Eleventh Global Studies Conference

Abstract

This paper investigates challenges of transnational education (TNE) in China and explores the impact of national policies and institutional responses toward TNE partnerships. It focuses on the Chinese perspective by comparing relevant findings from two TNE research projects conducted in 2006 and 2018 respectively. From 2000 onwards, TNE has taken shape, bringing great challenges to the higher education sectors throughout the world and continuing its transformation (Kosmutzky & Putty, 2016). While TNE has been growing significantly in the global context, China has remained the biggest importing country worldwide. A variety of themes have been explored in TNE research, which focus more on home countries who provide TNE than host countries who are TNE receivers (British Council, 2014; Mellors-Bourne, Fielden, Kemp, Middlehust & Woodfield, 2014). Research only from the perspective of home countries of TNE is not sufficient to depict the holistic development of TNE in the host countries (Knight, 2016, Qin & Alice, 2016), in particular, in examining TNE in China, where TNE policies, regulations, and governance at both national and institutional levels play a significant role (Tang & Nollent, 2007). This paperl addresses the literature gap by looking at TNE partnerships in China: What are the challenges in TNE partnerships in China now as compared with that of a decade ago? Where are the TNE partnership challenges located within the national and institutional policy structures? The analysis and comparison of qualitative data with Chinese higher education institutions highlights the contextual impact on TNE partnerships over the last ten years.