Academic Experiences of International Students in Chinese Higher Education

Since China proposed its "Belt and Road Initiative" in 2013 to boost its influence on international affairs and "cultivate international contacts who are friendly toward China", the number of foreign students in China has surge exponentially. Yet global political changes have added tensions and challenges to the education of international students. This book is one of the first works to discuss the educational experiences of international students in China. Using survey research and qualitative studies to study participants in degree-bearing and language programmes at regular universities and Sino-foreign universities located in different parts of the country, the book covers a variety of topics across education, including international students' intercultural experience, teacher-student classroom interaction, learning and teaching Chinese as a foreign language, academic adaptation and identity formation in higher educational contexts. This book is essential for researchers, practitioners and policy-makers of international student education in China. It can also benefit prospective international students considering pursuing higher education in China.

Mei Tian is a professor in the School of Foreign Studies at Xi'an Jiaotong University in China. Her current research interests include international student experiences in China. She has published in Compare, Journal of Studies in International Education, and Assessment and Evaluation in Higher Education. Fred Dervin is Professor of Multicultural Education at the University of Helsinki, Finland. He also holds several professorships in Australia, Canada, China, Luxembourg, Malaysia and Sweden. He specialises in intercultural education, the sociology of multiculturalism and student and academic mobility. Genshu Lu is Professor of Higher Education and Director of West China Higher Education Evaluation Centre and the Institute of Higher Education at Xi'an Jiaotong University, China. Professor Lu specialised in the economics of education, Chinese higher education policy and higher education reforms in China.

1 Introduction: International Student in China Mei tian, Fred Dervin and Genshu Lu 2 China's International Student Recruitment as "Outward-Oriented" Higher Education Internationalisation: A Historical Approach for Analysing Challenges during the "Belt and Road" Initiative Era Hantian Wu and Cassidy Gong 3 Who are the Waiguoren now? Chinese Students at a British University in China John Lowe and Fang Yu 4 Instructional Communication with International Students in China: Perceptions of the Chinese Professoriate Cornelius B. Pratt, Nadeem Akhtar, Ying Hu, Awais H. Gillani and Ran An 5 The Significance of Silence: Variations in Perceptions and Experiences of "Silence" in International Classroom Settings Melissa Shani Brown and David O'Brien 6 Being the Other in International Educational Settings: The Case of American Students' Experiences in Mainland China Yang Liu 7 Informal Learning: Approaching Chinese Language and Culture in Authentic Contexts Ping Yang 8 Learning Environment, Academic Engagement and Personal Development: A Survey Study of International Undergraduate Students in China Genshu Lu, Mei Tian and Lijie Li 9 International students in China: The Need for Us All to Unlearn Ning Chen and Fred Dervin