A Glocal Perspective on Sino-Foreign Cooperative Universities

The paper proposes the use of the idea of glocalization as a productive lens to look at transnational education and it show its application to the Chinese experience. The paper provides a summary of the framework for transnational education in China which is put in relation with the development of the idea of glocalization. The conclusion is that the concept of glocalization can be productive in interpreting tensions observed in transnational partnerships in China. In the second part, the lens of glocalization is applied to analyze Sino-Foreign Cooperative Universities (SFCUs). Through the lens, it is shown how local arrangements, far from being compromises, can be understood as original solutions to the tensions originating from the interpenetration of global and local forces at play in the implementation of collaborative transnational educational partnerships in China. Examples of tensions are offered discussing the ideals of liberal art education embedded into the curriculum of SFCUs, the treatment of students as adults, the focus on student-centered learning, the use of English as medium of instruction, and the multicultural make-up of the academic staff. The conclusions highlight potential for further research using this approach both within China and beyond.