Study On The Local Adaptation Of Chinese Transnational Universities

The world is currently full of uncertainties.Although the voice of antiglobalization has increased,peace and development are still the mainstream of the times,and global connectivity and interaction will be unstoppable.In the new era,Chinese universities are becoming more open to the outside world and developing education cooperation with other countries and regions.However,China's international trade in higher education has long been in deficit.The study takes a case study approach,focusing on local adaptation of Chinese transnational universities,and conducts in-depth interviews with eleven key figures from eight universities.Case studies include Xiamen University Malaysia Campus,School of Overseas Education at Yunnan University of Finance and Economics,STJU Asia-Pacific Graduate Institute,and Punjab-Tianjin University of Technology.The study examines the characteristics of case schools using the Global IntegrationLocal Responsiveness Framework and explains the factors influencing the local adaptation of overseas campuses from four perspectives,including social/cultural,political,economic,and academic factors.The researcher believes that there are four types of overseas campuses,including low global integration-high local responsiveness,high global integrationhigh local responsiveness,high global integration-low local responsiveness,and low global integration-low local responsiveness.Besides,social/cultural,political,economic,and academic factors combine to influence the local adaptation of Chinese transnational universities.Among the four case schools,Xiamen University Malaysia Campus,which adopts a low global integration-high local responsiveness strategy,has certain advantages in all the above four factors and is the most local adaptive compared to the other case schools.The number of local characteristics on overseas campuses is related to the strength of their local adaptability,but there is no causal relationship between the two.The overseas branch schools can better adapt to the local environment and enhance their competitiveness if they can strike a balance between preserving the characteristics of the parent institution while reflecting local characteristics and giving full play to their advantages.The following are the study's findings:first,transnational universities are closely linked to a country's national power and its level of economic and social development;second,transnational universities are typically located in countries with high economic growth potential but low-quality higher education resources,and there is a strong cultural similarity between those countries;third,transnational universities should benefit both partners and achieve a win-win situation to be sustainable;forth,transnational universities focus on the innovation of curriculum,faculty development,scientific research,and school governance under the negotiating and governance of stakeholders.The study's innovations are as follows:first,it has thoroughly examined the current state of Chinese transnational universities and obtained first-hand information through interviews;second,it has supplemented and improved the theory of Global Integration-Local Responsiveness Framework.The research looks at strategies for establishing overseas campuses and could be useful to Chinese transnational universities in the future.