Abstract
Along with China’s economic growth, the notable rise of its universities and innovation system has inspired growing interest in how the higher education institutions (HEIs) of the European Union (EU) cooperate with Chinese HEIs. Beginning with a review of China-EU higher education relations, this paper presents a case study of a Sino-Danish collaborative programme in which cooperation and programme quality were limited by both partners’ different aims over time, and their alternate quality assurance systems. We suggest a proper collaborative level and discipline should be developed before the establishment of cooperation by taking relevant policies, merits and disadvantages of both partners, into consideration. This paper also points out that limits in collaboration can be alleviated, if a number of elements can be used effectively, such as China’s significant EU knowledge diaspora. Given this and other listed factors, including favorable policies introduced by the Chinese government, there are substantial prospects for extending China-EU collaborative relations and exchanges.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Adams, J. (2013). The fourth age of research. tNature, 497, 557–560. https://doi.org/10.1038/497557a
Adams, J., King, C., & Ma, N. (2009). Global research report: China. Research and collaboration in the new geography of science. Leeds, UK: Thomson Reuters.
Al-Sindi, T., Llavori, R., Mayer-Lantermann, K., Patil, J., Ranne, P., Pisarz, S.,... & Trifirò, F. (2016). Quality assurance cross-border higher education. Retrieved from https://enqa.eu/indirme/papers-and-reports/occasional-papers/QACHE%20final%20report.pdf
Ash, T. G. (2014). Cameron’s student visa policy is a disastrous own goal, The Guardian. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/feb/17/student-visa-policy-disastrous-own-goal
Bench, M. (2015). Creating collaboration: Human hubs and go-betweeners in Sino-foreign university collaboration. An ethnographic and organisational perspective (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). Aarhus University, Aarhus, Denmark.
Bound, K., Saunders, T., Wilsdon, J., & Adams, J. (2013). China’s absorptive state: Research, innovation and the prospects for China UK collaboration. Retrieved from http://www.nesta.org.uk/publications/chinas-absorptive-state-innovation-and-research-china
Cai, H. X. (2012). Deploying the Chinese knowledge diaspora: A case study of the 111 Project at Peking University. In K. Yu & A. L. Stith (Eds.), Competition and cooperation among universities in the age of internationalization (pp. 367–379). Shanghai, China: Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press.
Cai, Y. Z. (2005). The future of European higher education from a Chinese perspective: The internationalisation dimension. In J. Enders, J. M. File, J. Huisman, & D. F. Westerheijden (Eds.), The European higher education and research landscape 2020: Scenarios and strategic debates (pp. 191–202). Enschede, Netherlands: CHEPS.
Cao, C. (2004). China’s efforts at turning “brain drain” into “brain gain.” Singapore, Singapore: East Asian Institute, National University of Singapore.
Carter, T. F. (1931). The invention of printing in China and its spread westward (2nd ed.). New York, NY: Columbia University Press.
Chen, S., & Chow, C.-Y (2010). China’s science prowess questioned. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/article/726062/chinas-science-prowess- questioned
Chen, Q. S. (2007). 独立学院行为主体的利益博弈与产权配置 [Ownership of independent colleges and profit distribution of establishes]. 教育评论 [Educational Review], (3), 28–30.
Cheng, Y Q. (2013). China shows off scientific, technological achievements. China Daily. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2013-09/27/content_17000872.htm
Cooke, F. L. (2007). Husband’s career first: Renegotiating career and family commitment among migrant Chinese academic couples in Britain. Work, Employment and Society, 21(1), 47–65. https://doi.org/10.1177/0950017007073615
Delfs, A. (2018). Germany toughens stance and blocks China deal. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2018-08-01/germany-said-to-block-company-purchase-by-chinese-for-first-time
Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst. (DAAD). (2008). Quality through internationality: The DAAD action programme 2008–2011. Retrieved from https://www.daad.de/presse/de/aktionsprogramm_englisch.pdf
Einhorn, B. (2019). China’s selling genetically-modified mice for $17,000 a pair. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/articles/2019-04-01/china-s-demand-for-17-000-gene-altered-lab-mice-is-skyrocketing?utm_source=SupChina+Free+Newsletter&utm_campaign=b47e0fe1b7-January+24+2019+free+email_COPY_01&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_96063830a5-b47e0fe1b7-165108995
El Sehrawey, A. (2014). Turning away talent: The immigration bill and overseas students. The Bow Group. Retrieved from http://www.bowgroup.org/policy/turning-away-talent-immigration-bill-and-overseas-students
Forsythe, M. (2015). Bribery confession in China calls into question integrity of college admissions. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2015/12/05/world/asia/china-renmin-university-admission-bribery.html
GHK Consulting, & Renmin University of China. (2011). EU-China student and academic staff mobility: Present situation and future developments. Retrieved from http://ec.europa.eu/assets/eac/education/international-cooperation/documents/china/mobility_en.pdf
Global Research Council. (n.d.). Governing board. Retrieved from http://www.globalresearchcouncil.org/governing-board
Guo, L. J., & Li, H. Y. (2014). 中外合作办学质量保障: 制度与文化分析视角 [The Quality Assurance of Sino-foreign cooperative education: On the perspective of institution and culture]. 高等教育研究 [Journal of Higher Education], 35(5), 49–54.
Hail, H. C. (2015). Patriotism abroad: Overseas Chinese students’ encounters with criticisms of China. Journal of Studies in International Education, 19(4), 311–326. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315314567175
Hao, J., & Welch, A. (2011). A tale of sea turtles: Job-seeking experiences of “hai gui” (high-skilled returnees) to China. Higher Education Policy, 25(2), 243–260. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2012.4
HM Government. (2013). International education: Global growth and prosperity. Retrieved from https://assets.publishing.service.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/340600/bis-13-1081-international-education-global-growth-and-prosperity-revised.pdf
Hoare, L. (2006). So near and yet so far: An ethnographic evaluation of an Australian transnational education program (Unpublished doctoral dissertation). University of Melbourne, Melbourne, Australia.
Home Office. (2012). Immigration of international students to the EU: Empirical evidence and current policy practice. Retrieved from https://ec.europa.eu/home-affairs/sites/homeaffairs/files/what-we-do/networks/european_migration_network/reports/docs/emn-studies/immigration-students/27.united_kingdom_national_report_immigration_of_international_students_final_oct2012_en.pdf
Hong, T. M., Pieke, F. N., Steehouder, L. & van Veldhuizen, J. L. (2017). Dutch higher education and Chinese students in the Netherlands. Retrieved from http://leidenasiacentre.nl/wp-content/uploads/2017/06/Report-Chinese-students-in-the-Netherlands-2017-final.pdf
Hudson, G. F. (1931). Europe and China: A survey of their relations from the earliest times to 1800. London, UK: Edward Arnold and Co.
Hugo, G. (2002). Migration policies designed to facilitate the recruitment of skilled workers in Australia. In OECD. (Ed.), International mobility of the highly skilled (pp. 291-320). Paris, France: OECD.
Hugo, G. (2006). Australian experience in skilled migration. In C. Kuptsch & E. F. Pang (Eds.), Competing for global talent (pp.143-145). Geneva, Switzerland: International Institute for Labour Studies.
Institute of International Education. (IIE). (2005). Perceptions of European higher education in third countries. Retrieved from https://www.iie.org/Research-and-Insights/Publications/Perceptions-of-European-Higher-Education
Jacobs, A. (2010). Rampant fraud threat to China’s brisk ascent. The New York Times. Retrieved from https://www.nytimes.com/2010/10/07/world/asia/07fraud.html
Jia, H. P. (2017). China’s citations catching up: Papers from China are growing in influence and volume, yet the US remains supreme. Nature Index. Retrieved from https://www.natureindex.com/news-blog/chinas-citations-catching-up
Jobbins, D. (2014). Lords blame policy for drop in STEM foreign students. University World News. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140410182334514
Jue, H. B. (2006). 独立学院产权的制度设计与分析 [Analysis on the ownership of independent colleges]. 辽宁教育研究 [Liaoning Education Research], (7), 81–83.
Kim, T., & Ng, W. (2019). Ticking the “other” box: Positional identities of East Asian academics in UK universities, internationalization and diversification. Policy Reviews in Higher Education, 3(1), 94–119. https://doi.org/10.1080/23322969.2018.1564886
Le Bail, H., & Shen, W. (2008). The return of the “brains” to China: What are the social, teconomic and political impacts? Retrieved from https://www.ifri.org/sites/default/files/atoms/files/AV11_ENG.pdf
Li, M. H. (2013). The Chinese in Europe. Population, economy and links with “qiaoxiang” in the early twenty-first century. In C.-B. Tan (Ed.), Routledge handbook of the Chinese diaspora (pp. 261-271). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Li, M. J., & Fang, L. X. (2015). 人文交流对中欧关系的政策含义: 基于对中欧留学生交流 状况的分析 [The policy implications of people-to-people and cultural exchanges in China-EU relations: Based on the analysis of students exchanges between China and the EU]. 国际论坛 [International Forum], 17(4), 8–15.
Li, Y. F (2018). Understanding China’s technological rise. The three factors underlying China’s transformation into a rising technology powerhouse. Diplomat. Retrieved from https://thediplomat.com/2018/08/understanding-chinas-technological-rise/
Li, Y. Q. (2010). The legend of CEIBS: China’s world class business school. Singapore, Singapore: Cengage.
Liamputtong, P. (2013). Qualitative research methods. South Melbourne, Australia: Oxford University Press.
Lin, J. H. (2016). Basic relationships among scale, quality, and benefits in Sino-foreign cooperation education. Chinese Education & Society, 49(4/5), 254–270. https://doi.org/10.1080/10611932.2016.1237847
Lü, Y (2010). 江苏海归人数超3万: 今年引进留学归国人员3036名 [Jiangsu has attracted more than 30,000 returnees: This year 3036 returned]. 新华日报 [Xinhua Daily]. Retrieved from http://www.chinanews.com/lxsh/2010/12-14/2719597.shtml
Meyer, C. B. (2001). A case in case study methodology. Field Methods, 13(4), 329–352. https://doi.org/10.1177/1525822X0101300402
Ministry of Education. (MoE). (2018). MoE closes 234 Chinese-foreign joint education institutions and programmes. Retrieved from http://en.moe.gov.cn/News/Top_News/201807/t20180710_342467.html
Ministry of Education. (MoE). (2019). 由地方审批报教育部备案的机构及项目名单 [List of China-foreign cooperatively run schools and programmes approved by local department of education and registered at the MoE]. Retrieved from http://www.crs.jsj.edu.cn/index/sort/1008
Ministry of Science and Technology. (2006). National outline for medium- and long-term science and technology development planning (2006–2020). Retrieved from http://www.most.gov.cn/eng/newsletters/2006/200611/t20061110_37960.htm
Mitchell, N. (2013). Is Sweden recovering from the international student crash? University World News. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20130912120237809
Mok, K.-H., Welch, A., Jiang J., & Kang, Y. (In press). Innovation and entrepreneurialism in Chinese higher education: The adaptive developmental state? Higher Education Policy and Management.
National Science Foundation. (2014). Science and engineering indicators 2014. Retrieved from www.nsf.gov/statistics/seind14/
Needham, J. (1954–2004). Science and civilization in China (Vols. 1–7). Cambridge, UK: Cambridge University Press.
OECD. (2008). OECD reviews of innovation policy: China. Paris, France: OECD.
Partnership for a New America Foundation. (2012). Patent pending: How immigrants are reinventing the American economy. Retrieved from http://www.renewoureconomy.org/patent-pending
Pei, M. X. (2007). Corruption threatens China’s future. Washington, DC: Carnegie Foundation for International Peace.
Pendlebury, D. (2009). Performance measures and the rise of Asia. International Higher Education, (59), 6–7. https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2010.59.8492
Polo, M. (1993). The travels of Marco Polo. The complete Yule-Cordier edition. New York, NY: Dover.
Poon-McBrayer, K. F (2011). Quality assurance challenges of transnational higher education in Hong Kong. Pacific-Asian Education, 23(1), 43–56.
Quality Assurance Agency for Higher Education. (QAA). (2006). UK higher education in China: An overview of the quality assurance arrangements. Retrieved from https://globalhighered.files.wordpress.com/2008/04/overview.pdf
Reichwein, A. (1925). China and Europe: Intellectual and artistic contacts in the eighteenth century (J. C. Powell, trans.). New York, NY: A. A. Knopf.
Ricci, M., & Tregault, N. (1953). China in the sixteenth century: The journals of Matthew Ricci: 1583–1610 (L. J. Gallagher trans.). New York, NY: Random House.
Rothwell, J. (2016). Former French university president accused of accepting bribes from students to grant admission. Telegraph. Retrieved from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/worldnews/europe/france/12106601/Former-French-university-president-accused-of-accepting-bribes-from-students-to-grant-admission.html
Ryan, J. (2019). Education in China: Philosophy, politics and culture. Cambridge, UK: Polity Press.
Schwaag Serger, S., & Breidne, M. (2007). China’s fifteen-year plan for science and technology: An assessment. Asia Policy, (4), 135–164. doi: 10.1353/asp.2007.0013
Shen, W. Q. (2007). International student migration: The case of Chinese “sea-turtles.” In D. Epstein, R. Boden, R. Deem, F. Rizvi, & S. Wright (Eds.), World yearbook of education 2008: Geographies of knowledge, geometries of power. Framing the future of higher education (pp. 211-231). New York, NY: Routledge.
Shen, W. Q. (2008). Chinese student migration in Europe: A migration that nobody objects to? In H. Kolb & H. Egbert (Eds.), Migrants and markets: Perspectives from economics and other social sciences (pp. 147-167). Amsterdam, Netherlands: Amsterdam University Press.
Shi, Y. G., & Rao, Y. (2010). Editorial: China’s research culture. tScience, 329(5996), 1128. doi: 10.1126/science.1196916
Shinozaki, K. (2014). Career strategies and spatial mobility among skilled migrants in Germany: The role of gender in the work-family interaction. tTijdschrift voor economische en sociale geografie, 105(5), 526–541. https://doi.org/10.1111/tesg.12111
Simon, D. F., & Cao, C. (2009). China’s emerging technological edge: Assessing the role of high-end talent. Cambridge, NY: Cambridge University Press.
Ulnicane, I. (2014). Europe of knowledge 2014: High expectations and complex realities. Retrieved from http://era.ideasoneurope.eu/2014/01/07/europe-of-knowledge-2014-high-expectations-and-complex-realities/#.U0XpTij9qS0
UNESCO. (2010). UNESCO science report 2010. Retrieved from http://www.unesco.org/new/en/natural-sciences/science-technology/prospective-studies/unesco-science-report/unesco-science-report-2010/. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF03396972
Welch, A. (2018). Global ambitions: Internationalization and China’s rise as knowledge hub. tFrontiers of Education in China, 13(4), 513–531. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-018-0028-7
Welch, A. (In press). Governance and corruption in East Asian higher education: Close cousins, close encounters. In G. Capano & D. Jarvis (Eds.), Governance of higher education: Comparative perspectives. Basingstoke, UK: Palgrave Macmillan.
Welch, A., & Cai, H. X. (2010). Enter the dragon: The internationalization of Chinese higher education. In J. Ryan (Ed.), China’s higher education reform and internationalization (pp. 9–33). Abingdon, UK: Routledge.
Welch, A., & Hao, J. (2012). Returnees and diaspora as sources of innovation in Chinese higher education. tFrontiers of Chinese Education, 8(2), 214–238. doi: 10.3868/s110-002-013-0016-7
Welch, A., & Zhang, Z. (2008). Higher education and global talent flows: Brain drain, oversear Chinese intellectuals, and diasporic knowledge networks. Higher Education Policy, 21(4), 519–537. https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2008.20
Wissenschaft Weltoffen. (2018). Wichtige Ströme international mobiler wissenschaftlicher Autor/inn/en in % aller international mobilen wissenschaftlichen Autor/inn/en 2006–2016 [Major flows of internationally mobile academic authors, 2006–2016, in % of all internationally mobile academic authors]. Retrieved from http://www.wissenschaft-weltoffen.de/
Xia, Y. (2016). Clear advantages in overseas study in the EU, continuous rise in the number of Chinese students. Beijing China Youth Daily. Retrieved from http://www.oushinet.com/ouzhong/ouzhongnews/20161102/246234.html
Xiong, J., & Yang, J. (2015). 中欧博士教育质量保证政策与实践: 基于 “中欧博士教育合 作与对话国际研讨会” 的分析 [Quality assurance policy and practice of doctoral education in China and EU: Analysis based on the International Conference of China-EU Cooperation in Doctoral Education.] 学位与研究生教育 [Academic Degrees & Graduate Education], (8), 62–66.
Xue, W. Y (2016). 民办高校中外合作办学发展的现状、困境及突破 [Chinese-foreign cooperation in running private universities: Current situation, dilemma, and way-out]. 复旦 教育论坛 [Fudan Education Forum], 14(3), 46–59. doi: 10.133971/j.cnki.fef.2016.03.008
Yang, R. (2005). Corruption in China’s higher education: A malignant tumour. International Higher Education, 25(39), 18–20. https://doi.org/10.6017/ihe.2005.39.7473
Yang, R., & Welch, A., (2011). A world-class university for China? The case of Tsinghua. Higher Education, 63(5), 645–666. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-011-9465-4
Yang, R., & Welch, A. (2012). Belonging from afar? Transnational academic mobility and the Chinese knowledge diaspora: An Australian case study. In N. Bagnall & E. Cassity (Eds.), Education and belonging (pp. 123–137). New York, NY: Nova Science Publishers.
Yin, R. K. (2003). Case study research. Design and methods (3rd ed.). London, UK: SAGE.
Zhao, E. N. (2012). China launches plan to promote universities’ innovation ability. People’s Daily. Retrieved from http://english.people.com.cn/203691/7812649.html
Zhu, C, Cai, Y. Z., Shen, W. Q., & François, K. (2017). Reforms and collaborations in Europe-China doctoral education. European Journal of Higher Education, 7(3), 219–226. https://doi.org/10.1080/21568235.2017.1290857
Zweig, D., & Ge, Z. (2018). How Chinese students who return home after studying abroad succeed, and why they don’t. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/comment/insight-opinion/asia/article/2157081/how-chinese-students-who-return-home-after-studying
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Rights and permissions
About this article
Cite this article
Welch, A., Xu, X. Prospect and Limits of China-EU Relations in Higher Education: A Danish Case Study. Front Educ China 14, 257–283 (2019). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-019-0013-9
Published:
Issue Date:
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s11516-019-0013-9