Policy and Practice of the Internationalization of Higher Education in China

Abstract

Directly motivated by the open-door policy, economic reforms and challenges from globalization and worldwide competition, as well as efforts to realize massification of higher education since 1978, the internationalization of higher education in China has experienced a change from activities concerning traditional outflows of international scholars, faculty members, and students before 1992 to those relating to trans-national higher education and internationalization of curricula. During the process, academic patterns from Europe, Asia, and the Pacific region as well as from America have significantly affected Chinese higher education. Internationalization has never been a one-way process; rather it comprises attempts to realize mutual communication or exchange, largely oriented and regulated by the government. The problem of increasing outflow of personnel abroad, the “brain drain,” as well as the ability to benefit from transnational education while also maintaininga national character remain key issues for the future.