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Reintegration, Challenges, and Structural Constraints: A Reflection on China’s Academic System

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Globalization and Transnational Academic Mobility

Part of the book series: East-West Crosscurrents in Higher Education ((EWCHE))

Abstract

This chapter explores the daily experiences of returned scholars as they re-enter into the local academic community; it focuses on the challenges and dilemmas they encounter in their workplace. It finds that the integration of returnees into Chinese universities is not always a linear process. Their integration experience can be constrained by the existing university structures and power relations. These include the bureaucracies of university administration, local politics and complicated interpersonal relationships, the problematic evaluation and funding system, and a lack of an effective academic culture that consistently supports high-quality teaching and research. This chapter also addresses the topic of China’s agenda of building world-class universities by drawing from the lens of the returnees’ comparative views.

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Notes

  1. 1.

    Citation from “The Death of an Overseas Returnee” (October 28, 2009), China Hush. Retrieved from http://www.chinahush.com/2009/10/29/the-death-of-overseas-returnee/.

  2. 2.

    For details, see “A returnee from Zhejiang University committed suicide” [zheda yi haigui boshi zisha]” (October 23, 2009), Retrieved from http://scitech.people.com.cn/GB/10245965.html.

  3. 3.

    The National Science Foundation of China (NSFC), founded in 1986, is an institution for the management of the National Science Fund. Modeled on the US National Science Foundation, the NSFC allocates funding on a competitive basis through adopting an open-bid process for proposals and a peer-review system (Jonkers 2010).

  4. 4.

    Dayuejin (Great Leap Forward) was an economic and social campaign led by Mao Zedong from 1958 to 1961. It aimed to rapidly develop China’s economy, through industrialization, that could rival America’s economy in a short time. This unrealistic goal of the campaign resulted in tens of millions of deaths, which was regarded as a disaster in Chinese history. In the interview, Dr. Xiang used this negative term to criticize some people’s unrealistic expectations to build world-class universities in a short period of time.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Southern University of Science and Technology, Shenzhen, China

    Qiongqiong Chen

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  1. Qiongqiong Chen
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Correspondence to Qiongqiong Chen .

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Chen, Q. (2017). Reintegration, Challenges, and Structural Constraints: A Reflection on China’s Academic System. In: Globalization and Transnational Academic Mobility. East-West Crosscurrents in Higher Education. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-886-1_5

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-287-886-1_5

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  • Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore

  • Print ISBN: 978-981-287-884-7

  • Online ISBN: 978-981-287-886-1

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