‘It’s more foreign than a foreign country’: adaptation and experience of Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong

Recent years have witnessed an increasing number of Mainland students crossing the border to pursue tertiary studies in Hong Kong, a Special Administrative Region of the People’s Republic of China. In contrast to those who have chosen to study in foreign countries, such as United States, United Kingdom or Germany, the Mainland group are studying and living in a society that is both familiar and strange to them due to unique political and sociocultural relationships between Hong Kong and the Mainland. Previous research has mainly focused on Mainland students’ motivations for choosing Hong Kong as their academic destination, but questions as to how they adapt to the university setting and host society have been under-researched. Adopting a qualitative approach, this study reports on the findings of focus groups exploring Mainland students’ adaptation to life and study in Hong Kong. Findings revealed that linguistic adaptation, social network, political identification and discrimination were the most significant acculturative stressors reported by Mainland students. Implications for how Mainland students can best adjust and how universities can better support them are discussed.     

Intra-Nationalization of Higher Education: The Hong Kong Case

This paper explores the internationalization of higher education initiatives of Hong Kong, being one of the Special Administrative Regions (SAR) of China, within the context of the Chinese Mainland-Hong Kong (CM-HK) relations. Historical, social, economic, and political ties between Hong Kong and the Mainland of China, their economic and political interdependency, and a time series analysis of Hong Kong’s University Grants Committee (UGC) statistical data (local and non-local participation, geographic composition, and cost analysis of UGC-funded programs) are used to support what the author calls the “intra-nationalization of higher education.” This forms a unique internationalization strategy, whereby a sub-national region such as Hong Kong and possibly Macau, orients its internationalization strategy towards a motherland, in this case China.     

The predicting roles of approaches to learning,L2 learning motivation,L2 learning strategies and L2 proficiency for learning outcomes: a comparison between Mainland and Hong Kong Chinese students

This study examined (1) differences in background, integrative/instrumental motivation, learning approach, leaning strategy and proficiency in second language (L2) and (2) the determinants of learning outcomes between Hong Kong and Mainland (Chinese) students. To achieve this, a questionnaire survey was distributed to 773 s language learners across four universities in Hong Kong and Mainland China to students in Bachelor of Education (English Language) programmes. The results showed that L2 proficiency was the strongest predictor of learning outcomes for Hong Kong and Mainland students, while integrative motivation was also a significant predictor of learning outcomes in both sample groups. In addition, instrumental motivation, deep approaches, and learning strategies were found to be significant predictors of learning outcomes for Mainland students. Mainland students demonstrated lower levels of motivation, learning approaches, learning strategies, L2 proficiency, as well as learning outcomes relative to Hong Kong students. Implications for curriculum design, classroom teaching and assessment, and future research are discussed in the paper.     

社会资本因素对个体高等教育需求的影响

对中国大陆三省一市10909名高中生和香港3157名高中生的调查研究发现,学生参与社团活动、家庭教育期望,无论是对中国大陆学生还是香港学生的高等教育需求都具有显著影响。家庭中兄弟姐妹的数量、家庭成员辅导学生功课、父母与子女沟通频率等因素,对中国大陆学生的高等教育需求具有显著影响;家庭社会网络广泛度、师生沟通频率,则对香港学生的高等教育需求具有显著影响。研究还发现,一些常被认为影响个体高等教育需求的因素,如家庭社会网络资源、父母与学校的联系等,对学生的高等教育需求并无显著影响。     

Cross-cultural experiences of immigrant students from Mainland China in Hong Kong secondary schools

Many schools in Hong Kong are concerned with the growing number of enrolments of students from Mainland China. This article examines the immigrant students’ constructs of their cross-cultural identities. It reveals how these students experience a journey of transformation in language, culture and identity. Qualitative data were collected from unstructured interviews with 12 immigrant students from Mainland China from six secondary schools. Two cases which are representative of the sample are reported. The study showed the transformation of the cross-cultural identities of these students, in the process of which they adopted the new culture into their lives and made it their reality while they still strongly connected part of their identity to their Mainland Chinese background. Despite some negative experiences of adaptation, they adopted a meritocratic approach to making sense of their cross-cultural experience. It was used as a form of agency to overcome, or at least ameliorate, feelings of discrimination, loss of cultural support and being immigrants in the ‘new’ society of Hong Kong. Lastly, two implications for the promotion of education for immigrant students will be discussed at school and legal levels.     

Acculturation strategies, social support, and cross-cultural adaptation: a mediation analysis

Previous acculturation research has established the influences of acculturation strategies and social support on cross-cultural adaptation. The present study attempted to elaborate these direct associations by proposing that social support and the use of the integration and marginalization strategies might affect psychological adaptation indirectly, via their influences on sociocultural adaptation. Two hundred and twelve Mainland Chinese students studying at a university in Hong Kong completed measures of psychological and sociocultural adaptation, the integration and marginalization strategies, and social support. Analyses using structural equation modeling (SEM) showed that sociocultural adaptation significantly mediated the effects of integration, marginalization, and social support on psychological adaptation. The direct impacts of social support and the two acculturation strategies on psychological adaptation were not significant. A multigroup SEM analysis revealed no gender differences in the full mediation model. Implications of the findings are discussed.     

Promoting national identity through higher education and graduate employment: reality in the responses and implementation of government policy in China

ABSTRACT

In the last decade, the Chinese government has called for deep collaboration between Hong Kong, Macau (the two special administrative regions of China) and cities in Southern part of the country to foster economic and social development across the region. More recently, the Chinese government initiated a strategic project to develop the Pan-Pearl River Delta region into a Greater Bay Area like successful bay economies in Tokyo and Florida. This article sets out against the wider policy context to critically examine the reality in the responses and implementation of government policy in China when serious attempts have been made to encourage students originally from Hong Kong and Macau to study in Chinese universities in the Mainland and look for career development upon their graduation. This article has found that the promotion of national identity through higher education and graduate employment has not been successful because of failure of policy coordination, policy interpretations and implementation.     

Mainland immigrant and Hong Kong local students’ psychological sense of school membership

A Chinese version of the Psychological Sense of School Membership (PSSM) scale was developed to find out the subjective PSSM of Mainland immigrant and local Hong Kong students. Five schools participated with 295 boys and 252 girls from Primary years 4, 5, and 6 taking part. Among those, 264 students were local Hong Kong students, while 283 were Mainland immigrant students who claimed that they had lived in Hong Kong for 7 years or less. The Chinese version of the PSSM scale was found to be reliable, and interestingly, Mainland immigrant students were found to have a significantly higher sense of school belonging, but had a lower feeling of rejection than Hong Kong students did. Results would be useful to understand how students feel towards support in school.     

The Effects of Political Education and Critical Thinking on Hong Kong and Mainland Chinese University Students' National Attitudes

In a context of patriotic education in Mainland China and depoliticised civic education in colonial Hong Kong, this article inquires into the nature of student resistance to state hegemonic political socialisation and examines the effects of critical thinking, as a form of resistance, on students' patriotism and nationalism. With data from questionnaires completed by 535 Hong Kong and Mainland university students, analyses of relationships among perceptions of political socialisation, critical thinking dispositions, and national attitudes reveal that critical thinking mediates the state-intended effects of schooling on political attitudes. The article concludes with a reconceptualisation of the concept of resistance.     

延续与变迁:21世纪初的香港高等教育发展与改革

本文在概述香港高等教育发展历程的基础上，分析了世纪之初香港高等教育所面临的主要问题、重要改革举措和政策变革。香港高等教育在21世纪初的主要发展和改革表现在：素质评鉴机制的制度化，大学管治体制和教职员薪酬制度的改革，大学角色的再定位，社区学院和私立大学的发展，以及大学教育的国际化等方面。这些改革对香港高校与政府的关系、高校的角色定位等都带来重要影响。香港高等教育的国际化发展，将使香港高校在中国内地高等教育体系中扮演越来越重要的角色，推动香港与中国内地高等教育的互动和发展。为此，香港与内地之间需要加强在高等教育政策上的协调与合作。     

“Dancing in a cage”: Changing autonomy in Chinese higher education

In China, the central government has released a series of key policy initiatives over the last twenty years to foster decentralisation of control over higher education, giving prominence to discourses of increased autonomy for both universities and academics. This article reports findings of an empirical study of changing autonomy in Chinese higher education and it focuses on the effects of these key policy developments in two case study universities. This research was part of a larger study of new power relationships emerging from changing policies on accountability and autonomy in Mainland China, Hong Kong and Singapore, located within a broader context of the impact of globalisation on higher education. The focus on the three regions was selected to begin to redress a Western hegemony in such research. The larger study is premised on the principle that globalisation is characterised by ongoing tensions between global commonalities and context-specific differences, and that it is important not to gloss over the complex and often contradictory national and local mediations of “global” policy trends.     

中外合作开办高等教育课程的政策与现状分析

中外合作办学已经成为我国教育事业的一个组成部分。然而,我国高等教育领域中的中外合作办学现状如何呢?这是国内外教育机构都十分关注的话题。本首先介绍了我国中外合作办学的管理和条例,这些规定也适用于香港、澳门和台湾;进而以国内25所高校与境外147个教育机构的116项合作办学项目为例,概括了中外合作办学的五种形式：境外课程、境外资历;双方课程、境外资历;双方课程、双方资历;境外课程、境外资历、国内证明书;双方课程、国内资历、境外证明书,并对每一种形式的教学方式进行举例说明;最后,作综合讨论了三个相关主题：优质的境外远程教育学历课程进入内地市场的挑战;未来教育的新模式对中外合作办学形式的挑战;香港高校与内地合作办学的独特优势。     

高等教育质量保证体系比较及启示

英国高等教育质量保证体系随其自身发展而不断完善。香港特区通过对其移植借鉴和改造,形成了适应香港本土实际的质量保证体系。香港这一做法的成功,对我国高等教育质量保证体系的建设完善,应当有所启示。     

试论我国民办高等职业教育的内涵建设——借鉴香港私立大专的经验

内涵发展是高等教育新一轮发展的主旋律,目前我国民办高职已进入内涵发展的关键时期。要提升质量、发展内涵,就必须开展专业建设、学科建设和教育教学改革。内地与香港高等教育有诸多相似之处,笔者通过深度解读香港私立大专在内涵建设方面的特色及其根源,力求为处于困境中的内地民办高等职业教育提出积极的建设性建议。     

Motivation and engagement in the ‘Asian Century’: a comparison of Chinese students in Australia,Hong Kong,and Mainland China

The present study investigated multidimensional motivation and engagement among Chinese middle school students in Australia (N?=?273), Hong Kong (N?=?528), and Mainland China (N?=?2106; randomly selected N?=?528). Findings showed that a multidimensional model of motivation and engagement fit very well for all three groups. Multi-group invariance tests showed that the number of factors, factor loadings, factor correlations and item uniquenesses were invariant across the three groups – as were inter-correlations with a set of cognate correlates (class participation, school enjoyment, positive intentions, academic buoyancy) – hence no differences of ‘kind’. However, differences of ‘degree’ were indicated through significant mean-level effects between groups, with self-reports favouring Australian Chinese students over Hong Kong and (to a lesser extent) Mainland Chinese students. We propose these findings shed important light on Chinese students’ academic motivation and engagement and also on socio-cultural perspectives on motivation and engagement because they assist understanding about effects attributable to context and effects attributable to ethnicity. Given this, the study is a timely contribution to current understanding of the Chinese learner in this, the ‘Asian Century’.     

香港地区教育博士培养体系及借鉴

我国内地自2008年来已有15所研究生培养单位开始进行教育博士专业学位试点招生工作,其培养体系正处于探索阶段,暴露出很多问题和不足。而有效整合中西文化的香港地区则有着十余年的教育博士培养经验,认真梳理其培养目标、招生入学、课程体系、学习方式以及学位获得等培养体系模式,对内地教育博士培养体系的不断完善与创新有着重要的借鉴价值。     

中国大陆、香港、台湾地区高校通识教育之比较

本文从通识教育理念、通识课程目标、课程设置要求、课程教学与管理等方面对中国大陆、香港、台湾地区高等学校的通识教育进行了比较分析,并指出了大陆通识教育存在的问题与不足.     

课程与教学研究二十年回溯：香港与内地的视角

新旧世纪交替更迭,世界各国教育改革此起彼伏,各种理论与学说交相辉映,共同形成颇为壮阔的图景。作为教育的核心领域——课程与教学的研究在近些年同样经历着日新月异的变化。本文尝试从香港与内地学者的视角勾勒出近二十年香港课程与教学的研究脉络与发展轮廓。文章首先概述两岸三地在课程与教学研究交流发展方面所做出的不懈努力;其次,文章围绕课程改革、课程实施、教师教育、学科教育、大学教育等关键词,梳理、归纳两岸学者就香港课程与教学所进行的探索与研究;最后,文章基于对整体脉络的把握,对两岸三地的课程与教学研究提出殷切的期望与可行性建议。     

The Creation of the ‘Hong Kong Visual Arts Education Web’ and the Use of the Inquiry‐Based Teaching Approach

This article describes a collaborative action research conducted by a lecturer and several primary school art teachers, who between 2001 and 2006 created the Visual Arts Education Web (‘iii web’) in Hong Kong. The creation of the ‘iii web’ was accomplished through research that employed questionnaires, focus group discussions and individual interviews. Teachers' perceptions of using websites in teaching were examined, art education websites from Hong Kong, Taiwan, Mainland China and the USA were compared, in order to create a website that could meet the needs of Hong Kong primary school art teachers. Inquiry‐based learning is one of the important teaching approaches that were introduced during the Hong Kong Education Reform in 2003. An example of using the ‘iii web’ to teach public art is described to illustrate how the teacher and students used inquiry‐based learning in art education.     

An assessment of the role of Hong Kong schools in promoting civic learning

Hong Kong underwent tremendous changes after the transfer of its sovereignty to China in 1997. This study attempts to explore the changing role of schools in preparing students for future democratic citizenship in the post-colonial era. Different researchers have postulated that schools play a crucial role in the political socialization process in meeting the developmental needs of adolescents. A mixed-method sequential explanatory research design was adopted to assess the effectiveness of Hong Kong schools in promoting civic learning. The significance of the present study was to analyse the school context by using the assessment framework from the International Association for the Evaluation of Educational Achievement (IEA) Civic Education Study (CivEd) to generate citizenship education studies. An extensive review of research related to the role of schools through formal and informal curricula was conducted. This process helped extend the current understanding of the effectiveness of the political socialization in secondary schools in Hong Kong and contributed to the further development of the research on political socialization in the Chinese context. The findings from this study would help educators or policy makers rethink the future role of schools in citizenship education.