Current Research on Chinese Students Studying Abroad

Abstract

As a result of China's growing participation and importance in the process of internationalization and globalization a continuously rising number of Chinese students has gone abroad for further study. By the end of the last decade the number of Chinese students abroad made up the largest group of international students in the USA (surpassing those from India) and during the next decade this group will become the world's largest floating student population. Because of its size and the growing recognition of China and Chinese culture around the world, research on a wide range of problem areas among Chinese students abroad has been initiated, especially in Australia, Great Britain, New Zealand, the USA and Hong Kong. This article looks at the variety of research issues and attempts to provide a first overview in the light of international and comparative research on international students, their mobility and their recognition by host countries as well as their influence as cultural 'irritators'.

An Examination on the Chinese Students’ Rationales to Receive their Higher Education in the U.S.

“…Third, these young individuals are ambitious and many want to go to Ivy League schools, a symbol for those parents who raise their children successfully. Fourth, they desire to learn more about critical thinking, and very importantly, they want to be exposed to things aside from just test taking (Henze & Zhu, 2012;Taylor, 2012;Wu, 2014).…”

Taiwanese Students in Malaysia and Interculturality: When National Identities Take Primacy over Individualities

“…Confucian heritage culture appears thus as a social construct, whose meaning has deviated from the original text and which is used as "an alibi" (Dervin, 2008) to explain behaviors. Henze and Zhu (2012), referring to academic contributions written prior to the Chinese education rush, mention a list of difficulties encountered by international students independent of their origin: "(1) as a foreigner living in an unfamiliar environment; (2) being a university student facing unfamiliar demands; (3) as an adolescent encountering the problems of becoming and being an adult; (4) being a representative of one's home country" (Bochner as cited in Henze & Zhu,p. 96).…”

“…One of the expectations of exchange students is to develop contacts with locals and many Chinese students in the West complain about their lack of interactions with people other than their co-nationals (Henze & Zhu, 2012). Language is often the reason because the students are most of the time not native speakers of the languages they may use in the place.…”

“…This was mentioned in Finland where international students do not master Finnish or Swedish and thus remain among international students, building "cocoon communities" (Dervin, 2011c). Likewise, Chinese students lack proficiency in English or the languages used in the host country (Henze & Zhu, 2012) or at least that is the way they feel.…”

“…However East Asia and Southeast Asia entertain close ties with China, either because they have been Sinicized at some time in their history (Korea and Vietnam), share a similar cultural background (Japan) or because they were the destinations of the first Chinese diasporas like Malaysia and Singapore (Bruneau, 2001). This may be seen as a facilitating factor of adaptation for mobile Chinese students often lacking proficiency in foreign languages (Henze & Zhu, 2012). Studies in these contexts are lacking, probably because they would not offer evidences of "culture shock" (Oberg, 1954, August, 1960.…”