Author: Tong MENG

Two visiting assistant professor positions in sociology at Colgate University

The Sociology and Anthropology Department at Colgate University welcomes applications for two visiting assistant professor positions in sociology, to begin fall semester 2024. We seek two sociologists who will expand the existing strengths of the Sociology and Anthropology Department. The area of specialization is open. Strong candidates will be able to teach Introduction to Sociology and electives in their areas of specialization. Candidates with prior teaching experience preferred. 

 Completion of a PhD. is required prior to or shortly after the date of hire, preferably in Sociology. A cover letter, CV, and the names and contact information for two references must be submitted through Interfolio at http://apply.interfolio.com/140752. The application letter should address the candidate’s research and teaching areas. Colgate strives to be a community supportive of diverse perspectives and identities;  the cover letter should also describe your ability to work effectively with students across a wide range of identities, backgrounds and perspectives.  Our review of applications will begin February 28 and continue until the positions are filled.

Colgate is a vibrant liberal arts university of around 3,200 students situated in central New York state. Our faculty are committed to excellence in both teaching and scholarship. These positions are for one year. There is a strong possibility of renewal for a multi-year appointment, contingent on department needs and an evaluation of teaching effectiveness in the first year. Please note that Colgate will not sponsor any visa or work authorization for these positions.

 Applicants with dual-career considerations can find postings of other employment opportunities at Colgate and at other institutions of higher education in upstate New York at: www.upstatenyherc.org.

Managing Editor: Tong Meng

Understanding Chinese Female Students’ Education Mobility in the West: An Interview with Fran Martin by Lin Song

Research Highlighted:

Martin, F. and Song, L. (2023). Understanding gendered transnational education mobility: Interview with Fran Martin. Communication and the Public 8(4), 257-265.

Despite the growing number of Chinese international students in the West, their lived experiences are often subsumed within grander, and often biased, narratives that treat them as homogeneous neoliberal, political, pedagogical, and racialized subjects (Xu, 2022). Based on Fran Martin’s recent book Dreams of Flight: The Lives of Chinese Women Students in the West (Duke University Press 2022), Fran Martin and Lin Song discuss in this interview how to account for Chinese female students’ experiences through ethnographic research. We start with questions of theory and methodology – more specifically, how the theoretical lens of affect and gender could inform our understanding of transnational education mobility, before discussing some of the key challenges Chinese female students face as they move across physical and cultural borders.

The book is based on a longitudinal ethnographic study that lasted over several years. This method allowed Martin to explore the wide variety of Chinese female students’ experiences in Australia. Although Chinese female students are often portrayed as an undifferentiated mass, they are in fact very different in terms of their family backgrounds, academic aspirations, political orientations, and understandings of gender and feminism.

One key aim of the book is to explore how education mobility feels (Martin, 2022, p. 29). But the book itself does not focus on theoretical discussions of affect. Rather, it uses various narrative and visual tools, such as research participants’ drawing of a map of Melbourne, to convey the participants’ subjective and embodied experiences. Martin explains that it is a conscious choice for the book to move away from dense and abstract discussions of affect, and into slightly less academic writing styles, to let highly affective ethnographic details speak for themselves. Therefore, the book includes stories from the field, screenshots of social media posts, and other pictorial elements. Martin calls these affect methods, which enable us to think about practices of affect in everyday life.

From the very beginning of the project, gender has been conceived as a central optic. Gender is often overlooked in studies of education mobility. But there are several reasons why the gender perspective should feature more centrally. First, in term of figures, Chinese women are more likely to study abroad. This is the same across other Asian countries such as South Korea and Japan, and warrants scholarly attention. Second, gender is also pivotal to how people negotiate their subjectivities through transnational mobility. Young middle-class urban Chinese women often attempt to break out of a certain gendered life script by pursuing education abroad. They are trying to become a self-making subject by negotiating with the neo-traditionalist ideology in China, which encourages women to get married, have children, and focus on the family. In this sense, higher education mobility is always already gendered.

As they become mobile subjects, these Chinese female students face several key challenges, since mobility is always shadowed by immobilization of various kinds along various vectors. Firstly, in Melbourne, Chinese international students are corralled into specific types of residence in the city, and as a result, excluded from local place-based social networks and certain employment opportunities that rely on local social capital. They are shut out in multiple ways while they are in Australia. Secondly, in terms of a macro picture of life trajectories, some of these women could become immobilized again upon returning to China, as class differentials cut across their opportunities for mobility after graduation. For instance, one of the participants from a not-so-wealthy family had to come back to strong family and patriarchal control when returning to China, and required against her will to work in her hometown – a small town – rather than a big city. But overall, studying abroad has been a transformative and culturally inspiring experience for these young women. Even though problems of neoliberalization are evident in Australian universities, neoliberal logics of being self-propelling and self-making market subjects could offer effective resources for negotiation as this generation of Chinese young women are confronted by state-guided gender re-traditionalization.

As the global higher education market recovers from the pandemic, Chinese international students in Australia may still be severely impacted by macro-scale geopolitical tensions, which could lead to micro-scale experiences of xenophobia, anti-Chinese racism, and social exclusion. While the future remains uncertain, we definitely need more sensitivity to the fact that Chinese students are not necessarily highly politicized. They are ordinary students, and we should get to know each other when we have the opportunity.

References:

Martin F. (2020). Chinese international students’ wellbeing in Australia: The road to recovery. The University of Melbourne. http://hdl.handle.net/11343/240399.

Martin F. (2022). Dreams of flight: The lives of Chinese Women students in the West. Duke University Press.

Xu C. L. (2022). Portraying the ‘Chinese international students’: A review of English-language and Chinese-language literature on Chinese international students (2015–2020). Asia Pacific Education Review, 23(1), 151–167. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-021-09731-8.

Bios

Fran Martin is professor of cultural studies at the University of Melbourne. Her research focusses on Asia-related cultural studies and sexuality and gender studies in the context of globalization. She recently completed a major research project exploring the subjective experiences of young women from China studying in Australia, whose findings were published in 2022 in Dreams of Flight: The Lives of Chinese Women Students in the West (Duke U.P.).

Lin Song is an assistant professor in communication at Jinan University, Guangzhou, China. He holds a PhD in gender studies from The Chinese University of Hong Kong. He is the author of Queering Chinese Kinship: Queer Public Culture in Globalizing China (Hong Kong UP, 2021). He researches on digital culture and cultural governance in China, particularly in relation to gender, sexuality, and nationalism.

Managing Editor: Tong Meng

WES-CIHE Summer Institute

Are you a graduate student or early career researcher, interested in questions related to international higher education?

The WES-CIHE Summer Institute supports the development of the next generation of international higher education scholars, by connecting graduate students and early career researchers with seasoned professionals and senior scholars from around the world. Please consider joining us for the next Summer Institute, which will be held at Boston College on June 4 and 5, 2024!

Link: https://www.bc.edu/bc-web/schools/lynch-school/sites/cihe/events-news/wes-cihe-conference.html#tab-venue_accommodations

What to Expect

The theme of the 2024 Summer Institute is Equitable Higher Education in Times of Disruption.

At the Summer Institute, participants can expect to:

  • engage in substantive discussions about this important topic,
  • share their work, in a supportive environment, and receive both written and oral feedback from established scholars, 
  • network with other early career researchers, and
  • participate in discussions about important developmental topics, such as innovative methods, disseminating your scholarship, and the international job search.

The Summer Institute combines individual paper presentations, panel discussions with expert speakers and opportunities for group discussion and networking for participants and presenters. 

Draft Program


TUESDAY, JUNE 4, 2024
11:00 amARRIVAL AT BOSTON COLLEGE
11:30 amWELCOME & OPENING PANEL DISCUSSION
Equitable Higher Education in Times of Disruption
 
1:00 pmLunch, and Participant and Presenter Introductions
 
2:00 pmPARTICIPANT PAPER SESSION #1 
 
3:15 p.m.Break
3:30 p.m.PANEL DISCUSSION
Disseminating Your Scholarship
 
4:30 p.m.Break
 
4:45 p.m.PARTICIPANT PAPER SESSION #2
 
5:30 p.m.Wine & Cheese Reception

 
WEDNESDAY, JUNE 5, 2024
8:30 amCoffee, Light Breakfast, and Networking
9:00 am PANEL DISCUSSION
Community Engagement in International Higher Education
10:00 amBreak
10:15 amPARTICIPANT PAPER SESSION #3
 
11:30 amBreak
 
11:45 amPROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT SESSION
Making the Most of Your Doctorate
 
12:45 pmLunch and networking
1:30 pmFIRESIDE CHAT with PHILIP G. ALTBACH
2:15 pmBreak
2:30 pmPANEL DISCUSSION
Innovative Methods in International Higher Education Research
3:30 pmPARTICIPANT PAPER SESSION #4
 
4:45 pmBreak
 
5:00 pmLESSONS LEARNED, CONCLUDING THOUGHTS, and NEXT STEPS
 
6:00 pmSummer Institute Ends
 

Paper Submission

Any graduate student or early career professional* is invited to participate in the 2024 WES-CIHE Summer Institute. Participants who wish to participate should submit a 1,000-word paper representing original research relevant to the conference theme of “equitable higher education in times of disruption.”

In an era of disruptions of many types – such as pandemics, climate change, and conflict, just to name a few – higher education is faced with challenges to navigate rapidly changing realities, overcome economic, political, ecological, and technological difficulties, and equitably serve its multiple stakeholders. We invite submissions of empirical research or conceptual work that is concerned with advancing higher education equity against this backdrop, whether the focus is on students, teachers, researchers, scholars, higher education practitioners, or any other stakeholder, and whether the submission targets local, national or international disruption(s).

Selected participants will be invited to present their paper at the Summer Institute. Selected papers will also be considered for publication in a future edition of CIHE Perspectives.

To apply:

  • Interested participants must submit the following:
    • 1,000 word paper (exclusive of references);
    • Curriculum vitae (CV) 
  • Applications must be received by January 31, 2024
  • All materials should be submitted by email to wescihesummerinstitute@bc.edu.

Selected participants will be informed by February 15.  Limited travel funding and two nights’ free accommodation will be offered to selected participants based outside the Boston area.

There is no option to register/attend without submitting a paper.

* Early career professionals are eligible if they completed their terminal degree within the past five years.

Venue

The 2024 WES-CIHE Summer Institute will be held on the campus of Boston College, located in Chestnut Hill, MA, just 20 minutes from Boston’s Logan Airport.


Accommodations

Selected participants will receive free accommodation in the Boston University dormitories in downtown Boston for the nights of June 4 and 5. (A shuttle service will be provided to bring participants to Boston College from the BU dormitories).

Managing Editor: Tong Meng

Different paths, same destination? Mobility trajectories of Mainland PhD students during the COVID-19 pandemic at a Hong Kong University

Wang, L., & Yang, R. (2023). Different paths, same destination? Mobility trajectories of Mainland PhD students during the COVID-19 pandemic at a Hong Kong University. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 1-13. DOI: 10.1080/00131857.2023.2284104

Existing studies on student mobility are plentiful. They have predominantly focused on the push and pull factors that drive linear student mobilities from less developed regions to regions with more advanced systems of education; the identity formation of students during their transnational or transborder journeys; and the policy rationales, developments, and implications of students’ transnational mobilities (Gümüş et al., 2020; Hong, 2022; Tran, 2016; Xu, 2018; Wen & Hu, 2019). However, few studies have investigated mobility trajectories characterized by different durations of stay and directions of movement that individual students navigate at different points in their academic lives. Additionally, the impact of the outbreak of COVID-19—the global pandemic that significantly decreased global movement but made virtual mobilities (e.g., online learning) prevalent—on students’ academic mobilities remains unexplored.

Another important strand of research has revealed that Hong Kong (HK), the regional education hub characterized by a hybrid culture and sociopolitical tensions between HK local and Mainland China (MC) students, has attracted students from MC for numerous decades (e.g., Li & Bray, 2007, Xu, 2018). However, few studies have examined the academic experiences of students who relocated to HK in the midst of the COVID-19 pandemic, how these students perceive their academic experience in HK, and whether their mobility plans have changed since coming to HK. Given the research gaps identified, the study has two aims: to investigate diverse academic mobility trajectories among MC students who have relocated to HK for doctoral studies and to explore the factors that shape mobility trajectories. 

This study conceptualizes student mobility through the lens of power by combining and adapting the work of Hong (2022) and Holyk (2011). Hong (2022) synthesizes the work of He and Wilkins (2019), Tran and Vu (2018), and Bae and Lee (2020) on the soft power of national cultural or education programs and considers three types of soft power produced by student mobility: social capital soft power, cultural soft power, and participatory capital soft power. Taking into consideration the fact that financial support and HK’s geopolitical proximity to MC are significant factors to attract MC students (Li & Bray, 2007), this study also includes economic hard power—geographical advantages and financial support as emphasized by Holyk (2011, p. 229) in our framework. Based on this framework, we argue that multiple student mobility trajectories exist in universities due to the combined impact of soft power and hard power. Universities serve as convergence points for diverse ideas, values, and cultures. Students, whose identities embody dynamic hybridity, find themselves embedded in interconnected social networks influenced by various forms of power that are distributed unevenly in terms of size and influence. The onset of the COVID-19 pandemic has introduced a distinctive spatial-temporal context, leading students to respond differently to various manifestations of power. As a result, distinct mobility trajectories have surfaced.

Our research data include semi-structured interviews with 20 full-time PhD students from a prestigious university (University A) supplemented by university documents on student mobility projects, COVID-19 policies, and university development plans. Ethical clearance was obtained before research. All the interviewees were recruited through a purposeful sampling strategy and had previously studied at top Western universities and navigated multiple mobility trajectories. Their cross-cultural experiences offered valuable insights into the intricate and multifaceted processes that influence the formation of various mobility patterns and their underlying factors. Data were analyzed deductively and inductively following the method of Saldaña (2016).

Our findings reveal two forms of cross-border mobilities: 1) degree mobilities from Western societies to HK and 2) international academic mobilities that involved HK as a place of both departure and return. What motivated interviewees to choose HK as a study destination was the combined effect of economic hard power (the availability of generous scholarships and HK’s geopolitical proximity to MC), one aspect of social capital power (having desirable doctoral supervisors), and the global pandemic that restricted travel restrictions. Aspects of cultural soft power closely connected to a university’s core missions of research and teaching seemed to exert minimal influence on the decisions of these students to choose HK. The power imbalance between University A and prominent Western universities was evident because of University A’s lack of international exchange programs and visiting opportunities with top-tier Western universities.

The intracity academic mobilities of students in this study were characterized by disengaged virtual spaces and confined physical spaces, both contributing to decreased academic mobilities. Although online learning helped overcome spatial barriers, it posed challenges related to student engagement and teaching quality, as illustrated by previous studies (Mok et al., 2021). Moreover, the subpar quality of teaching, combined with a highly competitive research environment where students struggled to establish meaningful connections with peers and academics, left them disempowered to build the social capital necessary for fostering a supportive learning environment. Consequently, their intracity academic mobility trajectories were limited.

The interviewees’ reflections on HK as both a safe and unsafe place, a finding that emerged from the interview data, were based on their intra- and intercity physical mobility experiences, which were influenced by various factors including the COVID-19 policies of HK and MC, Mandarin discrimination, and HK’s political movements. As a result, very few interviewees were able to cultivate a sense of belonging in HK. Their identities as bystanders in HK gave support to the statement that ‘ways of being’ and ‘ways of belonging’ are different (Levitt & Schiller, 2004, p. 1008) and academic involvement and social engagement are important dimensions of belonging (Ahn & Davis, 2020).

Limitations of the study include the small sample size and the lack of representativeness of our participants. Despite these limitations, various types of power, each with different levels of influence, shape the directions and durations of student mobilities, offering a novel perspective into student mobility trajectories. Our findings also emphasize the significance of students’ sociocultural development through meaningful interactions and the importance of a campus that fosters intellectual exchanges and respectful dialogue in a space of equality.

Author’s bio

Ling Wang is a PhD candidate at the Faculty of Education, University of Hong Kong. Her research focuses on power and leadership in higher education, academic career, and doctoral education.

Rui Yang is a Professor and Dean in the Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong. With three and a half decades in China, Australia and Hong Kong, he has established his reputation among scholars in English and Chinese languages in the fields of comparative and international education and Chinese higher education. His research interests include education policy sociology, comparative and cross-cultural studies in education, international higher education, educational development in Chinese societies, and international politics in educational research.

References

Ahn, M. Y., & Davis, H. H. (2020). Four domains of students’ sense of belonging to university. Studies in Higher Education, 45(3), 622–634. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2018.1564902

Bae, Y., & Lee, Y. W. (2020). Socialized soft power: Recasting analytical path and public diplomacy. Journal of International Relations and Development, 23(4), 871–898. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41268-019-00169-5

Gümüş, S., Gök, E., & Esen, M. (2020). A Review of Research on International Student Mobility: Science Mapping the Existing Knowledge Base. Journal of Studies in International Education, 24(5), 495–517. https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315319893651

He, L., & Wilkins, S. (2019). The Return of China’s Soft Power in South East Asia: An Analysis of the International Branch Campuses Established by Three Chinese Universities. Higher Education Policy, 32(3), 321–337. https://doi.org/10.1057/s41307-018-0084-x

Hong, M. (2022). Evaluating the soft power of outbound student mobility: An analysis of Australia’s New Colombo Plan. Higher Education Research & Development, 41(3), 743–758.

Holyk, G. G. (2011). Paper Tiger? Chinese Soft Power in East Asia. Political Science Quarterly, 126(2), 223–254. https://doi.org/10.1002/j.1538-165X.2011.tb00700.x

Tran, L. T. (2016). Mobility as ‘becoming’: A Bourdieuian analysis of the factors shaping international student mobility. British Journal of Sociology of Education, 37(8), 1268–1289. https://doi.org/10.1080/01425692.2015.1044070

Levitt, P., & Schiller, N. G. (2004). Conceptualizing Simultaneity: A Transnational Social Field Perspective on Society1. International Migration Review, 38(3), 1002–1039. https://doi.org/10.1111/j.1747-7379.2004.tb00227.x

Li, M., & Bray, M. (2007). Cross-Border Flows of Students for Higher Education: Push-Pull Factors and Motivations of Mainland Chinese Students in Hong Kong and Macau. Higher Education, 53(6), 791–818.

Mok, K. H., Xiong, W., & Bin Aedy Rahman, H. N. (2021). COVID-19 pandemic’s disruption on university teaching and learning and competence cultivation: Student evaluation of online learning experiences in Hong Kong. International Journal of Chinese Education, 10(1), 22125868211007011. https://doi.org/10.1177/22125868211007011

Saldaña, J. (2016). The coding manual for qualitative researcher (3rd ed.). Sage.

Tran, L. T., & Vu, T. T. P. (2018). Beyond the ‘normal’ to the ‘new possibles’: Australian students’ experiences in Asia and their roles in making connections with the region via the New Colombo Plan. Higher Education Quarterly, 72(3), 194–207. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12166

Xu, C. L. (2018). Transborder habitus in a within-country mobility context: A Bourdieusian analysis of mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong. The Sociological Review, 66(6), 1128–1144. https://doi.org/10.1177/0038026117732669

Managing Editor: Tong Meng

Invitation for applications to join the editorial board of the British Journal of Sociology of Education

Applicants can be at any stage of career but must have:

· a good understanding of the nature, aims and scope of the journal;
· a PhD in – or closely related to – the sociology of education;
· an affiliation to a university or an established research organisation;
· published at least three peer-reviewed articles, at least one of which should be in BJSE or a journal with similar scope and standing;
· experience as a peer reviewer.

The executive editors are particularly keen to receive applications from sociologists of education who identify as being from minoritized or marginalised communities, those whose expertise includes advanced quantitative methods, and those whose interests and expertise encompass familiarity with educational issues, institutions and systems across the world.  Editorial board appointments are unpaid. Members are listed on the journal’s webpages. Most editorial board members review around six items per year.  Appointments are open-ended and continue indefinitely by mutual agreement.  However, they can be brought to a close at any time, either by (a) the individual editorial board member standing down, or (b) as a result of a majority decision at a formally-constituted meeting of the executive editors. Please send a letter of application as an email attachment to Rachel Brooks (r.brooks@surrey.ac.uk) by 5pm (UK time) on Tuesday, 2nd January 2024. The letter should be no more than 500 words and should state how you meet the criteria, and any particular areas of expertise you have that you feel would benefit the journal (such as particular research methods; phases or types of educational activity; topics, issues or debates; perspectives or theories; countries, continents, systems).  Letters may contain a link to a professional profile web-page, but no further attachments are required.

Managing Editor: Tong Meng