Internationalization of Chinese Higher Education: Is It Westernization?

Abstract

Internationalization has become a strategic policy priority for many Chinese higher education in the process of becoming world-class universities. However, there is little research focusing on students’ experiences of internationalization at home. This research investigates how Chinese undergraduates interpreted and experienced internationalization at a prestigious university in China. Data for the study were collected through policy document analysis, semi-structured interviews with students, and site visits. The results of the study reveal that students perceive internationalization as Westernization, question the prominence of English in the university’s internationalization in both formal and informal curricula, and raise concerns about unequal access to internationalization. The study interrogates the unidirectional orientation of internationalization between China and the developed Western world. It calls for an approach to the de-Westernization of internationalization, reclaiming indigenous Chinese epistemology, language, and culture. The findings have important implications for an alternative social imaginary of internationalization for researchers and policymakers.

“Does Chinese philosophy count as philosophy?”: decolonial awareness and practices in international English medium instruction programs

“…Research on de-Westernizing Asian higher education has criticized the simple equation between internationalization and Westernization, which serves as a ready-made social imaginary for key stakeholders in EMI programs and other aspects of the internationalization of higher education (Guo et al., 2021 ; Yang et al, 2018 ). Nevertheless, the diversification of epistemic frames of reference adopted by the teacher informants problematized the West-China dichotomy by highlighting the heterogeneity within the Western and Chinese categories while attending to the geopolitically weak frames of reference in regional flows of philosophical thoughts.…”

“…Phan ( 2017 ) conducted multi-case qualitative research of transnational education in Vietnam, Saudi Arabia, Thailand, Singapore, and the Philippines and found the long-lasting impact of colonialism on Asian transnational EMI education, which distinguishes itself from “local” education by importing Western university models and consuming or reproducing knowledge systems produced in Western countries. Due to the semi-colonial history of China and extensively borrowing from the American model of university management, a critique of the desire for the imagined West has been put forth in Chinese internationalization policies, and local students perceive development practices for EMI programs as efforts to internationalize in their own country (Gu and Lee, 2019 ; Guo et al, 2021 ; Yang, 2016; Yang et al, 2018 ). Little EMI-related research has addressed the design and implementation of decoloniality-aware EMI curriculum.…”

“…Gu and Lee ( 2019 ) found that even though EMI curricula were often modeled after curricula in Anglophone countries and content planning was homogeneous, this practice created “a heterogeneous context of cultures and values and [yielded a] critical understanding of internationalization, globalization, and diversity among students” (p. 389). According to Guo et al ( 2021 ), Chinese students in top-rated university EMI programs equated internationalization with Westernization, and the unexamined mass adoption of English as medium of instruction is problematic and may reinforce unequal geopolitics related to knowledge production. These EMI studies urged critical internationalization approaches that question the world-class university criteria modeled on Anglo-European universities and explore a de-Westernized alternative social imaginary of internationalization.…”

Promoting Students’ Global Perspectives Through a Gamified e-Learning Platform

“…Internationalization in higher education has been accelerating rapidly in the past 40 years (Guo et al, 2021). This "process" (Knight, 2004) increasingly impacts higher education institutions in the world, which facilitates research collaborations, staff and students' mobility, and cultural and economic exchanges (Seeber et al, 2020).…”

“…While internationalization could be applied to a multi-level organization and sectors, internationalization in higher education could be generally defined as "the process of integrating an international, intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions or delivery of post-secondary education" (Knight, 2004). The definition of internationalization had been modified several times (Knight, 1994, Knight, 2004Guo et al, 2021), and the recent outbreak of COVID-19 has led scholars to believe that the current framework is incompatible (Taşçı, 2021). However, these revised definitions and approaches (e.g., competency approach) remained linked and "complementary" (Knight, 2004), reflecting on the dynamic shifts in the "complex world" (Leask, 2015, 27).…”