Pains and gains of working in Chinese universities: an academic returnee's journey

ABSTRACT

Over the past decade, an increasing number of overseas Chinese PhD graduates have returned to China to develop their career. For these academic returnees, one of the challenges is to (re)construct an academic identity in a familiar context that is also strange because they have been absent for a few years. In this autobiographical paper, the researcher describes and reflects upon the pains and gains experienced when re-entering and working in Chinese universities as a PhD returnee, revealing the process of his academic identity (re)construction when adjusting to different academic assessment policies. This writing offers an individual perspective on the challenges to returnees’ academic identity (re)construction and argues for the need to set up in-between spaces for inter/cross-disciplinary academic discourse between returnees and local scholars at Chinese universities. This paper aims to contribute to pedagogic debate on the development of more open research practices in Chinese universities.     

De-colonising international collaboration: The University of KwaZulu-Natal-Mauritius Institute of Education Cohort PhD programme

This paper explores the setting up of the partnership across the Mauritian and South African higher education contexts with respect to the development of a postgraduate PhD doctoral studies programme. The Mauritian Institute of Education (MIE) aims to develop staffing capacities through engagement with doctoral studies, especially in the context of limited experience in doctoral supervision. The South African model of doctoral cohort supervision at The University of KwaZulu-Natal (UKZN) School of Education is a recent alternative model of delivery in the building of these student and staff capacities through shared ownership of the process and products of doctoral education and development. This paper highlights the expectations, constraints and enabling features of the setting up of the UKZN-MIE PhD programme across international boundaries, driven by mutual reciprocity through valuing of indigenous local knowledges, a non-colonising engagement and innovative methodologies for postgraduate education. Adapting the UKZN cohort model for the international context is the subject of this paper. The paper draws on the experiences of the designers and deliverers as well as users of this programme. The paper explores what drives this form of international collaboration for both contracting partners in the context of shifting conceptions of a teacher education institution.     

Supporting the career decisions of Australian-based international Chinese doctoral students

Research regarding the support of career decision-making for international Chinese doctoral research students has been scarce and has assumed the homogeneity of international students. Offering insights to career practitioners, this article investigates the support for career decision-making experienced by international Chinese doctoral research students based in Australia from pre-sojourn up to their preparation for graduation. Arising from a thematic analysis of interviews with ten PhD students across three Australian universities, the findings reveal a desire for learning and career advancement that transcends national borders, underpinned by support that reinforces self-reliance and the formation of virtual and real-life social networks.     

Institutional logics of Chinese doctoral education system

As Chinese doctoral education has grown dramatically in the past four decades and developed into one of the largest doctoral education systems in the world, it has become one significant and integral part of the global doctoral education landscape. However, in the literature, there is a lack of both a comprehensive understanding of the Chinese doctoral education system and of generic frameworks for understanding doctoral education in a global context, with an emphasis on the underlying value systems. This may not only hamper the research on doctoral education in China but also affect international comparison and collaboration with Chinese doctoral education. Using the theory of institutional logics, this study tries to bridge the gap by identifying the complex value systems underlying the context of the Chinese doctoral education system, through a qualitative study mainly based on interview data and complemented by documentary data. The interview involves 135 participants, including 45 university academic leaders, 33 doctoral supervisors and 56 doctoral students from 17 research universities, as well as one government policy-maker. We found that the context of Chinese doctoral education system consists of multiple logics of state, profession, family, market and corporation. The special constellation of institutional logics has shaped the current Chinese doctoral education system as a state-led model but meanwhile incorporating family characteristics, market orientation and regulated academic autonomy. The study also showed that Chinese doctoral education has been developing in line with international academic norms and global marketization trends, and has also been shaped by China’s socio-cultural tradition and the strong state regulation. In addition to the institutional logics analysis of the Chinese doctoral education system, this study paves the way for developing a novel framework for analysing doctoral education systems in other contexts and for comparative purposes.     

Motivations and influences in Chinese international doctoral students’ decision for STEM study abroad

Despite China’s recent remarkable performance in high-quality research, the number of students going abroad to pursue doctoral degrees in STEM fields has been rising rapidly. This study investigates the motivations of Chinese international doctoral students (CIDS) in STEM fields for undertaking a PhD abroad, and the external factors influencing this major life decision. Based on in-depth interviews with 35 CIDS from seven universities in four Australian states, the findings show that for the current generation, enriching life experiences and self-cultivation emerged as most prominent personal motivations. The choice to study abroad, though ultimately a personal decision, was influenced by a range of factors and particularly long-term cooperation between host and home institutions. Both academic and personal reputation of supervisors played important roles in the selection of host institutions. This study may be of value to supervisors and higher education policy-makers, at institutional and government levels in all countries, whether “home” or “host”, invested in sustainable international doctoral education.     

International mobility of PhD students since the 1990s and its effect on China: a cross-national analysis

ABSTRACT

Of all the levels of education, doctoral education is the most internationalised. By selecting one key indicator (the proportion of international students among a country’s doctorate recipients), the article presents an analysis of PhD students’ international mobility. After the collapse of the Soviet Union and the end of the Cold War in the early 1990s, many barriers to the international mobility of PhD students were removed, leading to an even larger flow of students. From 2000 to 2012, the international mobility of PhD students reached a new peak, with a significant increase in the percentage going to Japan, France, Canada, Germany, the United Kingdom and Australia. Nowadays, China has become the largest source of international doctoral students. In that process, a number of excellent students go abroad to study for foreign doctoral degrees. On one hand, the loss of excellent students is harmful to China’s PhD training system, but on the other hand, it is a great opportunity for China to change brain drain into brain gain by making full use of the knowledge diaspora scattered around the world.     

Intercultural PhD supervision: exploring the hidden curriculum in a social science faculty doctoral programme

International knowledge markets rely heavily on a ready supply of highly mobile doctoral students, many of whom are from the global South, to bring in revenue. The supervision of these PhD students, however, can reproduce neo-colonial knowledge relations, often in subtle ways. In settler nations, international PhD students may find that they are assigned subaltern status in their university departments and this can have a significant impact on their learning. This paper explores the experiences of a group of international PhD students in a social science faculty in a New Zealand university during the first two years of their doctoral studies. It examines how they responded to the displacement of their cultural values and priorities, the way they navigated intercultural engagements with supervisors, and their ensuing relationships with indigenous and ethnic allies in the faculty. Despite considerable pressure to conform to the dominant modes of academic knowledge production that characterise universities in settler nations, it is concluded that international students find ways of speaking out, often in highly coded forms, that complicate their subaltern academic status.     

Positive and negative experiences related to doctoral study conditions

ABSTRACT

During their doctoral studies, students undergo an emotionally and intellectually intensive process involving a wide range of positive and negative experiences. This article analyses PhD students’ perceptions of the most positive and negative experiences related to doctoral study conditions. Previous researchers have primarily focused on analysing experiences that negatively affect doctoral work and have related these experiences to institutional, social and individual variables. However, little is known regarding positive experiences and how both positive and negative experiences are interpreted and related to variables connected with doctoral study, such as discipline, funding, enrolment type, and the stage of the doctoral process. In total, 1173 doctoral students from 56 Spanish universities completed an open-ended online survey. The findings indicate that opportunities for PhD students to communicate their scientific advances, receive expert feedback and interact with other researchers have a high positive influence on their doctoral journey. However, funding difficulties, particularly for students in the social sciences, and relationships with the research community, principally with the supervisor, were perceived as the main negative challenges. Experiences related to research design, data collection and analysis were perceived either negatively – primarily for mid-level students – or positively. These results should be considered in future doctoral programme policies to determine when, how and why to provide specific support during the doctoral process.     

Relationships between employment quality and intention to quit: focus on PhD candidates as traditional workers

Current statistics show that the attrition rate among PhD candidates is high (i.e. from 30% to 40% depending on the discipline and the country). This high-attrition rate has an impact on both economic (e.g. negative impact on the return-on investment in doctoral education) and human levels (e.g. negative consequences on candidates’ self-esteem and well-being). Therefore, it seems important to better understand and to prevent the attrition among PhD candidates. Based on the needs–supplies fit theory, the present research focused on the perception of a fit between several PhD candidates’ work-related needs in terms of employment quality and the characteristics of their job to explain their intention to quit their PhD thesis process. This study was based on 160 Belgian PhD candidates, viewed as traditional workers in the Belgian doctoral system, who were still in their thesis process. Data were collected in one Belgian university. Globally, results shown that only the fit perception between the needs for fairness/recognition from the supervisor and the current job situation was significantly associated with lower intention to quit. Thus, we encourage Universities to develop and boost fairness and recognition from thesis supervisors through notably specific training programmes including supportive and justice-based practices.     

Becoming an academic: international perspectives

Stress during doctoral study is common; however, its presence is of concern to students as it has a deleterious impact on well-being and performance, and to the university which has a duty of care to students and the desire to promote a supportive research environment. This article reports on the qualitative findings from an online survey that sought to identify students’ experiences related to stress during the early-stage doctoral study. All newly enrolled PhD students at the University of Otago (New Zealand) received invitations to participate and respond to two questions related to stress during the early-stage doctoral study. In total, 152 survey responses were acquired from 352 first-year PhD students (response rate 43.2%). Nine main areas of concern were identified from an inductive thematic analysis of participants’ responses. Key stressors were time pressure, uncertainty about doctoral processes, sense of belonging in scholarly communities, and financial pressures. Some findings are contrary to previous research with novel perceptions on the student–supervisor relationship, different financial issues, and transition stresses contrary to previous research; this may reflect the changed academic landscape of doctoral studies. Findings provide insight into potential support strategies to better support early-stage PhD students.     

Pushing too Little,Praising too Much? Intercultural Misunderstandings between a Chinese Doctoral Student and a Dutch Supervisor

To understand the challenges and their causes in interactions between Western supervisors and international doctoral students, we conducted a self-study of our experiences as a Chinese international student and her Dutch supervisor during her doctoral research project. We found the supervisor and the student to differ in their expectations of the learning goals and procedure for the doctoral program. We analyze three types of misunderstandings, regarding how formal the supervision should be, how feedback and assessment should be provided and understood (e.g. strict versus implicit critiques, open praise for excellence versus praise to encourage), and how the student is expected to learn (e.g. expecting answers versus providing questions, learning from modeling versus learning by trial and error). We also illustrate how implicit these misunderstandings were in daily supervision interactions and how deeply they were rooted in the cultural (i.e. power distance, individualism, masculinity, and indulgence) and educational (i.e. education oriented toward qualification versus personal development, level of competition, and degree of teacher regulation) differences between the supervisor and the student.     

归国留学人员文化再适应问题研究——从《非你莫属》刘俐俐的求职遭遇说起

随着我国经济的快速发展和对外开放的深人,大批人员到国外留学。而近几年来,留学生选择回国发展的人数不断增加,规模不断扩大。然而,出国人员回国后,却经历着生活和文化上的不适应,即受到逆向文化冲击。这一现象普遍存在,但国内对其研究却不多见。本文通过《非你莫属》中刘俐俐求职遭遇这个案例,分析逆向文化冲击的危害及其成因,并提出归国留学生的文化再适应对策,以期能够解决这一问题。     

PhD by Publication: innovative approach to social science research,or operationalisation of the doctoral student … or both?

ABSTRACT

The PhD by Publication offers doctoral students an opportunity to focus on publishing during their candidature. A considerable body of literature has explored questions of legitimacy, consistency and quality of this model of scholarship, while students have reflected on how this approach helped build a publishing track record and develop skills associated with writing scholarly articles [Jackson, D. (2013). Completing a PhD by publication: A review of Australian policy and implications for practice. Higher Education Research & Development, 32(3), 355–368; Robins, L., & Kanowski, P. (2008). PhD by publication: A student’s perspective. Journal of Research Practice, 4(2), 1–20]. However, there is a need to explore how this approach both shapes and reflects the student experience of doctoral studies. This auto-ethnographical article analyses my own experience of the PhD by Publication. On the one hand, this method suited my multidisciplinary research topic and approach to research and assisted the flexibility and creativity of my research. On the other, I began to view my value as a researcher and the value of my research, in terms of the quantitative performance metrics of research in output, citation counts and h-index. Concept of performativity, I analyse how the PhD by Publication potentially reshapes what it is to be a doctoral student, and how the value of doctoral students is construed by themselves and others within their university.     

Literature Review of Effects of Organisational Culture on Foreign-Educated Returnees at Universities in Yunnan

I propose to research on the topic of how organisational culture impacts upon cultural adaptation of foreign-educated returnees at universities in Yunnan and how to manage communication in the process of cultural adaptation and reintegration.In the literature review section,I review the major literature surrounding the role the foreign-trained returnees have played in China’s higher education.I also discuss the tensions between new returnees,senior returnees,locally trained young and senior scholars,and management in the organisational contexts of Chinese higher education.     

Searching for ‘a third space’: a creative pathway towards international PhD students’ academic acculturation

Undertaking a PhD is a challenging endeavour. Pursuing a doctoral education in a ‘foreign’ context tends to increase the demands of this intellectual venture. The nature of research-based PhD programmes, often characterised by a lack of formal curricula where academic supervision lasts several years, may add another layer of complexity. Drawing upon an extended version of Urie Bronfenbrenner's bio-ecological theory of human development, this paper attempts to offer a greater understanding of both academic and non-academic concerns confronting international PhD students with a view to highlighting their implications for institutional policy and practice. Underpinned by a visual metaphor approach, our research findings advocate embedding the use of ‘a third space’ as a creative pathway and strategy for maximising students’ chances of achieving a successful PhD academic acculturation journey.     

The transnational in-between identity of Chinese student returnees from the UK: Mobility,variations and pathways

Considering the rising tide of international student return mobility, the UK needs to pay attention to the long-term circulation and development of international student returnees. This study analyses the mobility, variations and pathways of the transnational in-between identity of Chinese student returnees from the UK, an under-researched group in the changing dynamics of international student mobility. This longitudinal study uses original data from 48 semi-structured interviews to show how student returnees’ identities change over time in transnational sociocultural contexts. This study develops a spider chart comprising multiple manifestations of transnational selves to account for returnees’ intermediary and heterogeneous states of transnational in-between identities. Based on the empirical evidence, the study finds that transnational in-between identity is characterised by a ‘self-in-between mobility’, seeking compromises and connections between the polar extremes of essentialist and non-essentialist approaches to identity. In such an identification process, the changing dynamics of agency play a pivotal role in (re)shaping multiple identity pathways as variegated temporal outcomes of mobility. The findings not only advance the theoretical and methodological constructs of identity, but also have implications for relevant concerns in international education.     

高校教师科研合作及其回报的变迁 ——基于CAP和APIKS调查数据的分析

基于2007年CAP和2018年APIKS的调查数据，分析了近十年来我国高校教师校内、国内和国际科研合作率以及科研合作回报效应的变化。研究发现：从2007年到2018年，高校教师校内科研合作率下降，国内、国际科研合作率大幅上升，这些变化在青年教师群体上表现得尤为典型；不同性别、高校层次和学科教师科研合作率的差异一直存在；科研合作的回报效应发生了变化，整体而言，国内合作的影响力降低，国际合作的影响力增强。今后，应进一步通过精准施策，促进各教师群体的科研合作，改革科研评价制度，提升科研合作质量。     

Chinese Returnees from Overseas Study: An Understanding of Brain Gain and Brain Circulation in the Age of Globalization

Among discussions on international academic mobility, a persistent challenge is to understand whether education abroad can become a source of brain gain, and whether globalization can offer source countries the hope that they might enjoy the benefits of freer cross-border flows in information and personnel. With reference to China, this article provides an understanding of these two issues. It reveals practical factors affecting returnees’ decision to return, their contribution to specific areas, and obstacles that limit their contribution and career opportunities. In addition, it sheds light on an emerging brain circulation between China and foreign countries, along with the increased cross-border flow of academic talent from and into China.     

跨国资本:对中国归国学术人才的评估

本文从国际国内政治经济影响、政府政策以及个人因素等四个方面分析了海外学者回国的原因,力图通过对归国学者和本土学者在能力与贡献、国际联系、报酬和认可度、回国的比较观念以及短缺专业领域需求情况的调查与分析,客观地评估归国学者的“跨国资本”价值,并指出随着中国国际化进程的加快,归国学者所拥有的跨国资本将越来越受到重视,在中国学术机构中他们将处于主导地位。     

The role of social networks in the transitional experiences of international African doctoral students at one university in South Africa

ABSTRACT

International doctoral students’ sojourn encompasses three transitional processes: to the new country, to the university and to a new academic identity as a researcher in a specific discipline. This article examines the role of social networks in facilitating these transitions for international doctoral students at one South African university. It is based on qualitative interviews conducted with 23 international PhD students representing eight different disciplines and various countries in Africa. The findings suggest that students are involved in a number of social networks, which all, apart from the academic network, exclude local students. This close-knit co-national network, while providing international PhD students with a well documented survival mechanism, may hinder their international experiences and limit the acquisition of the inter-cultural skills necessary for global citizenship in the twenty-first century. The findings also indicated that family networks back home played a role in instilling worries and doubts among students related to xenophobic attacks against foreigners.