World's Education Journal by CISC

Critical internationalization in Chinese universities

Qianzi Cong

DOI: https://doi.org/10.24926/wejc.v1i1.7085

Keywords: critical internationalization, post-development, Chinese universities, Internationalzation, Decolonial, China

Abstract

The internationalization of Chinese universities has evolved through many stages since Chinese modernization: through “‘being late’ and ‘catching up’, and paradoxes between ‘fast and slow’ paces”(Xu, 2023, p.375). At the same time, the internationalization of Chinese universities has been heavily influenced by the internationalization of US higher education (Qiu & Sun, 2025). In this paper, I intend to challenge the normative narrative of  US internationalization and aim to shed light on the critical and post-structural lens of internationalization that has been practiced and planned in the current internationalization of Chinese universities. I first explored the evolution of rationales of US internationalization of higher education. I then use both critical and post-structural epistemological lenses to challenge and look for alternatives to internationalization. Moreover, I will examine how critical and post-structural epistemological thinking is reflected in the internationalization of Chinese higher education. Furthermore, I will show how potential methodological approaches are situated in both epistemologies. Lastly, I will explore how my positionality reflects my knowledge production process in this study.

自中国开启现代化进程以来，中国高校的国际化历经了多个演进阶段：从“起步较晚”到“奋起直追”，再到在“快”与“慢”的节奏之间所呈现出的冲突（Xu, 2023, p.375）。与此同时，中国高校的国际化进程也深受美国高等教育国际化模式的影响（Qiu & Sun, 2025）。本文旨在对美国高等教育国际化所构建的规范性叙事发起挑战，并致力于揭示当前中国高校国际化实践与规划中所蕴含的批判性与后结构主义视角。首先，我探讨了美国高等教育国际化背后理据的演变历程。随后，我将运用批判性与后结构主义这两种认识论视角，对既有的国际化模式进行审视与挑战，并探寻其替代性方案。此外，我将探索批判性与后结构主义的认识论思维是如何体现在中国高等教育的国际化实践之中的。另外，我将阐述潜在的方法论进路是如何置身于这两种认识论之中的。最后，我将探讨我的主体位置性如何反映了我在本研究中的知识生产过程。