This study focuses on the (in)equality of higher education in mainland China by exploring whether students from elite families in culturally/educationally and economically more developed regions have significant advantages in accessing (elite) higher education institutions. It considers how regional features related to educational resources and…

Assessment for Learning (AfL) describes the powerful role assessment plays in shaping how and what students learn. AfL is associated with formative assessment and is placed in contrast to the summative role of certification. This article, however, focuses on AfL in Confucian-influenced cultures and finds that this summative/formative binary does…

Higher education has long established primary importance to the formation of students, manifest in ideas such as Confucian "xiushen" (self-cultivation) and "Bildung." However, despite the shared focus on the idea of humans becoming humans, "xiushen" and "Bildung" are built on divergent philosophical…

Students as partners (SaP) is gaining attention in higher education (HE) as universities worldwide rethink pedagogical practices through a relationship-rich lens. Many studies have examined partnership practices, conceptions of learner-teacher partnerships and its application in various (mainly anglophone) contexts. However, relatively few studies…

Yinyang philosophy encompasses an essential understanding of the mechanism and laws of nature, cosmos, and human society in Chinese culture, and reaches to many other parts of Asia and around the world. The purpose of this article is to explore how yinyang philosophy can serve as a philosophical underpinning of mixed methods research (MMR). In…

Despite the reforms to improve the quality of China's higher education and to adopt certain Western leadership theories, the heroic leadership model is still dominant in Chinese higher education institutions. Therefore, employing educational leadership may be complex in traditional Chinese culture. Thus, this special issue brings four articles…

Existing academic literature on higher education in China tends to promote an argument that current norms of academic freedom and the broader intellectual-state relationship can be attributed primarily to Chinese political and cultural traditions, particularly Confucian political thought, creating a false dichotomy between 'Western' liberal…

This paper empirically investigates whether Chinese language learning opportunities abroad have exerted a positive effect on international student mobility (ISM) to China. We utilize both official and self-compiled panel data for 182 countries, spanning a period of 15 years. We use the establishment of Confucius Institutes as an indicator of…

Since the 19th century, Chinese societies, as latecomers to modernization, have prioritized Western learning. Modelled on European and North American experiences, modern universities were created to serve this purpose. Having little linkage to their indigenous cultural traditions, they operate in Confucian socio-cultural contexts, with constant…

This paper delineates the rise, fall and re-emergence of "tongshi" education in Chinese higher education history, and in doing so hopes to reveal the underlying forces behind the two waves of "tongshi" education and capture their important 'Chinese' characteristics. Based on a comparative-historical examination of the Chinese…

This study investigates key cultural differences in teaching between Korean and "western" teachers, and analyses these via questionnaires given to 35 Korean teachers and 36 non-Korean teachers followed by selected interviews. A significant finding was the emphasis Korean teachers place on testing compared to the "Western"…

Maoist policy in China emphasised the peasants and workers. It integrated academic study with productive labour to nurture socialist citizens useful for the nation's modernisation. More recently, China has been described as having a 'neoliberal turn' but many see the situation as more complex than this due to the significant role given to the…

Purpose: This article reviews the intercultural adaptability (IA) development models for students in South Korea and China in response to the growing internationalisation of higher education. The article provides significant implications for Confucian heritage culture (CHC) countries and others that wish to enhance in higher education.…

This article examines the current narrative of Chineseness in the context of higher education in Southeast Asia. We hypothesise that the concept of Chineseness at the macro-level has shifted beyond historical, ethnic, and cultural to include geopolitical, socio-political and economic considerations. At the meso level, we focus on unpacking…

Over the past decades, higher education governance and university management have become increasingly complex worldwide in a context of unprecedented expansion and diversification. Driven by both external and internal pressures, higher education reforms in different nations have often been reported to follow a similar pattern: shifting from the…