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