Social Integration and Networking
Cultivating Talented Individuals:Support Scheme:Investigative Research Assistance (for student)
Wenhong Fang / Investigation Area: Chicago, USA
2010.02.28
Affiliation: GSAPS
Year: 2nd Year
Name: Wenhong Fang
Itinerary: 2/28/2010-3/6/2010(Month/Date/Year)
Year: 2nd Year
Name: Wenhong Fang
Itinerary: 2/28/2010-3/6/2010(Month/Date/Year)
Destination (Name of city and country)
Chicago, USA
Research objectives
The objectives associated with the Investigative Research Assistance Grant are twofold:
- To present, at CIES conference, a paper titled "Transnational Higher Education in China: An analysis of the government's policies" which reveals the development of transnational higher education in China and examines China's policies on it by using the methodology of content analysis.
- To network with scholars and other PhD students who have similar research agendas.
Research project
Transnational Higher Education in China: An analysis of government's policies toward it
Transnational higher education in this paper refers to the cooperation between foreign higher educational institutions and Chinese higher educational institutions in establishing educational institutions within the territory of China to provide education services mainly to Chinese citizens (State Council of China 2003). It involves the mobility of programs and institutions over national borders. Transnational higher education is developing rapidly with great momentum worldwide. Scholars as well as various international organizations have identified it as a growing trend in recent years. Different from most of the traditional educational internationalization activities which are non-profit and research oriented, transnational education represents the direct impact of trade liberalization, with an income generation motive and a more commercial approach (Knight 2000). Therefore, a large part of the discussion on transnational higher education concerns the benefits, the risks, and the policy challenges it brings to governments. It is pointed out that a major challenge facing the government is to set up an effective regulatory system which can provide the right condition for the healthy development of transnational higher education. A review of the literature on this topic shows that very little has been done on systematically examining China's policies and regulation framework on it. Transnational education is growing very rapidly in China. And it is estimated that currently over 1,300 programs exist (St?phan Vincent-Lancrin 2006). As the world's largest sending country of overseas students, China has the potential to become the largest receiving country of transnational higher education. Therefore, it is very important to know what is happening in this sector of China.
This research aims to analyze the Chinese government's policies on transnational higher education. It focuses on answering three research questions: Why does the Chinese government encourage transnational higher education activities? What polices has the Chinese government published over the years and how have they changed? What are the features of the current polices and what problems do they run into in implementation? The findings of the research are expected to provide some implications for the policy making of the Chinese government on transnational higher education.
Transnational higher education in this paper refers to the cooperation between foreign higher educational institutions and Chinese higher educational institutions in establishing educational institutions within the territory of China to provide education services mainly to Chinese citizens (State Council of China 2003). It involves the mobility of programs and institutions over national borders. Transnational higher education is developing rapidly with great momentum worldwide. Scholars as well as various international organizations have identified it as a growing trend in recent years. Different from most of the traditional educational internationalization activities which are non-profit and research oriented, transnational education represents the direct impact of trade liberalization, with an income generation motive and a more commercial approach (Knight 2000). Therefore, a large part of the discussion on transnational higher education concerns the benefits, the risks, and the policy challenges it brings to governments. It is pointed out that a major challenge facing the government is to set up an effective regulatory system which can provide the right condition for the healthy development of transnational higher education. A review of the literature on this topic shows that very little has been done on systematically examining China's policies and regulation framework on it. Transnational education is growing very rapidly in China. And it is estimated that currently over 1,300 programs exist (St?phan Vincent-Lancrin 2006). As the world's largest sending country of overseas students, China has the potential to become the largest receiving country of transnational higher education. Therefore, it is very important to know what is happening in this sector of China.
This research aims to analyze the Chinese government's policies on transnational higher education. It focuses on answering three research questions: Why does the Chinese government encourage transnational higher education activities? What polices has the Chinese government published over the years and how have they changed? What are the features of the current polices and what problems do they run into in implementation? The findings of the research are expected to provide some implications for the policy making of the Chinese government on transnational higher education.
Achievement
The theme of this year's CIES conference is " Re-imagine Education. The conference is divided into many sessions under different topics. I attended many sessions related to higher education in China and globalization's effects on higher education. It was an eye opening experience for me. Not only did I get to discuss and set up relationship with scholars, researcher and students from different countries but also I got to gain some new perspectives on my PhD research topic.
Besides the regular session, a pre conference session which involves a few workshops for new scholars is arranged on 28th. I attended one of the workshops on data analysis where I learned how important analysis skill is and how inadequate my knowledge about it is.
On March 4th, I made an individual presentation on a paper titled "Transnational Higher Education in China: An analysis of the government's policies. The paper aims to find out the rationales of the Chinese government, the changes of policies published in the last ten years and the problems of the current policies. Content analysis is employed as the main research approach. Data used are all collected from the government website. The paper concludes that the current policies and regulations still require improvement in terms of feasibility, clarity and efficiency. A major problem facing the government is how to deal with the conflict between state needs and market forces.
Besides the regular session, a pre conference session which involves a few workshops for new scholars is arranged on 28th. I attended one of the workshops on data analysis where I learned how important analysis skill is and how inadequate my knowledge about it is.
On March 4th, I made an individual presentation on a paper titled "Transnational Higher Education in China: An analysis of the government's policies. The paper aims to find out the rationales of the Chinese government, the changes of policies published in the last ten years and the problems of the current policies. Content analysis is employed as the main research approach. Data used are all collected from the government website. The paper concludes that the current policies and regulations still require improvement in terms of feasibility, clarity and efficiency. A major problem facing the government is how to deal with the conflict between state needs and market forces.
Confirmed by person in charge of project promotion
Academic Adviser: Kazuo KURODA