Understand China's discourse on South-South cooperation and China-Africa higher education linkages

• In Event: Publication mentoring workshop session
  In Special Session: International & Intercultural Education - Group A

Proposal

1.Research objectives and purposes
My doctoral dissertation examines China’s higher education engagement with African countries and analyzes the benefits and constraints of current China-Africa cooperation. Since China has become the second largest economy in the world and has taken on its new role as a leader in the advancement of the global South, its higher education industry has undergone domestic reforms that have led to the design of new features intended to increase and improve the development of the country’s international education system. These new features have also led to some unexpected changes. For example, African students first came to study in Chinese universities because of the Chinese government’s scholarship programs. These international students’ experiences generated an increasing interest in studying in China, creating a greater number of applicants for an ever-increasing number of available scholarships. However, the supply is not yet meeting the demand. Because of this combination of factors, over the past few years, there have been more and more self-funded African students choosing to get advanced degrees in Chinese universities. It is important to understand, though, that this flow of international higher education is a global phenomenon caused not only by economic factors but also by additional ones in the social and cultural realms.

2.Main research questions
-What are China’s philosophies and practices within the China-Africa higher education cooperation under the framework of FOCAC?
-If a “win-win” situation is the desired outcome for China and the African countries from their higher education cooperation, what are the benefits and challenges?
-What are African students’ motivations for studying in China? And what are their opinions and experiences in Chinese universities?
-What is the role of China’s international higher education in an era of globalization?

3.Theoretical framework and its connection to the literature
This dissertation research explores the educational and cultural implications of South-South Cooperation (SSC) as it applies to China’s expanding educational exchange with Africa (and other areas of the world). The theoretical framework for this research can be illustrated as a “pyramid” (from applying SSC theory to analyzing China-Africa relations, then using a field research to triangulate the research questions). Conceptually, South-South Cooperation refers to the sharing of knowledge and resources between developing countries with the aim of achieving the agreed-upon development goals. Therefore, using the SSC as a theoretical framework will help to establish linkages among China’s model, China’s Africa policy, and the human capital development in the global South and globalization. While doing so, this research will also use world-system/dependency theories, human capital theory, soft power theories, and comparative education theories for a further analysis of current China-Africa cooperation. The literature reviews China’s global initiatives, the shift from the Washington Consensus to the Beijing Consensus, China’s model, China-Africa higher education cooperation, and critical views on China’s education assistance provided to the developing countries (majorly for African countries and but also for some countries along China’s One Belt One Road Initiative) as the nations’ soft power.

4.Research design, data collection, and analytic techniques
The field research is designed to examine current China-Africa higher education cooperation from the perspective of its role in promoting South-South cooperation as a challenge to the current ideology that human capacity building is solely the domain of the global North. Three types of data are included: 1) related literature; 2) documents and reports; and 3) fieldwork data (including recorded university student information, interactions and meeting minutes with students and faculty members and face-to-face interviews). Research data are collected through my two fieldwork trips to a Chinese university in 2014 and 2017; more than a hundred African, Chinese and students of other nationalities in that university are interviewed and analyzed. An analytical qualitative tool NVivo and the descriptive statistical analysis are used to code and categorize data.

5.Results and conclusion
Several major results regarding African students’ motivations and experiences in China include: 1) It is largely driven by China’s global influence, its growing economy, and its educational opportunities, the latter being especially valued by African students and their families; 2) The overseas experience in China influences the African students’ educational and occupational decisions. Many African students see China as a new destination for pursuing economic and immigration opportunities; 3) African students have some difficulties adjusting to the cultural climate of the Chinese university and the Chinese society. Therefore, the research suggests that Chinese universities need to promote their international education in many ways to welcome more African students. The dissertation also shows that student mobility may cause more brain drain in those economically poorer regions but create brain circulation in the richer developing areas.

Author

• Yi Sun, University of Massachusetts Amherst- Center for International Education