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China’s higher education reform and internationalisation: Opportunities for
mutual learning and entreprise
Janette Ryan18 March 2015
University of Hull
Outline
• Reform of higher education in China• Reform of basic (school) education in China• Implications of increasing contact between UK
and Chinese education systems• What can be learnt• Issues and cautions
Reform of higher education in China
• Reform of all aspects of HE: structures, systems, management, programmes and pedagogy
• Goal: number of world-leading internationalised universities by 2025
• 211 and 985 (May 1998) projects:Peking University (RMB 1.8b)Tsinghua (RMB 1.8b)Zhejiang (RMB 1.4b)
• Zhejiang’s new campus: 7,000 acres
Zhejiang University Zijingang campus
HE education reform: Policy borrowing?
• Some aspects of American model; some from UK eg Quality Assurance
• Problems of policy borrowing (eg. QA – evidence of corruption, manipulation of data, forgery of documents)
• Impressive progress but a lot of ‘fundamentals’ missing, changes can be superficial
Reform of basic (school) education in China
• Reform of all aspects, most notably curriculum• ‘Autonomous’, creative learners• Experimentation and diversity• Progress impressive but patchy• Constraints: gaokao, parents’ expectations,
‘traditional thinking’ (Yang, 2011)• ‘Borrowed’ policy worldwide - problems: ‘lost
in translation’
Life science curriculum in Shanghai middle schools
Internationalisation of HE in China
• China trying to retain the best of both (innovation while retaining traditional areas of excellence) – cultural change and continuity
• Internationalisation is a key aim in the reform process – through both external (international students and faculty) and internal means (internationalisation of the curriculum, international students)
Increasing contact: What can be learnt?
• Increasing educational contact between UK and China (international students, joint programmes, collaborative
research) – slower than other Anglophone countries • What can the UK learn from China?• Understanding needs to be based on
contemporary realities not stereotypes• Different historical and cultural origins and
influences• Different expectations – how are these understood
UK and Chinese educational valuesChina United Kingdom
Level of knowledge Type of (critical) thinking
Learn from the teacher Independent learning
Respect for the teacher Question teachers
Harmony of the group Student-centred learning
Consensus and avoiding conflict Argumentation and assertiveness
Respect for text Achievement of the individual
‘Reflective’ learners ‘Deep’ learners seeking meaning
Hard workers Strategic learners
Differences and similarities?26 senior academics
• How do you define characteristics of ‘good’ scholarship and ‘effective’ learning?您如何定义“好的” 研究和 “有效”学习?
• What differences and commonalities do you believe exist between Western and CHC paradigms of scholarship and learning?您认为孔子和西方关于研究和学习有什么共同点和不同点?
• Do you believe that these paradigms are changing or should change?您认为这样的思想在变化还是应该变化?
Chinese universities British universities American universities
Australian universities
Beijing Language and Culture
Bristol Columbia Charles Sturt
East China Normal Cardiff Indiana Monash
Harbin Normal Oxford New York
Nanjing Oxford Brookes
Shijiazhuang Vocational Technology Institute, Hebei
Sun Yat-sen
Tsinghua
University of Hong Kong
Zhejiang
Western Chinese
Definitions of ‘good’ scholarship
Original, original ideas Original, innovative
Creative Creative, passion for pursuing knowledge
Adds value, makes a difference Has some value, beneficial
Advances knowledge or thinking, application to existing knowledge
Contribution to knowledge, application of knowledge
Sound theories and methods, innovative methodologies
Includes theory, methodology and subject knowledge, innovative methodologies
Definitions of ‘good’ scholarship
Understanding and applying knowledge
Deep and broad knowledge framework, applying knowledge
Think for yourself, critical thinking
Critical thinking
Work independently Independent learner
Challenge and interrogate authorities
Challenge authorities’ views
Build on what’s known, develop new schema
[Combines] old and new academic knowledge
I believe that differences exist only amongst individual scholars whether Eastern or Western. They should not be taken as differences between the paradigms.
Professor of Foreign Languages, Sun Yat-sen
The differences are that in CHC ideology, the practice of skills is fundamental, even a priority. Learning is a process which requires considerable hardship. However, it seems to me that Western paradigms put creativity as a priority.
Professor of Education, East China Normal
In CHC things are currently changing so fast that it is breathtaking. The CHC scholars and learners are eager to catch up with the West, which has meant eagerness, openness, hard work in such measures that today the Western scholars and learners seem to be meandering along leisurely in comparison.
Senior Lecturer in Linguistics
There is a paradigm shift with the CHC paradigm adopting much more Western characteristics. I would like to see this as a two-way street with the Western paradigms acknowledging the merits of CHC and learning from them.
Senior Lecturer in Medical Education, Bristol
[Chinese cultures of learning] are changing, but very slowly… the move seems motivated by a desire to be more Western in thought and approach to learning and research, which strikes me as a mistake. My hope is that globalization will create new forms of scholarship and learning that emerge from our combined approaches across cultures.
Professor in Education, Indiana
What can be learnt?
• Much commonalities – the basis for collaboration; differences the inspiration for new learning
• Differences are complementary• More diversity within systems than between
them
LDC First Annual Conference, Dongsheng, Inner Mongolia, 2007
Teacher debriefing sessions
Cautions…
• Interest beginning in countries like the UK• PISA results Shanghai
Cautions…
• Shouldn’t slavishly follow other contexts (China has already learnt this)
• Irony – creativity and innovation• Problems re conceptual understanding in
Maths
Cross cultural collaboration
• Much can be learnt• Examples of cross cultural collaborations
Joint programmes: Dual degree programmeCollaborative projects: Learning Development
Community Joint projects: International Youth Leadership
ProgrammeResearch collaboration and joint publications:
Oxford conferences
International Youth Leadership Programme (Beijing Normal, Oxford, Birmingham, Harvard)
Principles of cross cultural collaborations
• Recognise and respect differences (and be patient!)• Use commonalities as a basis for collaboration and
differences as a source of mutual learning• Avoid slavishly following other cultural models• Avoid complacency about our own systems - move from
core-periphery model of international education to multiple movements across the world and within regions
• Mutual learning to better equip (all of our) learners for their future working lives in an increasingly interconnected world