A case study of the internationalisation of higher education in China: meaning, implementation and evaluation

While the internationalisation of higher education (IHE) is often treated as a single global phenomenon by those who evaluate its effectiveness, internationalisation means different things in different contexts. Due to the limited number of Chinese-context-based studies and literature of IHE, this research aims to set up an empirical and contextual study of Chinese IHE considering the following points of concern: how the meaning, interpretation and evaluation of IHE are constructed in practice in a Chinese university; how these three points of concern shape IHE in specific local contexts; and whether we can understand this process through using evaluation tools developed in ‘western’ contexts of IHE. This makes it possible to understand the specific qualities of internationalisation from a Chinese perspective, which are not well represented in the English-language or Chinese language academic literature, as well as to understand its similarities (institutional functions) with western models. This research found multiple perceptions of the meaning of IHE in the Chinese context – learning for self-improvement, nationalism, platform perceptions and other marginal perceptions – which differentiate Chinese models of IHE from those in the West. Moreover, the dominant motivation for internationalisation in the Chinese university is academic development, which is different from the Western universities’ more economic rationales. These differences can be attributed to the history of the II modernisation of higher education in China, the impact of nationalist revolution on higher education and dual-managerial systems in higher education institutions (HEIs) which involve the Communist Party Committee and the university president. Finally, based on the findings of this research, the thesis also identifies national and international barriers which prevent the case university from being internationalised and introduces context-sensitive, institutional-level recommendations for the case university in China.