The Higher Education Dicipline at Xiamen University has gained attention and recognition from international counterparts, placing great emphasis on international exchange and cooperation, with its research outcomes spreading extensive and impactful influence in the global field of higher education studies. We maintain long-standing research partnerships with leading universities and scholars in the United States, the United Kingdom, France, Germany, Russia, Japan, Canada, etc.
Introducing China’s Higher Education to the World
Research on international and comparative higher education has been attached great importance to since the establishment of this discipline. While introducing and digesting the research outcomes of international higher education in this field, it has promoted and showcased China’s higher education research findings and development experience to the world, serving as a key window through which the international higher education community can gain insights into Chinese higher education. Renowned international higher education scholars, including Professor Philip G. Altbach, Professor Ruth Hayhoe, and Professor Arild Tjeldvoll, have made special trips to Xiamen University for academic exchanges on multiple occasions and shared the exchanges with the global community.
In 2005, following a one-year stay at Xiamen University, Norwegian scholar Arild Tjeldvoll published Pan Maoyuan: Founder of Chinese Higher Education Research (Norwegian University of Science and Technology Press). In 2014, under the initiative of Professor Wu Daguang, Xiamen University was selected as the only Chinese member institution for UNESCO’s “Exploring Good and Innovative Options in Internal Quality Assurance in Higher Education” (IQA) project. In 2017, the report Typical Cases of Exploring Good and Innovative Options in Internal Quality Assurance in Higher Education, to which Xiamen University contributed, was officially published. In 2015, the English version of Selected Academic Papers of Pan Maoyuan on Higher Education by Professor Pan Maoyuan was published by Brill Press (Netherlands). In 2018, The Imperial Civil Examination Culture of China by Professor Liu Haifeng was published by Paths International Ltd. (UK).
Close Collaborative Ties with Leading Universities Worldwide
We have established academic cooperation and exchange relationships with renowned foreign universities.
In the United States, these universities include Harvard University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, University of California, Los Angeles, Pennsylvania State University, Boston College, and University of Massachusetts Boston. In the United Kingdom, the cooperative universities are University College London, University of Southampton, and University of Hull. In Russia, it has built academic ties with the Russian Academy of Education and the National Research University Higher School of Economics. What’s more, in Japan, there are the University of Tokyo and Hiroshima University.
It has also established cooperation with Leiden University in the Netherlands, Vrije Universiteit Brussel in Belgium, the University of Deusto in Spain, and Stellenbosch University in South Africa. Many internationally renowned scholars have been invited to Xiamen University for academic exchanges.
Among them are scholars from the United States, including Professor William C. Kirby from Harvard University and Professor Madhu Viswanathan from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Also joining the academic exchanges are Professor Kaneko Motohisa from the University of Tokyo in Japan and Professor Maciej Żukowski from Poznań University of Economics and Business in Poland. From the United Kingdom, the invited scholars include Professor Catherine Montgomery from the University of Bath and Professor Ronald Barnett from University College London (UCL).
Since 2020, our institute has proactively expanded its global engagement. Not only did we successfully navigate the disruptions caused by COVID-19, but we also seized the opportunity to launch a series of concrete collaborative initiatives that put us ahead of the curve.
At present, we have basically built a multi-layer framework for international exchange and cooperation. We have cooperated with universities in countries in countries including the United States, the United Kingdom, the Netherlands and Spain, and in China’s Hong Kong Special Administrative Region. We have also worked with international organizations such as the Global University Associations Forum (GUAF) and the Asia-Pacific Higher Education Research Cooperation Organization.
We have hosted and co-hosted four international academic conferences, invited 84 scholars from overseas and Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan regions of China to exchange ideas on campus, selected and funded 97 faculty and student trips for overseas visits and conference participation, enrolled four international students for further studies, and held overseas talent recruitment fairs, aiming to build diversified platforms for academic exchange and talent mobility.
Our international academic influence has been enhanced. As a deputy leading institute, the international faculty team led by the Dean has been deeply involved in the enaction of Global Digital Education Development Index Report and Global Digital Education Development Report for the years 2022, 2023, and 2024.
This team has further enhanced the academic influence of our college in the field of international higher education digitalization research, contributing Chinese wisdom and solutions to promoting the digital development of higher education worldwide.
An international academic journal is poised for launch. Co-sponsored with the China Association of Higher Education, Perspectives of Higher Education aims to offer a premier platform through which the international higher-education community gains insight into China and engages in global dialogue. Preparatory work, including the signing of cooperation agreements, finalisation of the journal title, selection of the publisher, securing of funding, establishment of the editorial office, and adoption of governance regulations has been completed. A distinguished editorial board has been assembled, with Prof. Mok Ka Ho (The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong) serving as Editor-in-Chief and renowned scholars from the University of Oxford and other leading institutions constituting the advisory panel.
