Making the Invisible Visible: Ethical and Decolonial Futures in Global Higher Education from Non-Western Contexts, Perspectives, and Practices

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

This symposium, consisting of works from four international graduate students, aims to critically analyze the curricular development, students’ experiences, and internationalization strategies of universities in the global South. Adopting indigenous and decolonial philosophies, we deconstruct dominant narratives of global higher education shaped by Eurocentric ontological, epistemological, and practical frameworks. The core question we want to address is: How do we make sense of and reimagine higher education issues in the Global South in the age of internationalization, digital revolution, and political instability?

Research on global higher education has centered on North American and European institutions, framing academic collaboration and student mobility in a core-periphery model (Class and Cruz, 2023; Marginson, 2022; Marginson and Xu, 2023; Mulvey, 2021). Scholars have criticized the model’s over-simplification of political and power dynamics, the rise of new academic centers like China and Korea, and the coloniality in the South-North academic dependency (Schöpf, 2020; Xuetong, 2006). Recently, a growing number of studies have examined student access, policy development, and curriculum issues in non-western regions such as Africa, South America, and Central Asia (Majee and Ress, 2020; Salas-Pilco et al., 2023; Chankseliani et al., 2021).

Current studies have theorized epistemological and ontological conflicts between indigenous philosophies, such as Confucianism in East Asia (Hayhoe, 2001; Wu and Zha, 2018; Zhu and Li, 2018) and Ubuntu in Sub-Saharan Africa (Madianou, 2019; van Norren, 2022), and dominant Western neoliberal ideologies in envisioning purposes and functions of higher education. Universities in post-colonial regions strive to deconstruct colonial legacies in curriculum and research, especially in the era of digital learning and teaching (Dlamini et al., 2021; R’boul, 2022). At the same time, universities are seeking alignment between roles as national players in ideological, social, and political development, as well as international players in global rankings and journal publications (Shahjahan and Bizhanov, 2023; Wu and Zha, 2018). Additionally, the political instability in certain regions puts universities at risk, yet few scholars discuss students’ and faculty’s challenges in accessing physical and distance education in war-stricken areas (Milton et al., 2023; Smith and Scott, 2023). In such contexts, universities, especially those in conflict zones, need to develop social responsibilities in peacebuilding and promoting social justice (Godonoga and Sporn, 2022; Wong and Kareng, 2023).

Despite increasing interest in higher education issues in the Global South, limited articles critically discuss the impact of emerging global issues, such as the boost of Generative Artificial Intelligence and warfare, on institutional and faculty development. While few South researchers attend to higher education issues with Indigenous and decolonial lenses, non-Western philosophies remain marginalized in broader discussions of higher education issues. Most analyses of Global South higher education are dominated by academic scholars based in North institutions, leaving limited opportunities for doctoral students and emerging scholars to express their unique perspectives on these pressing issues in the Global South.

Recognizing these gaps, we organized this panel to share our research based on our specific positionalities. All four authors are international graduate students from two public research universities in the United States (i.e., 3 PhD and 1 Master’s), with each paper offering a unique perspective shaped by their cultural backgrounds and academic experiences. As international scholars navigating the U.S. academic system, our identities and experiences as students of color significantly shape our research and perspectives. Our journeys through this landscape, marked by both opportunities and challenges, have heightened our awareness of the cultural norms and systemic barriers that influence the study of higher education. We particularly recognize the dominant U.S.-centric focus in higher education studies and the pressing need to challenge and broaden these perspectives. Our symposium aims to disrupt dominant narratives of global higher education from ontological, epistemological, and practical perspectives. We do this by drawing on non-Western philosophical traditions and our lived experiences as international students, striving to contribute to a more inclusive and ethically grounded discourse in global higher education. Our presentations showcase the significance of reimagining higher education issues in marginalized non-western regions in the digital age.

The three scholarly papers approach higher education issues in non-Anglophone regions from non-Western theoretical perspectives. All works explore the philosophical, pedagogical, and practical issues of Global South higher education, with a focus on the impact of internationalization, the digital revolution, and regional conflicts.

The first paper adopts the African Ubuntu philosophy to analyze the decolonization of the fourth-industrial-revolution STEM curriculum of South African universities. Throughout three dimensions of decoloniality (ontology, epistemology, and doing) (Maldonado-Torres, 2007), the author argues that coloniality and warns of the possibility of recolonization of universities’ cutting-edged STEM programs.

The second paper explores the ethical dilemmas within the internationalization of higher education in the digital era, particularly through the lens of Confucian philosophy. It introduces the concept of Zhengming (正名), or rectification of names, as a framework for evaluating and addressing the ethical complexities inherent in global educational practices. This paper argues for a shift from market-driven models of internationalization toward approaches that prioritize ethical engagement, social justice, and mutual respect, grounded in non-Western philosophical traditions.
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The third paper examines students’ experiences in war and conflict-affected areas such as Ukraine, Palestine, and Myanmar using the existing literature. Through a comparative analysis, the study identifies similarities and nuances in how students experience academic disruptions, limited access to resources, mental health challenges, and various traumatic events across these three distinct geographical regions. These findings inform global educators of the need to support students equitably in war and conflict areas.

Overall, all three papers bring attention to “non-traditional” curricular, philosophical, and practical issues of higher education outside the Western focus. We emphasize diverse epistemologies and contexts to reimagine more just and humane agendas for promoting institutional and student development in the Global South.

Sub Unit

• Higher Education SIG

Chair

• Yilun Jiang, Michigan State University

Individual Presentations

• A Decolonial Analysis of the Fourth Industrial Revolution (4IR) Curriculum at South African Universities - Yilun Jiang, Michigan State University

• Rethinking Ethical Dilemmas in Internationalization of Higher Education: A Confucian Zhengming Perspective - Yulu Hou, Michigan State University

• Students’ experiences in conflicts and wars in Ukraine, Palestine, and Myanmar - Stephen Ai San Nap, State University of New York at Albany; Aik Paung Seinn, Michigan State University

Discussant

• Riyad A Shahjahan, Michigan State University