For two centuries, academics and their universities have competed for prominence and vied to demonstrate that their institutions are at the center of the scholarly world. Scientific advances in particular fields, reciprocal academic visits and conferences, impressive physical architecture, and publishing in shared venues and a "lingua…

This study used the historical research method to explore the Chinese government's role in building world-class universities. We traced the government's role in pushing policies for: (1) accelerating academic improvement; and (2) enhancing the involvement of provincial governments in achieving universities' world-class status. The findings…

Over the past decade, universities in the People's Republic of China have notably progressed in international rankings. Most of the existing literature interested in this development describes the adoption of university rankings in China as a recent import of a global institution, and as being driven by a governmental agenda that seeks to bolster…

In this article, we examine how the concept of world-class universities has emerged in Chinese higher education at both the sectoral and institutional level. We examine policy decisions related to creating world-class universities on China's mainland and institutional responses to these policies. We then read these policies through "cultural…

Author-based metrics (ABMs) and journal-based metrics (JBMs), as well as citations, are the dominant currency of intellectual recognition in academia. These metrics and citations continue to be dominated by the Clarivate Analytics Journal Impact Factor (JIF) and are still widely used as a surrogate to determine prestige, scientific credit, and…

This study aims to unpack policy evaluation and measurement of creating world-class universities in China from an integrated policy analysis. Specifically, an integrated policy analysis of policy evaluation of creating world-class universities concentrated on exploring the world class evaluation index released by the university rankings…

UNESCO's relatively high prestige across East Asia has spurred intensifying efforts by governments to use its imprimatur to legitimate official narratives of the past and visions of the future. This article focuses on China's use of UNESCO as an arena for competitive national 'branding' in the education field, especially relating to STEM and AI.…

This article presents an argument for re-reading Jean Baudrillard's ideas considering their potential contribution to the sociology of higher education, particularly in relation to contemporary debates about "world-class" universities. In order to apply Baudrillard's ideas, China's commitment to the development of "world-class"…

This chapter examines the life, learning, and research experiences of an American scholar who immigrated to the United States from China where she received her primary and secondary school education, and taught ESL at the prestigious Chinese university from which she graduated. The scholar reflects on her stories in China and in the United States…

International exchange is an important part of China's educational opening up, cooperation, and connection with other countries. It also serves as a unique strategic resource, helping to develop and consolidate mutual political trust, diplomatic exchange, economic and trade relations, cultural exchange and educational cooperation between China and…

This paper explores distinctive features of Bachelor of Education (B. Ed.) training at several well known Ukrainian and Chinese universities. Comparative analysis was performed taking into consideration important criteria in the educational process of the degree programs (legislative, social, organizational, technological). The Chinese experience…

The popularity of international league tables has intensified the competition in the global higher education market. Countries across the world have been actively participating in the global ranking exercises, aiming to enhance the competitiveness and reputation of their higher education systems globally. Like its Western counterparts, China has…

This paper argues that global university rankings can be understood as a mechanism upholding Taiwan's interests in light of cross-national analysis of university ranking and recent discussion on regionalisation of higher education in Asia. To draw an analytical framework, it begins by delineating a conceptualisation of university ranking, in which…

The internationalization of higher education plays an important role in education, but from the perspective of the whole society, there is a higher level of significance. Combining with foreign experience, this paper holds that internationalization of higher education in China should be established to promote international education by…

During the past few years, "soft power" has been widely discussed and studied in China. Higher education, one of the largest components of national soft power, has begun to play an active and important role. In this article, we review the literature on the soft power of colleges and universities and describe ways to enhance it; we also…