers, China has enrolled and trained more than 12,800 foreign students, laying the foundation for its subsequent development. One is in the process of coordinate national diplomatic layout, to promote and deepen the foreign students from all over the world for the knowledge and understanding of new China, the second is to study the establishment and development of the education system in China has played a founding and pioneering role, 3 it is to study in the further development of education in China after reform and opening up the mechanism, system and management policy of various aspects, such as bedding and experience accumulation. After December 1978, the reform and opening policy gradually revitalized the economic market and social resources in the mainland. As a concomitant phenomenon of social development, the education undertaking of overseas students in China gradually gained vigor and vitality, and then entered a period marked by the establishment of diplomatic relations between China and the United States, in which China and Western countries mutually increased the number of overseas students. According to the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic Degrees promulgated in 1980, foreign students studying in China can apply for academic degrees from degree-awarding units, and those who have the required academic level can be awarded corresponding academic degrees. The implementation of the degree system for overseas students in China marks the right track of the education of overseas students in China, as well as a new starting point for the continuous improvement and optimization of the structure of overseas students in China. Since 1984, the categories of international students enrolled in China have covered language students, degree students, advanced students and research scholars. In the 1990s, with the exploration, adjustment and reform of institutions and mechanisms in the field of higher education, the relevant laws and regulations and management systems for studying in China have been preliminarily established. While successively launching key higher education construction projects such as “211” and “985” and promoting the development and construction of high-level universities, colleges and universities have gained relevant autonomy in running schools, become the main body of recruiting, and managing foreign students, and adjust the model of relying mainly on students coming to China
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at public expense and begin to enroll self-funded foreign students. The establishment of China Scholarship Council in 1996 has promoted the quality and level of foreign students in China. In 1997, the Interim Measures for the Annual Review of Scholarship for Foreign Students was promulgated to explore the annual review system for scholarship students. In 1999, universities expanded enrollment on a large scale to promote further opening and development of overseas education in China. In 2000, it issued the Regulations on the Administration of Accepting Foreign Students in Institutions of Higher Learning to guide the standardized administration of education for students studying in China. During this period, Chinese higher education or research institutions accepted and trained about 350,600 international students of various types, including 3,059 Chinese government scholarship students, accounting for 9.14% and 318,500 selffunded students, accounting for 90.86%. The enrollment scale has been gradually expanded, and the source of students has been continuously expanded to developed countries with improved quality and level. The purpose and significance of studying in China has gradually expanded from serving the overall diplomatic situation of China to serving the country’s overall diplomacy, economic and social development and the reform and development of higher education. The policy of studying abroad in China has gradually changed from closed to open, and the management mode has gradually changed from direct government management to the direction of “schools become the main body and the government is responsible for regulation and control”. In the new century, with the development of China’s economy and trade, science and technology, culture and education, China’s national strength continues to strengthen, its international status continues to improve, and its attraction to foreign students further increases. The scale of international students in China, especially the scale of self-funded students or overseas scholarship students, expands rapidly. Especially since the 18th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, China’s comprehensive national strength has continued to improve, and it has become the mission and responsibility of overseas education in China to strengthen the training of middle-and-high-end talents who are knowledgeable about China and friendly to China. In 2007, the Ministry of Education has formulated the foreign student medical undergraduate education (English teaching) the interim provisions on the quality control standard of the foreign students of common colleges and universities student status and new measures for the implementation of foreign students qualifications electronic registration, make the students to improve education teaching environment, the management level and improve training quality. In 2010, the Chinese government promulgated the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term Plan for Educational Reform and Development (2010–2020) and the Study in China Plan, which put forward the basic policies of “expanding the scale, optimizing the structure, standardizing the management and ensuring the quality” for the sustainable development of education for students studying in China (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018). The international development level of higher education can be reflected by the number and training level of international students, which is also an important
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symbol of a world-class university. In Western developed countries, the number of overseas students has always accounted for a considerable proportion. High-level education not only cultivates talented people and keeps them for their own use, but also makes higher education an important industry in some countries such as the United States, Australia and the United Kingdom. However, China lacks the core competitiveness to attract overseas students. The reason is that China’s policy on studying in China has been in a blank state for a long time, which makes it difficult to create a good environment for studying abroad.
12.2.6 The Education Development of Foreign Students in China From the perspective of policy, the education of foreign students in China has been developed from scratch, from small to large, and its development power comes from the support of policy. After 1976, the Chinese government to clarify ideas began to attach great importance to the training of foreign students, there are two main reasons: on the one hand, as an important policy for other developing countries to cultivate a large number of talents, the deepened understanding of China, the development and promotion of our country and the world economy, politics, culture and bilateral exchanges; on the other hand, internationalization is the future trend of the future development of higher education, which is in line with the strategy of China’s future higher education development. Therefore, China has adopted several policies to establish the mechanism of international students in China and based on gradually expanding the scale of international students, to promote the internationalization of international education. It is worth mentioning that a certain policy can be said to be the key policy, which can completely change the basic pattern of foreign students in China, or a certain policy, as a strategic policy, can guide the long-term development direction of China’s overseas students in China. Since the reform and opening, a system of policies for studying in China has been formed, which means that the channel for studying in China has been opened. In 1978, a certain number of Chinese students began to come to China, though the number was small. In 1979, there were only 440 overseas students in China, but how to manage and solve related problems has become an urgent problem. In the same year, the Regulations on the Trial Implementation of the Work of Foreign Students included all problems arising from studying and living in China into the scope of overseas study administration, stipulating that foreign student must abide by the relevant disciplines and regulations of the university. This period has become a critical period for the construction of the policy system for studying abroad. The Chinese government has promulgated several policies and measures to strengthen the management of overseas students and has subsequently issued a number of policies centering on this basic idea. For example, the Regulations of the People’s Republic of China on Academic Departments in 1980, the Regulations of the Ministry of Education of the People’s
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Republic of China on Organizing Short-term Study Classes for Foreigners in 1983, and the Measures for the Administration of Foreign Students in 1985, etc. Thus, the management system for foreign students has been basically established, although it has not substantially increased the number of foreign students. However, it has laid a foundation for the continuous improvement of the policy of studying in China. In the 1990s, with the deepening and implementation of China’s political and educational system reform, the government no longer undertakes the education of international students, but gives full play to the main role of colleges and universities, which are specifically responsible for the recruitment, training and daily management of international students. The change of policy name reflects the change of acceptor. The education policy for foreign students is the policy behavior or code of conduct adopted by the state organs, political parties and other political organizations in a specific period to achieve or serve a certain educational goal for foreign students. On the one hand, it is to achieve the goal of a specific historical period, with a certain historical stage; on the other hand, the policy of the latter stage is the inheritance and improvement of the previous policy and has historical continuity. Although the relevant education policies for foreign students also mentioned to ensure the quality of the training of foreign students, such as the acceptance policy before the reform and opening up mentioned “fine collection less selection”. From the early stage of reform and opening up to the end of the 1980s, the acceptance policy clearly “adhere to the standards and select the best”, but they only emphasize the strict examination of the enrollment link, and rarely involve the specific training standards. Into the 1990s, foreign students are proposed in the receiving and principle of “quality assurance”, and separately from the receiving school qualification review, students’ Chinese language level requirements, monitoring the teaching quality, determine the degreeconferring conditions and other aspects, to explore to establish the foreign student’s education quality assurance system, and through the formulation of relevant policies and regulations to implement (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018). To sum up, the education of international students in China is still in the primary stage of development, and there is still a certain gap between China and developed countries in terms of the education of international students. With China’s entry into the World Trade Organization, the deepening development of global economic integration and the internationalization of higher education, the education of international students in China is facing new challenges, but at the same time, it should also be noted that the education of international students in China is also ushered in the best opportunity for great development. With the further improvement of China’s international status, with the continuous improvement of the level of higher education, China is fully capable of becoming a receptive country for foreign study in the near future. Studying in China is an important link in China’s national strategy, an important part of China’s foreign exchanges, an important way to build a bridge for international exchanges, an important resource for public diplomacy, and an important carrier for China’s international image communication, public diplomacy, dissemination of Chinese culture, telling Chinese stories, and gathering international
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human resources. The rapid development of overseas education in China is becoming an important engine, carrier and guarantee to promote the internationalization of China’s higher education, an important opportunity for the quality and connotation development of higher education and an important embodiment of the improvement of international competitiveness of higher education. Our country should be in the process of studying education development in China, the top design, strengthen the study of education in China to promote the students education connotative development, full service and the use of “One Belt And One Road” and other national strategy provides a good historical opportunity, make good use of modern information technology such as large data to create the students education database, make the students education foundation engineering. We will actively participate in the competition of international student mobility, participate in the formulation of rules for international exchange and cooperation in education, and provide guidance for the long-term, sustainable, connotation and quality development of overseas education in China. Institutions of higher learning are the main body of education and the provider of educational products. However, international students need various types of educational products and diverse categories and levels of talents, so it is difficult to meet the needs of overseas education in China to participate in the global competition of international student flow only by relying on the strength of colleges and universities. Therefore, according to the higher education school type and characteristic, take the “main body + the raise” model, developed by colleges and universities as the students the main body of education products, and actively attract social forces, such as the resources involved in coming to China to study abroad, service development, education, according to the regional colleges and universities and differential policies and measures, forming along the world coming to China to study abroad education harmonious development pattern. Pay attention to the role of domestic and foreign enterprises, especially large transnational and cross-industry enterprise groups, pay attention to the combination of talent training and industry, the combination of joint training and short-term training, academic education and non-academic education, Chinese language international education co-development of talent training system. We will attach great importance to cooperation with international organizations and non-governmental organizations, set up a curriculum system that meets the needs of the country, meets the common aspirations of human society, and highlights Chinese values, thoughts and cultural characteristics, and train talents in country studies, international organizations and people-to-people exchanges. We will improve the capacity of vocational education to receive international students, support the role and status of vocational education in overseas education in China, cultivate high-quality skilled personnel with craftsmanship and international communication ability, and raise the supply level of skilled personnel. We should improve the funding system, innovate ideas, open up channels, explore the mode of integrating government, industry, teaching and research, and set up special funding projects to attract outstanding young people to study in China. At present, cultural inheritance and innovation have become an important function of higher education. International student education plays a unique role in university cultural inheritance and innovation and plays an
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irreplaceable role in enriching university campus culture. From the above perspectives, it is necessary to pay attention to the future development of overseas education in China from the cultural dimension. Cultural yearning power is an important manifestation of cultural soft power and an important symbol of national and national soft power. The promotion of cultural yearning power depends on the effective communication of culture. Foreign student education is one of the most direct ways to spread culture. On the one hand, international student affairs administrators should respect the living habits, religious beliefs and cultural background of international students, on the other hand, also want to strengthen the cultural consciousness, the concept of cultural confidence and cultural introspection, the maintenance state and the school image combines principle with flexibility for specific work, but to the requirement of their violation of laws and regulations and practices to resolutely resisted, only in this way can help international students in China and Chinese culture identity. In addition, in the management of international student affairs, managers should improve their intercultural communication ability, pay special attention to the construction of intercultural adaptation module and increase the intercultural communication knowledge and ability of international students. With the continuous improvement of China’s economic strength, more and more international students come to study in China. The number of countries of origin of international students increases. The improvement of educational level and discipline distribution creates favorable conditions for China’s cultural exchanges with other countries and is also an important way for China to enhance cultural soft power.
12.2.7 The Brand-New Education and Learning Environment With the in-depth development of scientific and technological revolution, the rapid development of information technology continues to penetrate the field of education, which not only innovates the traditional education model, but also creates a brand-new education and learning environment. With the depth of the integration of information technology and education, the education mode from the traditional closeness will pick and periodically to openness, universality, and continuity, driving the lifelong education, learner centered and three education internationalization trends of development, for the equilibrium distribution and sharing of education resources, crossborder provides a convenient way to enjoy the high-quality education. Construction with modern information technology to support the students learning environment, learning resources and learning means, viscous service, immigration and crossborder study, combining the development of modern remote education international, international students accept the change in the way of higher education in China, to realize the students education participate in the international education service trade competition forms and ways of development, Improve the freshness, experience and
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dissemination of education in China. System has the function of guiding, standardizing and educating, and can provide people with a reliable behavior pattern. System construction is an important guarantee for the healthy development of international students’ education. The formulation and universal and strict implementation of good rules is the basis for the management of international students’ affairs, as well as the fundamental condition for establishing authority and winning the respect of students. The development goal of overseas education in China and the rapid expansion of the scale of international students objectively require the improvement of the management level of international students in all aspects. However, there is a big gap between the quality of overseas education in China and the management level of international student affairs compared with the practical needs of rapid development. There is also a big gap between the specialized talents who can accurately grasp the development rules of overseas education in China and have a good knowledge of international student affairs management and the objective requirements of rapid development. As the main content and important guarantee of the quality development of overseas education in China, the management of international student affairs plays a very important role. “Study in China Plan” clearly stated that “overall planning scale, structure, quality and efficiency, to promote the comprehensive, coordinated and sustainable development of study in China, to create an international brand of Chinese education”. After the rapid development of the scale of international students in recent years, it can be predicted that while maintaining the scale growth, the education in China will pay more attention to optimizing the structure, improving the quality and improving the efficiency, so as to realize the situation of equal emphasis on the connotation development, quality development and scale development of the education in China. Therefore, it is necessary to improve the management level of international student affairs to optimize the structure, improve the quality and enhance the efficiency to achieve connotation development and quality development. Current existing international students in our university and transaction management mode is not enough competitive study abroad education in China to provide strong support, or difficult to coordinate the school global of the inner workings of studying education development in China; moreover, the existing pattern will international students too concentrated in a college, and Chinese students form regional segmentation. It is not conducive to the creation of an international campus atmosphere and to provide opportunities for exchanges between Chinese and foreign students. At present, from the current situation of China’s higher education development and the reality of overseas education in China, except for Tsinghua University, Peking University and a few schools with strong comprehensive strength, most of the schools are still difficult to achieve assimilation management. In the transitional stage of convergence management, it is necessary to innovate the management mode of international student affairs, optimize the management system of international student affairs, and implement the integrated international student affairs management system with full-time international student counselors as the main body (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018).
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In recent years, governments, universities, enterprises, and non-governmental organizations have jointly participated in the study in China through the establishment of high-end scholarship programs. The outstanding programs represented by the “Chinese Government Scholarship for Excellence”, “New Sinology Program”, “Silk Road Scholarship”, “Yenching Academy” and “Schwarzman Scholars Program” have attracted many outstanding young foreigners to study in China and helped cultivate a group of high-level international talents with a global vision. With high-quality connotation development as the goal, taking into account the quality and quantity of international talent introduction and training. Assimilation “to promote the management pattern, deep into the Chinese society. To promote students” specialization management mode to students as a foreigner, is a “nanny”, “closed” and “isolation type” management model, this model with the international mainstream management pattern already derailed, also do not accord with the actual situation of the students. With the advancement of national education opening to the outside strategy, university student management pattern should be special care to make the transition to convergence management. In 2018, the Ministry of Education issued the foreign students of higher education quality standard (trial) clearly put forward the assimilation as the reform direction for international students assimilation management for Chinese and foreign students in study and life to accept the same administration management, observe the rules and regulations of the same constraints, enjoy the same. Hard and soft resources for both the Chinese and foreign students alike, and students give attention to two or more things, culture, customs, habits and language differences, based on the principle of reasonable, fair, careful, help foreign students to understand the Chinese culture, as soon as possible into the school and society, promote the students’ cultural exchanges and mutual understanding between China and foreign countries. As the cause of socialism with Chinese characteristics enters a new era, China’s economic and social development continues to open up new horizons, and China contributes Chinese wisdom and offers Chinese solutions to the problems of mankind. China’s international communication capacity and cultural soft power continue to improve, and China is increasingly attracting people from all over the world. In retrospect, the development of studying in China has always been resonant with the development of the motherland, saturated with the efforts of the majority of international student management workers, reflects the national strategies and decisions in different periods, full of the concern and support of the party and the state for studying in China, and demonstrates the development process of a great country that is constantly open and confident. Looking forward to the future, the student’s education career will also be in the process of China toward the development of the education world powers, in China to achieve the great rejuvenation of the Chinese dream in the great journey for scale development, quality development, the brilliant achievements of connotation development, for China’s education cause development and make greater contribution to the development of economic and social business. After 70 years of gradual development and evolution, China’s policy on studying in China has formed a relatively complete system, and its specific contents have been constantly changed, adjusted and improved with the changes of domestic and
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foreign situations. From the perspective of historical institutionalism, we can analyze the historical evolution and institutional logic of China’s policy for studying in China since the founding of the People’s Republic of China. We can find that in the past 70 years, China’s policy for studying in China has gone through five stages: initial exploration, normative construction, adaptation and adjustment, improvement and development, and promotion and innovation. From the perspective of change path, China’s policy of studying in China experienced a path adjustment in the late 1970s and showed strong path-dependent characteristics in the later evolution process. From the perspective of driving mechanism, six driving factors, including national foreign policy, macroeconomic system, economic development level, educational management system, scale of higher education and international education concept, promote the evolution and innovation of the policy of studying in China. At present, the higher education in the world is undergoing a transformation from the elite stage to the popularization and popularization stage, and strengthening the quality assurance of higher education has become the core issue of the development of higher education in all countries and regions. With the expansion of the scale of international students, China has become the largest destination country for overseas students in Asia. The training quality of international students reflects the ability of a university to cultivate international talents. The feedback of international students’ alumni from the international community is helpful for the university to monitor the training quality of international students and consolidate the achievements of studying in China. However, in the actual training process of international students, alumni survey, as a part of alumni work, lacks motivation and effectiveness, and it is difficult for colleges and universities to obtain effective and complete feedback information about the overall employment situation of alumni in the international community, the development status of graduates, the evaluation of employers, the connection with Chinese society and so on. The lack of result-oriented self-renewal and channels to optimize the training system weakens the systematisms and integrity of the education quality assurance system for international students, which is not conducive to the establishment of a whole-process education quality assurance system.
12.2.8 The Construction and Management of International Alumni Associations With the gradual improvement of understanding of the importance of international students’ alumni work, scholars’ research on international students’ alumni work in recent years mainly focuses on the construction and management of international alumni associations, the development approaches of international students’ alumni work, file management and network construction, etc. Some scholars conducted research from the perspective of human resources, regarded the international students and alumni as the valuable resources of the university and proposed that the steady
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development of the work of the alumni association is of far-reaching strategic significance for promoting the development of the university, improving the internationalization level of higher education in China, and cultivating the international human resources of friends who know China and Hua Aihua. Other scholars proposed that Chinese enterprises should strengthen the exploration of the economic strategic value of international students, a unique human resource, in the process of implementing the internationalization strategy. From the perspective of education quality assurance for international students, this paper analyzes the practical significance of the current international students’ alumni survey for education quality assurance and tries to explore an effective path for alumni survey to participate in education quality assurance for international students. The scale and quantity are mainly reflected by the number of foreign students in China, the annual growth rate, the countries and regions studying in China, the number of host institutions and other information. Over the past decade, China’s higher education has been continuously improving its ability to serve foreign countries. The number of foreign students in China, the number of foreign students in China and the number of institutions receiving foreign students have both increased significantly. Over the past decade, the total number of international students in China has doubled, from 195,503 in 2007 to 442,773 in 2006, with an average annual growth rate of 12.14%. The number of countries of origin increased from 188 in 2007 to 205 in 2016. The number of institutions accepting foreign students increased from 44 to 829. (1) Against the backdrop of a slowdown in the growth of international students in major study abroad countries such as the United States and the United Kingdom, the number of international students in China has risen to the third place in the world, becoming the major growth point for international students in higher education globally. (2) This shows China’s support for studying in China and the accumulation of international talents for deeper participation in global governance. The proportion of degree students to non-degree students represents the quality of overseas students, and the proportion of graduate students to undergraduate students also represents the quality of academic qualifications. In the past decade, the quality of international students in China has been improving year by year. Specifically, the proportion of students with degrees has increased slightly year by year, from 34.9% in 2007 to 47.4% in 2016. Accordingly, the non-degree students decreased from 65.1 to 52.6%, and the structure was gradually optimized. Second, the level of academic students has been gradually improved. Undergraduates accounted for the majority, but the proportion decreased year by year, from 82.4% in 2006 to 69.0% in 2016, while the proportion of graduate students increased from 15.8% in 2006 to 30.4% in 2016. Mainly thanks to the policy and measures of China’s Ministry of Education, first, to increase the proportion of international students with degrees, and second, to guide key universities to accept high-level degree students. The major that international student’s study can be divided into 15 categories, such as Chinese. Over the past decade, the number of overseas students in all majors has increased, but the proportion of overseas students in seven majors, including Chinese language, Western medicine, engineering, economics, management, traditional Chinese medicine, and literature, is higher. Although Chinese is the dominant major in overseas education in China,
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the proportion of Chinese is gradually decreasing, and the choice of majors for overseas students tends to be diversified. Western medicine majors ranked second, while engineering, economics and management majors increased year by year. In 2016, the top five majors selected by degree students were Western medicine, engineering, economics, management and Chinese language in turn, with a more obvious trend of diversification of majors. There are two reasons for the diversification of major choice of degree students. First, Western medicine has the largest number of students, which is related to the interests and prospects of overseas students, as well as a series of measures of China. Since 2007, the Ministry of Education has encouraged universities to set up programs to teach Western medicine in English and train teachers to teach in English. Secondly, the significant increase in the number of overseas students choosing engineering, economics and management is not only related to the economic and social development of the countries where they come from, but also related to China’s plan to recruit and train local construction and management talents in the host countries to help enterprises go out and participate in local construction. Providing a certain number of scholarships is an important means for governments to attract outstanding students. China has provided various forms of scholarships for international students, which has played a significant role in promoting the growth of international students, adjusting the scale of international students from different countries and regions and improving the quality of international students. According to the statistics of the total number of self-funded students and scholarships in China in the past ten years and the scholarships obtained by students from different continents, the following findings are found: the proportion of students receiving scholarships in the total number of international students increased year by year, from 5.2% in 2007 to 11.1% in 2016. In the same period, the proportion of self-funded students decreased slightly year by year. The choice of policy tools should pay attention to the coordination and combination of systems. Different policy instruments have their own preconditions for use. Therefore, when using policy tools, it is necessary to start from the perspective of solving practical problems and pay attention to the pertinence of policy tools in solving problems. The education undertaking of studying abroad in China is faced with the complicated international situation, which is greatly affected by political and economic factors. Education administrators should fully understand the dynamic nature of the study abroad education in China and ensure the flexibility of policy tools, to adapt the policy adjustment to the actual problems and situations, and then promote the convolutional development of the study abroad in China. Second, to promote the comprehensive application of various policy tools in the “Study in China” strategy, in line with the principle of “expanding the scale, optimizing the structure, standardizing the management and ensuring the quality”, to improve the timeliness of the policy. For the use of policy tools “authority tool” more problems can be more application ability construction tools and incentives, to do more incentives to refine the policy implementation of concrete measures and specific requirements of the process, improve the maneuverability of policies, strengthen the ability construction of the student’s career of each responsibility main body, to meet the international systemic changes in the field of education. Third, policy formulation should pay more attention to sustainability and ensure the quality of overseas
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education in China in the new era. Policymakers often use “hard” tools to change people’s behavior, such as legislation and establishing rules. Although these paths are more efficient in the short term, the corresponding policy costs are also higher. Therefore, policymakers can combine a variety of methods and use “soft” tool. For example, in the process of matching policy tools with the cause of studying abroad in China, a variety of strategies such as incentive, publicity and communication can be adopted in combination with short-term goals and policy costs. At the same time, it considers the long-term development goal of the policy, pays attention to the coherence and continuity of the policy, and coordinates the application of authoritative tools with the other four kinds of tools. In the key links of overseas study education, such as guarantee mechanism, system construction and training mode, emphasis is placed on the use of capacity building tools and incentive tools, and through the focus on long-term development goals, systematic education policy system is used to strengthen the internal and external capacity building of overseas study in China (Han, 2014; Huang, 2020; Li & Peng, 2020; Liu, 2017; Liu & Peng, 2019; Meng & Li, 2016; Sun, 2019; Wang & Chen, 2015; Wu, 2010; Wu & Li, 2014; Zhang, 2017; Zhao, 2014; Zhou, 2014; Zhu & Li, 2018).
12.3 The Conclusion and Remark It has been nearly 70 years since the People’s Republic of China started its education in China. History shows that the student’s education is an important part of national strategy, is the important content of China’s opening to the outside world, is the important way to international diplomacy, is one of the important gripper people-topeople and cultural exchanges, is an important method of “area” talent training, help to set up a good China’s international image and spread Chinese culture, speak good Chinese story. The study abroad education in China is becoming an important part of the internationalization of China’s higher education and an important embodiment of the country’s comprehensive national strength. We have every reason to believe that with the increasing improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength, its increasing contribution to the world and its increasingly far-reaching role and influence on the community with a shared future for mankind, more and more international students will choose to study in China. Over the past 40 years of reform and opening, the number of foreign students in China has grown rapidly. China has become a major international country in higher education and a major destination country for international students. Therefore, it is expected to achieve “double inflection points” between studying abroad and studying in China, and between studying abroad and returning to work. Therefore, under the current new situation, it is urgent to use scientific methods to accurately predict the change trend of the scale of international students in the 14th Five-Year Plan period, which can not only provide a reference for the scientific formulation of international student’s policies, but also prepare for universities to carry out the work of international students in a faster
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and better way. It can also pave the way for the key transformation of Chinese international students from scale expansion to quality improvement, guide the direction for “Double First-class” universities to further enhance the internationalization of higher education and form a decision-making basis for “One Belt and One Road” to promote the construction of “people-to-people communication” in higher education field. However, although scale and trend change are the core issues of higher education research, when confined to traditional research methods and technologies, academia still faces objective difficulties in how to scientifically improve the accuracy of higher education scale prediction and how to reduce prediction errors. The most typical one is that almost all the predictions about the enrollment rate of higher education and the size of the school-age population in the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term Education Reform and Development Plan (2010–2020) published by the academic circle of higher education before 2010 have failed. As a result, the indicators related to the running scale of higher education in the Outline formulated on this basis have been realized prematurely, and the development of higher education in the second half of the 13th Five-Year Plan lacks the target guidance directly from the Outline, which reduces the scientific level of higher education decision-making to a certain extent. At present, some higher vocational colleges do not make long-term plans for education internationalization and lack clear training objectives and directions for overseas students. They only carry out overseas education or training services in the form of independent project system in response to the call of national policies and from the perspective of expanding education opening to the outside world. As a result, the advantages of featured majors in higher vocational colleges are not obvious, and it is difficult to achieve accurate training of foreign students of different categories, different positioning and different training paths. “Strengthening humanistic quality education is an inherent requirement for China’s higher vocational colleges to fulfill their mission and cultivate talents. It is also an important starting point for promoting the harmonious development of higher vocational education, deepening the connotation construction of higher vocational colleges and improving the quality of technical and technical personnel training”. Under the new normal of expanding education and opening to the outside world, higher vocational colleges shoulder the mission of cultivating international high-quality technical and skilled personnel and spreading Chinese culture. Humanistic quality education is also an important part of overseas education in China. However, the humanistic quality education for overseas students in some higher vocational colleges is still limited to the simple introduction of Chinese cultural carriers such as Peking Opera, ceramics and paper cutting, lacking in-depth exploration and guidance of cultural connotation, ideology and spirit. Vocational education is the foundation of higher vocational colleges, and professional spirit is also an important content of talent training in higher vocational colleges. Therefore, higher vocational colleges need to strengthen the education of professional spirit and should take the spirit of craftsman as the struggle spirit of contemporary China to spread to the youth of the world, to promote the connotation development of international students’ humanistic quality education. “School-enterprise cooperation is an inherent part of higher vocational education, which reflects the distinctive feature that
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higher vocational education has the closest connection with enterprises in the industry”. With the continuous deepening of the integration of industry and education, school-enterprise cooperation has become an important way for higher vocational colleges to fulfill the three functions of training talents, developing science and technology, and serving the society. At present, school-enterprise cooperation focuses on the docking of supply and demand, the cooperation of personnel, the sharing of information, the joint construction of resources and the coordination of teaching, but the integration of school-enterprise culture is rarely mentioned in the talent training. In the humanities quality education of overseas students in higher vocational colleges, such a situation also exists universally. The lack of understanding of Chinese corporate culture by international students will lead to their cognitive bias toward the spirit and value of the enterprise, hinder the formation of their sense of belonging, and thus affect the stability of the overseas talent team in “going global” enterprises. The regulations stipulate that political theory should not be a compulsory course for students in other majors except philosophy and political science, and only stress that Chinese language and China should be a compulsory course for higher education. Domestic students may also be counterproductive, so that the overseas students have rebellious psychology, the gain outweighs the loss. We should absorb the essence from the management of foreign students and combine with the special characteristics of foreign students, carry out targeted education, so that ideological and political education can more effectively cover all aspects of foreign students. The integration of industry and education is the requirement of The Times and the inevitable trend of the connotation development of vocational education. School-enterprise cooperation, as an important starting point of the integration of industry and education, is the key to run vocational education well. In the field of education for overseas students in China, school-enterprise cooperation also contains the connotation of co-cultivation of talents, co-management of process, sharing of achievements and sharing of responsibilities. It also embodies the value orientation of precision training, international teaching and personalized development. Precision request school will own internationalization development direction and the training objectives of foreign student unifies, around the enterprise and the market demand to carry out the education teaching, encourage school active docking enterprises, enterprises to actively participate in teaching, the two sides together heart fusion, focus between production and education cooperation and cohesion personnel training, school enterprises in strict accordance with the requirements of cultivating talents. In order to facilitate the enterprise to achieve the construction of talent echelon, the school to achieve the improvement of the ability to run a school, both sides win–win and share the benefits of cooperation. Internationalized teaching centered on school-enterprise cooperation can effectively promote the educational and teaching reform of schools. On the one hand, according to the international vocational education standards, the school should carry out the major and curriculum setting work together with the enterprise, formulate the talent training plan together, fully reflect the characteristics of enterprise customization and higher vocational education; on the other hand, schools should strengthen the adjustment of the existing talent training system, optimize the professional curriculum system, update the curriculum content, improve the actual
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effect of teaching and strengthen the internalization and application of international high-quality education resources. The school-enterprise cooperation provides more support for the formation and development of the overseas student training mode in higher vocational colleges. The training of international students in higher vocational colleges in China has shown a trend of serving the “One Belt and One Road” construction and the “going out” of Chinese enterprises and has been continuously improved in the direction of diversified and personalized education supply to meet the needs of different international students’ growth and development. Study in China education is an important part of the implementation of education opening up to the outside world. It has been 10 years since the “Study in China Plan” was issued. Study in China education is stepping into an important stage of improving the quality and efficiency of education. With the gradual deepening of the implementation of the quality and efficiency improvement, the ability of high-quality curriculum teaching, high-level international teachers and highstandard practical teaching guarantee must be further strengthened. Higher vocational colleges should focus on high-quality curriculum teaching, constantly strengthen the curriculum management of international students, ensure the unity of curriculum system, curriculum standard, curriculum content and the training goal of international students, and optimize the connection between various courses to form a curriculum teaching system with complete content, reasonable levels and precise module insertion. At the same time, we should build a high level of teaching staff, clarify the construction objectives of international teaching staff, increase training efforts, carry out the teaching ability improvement project of school teachers and enterprise masters, implement the requirements of “leading enterprises to stay in school”, “leading schools to join enterprises” and “integrating schools and enterprises”, constantly improve the teaching support ability, mobilize resources inside and outside the school, do a good job of international students practice teaching space, equipment and time and other comprehensive guarantee. The development of civilization is inseparable from the exchange of diverse cultures and the collision of ideas. Humanistic quality education for international students is the main channel to disseminate the excellent traditional Chinese culture and humanistic thoughts, as well as an important way to publicize the concept of a community with a shared future for mankind and Chinese corporate culture. The solid development of humanistic quality education will help international students to improve their cross-cultural adaptation ability and form the identity of Chinese culture, and it will also help them to have a deep understanding of Chinese corporate culture. Combined with the new requirements for the education of overseas students in China, the humanistic quality education in higher vocational colleges presents a new trend. First of all, teaching objectives from the virtual back to reality. The goal of humanistic quality education for international students is to guide students’ thoughts. Higher vocational colleges attach importance to the dissemination of excellent traditional Chinese culture and the spirit of Chinese culture in the new era in the process of education for international students and carry it out in the whole process of training international students. Next is the teaching content to bring forth the new. Higher vocational colleges try to integrate the relevant contents of Chinese corporate culture into the humanistic
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quality education for international students, and integrate the values, business philosophy and enterprise spirit of excellent Chinese enterprises into the course content, so that international students can be influenced by Chinese corporate culture. Again, is the teaching management by the loose become tight. Higher vocational colleges are focusing on the humanistic quality education for international students, and the cultural education for international students is developing in a direction that is organized, implemented, assessed and guaranteed. From the point of academic research, “much starker choices-and graver consequences-in” pay more attention to the scale of student recruitment in China during the period of research to the basic information of the foreign student’s scale expansion, especially along the “area” of the rapid expansion of the scale of foreign students, all kinds of research involve foreign students total quantity, stock, such as the ratio of accounts for the proportion of annual growth, government scholarship based data. It is widely believed that the “One Belt And One Road” initiative is a “watershed” for the growth of international students in China. Since the “One Belt And One Road” initiative was put forward, studying in China has become a key part of the “people-to-people bond”, and China has already achieved the target of 500,000 students under the Study in China Plan ahead of schedule. In the future, with the continuous advancement of the “One Belt And One Road” initiative, the “tide of studying in China” will continue to appear on a larger scale, the overall scale of studying in China will probably surpass the “inflection point” and the scale of studying abroad, and China will realize the “trade surplus” of the internationalization of higher education. Some studies hold that China is currently in a critical period of building world-class universities, and the common feature of the construction of world-class universities is that the proportion of international students is not less than 5% of the total number of students in the university. If this proportion is strictly applied, the scale of international students in China will further increase significantly. At the same time, some studies from the perspective of the structure of academic qualifications believe that the scale of Chinese students in China will continue to expand. In 2015, 80% of the 35 OECD member countries accounted for less than 10% of their international students. The average proportion of their international students at the master’s level was 10%, while the proportion of their international students at the doctoral level rose to more than 25%. From this perspective, the proportion of Chinese students studying in China at master’s and doctoral level will continue to expand significantly in the future. Under the social background of economic globalization, the education of international students will become the trend of the rapid development of China’s higher education. From its characteristics, China’s education policies for international students are all macro-level regulation and control, but few effective measures at specific level. At present, the scale of the foreign students will become more and more big, looking forward to having a higher level of foreign students in our country, at the same time to promote a higher level of higher education in China is more, and to achieve the goals of this, you need to the government guidance, improve the effectiveness of the policy and concreteness, thus to optimize our country college
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of foreign students education management strategy theory basis. Under the background of globalization, international student education has become a major development trend of higher education. The scale and level of education for international students in our country are constantly changing, so the management of education for international students should also constantly change with the new development trend. Foreign students education management mainly include as follows: three types of recruit students management, teaching management and logistics management, colleges and universities in the education of international students management work in colleges and universities gradually integrate with the international community at the same time, also want to the past student education management in carding system or mechanism, etc., and a summary of historical experience at the same time. The education management of international students has been further promoted. The institutional changes of the education management of international students at the national level are mainly reflected in the changes of educational policies. The change of the number of overseas students and the country of origin corresponds to the change of the education policy for overseas students and affects the specific change of the corresponding educational management mode. In this paper, the education policy for students studying in China refers to the institutional arrangements and norms directly or indirectly made by the Party and the state to promote the development of education for students studying in China in the field of higher education, which are embodied in laws and regulations, planning Outlines, action plans, departmental regulations and a series of normative documents. Based on the elaboration of the evolution and characteristics of the education policy for students studying in China, this paper analyzes the existing problems of the education policy for students studying in China and puts forward some suggestions on the future direction of the policy.
References Han, W. (2014). Research on international human resource management from the perspective of economic globalization—Reflection on the education management of international students. Management World, 20(8), 182–183. Huang, Y. (2020). Discussion on the Ideological and political education of foreign students in colleges and universities. Think Tank times, 20(2), 158–159. Li, X., & Peng, W. (2020). Three tides of the development of foreign student education in China after the reform and opening up. Chinese Journal of Educational Sciences, 23(03), 106–118. Liu, S. (2017). Research on Chinese cultural communication strategies from the perspective of intercultural communication. Education Modernization, 40(25), 76–77. Liu, B., & Peng, C. (2019). Research on the change of China’s study in China policy since the founding of the people’s Republic of China: Based on historical institutionalism analysis. Higher Education Administration, 13(06), 1–10. Meng, M., & Li, C. (2016). The development and policy analysis of the education of Chinese overseas students in China in recent years. Journal of Taiyuan University (Social Science Edition), 17(02), 72–75. Sun, X. (2019). 70-year policy evolution and development achievements of China’s education opening to the outside world. Journal of the National Institute of Education Administration, 20(10), 10–15.
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Wang, J., & Chen, X. (2015). Comparative analysis of “Study in China plan” and “100,000 strong plan” between China and the United States. Chongqing Higher Education Research, 23(02), 94–99. Wu, D. (2010). Interpretation of world-class universities: A case study of the University of Michigan. Higher Education Research, 1(12), 82–93. Wu, M., & Li, X. (2014). The evolution of education policies for international students after the founding of the People’s Republic of China. Journal of Kaifeng Vocational College of Culture and Art, 41(03), 126–127. Zhang Y. (2017). An analysis on the concept and practical experience of general education in modern Chinese universities. Journal of Central China Normal University (Humanities and Social Sciences Edition), 56(04), 147–156. Zhao, Y. (2014). A survey on the general education of foreign undergraduate students in China’s colleges and universities. Journal of Jiangsu Normal University (Philosophy and Social Sciences Edition), 40(05), 132–138. Zhou, L. (2014). On the significance of strengthening the policy research of government funding for studying in China. Journal of Liaoning University of Science and Technology, 16(04), 66–68. Zhu, D., & Li, B. (2018). Behavioral science and public policy: The pursuit of policy effectiveness. Chinese Administrative Management, 20(8), 59–64.
Chapter 13
Exploring Talent Training and Teaching Quality of International Students in China
This chapter explores the talent training and teaching quality of overseas students in China. With the vigorous development of China’s economy, China’s international influence and international status are also constantly improving, more and more foreign students to study in China; the rapid development of international student education has become an important part of China’s foreign exchanges and education. The education and management of international students are a measure of whether higher education has reached the international level. In recent years, with the accelerating pace of global economic integration and education internationalization, the degree of opening to the outside world has also been continuously improved, and the scale and growth rate of international students in China have also been gradually increasing. However, there are still many problems in the education of overseas students in China, especially in the aspects of teaching and management, which need our urgent attention. Teaching is the central work of colleges and universities, and the teaching management of international students has become the center of the management of international students in colleges and universities. The level of teaching management in colleges and universities directly affects the overall level of teaching management in colleges and universities. This paper mainly discusses the problems encountered in the training of international students in the aspects of enrollment, teaching and management.
13.1 Introduction 13.1.1 Enrollment of International Students in China The development of overseas education in China is not only reflected in the growth of scale, but also depends on the improvement of quality. With the increasing scope of © The Author(s), under exclusive license to Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. 2022 J. Li, Shaping Education Policy Discourse, Exploring Education Policy in a Globalized World: Concepts, Contexts, and Practices, https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5355-2_13
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enrollment and the increasing number of source countries of international students, the assessment methods of enrollment are not unified and the degree of difficulty of entrance examination is difficult to grasp. As a result, the quality level of international students is uneven, which makes it more difficult to improve the quality of international student training. Without basic quality requirements, scale expansion is meaningless. The improvement of quality is inseparable from the construction of professional brands. The vitality of studying in China and the sustainable development ability of colleges and universities are ultimately determined by the gold content of the brand. The educational level of Chinese colleges and universities is quite different, so it is necessary to integrate the strength of experts and scholars to create their own professional brands and industrial characteristics. Because of the higher education internationalization and international education market awareness is not strong, cannot very good master education in the international market operation pattern, less publicity channels, mainly through a small number of overseas agents and agents is introduced as well as the students on-site consulting passive way, such as the lack of diversity and flexibility, lack of dynamics and the actual effect; the information channel is not smooth. It makes foreign students know little about China’s colleges and universities and the situation related to study abroad life, and it is difficult to form a strong attraction. In addition, the source countries of foreign students in many universities remain unchanged for a long time. The failure to explore new source countries is also an important reason for the failure to greatly improve the quality of foreign students. Some of the Chinese government scholarship students who came to China did not have any Chinese-speaking foundation before they came to China. After coming to our school, they took Chinese preparatory courses for one year and then entered a professional college for professional study. Government scholarship students are older, and it is difficult for them to learn Chinese. At the same time, CSC has no regulations on relevant language tests, so the score of HSK (Chinese Language Proficiency Test) does not affect their scholarship, so they don’t study hard for Chinese, and their Chinese proficiency is very low after one year. After entering the major, they simply cannot understand the Chinese teaching, which leads to poor test results. Direct impact on the quality of students’ training far from the expected training objectives.
13.1.2 The Communication Between Foreign Students and Teachers In addition, the communication between foreign students and teachers plays an important role in stimulating students’ learning enthusiasm. International students rarely communicate with their lecturers after class. In class, foreign students seldom ask questions directly to teachers in class, and the problems they encounter are not solved in time. Such teaching mode hinders the improvement of the quality of overseas students’ education. However, overseas students are often taught by Chinese
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students in the classroom, which can cause many problems. It is understood that in most colleges and universities, the proportion of foreign students in large classes is very small. As a result, the teacher’s teaching level is based on the standard of local students, while neglecting a small number of foreign students, which makes some foreign students deviate from the class. In addition, due to the limitations of language and culture, it is difficult for international students to keep up with the progress of the class, and they cannot fully understand the content taught by the teacher, which greatly affects the quality of education for international students. As is known to all, teaching activities as a social practice, its task is to change and transform the objective world, its concrete object of change is students and the students’ body and mind. In teaching activities, the subject of educational practice is the teacher, it is the practitioner, the reformer, that is, the educator. In students’ learning activities, students are the subjects of cognition and development, while educational influence and teachers are the objects. Education affects this object and is also the object of students’ cognition. In cognitive activities, it is the teacher who connects the cognitive subject and the cognitive object, and the teacher is the intermediary that connects the two. Therefore, the role of teachers in the teaching process is self-evident. According to the International Standards for Chinese Language Teachers, to be a qualified Chinese teacher, one needs to have five abilities: basic language knowledge and skills, culture and communication, second language acquisition and learning strategies, teaching methods and comprehensive quality. However, it is found that most colleges and universities have the characteristics of arbitrariness in the allocation of teachers for foreign students, and most of them ignore the characteristics of teaching Chinese as a foreign language. Some people still think that teaching Chinese as a foreign language is a “child” idea, and it is generally believed that as long as Chinese people can teach Chinese. Therefore, in the training of foreign students, there is a serious lack of professional and experienced teachers. Restricted by various factors, this kind of situation generally exists in colleges and universities. The result is that the quality of the training of foreign students is not high, in the training of high, fine, sharp imitation face will be greatly restricted. In the course setting of international students, professional courses and market needs are out of track, and individual courses fail to fully meet the personal development of international students. Many foreign students believe that the courses they are studying in school are more examoriented and lag behind the development of the market. They cannot meet the new demand for talents in the market and are not helpful for their future employment. In this way, the international students are mentally lazy in their study of professional courses. The unreasonable course setting directly affects the training effect of overseas students. According to the Higher Education Quality Standards for Foreign Students issued by the Ministry of Education in 2018 and the International Chinese Proficiency Standards issued by Hanban, knowledge is the foundation and practical ability is the key in the cultivation of foreign students, namely the cultivation of verbal communication skills. Then, how to deal with the imparting of knowledge and the cultivation of practical ability is the primary problem. In teaching, foreign students mostly learn theoretical knowledge through teachers’ lecturing. After acquiring knowledge, they need
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to consolidate what they have learned through language practice, so as to complete the ultimate goal of knowledge and practice conversion, that is, to acquire competence. As the name implies, compulsory courses and elective courses are the courses that must be studied and the courses that international students choose to study by themselves. However, some universities still have the phenomenon of “taking all the required courses”. Of all the credits for international students, elective courses account for only 1% of the total score, and students have few elective courses to choose from. It can be seen that the proportion of compulsory courses is unbalanced compared with elective courses. The proportion of elective courses is too small, and there are not many courses for international students to choose, which is not conducive to the construction of their own interest structure. Interest is the best teacher. If international students fail to choose the courses they are interested in, their interest in learning will be greatly reduced, which will lead to a decline in their learning ability, which will have a great impact on the cultivation of their ability. Diversified courses can not only cultivate students’ interest, but also improve students’ innovation ability. But judging from the curriculum of most colleges, the improvement in this aspect is not very big. The courses of most colleges and universities mainly include subject basic courses, professional courses and practical courses. However, Chinese colleges and universities pay more attention to Chinese teaching in the basic course setting, and there are few practical skills courses.
13.1.3 The Construction of Chinese Courses and Teaching Materials for Overseas Students in China Although the construction of Chinese courses and teaching materials for overseas students in China is very perfect, the construction of English-only courses and teaching materials for overseas students majoring in engineering is lagging, especially the design of specialized courses and supporting English teaching materials. At present, the original English textbooks are mostly used in the basic courses for international students majoring in engineering in domestic colleges and universities, but there are quite a few specialized courses without supporting English textbooks. Even if the courseware prepared by the teacher can be copied and printed, the information carried by the courseware is very limited, far less than that of the supporting textbooks. There are quite several engineering major overseas students reflect in class do not understand, want to read books after class but cannot find the bibliography. Although there are certain appraisal system for students in teaching in China, there are still lack of the teaching quality supervision and evaluation of problem, for the supervision of the course is restricted to stay under the cadres to the classroom to check, with students listening to lectures, the assessment is not very seriously, some colleges and universities every year the evaluation results of teachers did not open, no rewards and punishments measures. Teaching evaluation and feedback have no
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substantive effect. Therefore, how to establish an effective supervision and evaluation mechanism to strengthen the supervision of the quality of the cultivation of international students is a problem that needs to be seriously studied and solved. The professional foundation of foreign students is uneven. The international students in China mainly come from Africa, South Asia, Southeast Asia, Europe and the United States, and the students come from a wide range of sources. Most African students are from English-speaking countries, and the students from French-speaking areas are also relatively good at English. However, African students generally have poor professional foundation, and it is difficult to cultivate them. Southeast Asian students, mainly Vietnamese students, generally poor English foundation, difficult to communicate in English. Only after the Chinese preparatory course can I enter the major, but due to the limitation of Chinese proficiency, the learning effect is poor, and there are great problems in the completion of the paper. The training of foreign students mainly includes two aspects, namely teaching and management. In terms of teaching, the management of international students is complex and systematic. We should learn from the management experience of overseas students in domestic colleges and universities, update our ideas and broaden our thinking, so as to make the management of overseas students scientific and standardized. At present, the domestic some colleges and universities are formulated a series of rules and regulations on the management of students, teaching management and daily, but is common teaching and management in the students’ special treatment phenomenon, is not strictly implement relevant rules and regulations, especially not strictly carry out the teaching quality standard, widespread “wide into the wider” phenomenon. Due to the differences in language, culture, education and teaching, international students in colleges and universities usually need a long time to adapt, which brings a lot of difficulties to “convergence management”. However, in the long run, assimilation management is still one of the important ways to guarantee the education quality of international students. Foreign students in colleges and universities come from different countries and regions, with different ethnic backgrounds, political backgrounds, historical backgrounds and cultural backgrounds. They have different educational backgrounds and social experiences, as well as different ideologies, religious beliefs and customs, which increases the difficulty of management. It is particularly important to build a high-quality management team for overseas students. However, some of the overseas students have poor English skills and have no systematic understanding of the teaching rules, curriculum design and teaching process. Under the upsurge of studying in China, many universities in our country did not pay attention to the construction of supporting facilities for teaching management of foreign students when expanding the enrollment scale. Many international students cannot understand the operation of teaching management facilities on their own, so they must turn to the teaching office teacher for help to complete everything. This not only increases the burden of teaching management, but also brings a sense of strangeness to students, so that international students cannot quickly adapt to the new teaching life environment. In view of the above problems, we should actively make corresponding decisions. First, we should change the teaching methods and curriculum setting. Second,
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the supervision and evaluation mechanism of the education quality of international students should be established. Third, teachers with good professional quality, foreign language ability and high teaching level should be trained. Finally form and perfect the management system. The education of overseas students has always been linked with the international political system, ideology, customs, cultural traditions and life style. The choice of overseas students to study in China shows their interest and friendship to China. For China’s diplomacy, the education of studying in China is an important part. Through the education of studying in China, a group of friendly forces can be cultivated to promote the contacts and exchanges between China and other countries in the world, which is conducive to safeguarding a peaceful international environment and safeguarding China’s political interests. In addition, the education of foreign students can bring great economic benefits to the country. In order to grab students, many developed countries have actively formulated educational policies and laws that are conducive to the development of foreign students in their own countries, so as to develop the education of foreign students and obtain huge economic benefits. Therefore, vigorously expanding the education scale of international students can supplement or expand China’s education funds, which is very beneficial to China’s economic benefits and can promote the development of China’s national economy.
13.1.4 Talent Training for International Students in China With the development of economic globalization and the internationalization of higher education, the education of foreign students has attracted more and more attention from all countries in the world, especially the developing countries. The education of overseas students is closely related to the political, economic and cultural diplomacy of a country. It is of great significance to introduce and train international talents, promote the cultural exchanges between China and other countries, and enhance China’s cultural soft power and international influence. With the increasing development of international higher education service trade, more and more people go abroad to study and research. China also vigorously develops higher education service export. The competitiveness of a country’s higher education service export in the international higher education service export market directly affects the scale and level of international students. Since China put forward the plan of “building a firstclass university with the world’s advanced level” in 1998, along with the sustained and rapid development of China’s economy and foreign trade and the expansion of China’s higher education scale, the number of foreign students studying in China, the categories of study, the source countries of students and the proportion of selffunded students have all made great progress. Especially in recent years, the Chinese government has been committed to building China into an important destination country for international student flow. Now, it has become one of the countries with the largest increase in the scale of accepting foreign students in the world, and the number of foreign students absorbed is also among the top in the world. With the
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acceleration of the internationalization of higher education, the scale of enrolling overseas students with degrees in local universities is constantly expanding. How to ensure the steady improvement of the quality of overseas students’ education while expanding the scale deserves the attention of local colleges and universities and administrative departments. Training quality is the lifeline of international students’ education. Only by constantly improving the teaching level of international students and innovating the training mode of international students can we attract and retain more international students to study. Therefore, how to ensure the steady improvement of the quality of overseas students’ training while the scale of overseas students continues to expand is an important issue worthy of the attention of universities and education administration departments.
13.1.5 The Curriculum System for International Students in China In recent years, the education of international students has developed vigorously. It has become an important content of China’s foreign exchange and an important part of education. However, in practice, the development of the education of international students in China is faced with a series of bottleneck problems, such as the low level of education, the unbalanced distribution of students’ majors and origin countries, the insufficient attention to the strategic position and the inadaptability of policies and regulations to the development needs. In order to promote the healthy development of education for foreign students in China, a series of measures should be taken to expand the scale of foreign students in China, increase the scale and strength of government scholarship, establish the preparation system for studying in China, perfect the rules and regulations and management system, and perfect the service system for studying in China. The training programs of colleges and universities are designed with reference to the requirements of International Chinese Proficiency Standards, General Curriculum Syllabus for International Chinese Teaching and Standards for International Chinese Language Teachers. These standards and guidelines are applicable to general talents, but more importantly, they need to cultivate versatile and regionalized talents in line with the actual conditions of the study areas. The existing training programs do not fully consider the differences of talent training in overseas regions. There is still a lack of scientific orientation in the connotation of training specifications and teachers’ quality. What kind of education talents should we train for the study abroad regions? How about their career planning and professional development? It’s something worth thinking about. Talent training should fully reflect regional characteristics, form a regional training model, and truly meet the language needs of the study abroad region. The curriculum system is not scientific, and the curriculum is designed according to the academic advantages and teaching staff of each school. The existing teacher training is implemented by the international talents of the universities, and the
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colleges under the responsibility are all specialized institutions for the education of international students. Their strengths are language and cultural teaching, while the interdisciplinary knowledge system is a weakness. Overall curriculum has “heavy theory, light practice” “experience” of language learning, culture, present the single pattern, basic is given priority to with language, culture class curriculum, and the theory of class teaching majority proportion of practice class, training teachers application skills of education psychology, education technology, teaching method and other types of courses, this is estimated to be related to the pressure of language proficiency. It can be seen that the curriculum still takes exam-oriented education as the baton, while neglecting the application ability cultivation of teachers’ skills and qualities. Local universities in China have different management structures for overseas students with degrees. In some universities, overseas students with academic degrees are directly put under the management of the School of International Exchange. Some universities are jointly managed by the School of International Exchange and the second-level colleges where relevant majors are located. In some universities, the foreign affairs office or the international student administration office is jointly managed by the secondary college where the relevant majors are located. Ningbo Institute of Technology adopts the joint management of the International Student Administration Office and the secondary school. The International Students’ Management Office is responsible for the recruitment, life management, graduation and employment of international students, and the secondary school is responsible for the teaching management of international students and assists the relevant management of the International Students’ Management Office. In practice, the advantages of joint management are mutual cooperation and learning from each other. The disadvantage is not clear division of responsibilities, the existence of buck-passing phenomenon, efficiency is not high. Although local colleges and universities have established a relatively sound management system for undergraduates, the management of international students involves more departments than that of domestic students, and the related affairs are more complicated. The management of international students is faced with cultural differences, integration difficulties and so on. A small number of international students even fight, take drugs and sell drugs. The foreign student management personnel, especially the logistics management personnel, lack of language ability and poor communication; various departments have not yet formed collaborative management, management efficiency is low, and there are management loopholes. In addition, the management system of overseas students is not perfect enough, which makes the management of overseas students with degrees in local colleges and universities face greater risks. Since the beginning of the new century, the education of international students in China has developed rapidly and the scale of international students has expanded unprecedented. The education of international students is playing an increasingly important role in promoting the opening up of higher education and building worldclass universities in China. However, some universities have not paid enough attention to the education of international students and lagged behind in the innovation of the system and mechanism in the aspects of enrollment, teaching and management, which has affected the healthy and sustainable development of the education of
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international students. It needs to be improved as soon as possible in order to better face the challenges and grasp the opportunities.
13.1.6 The Financing Mechanism of Diversified Education for International Students in China At present, the degree of marketization of education service for international students in China is low, and the countries along the “One Belt and One Road” are important regions for the development of education service trade. Therefore, how to adapt to the market demand, expand enrollment publicity channels, establish education brands and form the education industry chain for international students has become the key points of research. At present, most foreign students from Southeast Asian countries along the “One Belt and One Road” rely on scholarships, as most government scholarships favor some public universities. Private colleges and universities should strengthen cooperation with enterprises, groups and non-governmental organizations, set up special scholarships, establish the system of teaching assistant and research aid for overseas students, and provide educational aid for overseas students. In the field of education for overseas students in China, school-enterprise cooperation also contains the connotation of co-cultivation of talents, co-management of process, sharing of achievements and sharing of responsibilities. It also embodies the value orientation of precision training, interpointed teaching and personalized development. Internationalized teaching centered on school-enterprise cooperation can effectively promote the educational and teaching reform of schools. On the one hand, according to the international vocational education standards, the school should carry out the major and curriculum setting work together with the enterprise, formulate the talent training plan together and fully reflect the characteristics of enterprise customization and higher vocational education. On the other hand, schools should strengthen the adjustment of the existing talent training system, optimize the professional curriculum system, update the curriculum content, improve the actual effect of teaching and strengthen the internalization and application of international high-quality education resources. School-enterprise cooperation in education provides more support for the formation and development of the overseas student training mode in higher vocational colleges. The training of international students in higher vocational colleges in China has shown a trend of serving the “One Belt and One Road” construction and the “going out” of Chinese enterprises and has been continuously improved in the direction of diversified and personalized education supply to meet the needs of different international students’ growth and development. Study abroad education is an important part of the implementation of education opening up to the outside world. It has been 10 years since the “Study in China Plan” was issued. Study abroad education in China is stepping into an important stage of improving the quality and efficiency of education. With the gradual deepening of the implementation of the quality and efficiency improvement, the ability of
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high-quality curriculum teaching, high-level international teachers and high-standard practical teaching guarantee must be further strengthened. Colleges and universities should focus on high-quality curriculum teaching, constantly strengthen curriculum management for international students, ensure that the curriculum system, curriculum standards, curriculum content and the training of international students are unified, and optimize the connection between various courses, so as to form a curriculum teaching system with complete content, reasonable levels and precise module insertion. Should be to create a high level of teaching staff at the same time, clear the construction goal of internationalization of faculty, increase the intensity of training, the implementation of the “guide enterprises in schools”, “bring the school into enterprise”, “between” requirements, continuously enhance the support capability of teaching, to mobilize resources, face-to-face practice teaching for foreign students’ all-round security of venues, equipment and time and so on.
13.2 The Measures for Talent Cultivation for International Students in China Study abroad education in China is not only about recruiting foreign students to participate in the classes of Chinese students, nor is it about teaching in English, but also about the all-round requirements for the internationalization of colleges and universities from the aspects of school-running guiding ideology, school-running hardware conditions, teaching system construction, scientific research ability level, student activity organization, etc. It is absolutely impossible to do a good job of studying abroad in China without the high importance of ideology. Study abroad career in China as an important part of our country’s education career, always get the party and the country attaches great importance to, provides a strong support to build “area”, also in order to improve our country’s education international influence, enhance mutual understanding and friendship between the peoples of the Chinese and foreign, to help developing countries to develop social and economic development needs talents, made a positive contribution. Colleges and universities must fully realize the strategic significance of developing the education of international students to the country, the promoting role of higher education and the promotion and guidance of colleges and universities. Institutions of higher learning should base on their own characteristics, take disciplinary construction as the guidance, strengthen the construction of international cooperation platform, continue to improve the academic level and international influence of the university, and attract more high-quality overseas students to study in China. At the same time, the comprehensive service quality of colleges and universities is internationalized. In the planning and construction of campus infrastructure, international concepts are integrated, and international elements are highlighted. Improve the teaching and living facilities for international students in line with the enrollment scale; continuously expanding
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the English language resource base; establishing an information management platform for international students; providing a comprehensive guarantee for the study and training in China, to better serve the national “One Belt and One Road” initiative. Colleges and universities should set up a separate leading group for international students, headed by the vice president in charge, and headed by the principal persons in charge of the functional departments and related colleges involved in the work of international students in China. To formulate long-term, medium-term and shortterm training and management plans for international students in accordance with the overall development plan of the university based on the Quality Standards of Higher Education for International Students (Trial). At the same time, the international assessment indicators of the school are formulated to effectively reflect the completion of the work and management of overseas study in China by all departments, and the indicators are included in the year-end assessment, award evaluation and excellence evaluation, so as to implement the international assessment indicators. In addition, the university will give full play to the role of the working group for students studying in China, establish a normal working mechanism, timely coordinate and solve the problems encountered in the work of international students, and comprehensively promote the smooth development of the work of Wan fang Data for students studying in China. Clarify the responsibilities of each school and department for the training and management of overseas students in China. Appoint the leaders of each school and department in charge of the internationalization work as the responsible persons for the education of international students. Clarify the responsible persons for each specific work, assign responsibilities to each person and resolutely implement each work to each person. A pattern of “leading by the university, leading by the college and cooperating with departments” will be gradually formed to ensure the smooth mechanism, clear responsibility and effective promotion of the training and management of overseas students in China. Higher Education Quality Standards for International Students (Trial) issued in September 2018 clearly stated that: “In disciplines or majors in which foreign language is the teaching language, the Chinese proficiency of undergraduates should reach at least Level 4 of the International Chinese Proficiency Standard at the time of graduation, and the Chinese proficiency of master’s and doctoral students should reach at least Level 3 of the International Chinese Proficiency Standard”. This policy eliminates the training of Chinese language teaching in English major education in colleges and universities into the disadvantages of insufficient, colleges and universities need to produce practical solution, strictly implement the graduation standard specification, breaking the original teaching plan, only the first semester or first year courses in Chinese language and Chinese culture courses, in the undergraduate course, countries to recognize the cultural courses. The Chinese culture with colleges and universities, art practice course or a student club activities in harmony and graduate students, exchange students and language gave birth to all levels of foreign students in the classroom to open the whole process of Chinese language and Zhong tong, increasing proportion of practice teaching, help students to have a more comprehensive, more in-depth understanding of Chinese culture, to adapt to the learning of life in China quickly, improve the cross-cultural ability to adapt. A
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comprehensive perception of China will enable them to better disseminate Chinese culture and tell Chinese stories after graduation and return to China. According to the spirit of “actively promoting the assimilation of management and service between foreign students and Chinese students” in Study in China Plan of the Ministry of Education, as well as the actual structure of foreign students in various universities, the management of assimilation between foreign students and domestic students is gradually carried out. For international students in separate classes, they are encouraged to take elective courses open to all students. Encourage and guide international students to participate in student associations of the university, and invite Chinese students to participate in international activities; organize international students and domestic students to carry out academic discussions and jointly build scientific research projects. We will explore and improve the management and service mechanism for international students, break down barriers between international students and domestic students, and promote cross-cultural communication and integration. In addition, through teaching and training, dormitory administrator management, scientific research, community activities and other comprehensive “assimilation” management, so that students from different countries and different cultural backgrounds study and live together, in the collision and integration of international students and Chinese students to cultivate the multicultural communication, exchange and understanding ability. Make them truly become international talents with international vision, understand international rules and be able to participate in international affairs and international competition. The cultivation of international students is not only an important part of the internationalization of education in China, but also an important connotation of the construction of “double first-class” in Chinese colleges and universities. With the continuous development of China’s economy and the continuous advancement of the “One Belt and One Road” initiative, scientific and reasonable training and practice of international students will contribute to the development of China’s education cause.
13.2.1 Modes and Characteristics of Talent Training for Overseas Students With the improvement of China’s comprehensive national strength and the continuous rise of its influence in the world, the independence of African countries in succession and the steady development of China-Africa friendly relations, ChinaAfrica educational cooperation and exchanges have also made great progress. Since the late 1980s, China has begun to accept African students studying in China. With the policy adjustment on the education level and training mode of African students studying in China, the scale of graduate students studying in China has been continuously expanded, which has better realized the dual purpose of cultivating talents for Africa and promoting China-Africa educational cooperation and exchange. Foreign
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students’ education is an important part of the country’s “soft power” construction and an important measure to accelerate integration into the world. Therefore, in recent years, the Chinese government has begun to provide Chinese government scholarships to many African countries and regions to support and fund an increasing number of African graduate students for further study in China. And proportion of graduate students in Africa is higher and higher, however, from the current study in postgraduate cultivation of the practical situation in China, Africa for the students in colleges and universities graduate student curriculum and training system is not mature enough, paid little attention to individual requirements for international students, the graduate student “convergence” with China’s academic training. The training mode basically copied the native model of graduate students, lacking targeted and failing to “teach students in accordance with their aptitude”. Therefore, overseas students are always in a state of passive learning that cannot be well adapted to. At the same time, the basic knowledge, academic research level, practical ability and other aspects of Chinese African graduate students studying in China are affected by the difference between the cultural and scientific development level of their countries and China, and there is a big gap between them and Chinese graduate students. Due to the uneven quality of African graduate students in China, and the lack of obvious breadth and depth of the curriculum and objectives of Chinese colleges and universities. Therefore, in order to do a good job of coming to China to study in the graduate student talent cultivation in Africa, according to the African study in the graduate student’s actual situation and the characteristics of Chinese higher education graduate student of teaching training mode “hierarchical” students to explore the training mode “hierarchical” refers to the hierarchical courses and research training education mode, it abandoned the traditional “equally” teaching method, adopts the teaching idea of “individual difference” and utilizes the teaching mode of stratification and independent exploration to mobilize the subjective initiative of African graduate students studying abroad. The setting of relevant courses and scientific research training of the teaching mode of “hierarchical training mode” fully combines the specific situation and characteristics of African graduate students studying in China to carry out hierarchical training. It is divided into three stages: test stage, multi-level course training stage and multi-level scientific research training stage. This mode is more conducive to improving the knowledge reserve of international students in the professional field and the cultivation of scientific research innovation ability, so as to have the exploratory and frontier nature required by scientific research in postgraduate training. In view of the development needs of African students studying in China, the training objectives should not only be based on the characteristics of the foreign students themselves, but also take into account the educational policies of China and the requirements of the source countries for talents. Test results and the level of the students according to the first phase of grouping, the “hierarchical training mode”, strive to cultivate academic, professional and technical, practical, such as the international talents with comprehensive strength, good academic ability will ensure that African students in China during the period of study for a degree,
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complete the research plan, write out qualified dissertation, smooth finish the graduation reply. Therefore, the goal of “hierarchical training mode” teaching is to cultivate talents with both cognitive ability and scientific research ability and comprehensive academic ability.
13.2.2 The Various Factors and Concerns of African Students Studying in China At present, the African study in graduate students in China mainly comes from the education foundation and economic foundation behind the development of our country in the African countries, most of their admission criteria by the recruitment of students of institutions of higher learning in China to decide on their own, sometimes in pursuit of the international student ratio and economic benefits, the individual university study in Africa graduate student recruit students of the basic state in the bottom line. Accept all according to the basic order. To sum up, due to the shortage of the study in the early stage of the graduate student academic background in China and Africa in colleges and universities to recruit student’s threshold is too low, creates a study in the graduate student’s academic ability to individual differences, and even a part of the graduate student’s academic basis even than domestic undergraduates, it is late for the academic and scientific research training has brought great difficulties. For the overseas graduate students who have a big gap with Chinese graduate students, such as poor language ability, basic professional knowledge and scientific research and practice ability, we divide them into a separate group and make appropriate adjustments according to the curriculum plan of domestic graduate students and the opinions of their supervisors. Some important lessons for senior undergraduate courses can be taken with confronting senior undergraduate classes together and study way, at the same time establish a study in the senior undergraduate and graduate students together communication platform, make the Chinese and foreign students benefit from it when the foundation weak students have mastered the basic specialized knowledge. Then, we can transfer to the study and training plan of overseas graduate students with good foundation, and continue to train and educate them. Overseas graduate students with good language and major foundation targeted course learning and training system are provided for overseas graduate students with good language and major foundation. First of all, some professional courses taught in English are offered by excellent English teachers. Then, some cutting-edge and in-depth scientific research and theory courses are offered according to the specific situation, characteristics and learning needs of graduate students in the countries where the students come from. Enable students to active learning and finally set up the advantage of some of our university disciplines and specialties, or has the localization of characteristic specialized subject learning content, such as depth, related technology, mature cultivation model of professional skills and knowledge to learn to open the Chinese and foreign academic exchange mechanism between teachers and
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students actively, help to study in the graduate student gradually into the respective team as soon as possible. In this way, international students can have comprehensive access to scientific research projects. By leading their team of international students to conduct research on specific scientific research projects, international students’ tutors can know their research status and help them find the research direction they are interested in (Li & Xue, 2021). As an important link in the process of overseas graduate training, scientific research training and theoretical knowledge learning run through the whole process of graduate training. Therefore, international students with certain professional foundation and knowledge can enter the study and research of scientific research projects in a timely manner. First, I will learn the theoretical knowledge of professional courses in English and master the basic knowledge and research methods of corresponding disciplines. Second, cultivate individual self-study ability and innovation ability to form a white body of scientific research practice ability; finally, during the training process of overseas graduate students, the tutors should guide and determine the specific training plan, the topic selection and writing of graduation thesis, the arrangement of scientific research practice and other issues. It is particularly important that overseas graduate students from the same supervisor or different supervisors and domestic graduate students can form a mixed academic team according to the research projects they participate in. This is not only conducive to the active scientific research and academic exchanges among graduate students, between graduate students and teachers, tutors, but also conducive to all students to improve their own practical ability, scientific research ability and innovation ability. At the same time, the university should create a good academic exchange atmosphere and platform for overseas graduate students. Specifically, after a period of scientific research work and study, regular results report meetings are held to encourage overseas graduate students to make reports in academic seminars and exchange information with each other; secondly, the university regularly invites well-known experts and scholars from home and abroad to hold academic lectures and seminars, and then encourages overseas graduate students to participate in various innovation competitions and other activities, so as to cultivate the innovative consciousness and thinking of students studying abroad. Finally, the university actively encourages and funds overseas graduate students to participate in domestic and international academic exchange activities. If conditions permit, the university also supports them to attend international conferences, to broaden their scientific research ideas and to keep abreast of the latest trends of scientific research achievements. Through these means, the overseas graduate students will finally master the means, methods and skills of scientific research, and cultivate and train their ability to engage in scientific research independently. In addition, to let African graduate students studying in China better understand the campus culture and policies, and appropriate integration into some campus collective activities. Therefore, colleges and universities will arrange some courses to teach Chinese learning, rich Chinese culture and art courses and other relevant elective courses. At the same time, Chinese students and international students are arranged to form a one-to-one mutual aid group to help overseas graduate students solve the difficulties in listening and writing Chinese and
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improve their Chinese level. Above all, the hierarchical training mode is mainly used for the cultivation of student-oriented talents in China, and vocational education is as important as academic education. The applied talents cultivated by vocational education are an important support for a country’s sustained economic growth. With the economic development and improvement of industrialization of African countries, a large number of professional, applied and technical talents are urgently needed in African countries. Tianjin vocational technology normal university, with its integration of the “double certificate” and “double” to cultivate applied talents of schoolrunning characteristics, through the integration of vocational education resources, to play in the unique advantages of talent training, vocational education teachers to African countries, actively explore to develop new way of vocational education teachers and applied talents. With the progress of The Times, its training mode has also changed from “double-qualified” teachers to “bilingual” teachers, and at the same time, it strengthens “double-qualified” teachers’ “bilingual” skills, accelerates the introduction of “double-qualified” and “bilingual” skills of teachers and improves the proportion of “bilingual” teachers. In view of the problem that it is difficult for African overseas students to achieve the teaching goal of technical courses in Chinese, strengthening the professional and technical English ability of “bilingual” teachers has become the key to improve the teaching quality of “bilingual” courses. To this, there has to be pointed out a reward policy, encourage teachers in African students “bilingual teaching”, in the title and evaluation, class hour subsidy offer certain aspects such as policy tilt, to ensure that the form a is not only the “double division type”, and “bilingual” skills “integration”, a high level of African students’ teachers. The so-called four in one teaching mode refers to the integrated cultivation of comprehensive knowledge and ability from the four directions of theory, experiment, practical training and design. Its connotation is “pay attention to the theoretical basis, strengthen the experiment link, strengthen the skill training, cultivate the design ability”. In order to realize the teaching mode of “four in one”, the school has set up five practical teaching and research sections in the engineering training center: numerical control, electromechanical, electrician and electronics, automobile maintenance and metalworking. One student innovation and entrepreneurship base, one industry-university-research base and 50 experimental and training rooms have been established and opened. The training center also independently developed dozens of self-made practical training experimental instruments and equipment, and independently developed domestic advanced teaching instruments and equipment. These equipment and instruments have established an operable practice platform for the experiment, practical training and teaching of African students. International students can use this internship platform to improve their skills and teaching ability. For African students’ knowledge structure and the differences in the levels of education, the schools also develop targeted teaching outline, revision of teaching plan, optimize the curriculum, including appropriate downsizing some compulsory public courses in university, increase experiment, practice and practice teaching class, arrange targeted teaching at the same time, such as the domestic undergraduate students for making miniature lecture series. This is an interesting bilingual (Li & Xue, 2021).
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13.2.3 Policies and Characteristics of Talent Training for Foreign Students The differences of international students, language and cultural barriers, and the universality and complexity of their after-school life all seriously affect the education management of international students. The foreign student education administration departments of Chinese colleges and universities should summarize the experience, combine the characteristics of foreign students, form a reasonable and efficient foreign student education management system, truly serve the international students, serve the internationalization construction of universities and enhance the international influence and prestige of universities. The group of international students in China has great differences, such as nationality, age and so on. However, for the teaching management of overseas students, the important differences are mainly reflected as follows: the courses that international students can choose are academic courses and non-academic courses, namely language study. In the language learning course, classes are divided according to the level of Chinese learning. At the same time, admission to degree courses is usually required to pass the Advanced Level on the HSK. However, due to the difficulty of learning Chinese, most of the overseas students cannot meet the requirements of HSK Advanced Test. Generally, they need one or two semesters of language study. As a result, overseas students who take non-degree courses differ greatly in age, background, period of study and purpose of study, which leads to great changes in class setting, textbook selection, examination and assessment, transcript form and file retention and arrangement of nondegree courses. In non-degree courses, classes are generally divided according to the students’ Chinese level, but this basis is also difficult to be strict and specific. For example, some international students have learned some important Chinese grammar points and knowledge points, but their grasp is not solid; and some students’ reading and writing level is high, but listening and speaking level is very low; another example is that some foreign students have learned Chinese for two or three years, but their expression and application skills are not consistent with it. However, they themselves cannot accept the reality of continuing to study at the primary level. In addition, the level of foreign students in each non-degree course is also different, which is mainly reflected in those who have a certain Chinese language foundation. For example, sometimes the level of the intermediate class is higher and can quickly reach the senior low level in a semester. But sometimes the level of the intermediate class is low and may only reach the intermediate high level in a semester, so this has put forward new requirements for curriculum setting, teaching materials and assessment. International students generally apply to China through the following channels: first, scholarship students with national, provincial and municipal scholarships; second, exchange students from sister schools; third, self-funded students who apply directly. These students are distributed in academic courses and non-academic courses, but due to the different ways of coming to China, the requirements and management are also different, and the learning mentality and status of students will be different. In teaching management, the direct manifestation of this difference is the difference
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in the form, content and requirements of some teaching documents and attendance assessment, which also adds a certain complexity to teaching management. Learning motivation includes not only the goal that the international students hope to achieve after completing their studies, but also the goal that the international students want to achieve when they choose to study in China. Soon, my goals include obtaining HSK certificate, obtaining study experience in China, completing the assessment requirements of the school in my home country and obtaining scholarships. In the long term, my goals include obtaining a job related to China or Chinese language, obtaining a degree and living in China. Mastering media language is an essential skill for international students’ education. First, we should open channels for teachers to study abroad and improve their language level. Teachers in higher vocational colleges have strong English reading and writing skills, but their listening and speaking abilities are limited. Studying abroad will provide you with a real language environment. While improving your language level, you will also have a deeper understanding and experience of local cultural life. Second, we should take the initiative to connect with overseas universities and carry out exchanges among them. Higher vocational colleges should expand overseas exchange resources and expand teachers’ international vision by means of international academic exchanges and teachers’ mutual visits. Finally, we should improve teachers’ foreign language proficiency and their bilingual teaching ability. In order to improve the bilingual teaching level of teachers, higher vocational colleges should take English expression level into the assessment standard when introducing foreign students to teach teachers and examine teachers’ oral expression ability and fluency in foreign language teaching. We will strengthen cooperation between schools and enterprises and train teachers with dual teaching skills. First, relying on the cooperation base of industry and education, send teachers to take temporary posts for training. Most of the higher vocational colleges have established stable school-enterprise cooperation bases, and relying on the existing bases, professional teachers are sent to the enterprises for temporary training in batches. Through the practice in enterprises, teachers in higher vocational colleges can have a close understanding of the needs of enterprises, learn advanced technical skills and improve their practical ability. Second, relevant supporting systems should be formulated to encourage teachers to obtain professional qualification certificates. Higher vocational colleges should encourage teachers to take part in vocational skill qualification examinations and obtain relevant qualification certificates. Finally, the enterprise master craftsmen were invited to carry out skills training in the school. Higher vocational colleges invite experts and skilled craftsmen from industrial enterprises into the campus to provide systematic and comprehensive professional skills training for teachers.
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13.2.4 The Multiple Abilities and Competencies of Talent Training for Foreign Students At present, the cultivation of international students should pay more attention to international communication ability, innovation ability, interpersonal coordination ability and practical ability. Based on the traditional curriculum system, a multi-dimensional, multi-dimensional and cross-cutting education curriculum and assessment system is set up to cultivate students’ comprehensive abilities of scientific thinking, innovation and teamwork. The design and construction of the curriculum system should avoid the implementation of “similar teaching management” for international students. Establish a curriculum system that conforms to the characteristics of international students, including specialized basic courses, specialized elective courses and practical courses. We will actively promote the construction of all-English courses, show professional advantages through the construction of all-English courses, train international teachers and serve the goal of building an international university. In terms of core courses, we introduce overseas famous teachers to teach and radiate other courses. The theoretical depth of specialized courses should be adjusted according to the characteristics of international students’ professional background to improve the acceptance of international students’ professional education. The graduate students studying in China are mainly from developing countries such as Asia, Africa and Latin America, and their majors and cultural backgrounds vary greatly. The talent training mode should be changed from the traditional professional knowledge, skills and ability training to the applied and compound talent training mode with wide caliber. Based on the background and learning ability of international students, the training objectives are personalized and implemented in a hierarchical way. The training system of “many to one” with the head teacher and “one to one” with the graduate supervisor has both commonness and characteristics. The key points such as the formulation of individual training plan, theoretical knowledge examination, project opening report, mid-term examination, dissertation defense and so on are strictly enforced. In terms of personnel training mode, in addition to meeting the needs of adapting to the development of science and technology in traditional industries, it is also necessary to strengthen the cultivation of professional knowledge, skills and abilities for practical innovative application. We will encourage universities and colleges to adopt innovative ways of education, train senior professionals with international innovation and application skills with a global vision, practical ability and innovation ability, provide talent support for the innovation of countries along the Belt and Road, and further promote the smooth implementation of the “One Belt and One Road” Initiative.
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13.2.5 The New Teaching Method of Talent Training for Foreign Students The new teaching method of integration of scientific research teaching and practice, which combines teaching with scientific research, theory with practical application, teaching in class with extracurricular practice, is adopted to promote scientific research by teaching and transform teaching by scientific research, to realize the common growth of teachers and students. We should strengthen classroom interaction, set up discussion classes and combine literature reading and practice so that international students can not only master basic knowledge, but also understand the frontier of discipline development and industrial level, so as to form interactive, case-based and heuristic innovative teaching methods. Give full play to the “Internet + education” mode, comprehensively use modern teaching means and closely combine offline teaching with online education. We should strengthen practice and training, combine classroom teaching with practical teaching, make full use of various practical teaching platforms of the major, mobilize the enthusiasm of international students in innovation and application and encourage and guide students to actively participate in discipline competitions. By taking part in course practice, research projects and international cooperation projects, we aim to enhance international students’ awareness of the profession, especially by comparing China with their own country, and to provide guidance for their future research and work. To improve the international level of teaching staff is the key to achieve the expected goal of international talent training. In the process of teacher training, we actively investigate the effective means and methods of teacher team construction, organize teachers to participate in the education and training of international students, invite domestic and foreign experts with experience in training international students to carry out exchanges and discussions, and learn the cutting-edge professional discipline knowledge and international teaching methods at home and abroad. Expand vision, update knowledge structure, master the latest teaching techniques and improve the level of teaching ability. In order to ensure the quality of teaching, two levels of supervision groups are arranged to conduct teaching evaluation on the teachers. A selection system for international student tutors has been gradually established to select teachers with outstanding professional competence and high foreign language proficiency as tutors for graduate students studying in China. We will comprehensively improve the hard and soft strength of teachers, accelerate the construction of international school-running ability and establish an elite team with international vision and extensive professional knowledge. The teaching team members are composed of teachers with overseas academic background or working and research experience, teachers at school with outstanding ability and overseas famous teachers. Based on the local talent needs of the source countries, to cultivate specialized talents. First of all, targeted training programs should be formulated. The training objectives of international students in higher vocational colleges should be based on the actual needs of the countries along the “One Belt and One Road” route, comprehensively consider the language, culture, industrial economy
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and other factors of the source countries, and take employment as the orientation to cultivate high-skilled and composite professional and technical talents of different levels. Second, curriculum standards should be set based on the economic development requirements of the source countries. Higher vocational colleges should set curriculum standards jointly by means of international cooperation in running schools and school-enterprise cooperation, based on the economic development requirements of “One Belt and One Road” countries, in close combination with the demand of current international emerging industrial technical talents and international high-end technical skills talents. Introducing international vocational qualification certification system to train international talents. First, the introduction of international vocational qualification certification system. Higher vocational colleges should introduce international vocational qualification standards, strive to build a first-class industry certification system and determine a new qualification certification system based on vocational ability orientation. Second, set up international basic courses. Higher vocational colleges should set up international courses such as language quality improvement, international cultural etiquette and international law for foreign students, so as to better connect with international standards and cultivate international and open professional and technical talents with international vision (Chen & Wen, 2018; Gao, 2020; Guo et al., 2017; Shi, 2017; Wang & Tu, 2020; Wu, 2015; Zhai & Ye, 2018).
13.2.6 The Development of Tutorial Courses of Talent Training for Foreign Students According to different training modes and characteristics of different classes, we organize the development of tutorial courses and make sure there are preview before class, interaction in class and tutoring after class. Optimize the choice and use of teaching languages, strengthen the precise connection of courses and strengthen the collaborative teaching of teacher teams. “Double bilingual + + double embedded” should be throughout the whole learning process of students, professional study, internship practice, learning Chinese culture, innovation and development, international exchange, etc., to cultivate love for China, a solid, professional and sophisticated, practical strong, high-quality applied innovative talents with international vision to provide operational approach. “Double teacher + bilingual + double embedded” teaching mode. “Three financial” has consolidated the primacy of “one core” and is the solid foundation of “four coordination”. The “four synergies” enrich the practice path of “one core” and further deepen the organizing force of “three melts”. The cultural literacy education of “One Core + Three Integration + Four Coordination” can help the innovation of the training path for international students and the formation of the new normal of improving the quality and efficiency of international students’ education. Through all-round subtle guidance, it can effectively improve the effect of cultural quality education and ensure the realization of the cultivation of students by virtue in overseas education in China. Colleges and universities,
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according to their own disciplinary advantages, scientific and educational capabilities and characteristic fields, establish and improve the multi-disciplinary integration of talent training mode, and form targeted and systematic teaching content and curriculum system. By integrating and optimizing the major curriculum system, expanding the scope of elective courses and adding interdisciplinary elective courses such as law, finance and minority languages, we will explore the integration of cross-major and cross-discipline of the curriculum system for international students from countries along the Belt and Road. By increasing the proportion of practical and innovative courses, colleges and universities jointly develop practical and innovative plans with relevant enterprises, so as to constantly stimulate the subjective initiative and innovation ability of foreign students from “One Belt and One Road” countries. In order to effectively support the training system of “second class, third type and triple combination”, higher vocational colleges should innovate and apply modular teaching and establish a teaching model of “double teacher, bilingual and double embedded”. According to different types of training models for international students, multi-participation collaborative teaching is carried out with “dual tutorial system” as the leading, “bilingual teaching” as the main axis and “dual embedded teaching” as the main theme. One is to clarify the teaching language system and determine the teaching language with Chinese as the main and English as the auxiliary. Second, according to different training models, different arrangements should be made in terms of teacher allocation and curriculum embedding. The international students in the school-enterprise cooperative training mode should be equipped with professional teachers and enterprise masters at the same time and set the embedded content of “professional courses + enterprise practice”. Foreign students in the joint training mode should be equipped with professional teachers and academic tutors, and the embedded content of “professional courses + cultural courses” should be set. The international students in the transnational segmented joint training mode should be equipped with both Chinese and overseas professional teachers, and the embedded content of “Chinese curriculum + overseas curriculum” should be set.
13.3 The Countermeasures and Suggestions of Talent Training for Foreign Students 13.3.1 The Teachers ‘Quality Promotion Good teachers are the important guarantee of teaching, and the English level of teachers is the key to influence the teaching results of international students. Therefore, the selection of the instructor needs to have overseas study, work experience, has a good level of English communication, fluent oral English and medical English vocabulary is rich, and able to skillfully use English teaching, with solid professional knowledge and rich experience in teaching, in the classroom can change numerous for brief, using plain language so as to achieve vivid, humorous teaching,
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avoid rigid and scripted courses to stimulate the interest of international students. Before teaching, focus on teaching and research section of all teachers to teaching demonstration, clinicians and teachers in the teaching form, teaching content and teaching progress are discussed, and put forward the opinion suggestion, to inspire and promote the role of each other, each other good courseware using the experience of teaching and learning, teachers and teachers’ teaching level improved. At present, there is no unified English teaching material for ophthalmology courses for international students in China. For international students, we mainly use Chinese ophthalmology textbooks and introduce European and American ophthalmology textbooks as supplementary materials. The two textbooks complement each other, so as to achieve the teaching effect. Due to different cultural backgrounds and social forms, most international students accept the Western education model, and they are more active and expressive than Chinese students and dislike the traditional “cramming” teaching model. In ophthalmology teaching foreign students, therefore, break the traditional “teacher scripted, students sitting class” teaching mode of teaching, clinical with imparting knowledge, discussing case about related diseases, such as method, combining to arouse the learning enthusiasm of students and encourage students from passive learning into active learning. In class, teachers should answer students’ questions in a timely manner, which is not only to recognize the enthusiasm of foreign students in learning, but also to promote good communication and establish a harmonious and mutual trust between teachers and students. On the other hand, teachers need to control the progress of classroom content, maintain class order and complete the teaching plan. Teachers mostly use multimedia to teach and impart knowledge through more intuitive methods such as pictures, animations, case discussions, surgical videos and teaching AIDS. The teaching atmosphere is active, which makes it easier for international students to accept and master professional clinical knowledge. Using multimedia assisted teaching, ophthalmology professional knowledge is more vivid and interesting, easy to be accepted and understood by overseas students, increase the perceptual understanding of the knowledge learned by overseas students and mobilize the auditory and visual sensory experience. Teachers also use the mobile phone network function to set up learning groups, upload professional materials and new developments at home and abroad, so that international students can keep abreast of the latest developments in ophthalmology field. With the help of the network platform, international students and teachers can interact at any time after class to answer questions and solve doubts. In terms of the distribution of subjects, the vast majority of international students who apply to study in our university choose majors that focus on liberal arts. Take the first semester of the 2005–2006 academic year as an example. The students majoring in Chinese Language, Chinese Language and Literature, and International English account for more than 70% of the total number of overseas undergraduate students. The master’s degree program with the largest number of foreign students is linguistics and applied linguistics. The major with the largest number of overseas doctoral students is Chinese language and philology. Only a small number of students choose science majors such as chemistry and ecology (Li & Xue, 2021). Responsibilities should be assigned to people, and we should cooperate with each other under the premise of division of labor to do
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a good job in visa, teaching, safety, ideology and other work for foreign students. International students have dual identities. They are international students at our college, and they should abide by the rules and regulations of our university. As international friends, they should be properly guided and taken care of in their study and life. Therefore, a combination of rigidity and flexibility should be adopted for the management of overseas students (Chen & Wen, 2018; Gao, 2020; Guo et al., 2017; Shi, 2017; Wang & Tu, 2020; Wu, 2015; Zhai & Ye, 2018). Chinese practical ability is the foundation of students learning and life in China, the Chinese level of students, and it is also one of the influence factors of professional education, academic education gradually develop in students, on the basis of to college to create a good brand effect, we strive to make features in language training, given the current from the status quo of students scale is not big, and competitiveness is not strong. We have developed a set of systematic teaching management system. While concentrating teaching time and improving training intensity, we have detailed assessment requirements to improve students’ attention to each link. According to different needs of students, we also specialized courses in some characteristics, for example, we set up Chinese characters teaching duties to help the Chinese character culture circle of students familiar with as soon as possible and use of Chinese characters, considering that most students have a need to take part in the HSK, we also opened the HSK tutoring, efficient science to help students to take exams. Teaching quality is the life of education. Only by making Chinese education bigger and stronger and complementing the academic education of our college, we can establish the brand of overseas education of our college. In the next step, we will start from the teaching staff, student quality and management mode. On the one hand, we will strictly select Chinese teachers, carry out teaching evaluation and form an incentive mechanism. On the other hand, it pays attention to the quality of students. To improve the selection of students, and at the same time in attendance, homework, testing and other aspects of the formulation of strict rules and regulations and effective implementation methods, in the premise of improving the quality of speed up the progress, and to ensure the orderly progress of intensive Chinese teaching. This is despite the fact that degree students now account for a very low proportion of the total number of international students. But that doesn’t mean we can abandon quality in favor of quantity. Chen Zhili, former Minister of Education, pointed out in his speech at the closing ceremony of the National Conference on International Students in February 1998, “The key to expanding the number of students is whether they will come or not, and if they will not come. We cannot expand the quantity, so the key to expand the quantity is to improve the quality. In the relationship between quantity and quality, the important thing is to improve the quality, it is a problem of reputation. It’s not just an institution that’s at stake, it’s the reputation of higher education in this country”. Therefore, the entrance threshold for international students is relatively low at present. Except for the interview required for the Chinese Department, all other undergraduate majors are exempt from the examination. However, at this stage, we should pursue the policy of “lenient entry and strict exit”. We should be strict with the international students who have already enrolled and provide them with various help in their studies. We should not always lower the standards for them in order to make them graduate. Otherwise,
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we will do harm to both the students themselves and the reputation of the university. At present, the majors of overseas degree students in our school are mostly liberal arts majors. The language requirements for these majors are very high, and even if international students have met the entry requirements (HSK6), it is still very difficult for them to study with Chinese students. Therefore, schools can consider developing some specialized courses suitable for international students. In the short term, schools can set up compound language courses such as Chinese-English, Chinese Japanese bilingual, business Chinese and financial Chinese according to the characteristics of foreign students. In this way, students can continue to improve their Chinese and learn a professional subject at the same time. The international English major in our university has been successful in recruiting international students as a bilingual course of 457. Graduates of this major are also very competitive in the job market. In the long run, schools can organize some teachers who are good at English to set up courses taught in English. This will attract students from English-speaking countries who are eager to study in China but don’t have the time or energy to become fluent in Chinese. At this point, Dutch universities are worth learning from. The most important reason for the growing number of foreign students in the Netherlands in recent years is that almost all of its universities teach courses in English rather than Dutch.
13.3.2 The Management of Assimilation for Overseas Students Domestic colleges and universities usually implement the management of assimilation for overseas students. This is very helpful for international students to integrate into the campus culture and the Chinese student community. However, for a long time, there has been a tendency to treat foreign students differently, both in teaching and in day-to-day management. Accommodating them academically, separating them from Chinese students in their daily lives, privileging them or placing restrictions on them, is not conducive to ensuring the quality of international students and fostering their sense of identity with the university. Schools should give students more encouragement rather than “special care”. Opportunities should be created for them to participate in the activities of Chinese students rather than being managed separately. The student counselors should consider the foreign students in the class in their daily work. They should be asked to participate in class activities, but also to care about their lives. It is true that overseas students who go to a foreign country to study will encounter some special difficulties in life and study. For example, cultural shock, language unaccustomed and fear of unfamiliar environment will bring certain pressure to their study, life and even psychological aspects. Schools should take such special circumstances into account. While setting high standards for them, we should provide them with more humanized services, care about their daily life, strengthen targeted psychological counseling and solve some difficulties in life, all of which will give students a stronger sense of belonging to the school.
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Under the long-term influence of their own culture, overseas students from different countries have formed relatively stable values. When they come to a strange culture, they find that the behavior pattern of local people is different from their own behavior pattern, which cannot be explained according to the existing values. The problem of cross-cultural adaptation will arise. The first thing foreign students feel after entering school is culture conflict. To do a good job in management, in addition to constraining students through corresponding management methods, the main task is to guide students’ internal factors to play a role and guide foreign students to actively adapt to the learning environment in China. For those who come to China for the first time, extracurricular activities are of great help to overcome the “culture shock” and adapt to the new environment as soon as possible. For those who have lived in China for a long time, leisure time activities can help prevent and eliminate “psychological saturation”. Therefore, international students should be encouraged to take an active part in activities with Chinese students. The interaction between international students and Chinese students is a dynamic process and may require different assistance at different stages. From the moment international students enter our school, we encourage them to participate in campus activities and make friends with foreign language partners, so as to provide effective channels and platforms for the communication between Chinese and foreign students and promote their mutual integration. Since 2006, our college has regularly organized international students to participate in activities every semester, such as visiting the Great Wall, watching the Olympic Games, participating in the Chinese Culture Festival, Chinese Star Competition, college sports meeting and so on. A series of healthy and positive cultural and recreational activities enrich the extracurricular cultural life of international students and create a good study and living environment for international students. It reduces the problems arising in the process of intercultural adaptation (Chen & Wen, 2018; Gao, 2020; Guo et al., 2017; Shi, 2017; Wang & Tu, 2020; Wu, 2015; Zhai & Ye, 2018). Students the term originated in the tang dynasty period of China cultural exchange between China and Japan, now with the enlargement of the international exchanges and cooperation and speed up the internationalization of higher education, local recruit students scale is continually expanding, how the scale at the same time guarantee the stable improvement of the quality of education for students studying abroad, also became today’s colleges and universities and national issues. In view of the cultivation of foreign students, we should think carefully, consider comprehensively and find the appropriate countermeasures and methods. As the scale of international students in China expands year by year, the current requirement for the development of international students’ education has changed from “focusing on quantity and ignoring quality” to improving quality and efficiency. Therefore, the Ministry of Education emphasizes that colleges and universities should gradually implement the management of assimilation between international students and Chinese students. The management of “assimilation” has become the consensus of the management of foreign students in China. Most universities have abandoned the differentiated management for foreign students, but there are still many problems and implementation difficulties in the process of the management of assimilation. Since most of the
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overseas students have never lived in China before entering the university, they only have an incomplete understanding of China’s social culture and traditional culture through media reports or film and television works. As a result, at the beginning of enrollment, students are faced with changes in social environment and living environment, differences in education management, and impacts from different cultures and values, which directly affect their study and life. Some of the overseas students have poor academic and Chinese proficiency, so they cannot keep up with the progress of the Chinese students in the same class, but also bring obstacles to their communication with Chinese students and even school life. Although the university adopts the management mode of “assimilation” to foreign students, under the collision of different social and cultural foundation and values, foreign students will inevitably have negative psychology when they integrate into the collective life of the school class. In view of the above problems, Chinese colleges and universities are looking for countermeasures and methods to cultivate foreign students. The Ministry of Education has put forward the management of “assimilation” in response to the hot topic of overseas students. Based on taking into account the customs and cultural differences of international students, the education and management of international students are the same as that of Chinese students, and no special treatment or preferential policies are provided. According to the characteristics of the major and the requirements of cultivating international talents, colleges and universities have established the training concept of “promoting the development of students” as the core and have a good grasp of the orientation of talent training for international students. According to the needs of enterprises and foreign students, the courses of business Chinese and China overview are added, to increase the sense of identity of Chinese culture for foreign students and promote the all-round development of students from all aspects. The core purpose of promoting the development of students is to cultivate high-quality applied talents who have a certain understanding of contemporary Chinese culture and society, master the basic theories, basic knowledge and basic skills of relevant majors. According to the orientation of training, universities in China have optimized talent programs, enriched teaching contents, improved teaching quality and improved teaching methods to guide the healthy development of overseas students. It is necessary to establish a universitylevel comprehensive communication mechanism across departments, give play to the joint force of comprehensive management and effectively complete the education, training and management of international students. At the same time, through the overall combing of the school’s overseas education in China, it is found that part of the school’s management of overseas study in China needs to be refined. Moreover, in view of the shortcomings brought by the current multiple cross-management, it is necessary to establish a routine linkage mechanism of multiple departments and respond to emergencies, regularly inform each other and jointly do a good job in the training of students in China (Chen & Wen, 2018; Gao, 2020; Guo et al., 2017; Shi, 2017; Wang & Tu, 2020; Wu, 2015; Zhai & Ye, 2018).
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13.3.3 The Management of Assimilation for Overseas Students Colleges and universities should establish an online information platform to streamline the information process of enrollment promotion, publicity, consultation and admission, and ensure the smooth enrollment process, so that foreign applicants can get a full understanding of the relevant information of various programs of the university from the online information platform, such as courses, training requirements and teacher team introduction. On the other hand, although the development of overseas education in China is one of the important tasks for universities to build “double firstclass”, we should not blindly pursue to expand the number of students and improve the international level while ignoring the quality of students and lowering the admission conditions. Under the background of “Double First-class” construction, the quality of higher education in China will be further improved. Colleges and universities should be aware of the positive role of training high-quality international students in the construction of “Double First-class”. At present, China has entered a new period of improving the quality and efficiency of international students, and strictly control the admission process. Efforts are made to recruit and attract high-level and high-quality foreign students to study and further in China, making practical contributions to the construction of “Double First-Class” universities. The university shall strictly comply with the laws and requirements, formulate strict admission standards and review procedures for international students, and formulate enrollment plans and publicity plans in accordance with the university’s international development policy. The school shall examine the registration qualification, Chinese proficiency certificate, highest education certificate, transcripts, passport information, entry and exit records and other materials of the students in the enrollment stage and organize unified entrance tests and online interviews for the applicants. Ensure that the applicant’s academic background and personal family information are as comprehensive as possible. We strive to recruit international students with the same quality and ability conditions as Chinese students, and even more excellent academic ability. Colleges and universities are committed to cultivating high-quality talents, providing many talents for social enterprises and contributing to local economic development every year. Grasps this characteristic, the university development “double first-class” university construction and the education internationalization, must combine the international student training with the university key discipline construction, to train the high-level, the high-quality international knowledge China and the Chinese talent. Enterprises cooperate with colleges and universities to provide sustained funds and advanced equipment to schools, and jointly train students from colleges and universities. Local departments provide internship places to boost school-enterprise cooperation. Universities, enterprises and localities play an indispensable role in the training of high-quality talents. To give full play to the role of university-enterprise cooperation in educating people, it is necessary to establish a “university-enterprise-local” cooperation framework, so that universities, enterprises and local three parties can link up. Enterprises and localities can provide reference for universities to determine
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the talent training plan for overseas students and strive to develop the education cause of overseas students in China. Cultivate foreign students with innovative ability through innovating school-enterprise cooperation mode. To cultivate talented students, colleges and universities should accurately grasp the “area” all the way along the country’s demand, according to the scheme of Chinese students, on the basis of the professional theory course and practice teaching, increase the proportion of practice teaching in the course system, optimize the structure of practice system, build practice base and face-to-face increase experiential learning opportunities for international students. Colleges and universities can build social practice bases for international students through cooperation with local enterprises, to help international students to have a deeper understanding and experience of traditional Chinese culture. Through social practice base, organized students to industrial park and a visit to the practice of enterprise, and enterprise staff dialogue, provide opportunities for students in close contact with Chinese companies, understand Chinese enterprises demand, improve the course appeal, not just simply teaching classroom knowledge, for international students graduate employment success lay a good foundation. In addition, the social practice base has also encouraged students to the classroom theoretical knowledge into inner ability, improve the business ability of students, to better help students to learn professional knowledge to students training objectives should conform to the requirements of the new era and demand, pay attention to the “area” all the way along the country students of Chinese language teaching and cultural communication, actively cultivate understanding of China’s national conditions. A transnational ambassador who understands Chinese culture and spreads Chinese culture, serves the training of international students majoring in cross-cultural characteristics, further improves the training quality of international talents and helps the school build “Double First-Class”. In terms of the training of students with degrees in China, schools should pay more attention to the internationalization construction of teachers, take effective measures to recruit talents, optimize the team structure, pay more attention to the improvement of teachers’ professional ability and improve the overall quality of teachers. The high-quality professional teachers with high comprehensive quality, strong professional ability, distinctive advantages, teamwork spirit and scientific research and innovation ability provide a strong guarantee for the training of overseas students in China. And according to the Ministry of Education to sum of the actual situation of students, the school shall timely to improve and optimize the existing training scheme, schools project of cultivating students first meet in China about the overall target of talent fostering and the talent training and degree-conferring documentation requirements, at the same time, based on the professional characteristics and balancing the cultural background and language ability of students, adhere to philosophy. In the process of teaching and training, combining the advantages of disciplines, condensed characteristics of teaching projects, to form a sustainable development of education and teaching mode; strengthen the coordination and cooperation among training units, functional departments and centralized management departments, strengthen the close cooperation
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between teachers and administrators, and timely exchange of needed goods and information sharing. At the same time of further strengthening the convergence management, appropriate consideration should be given to the reasonable and differentiated training of foreign students. The school should pay attention to the intercultural exchange activities of Chinese and foreign students, strive to build the intercultural exchange platform, hold all kinds of cultural experience activities, help the international students to integrate into the campus life, realize the intercultural communication, understanding and identity, and guide the international students to become the emissaries of intercultural exchange. To create distinctive cultural brand activities, such as holding Chinese and foreign cultural festivals on a regular basis, aims to build a platform for international students to display their own culture, build a bridge for foreign students to communicate, promote the prosperity of campus culture and create an international atmosphere of the school. The International Cultural Festival includes Chinese and foreign cultural exhibitions (the opening ceremony of the cultural festival), food and culture festivals, friendly sports competitions and art shows. The opening ceremony of the cultural festival can be in the form of a booth for Chinese and foreign students to show the local conditions and customs of their own countries and regions; Food Culture Festival can be made by students for teachers and students to taste special food; sports friendly competition by Chinese and foreign students to participate in the game and competition to cultivate team spirit, enhance mutual friendship; at the gala, students from home and abroad showed their talents in front of the teachers and students of the school through wonderful performances. Second, by carrying out multicultural experience activities and Chinese national conditions education, to enhance the identification of Chinese culture for international students and cultivate talents to know China and make friends with China. Foreign students are encouraged to participate in the “second class” and other practical activities related to Chinese culture. For example, outside the classroom, Chinese cultural experience activities such as calligraphy, tea art, paper-cutting and other Chinese language practice activities are carried out regularly, so as to combine language learning and cultural experience organically to stimulate the enthusiasm of foreign students in learning. Through the way of cultural communication, the international students’ cognition of traditional Chinese culture can be enhanced, and the charm of Chinese culture can be felt. In this way, the international students’ identification of traditional Chinese culture can be enhanced, and the international students can be integrated into the Chinese student collective as soon as possible. In addition, the university should attach importance to the role of student associations in international students, encourage international students to actively participate in association activities and promote cultural exchanges between China and foreign countries. In order to better promote the communication between Chinese and foreign students, schools can also set up a small language class program, by allowing international students to teach their mother tongue to Chinese students, enhance mutual understanding, create opportunities for exchanges between Chinese and foreign students, and further deepen the friendship between Chinese and foreign students (Chen & Wen, 2018; Gao, 2020; Guo et al., 2017; Shi, 2017; Wang & Tu, 2020; Wu, 2015; Zhai & Ye, 2018).
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13.3.4 The Evaluation System of Collaborative Education The evaluation system of collaborative education should be constructed to realize the joint evaluation among universities, enterprises and society. At present, the evaluation of international students is mainly from colleges and universities, and the evaluation is carried out by the relevant teachers of international students. The feedback mechanism of collaborative education mode is based on relevant teachers who are in charge of the practice, employers who have cooperation with universities, enterprises, public institutions or third-party institutions. Relevant teachers, employers and third-party institutions will give scores to international students at the same time and give positive feedback on their off-campus practice achievements. In order to ensure the accuracy, authenticity and comprehensiveness of the evaluation results, a practical collaborative evaluation mechanism for overseas students should be established to improve the evaluation indexes and innovate the evaluation methods. Strengthen the supervision and management of evaluation, build a “school-society-enterprise” collaborative evaluation system and improve the feedback efficiency of all parties. To help international students get familiar with the school and adapt to the study and life in Chinese colleges and universities as soon as possible, the school should design a rich and effective entrance education program to cover all aspects of the study period of international students in order to improve the management rules and regulations and effectively implement the rules and regulations of the school. In terms of rules and regulations, the students should explain the rules and regulations of the university, the administrative management system of the college, the immigration and entry and exit management system, and the dormitory management system. In terms of training, new students should be given specific requirements on course selection, training plan formulation, graduation requirements and other aspects. Specifically, foreign students at different levels and in different projects should focus on the principles of integrity, academic norms and other issues. To enable students to have a correct understanding of the training program, course selection process, credit requirements, academic norms, graduation process and other aspects as soon as they enter the school, and urge them to complete each training link on time. In the aspect of campus life, the school can use both English and Chinese student handbook, introduced to the students’ school rules, the academic norms, etc., and the school life of content are detail described, including the services and facilities in campus, campus accommodation, network communication, safety tips, etc., for the students to adapt to life in China as soon as possible to provide the convenience. At the same time, we can also introduce the new students in the form of lectures and seminars on behalf of senior students. By investigating the management and service of foreign students in some universities, we find that the professional level of some management cadres and counselors for foreign students is also an important factor affecting the management effect of “assimilation” for foreign students. Therefore, it is necessary for management departments and teachers in charge to further summarize relevant management work, improve the professional level and service awareness of management cadres
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and counselors for international students, enhance the institutionalization and scientific level of daily management work for international students, timely revise relevant systems, supplement management rules and optimize the management mechanism. The university should provide more “humanized” services for international students to help them integrate into the school life as soon as possible (Chen & Wen, 2018; Gao, 2020; Guo et al., 2017; Shi, 2017; Wang & Tu, 2020; Wu, 2015; Zhai & Ye, 2018).
13.3.5 The Future and Prospects of Talent Training for International Students All in all, in China’s foreign complex situation in the new period, under the background of “double top” for the work of the students, will stick to similar management, strict requirements of the basic starting point, promote all the relevant management and service level, to strengthen the management and services to international students, timely follow up student’s relevant case handling of events, to prevent and deal with related public opinion in time. Regularly sort out the educational management links that may produce “super national” treatment, and formulate and improve the relevant work plans, for the joint construction of “One Belt and One Road”. The increasing proportion of degree students indicates that the management direction of overseas students is gradually shifting from short-term management to long-term management. Therefore, the improvement and upgrading of the teaching management system of Chinese degree students have become the focus of China’s international education at present. At present, the study effect of international students is not very ideal; especially, the study of highly difficult specialized courses has little effect. In addition, the students’ awareness of classroom discipline is relatively weak, students’ absenteeism in class is more common, and class performance is more casual. Colleges and universities do not have suitable professional textbooks for international students to teach, and there are no clear regulations on classroom teaching management for foreign students. Therefore, students’ teaching adaptability will become worse and worse, and their learning quality will also decline. Therefore, in order to improve the teaching quality of international students, it is necessary to reform the teaching management system, set up courses with moderate difficulty for international students, provide suitable textbooks and cultivate a strong sense of discipline, so as to accelerate students’ acculturation to teaching and improve their learning efficiency. Due to the great differences between their educational and cultural traditions and China’s educational and cultural system, international students are difficult to adapt to the Chinese classroom, resulting in many problems of teaching adaptation, resulting in poor adaptation effect and decreased learning quality. If this goes on in the long run, it will lead to students’ psychological insecurity and weariness of study, as well as the waste of education resources of the Chinese government. Therefore, from the
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perspective of students, in order to help more international students better adapt to the Chinese teaching culture, to understand the difficulties of international students in the classroom and student groups, and to help international students adapt to the Chinese classroom as soon as possible and improve the learning quality from the perspective of teaching management, the research on this topic should be carried out effectively. To enable international students to better control the knowledge taught by Chinese teachers: from the institutional level, the research on the acculturation of international students and its teaching management strategies is aimed at ensuring the education quality of international students and improving the international education level of Chinese universities. Specific can be carried out from the following aspects (Chen & Wen, 2018; Gao, 2020; Guo et al., 2017; Shi, 2017; Wang & Tu, 2020; Wu, 2015; Zhai & Ye, 2018). Classroom teaching is the main channel and front for the education and training of international students, as well as the basic channel for international students to learn Chinese knowledge and professional knowledge and skills. Full-time teachers and relevant part-time teachers play a dominant role in this teaching process. And want to incorporate the cultural confidence in classroom teaching for international students, international students’ relevant full-time teachers and part-time teachers should learn by self, teacher training, social practice and so on promotion and set up their own cultural self-confidence, which is able to continuously refine and integration of cultural self-confidence element, used to, and then to carry out classroom teaching. First, in terms of teaching content, full-time teachers of international students can adjust classroom teaching content as much as possible within the framework system by comparing with the current international students’ teaching syllabus and integrate the elements of Chinese cultural confidence. If the syllabus is not suitable for the current teaching stage, it should be adjusted in time and more cultures should be integrated into the teaching objective. Second, in the teaching method, the foreign full-time teachers should be innovative. University campus is an important place for international students to study and live in school. The cultural atmosphere of university campus, including campus logo, campus teaching places, student dormitory environment, sports facilities and campus cultural activities, will bring very intuitive feelings and experience to international students. Therefore, all departments of colleges and universities should make concerted efforts to create a campus environment full of cultural confidence and cultural deposits. On the one hand, colleges and universities should integrate the education and management of international students into the overall student management system of the university, instead of giving special treatment to international students or making them special. Nor can we treat foreign students differently and marginalize them. On the other hand, international students should be encouraged to actively participate in campus activities suitable for Chinese students, such as school sports meeting, New Year’s Day party, Spring Festival celebration party, Sino-foreign international cultural festival and volunteer activities, so that Chinese and foreign teachers and students can have opportunities to exchange ideas and promote cultural exchanges. Full-time instructors indwelling catheter related to teachers in addition, students should also be combined with the characteristics of students and interests,
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the fusion of Chinese culture self-confidence elements, design closer to the campus cultural activities of the characteristics of the students, such as speech contest “in traditional Chinese culture”, “Chinese food culture festival”, “in Chinese traditional culture experience” and series of activities (Chen & Wen, 2018; Gao, 2020; Guo et al., 2017; Shi, 2017; Wang & Tu, 2020; Wu, 2015; Zhai & Ye, 2018). The off-campus practical experience is an important way for international students to understand, perceive and experience Chinese culture and national conditions. For international students, this way is the most profound. Colleges and universities should be good at developing and utilizing external resources to build a multi-level platform for international students to have opportunities to understand Chinese society and experience Chinese cultural confidence. First, cooperation between universities and enterprises can be carried out. International students can be organized to visit and experience famous local enterprises, understand and perceive corporate culture and development, and experience Chinese made products. Second, cooperation between district and school can be carried out to make use of traditional Chinese festivals to feel and experience the great charm of excellent traditional Chinese culture with community residents. They can also organize overseas students to participate in volunteer activities such as caring education, caring respect for the elderly, traffic order guidance, garbage sorting publicity and community performances, to perceive and experience community culture and grass-roots social culture. Finally, we can cooperate with the government and school, win the support of the city, organize overseas students to carry out study tours in and out of the city, and have a hands-on tour and deep experience of famous Chinese cultural attractions and other places full of cultural confidence. The off-campus practical experience is an important way for international students to understand, perceive and experience Chinese culture and national conditions. For international students, this way is the most profound. Colleges and universities should be good at developing and utilizing external resources to build a multi-level platform for international students to have opportunities to understand Chinese society and experience Chinese cultural confidence. First of all, cooperation between universities and enterprises can be carried out. International students can be organized to visit and experience famous local enterprises, understand and perceive corporate culture and development, and experience Chinese made products. Second, cooperation between district and school can be carried out to make use of traditional Chinese festivals to feel and experience the great charm of excellent traditional Chinese culture with community residents. They can also organize overseas students to participate in volunteer activities such as caring education, caring respect for the elderly, traffic order guidance, garbage sorting publicity, community performances and so on, so as to perceive and experience community culture and grassroots social culture. Finally, we can cooperate with the government and school, win the support of the city, organize overseas students to carry out study tours in and out of the city, and have a hands-on tour and deep experience of famous Chinese cultural attractions and other places full of cultural confidence (Chen & Wen, 2018; Wang & Tu, 2020).
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A good image of international education is an international diplomatic card involving the interests of political, economic and cultural development. To maintain China’s image of international education is inseparable from the deepening and development of international educational cooperation and exchange. Only by strengthening the effective competitiveness of studying in China can we maintain the image of China’s international education. And effective educational competitiveness and attraction need strong educational management strategy support. On the subject, therefore, in order to the foreign students in colleges and universities teaching cultural adaptation and the problems existing in the teaching management, and provide effective and reliable management strategies to adapt to the foreign student’s face and put forth efforts to solve management problems, to enhance the international competitiveness of the students of international teaching have set good image at the same time enhances the strength of China’s political, economic and cultural diplomacy. The education management of international students is a farreaching work, which undertakes the important task of spreading Chinese culture, promoting the exchange of different cultures and creating a favorable environment for accelerating the reform and development of education in China. The goal of overseas student education management is to create a relaxed environment, provide good services and create a friendly diplomatic atmosphere on the premise of meeting the policy requirements on the macro-level. On the micro-level, it requires meticulous management to ensure the quality of training and the proper service standards. That is to say, the goal is to obtain the corresponding social benefits while obtaining economic benefits, and finally achieve the cultivation of international talents in line with the national interests. With the increasing number of international students in China, higher requirements have been put forward for the education and management of international students. The original management model has been unable to adapt to the new development requirements. Taking teaching as the center, management and service as the two wings, the construction of the management mode of international students with the trinity of “teaching, management and service” can gradually make the management of international students move toward the management track of target,