Cross-Cultural Adaptation Experiences of International Scholars in Shanghai: From the Perspective of Organisational Culture

By Jiexiu Chen and Junwen Zhu

This book examines the cross-cultural adaptation experiences of international scholars working at Shanghai’s top public research universities. On the basis of in-depth interviews, it comprehensively assesses the organisational culture of Chinese universities, recurring problems in international scholars’ cross-cultural adaptation processes, and the coping strategies they employ in response.
The book focus on the real lives and working experiences of international scholars in China, and addresses teaching, research, funding applications and organisational politics. Accordingly, it offers a wealth of first-hand information for readers who are interested in the Chinese academic world, especially those scholars/researchers/expatriates currently working in or planning to visit/work in China.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Springer
• Release date: Apr 23, 2020
• ISBN: 9789811545467

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© Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd. and Shanghai Jiao Tong University Press 2020

J. Chen, J. ZhuCross-Cultural Adaptation Experiences of International Scholars in Shanghaihttps://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-4546-7_1

1. The Context of the Study on Cross-Cultural Adaptation of International Scholars in Universities in Shanghai

Jiexiu Chen¹   and Junwen Zhu²

(1)

University College London, London, UK

(2)

East China Normal University, Shanghai, China

Jiexiu Chen

Email: [e-mail]

This chapter sets the scene for the analysis of international scholars’ cross-cultural adaptation in China and provides background information for readers to get a glimpse of the historical and social context international scholars are facing. First, the overall trend of talent mobility promoted by globalization worldwide is discussed, and internationalization development and related policies in Chinese universities are briefly introduced. Second, foreign experts as a group in China is introduced, including its definition, categorizations, statistics, and administration, with a particular emphasis on this group’s development after the Opening-Up and Reform in 1978. Third, as the research was conducted in Shanghai, the city’s local talent introduction projects, internationalization developments, and related policies and strategies are introduced in this chapter. Fourth, the cross-cultural challenges that international scholars encounter in Shanghai are generally discussed, along with the portrait of Shanghai as the most internationalized city in China according to the latest report. Moreover, a brief introduction to the key points and unique features of this research is given at the end of this chapter.

1.1 Global Mobility of Academic Talent

Ever-deepening global connections are accelerating with the adoption of English as the global language, the establishment of financial common markets, and the cross-regional mobility of talent and capital. In the present era, globalization profoundly impacts our lives at all levels (Brown and Lauder 1996). Altbach, an expert on international higher education, believes that varying degrees of innovation can be found in policies, institutions, knowledge, and talent cultivation. Those innovations will inevitably impact higher education with extensive and profound economic, technological, and scientific developments in globalization. Meanwhile, an increasing number of countries are involved in an international competition for knowledge and talent due to rapid scientific development. Higher education, often regarded as the hub for knowledge creation and talent cultivation, is an important indicator of a country’s international competitiveness (Altbach 2015).

Influenced by the trend of globalization, the national borders of academia and research are becoming blurred. For many universities, intercultural exchanges and cooperation have become an important strategy for improving the quality of academic research. The strategy not only boosts academic innovation on campus but also expands the international influence of academic achievements (Yu 2014). Students, research staff, international academic projects, and institutions are the main components of the internationalization of higher education. Internationalized policies have been adopted in almost all countries to encourage domestic higher education industries to expand overseas while attracting outstanding international intellectual resources. The overall ecology of higher education is gradually becoming diversified through communication and cooperation, with universities increasingly functioning as important microcosmic platforms for global cultural exchange and integration. In an era of globalization, research-oriented universities are beginning to conform to a unified standard. Many countries are seeking international development to secure a higher global ranking for their research-oriented universities, hoping to gain an advantage in global competition. In accordance with The National Outline for Medium and Long Term Education Reform and Development (2010–2020), China is committed to promoting constantly the internationalization of higher education. This is predicted to be a major trend for higher education development (Altbach et al. 2006).

According to Lu and Kang (2015), internationalization is often a part of university’s development strategy. The internationalization of higher education is important at the university level as it improves education quality, promotes the development of students and teachers, increases university income, strengthens networking and strategic alliances among universities, and stimulates research and knowledge production. On a strategic level, universities’ internationalization strategies involve the universities’ mission statements, their international exchanges, overseas student admission, international contacts and cooperation, cross-border education, and international academic leave. Although universities’ internationalization policies differ according to their institutions’ unique characteristics and orientations, these policies are undeniably important to research-oriented universities’ promotion of their international development in globalization (Lu and Kang 2015).

As experienced professionals and the core of talent cultivation, professors and scholars are increasingly becoming an important part of the internationalization of higher education. Their expertise and international vision are indispensable for knowledge innovation. Therefore, introducing advanced foreign talents can significantly promote China’s academic and innovation system. For one thing, high-level academic talents will bring world-class technical and management experience, attract potential investment, and promote the frontiers of innovation in corresponding fields through cooperation. For another, interactions between visiting experts and domestic researchers can greatly boost the internationalization of higher education in China. Moreover, visiting international scholars, who are independent of China’s academic research regime, tend to have their own perceptions and evaluations of China’s academic culture based on their personal experiences as researchers. Therefore, it is strong practical importance for China to understand international scholars’ opinions in-depth so as to further improve China’s academic environment, and truly integrate with international academia.

1.2 International Scholars in China After the Reform and Opening-Up Policy

At present, foreign experts hired in China can be divided into two categories. The first category is economic and technical management experts, employed by government organizations, economic and social administration departments, and business enterprises. This includes senior foreign technical personnel and managers working in foreign-owned enterprises. The second category is cultural and educational experts. This refers to those who work in science, education, or the humanities, as well as in the press and in publication. As China has a large demand for language teachers, experts in this category can be further classified as language experts or specialty experts. In light of the time they spend working in China, these experts can also be divided into long-term experts, who work for more than half a year, and short-term experts, who work for less than six months (Ma et al. 2012). This research focuses on international scholars engaged in scientific research and teaching in colleges and universities; they therefore all fall into the category of cultural and educational experts.

As an administrative agency of the Chinese government in charge of talent introduction, the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs has a more detailed categorization for foreign experts. Its official website lists the following categories for experts, both from overseas and from Hong Kong, Macao, and Taiwan: (1) worldwide renowned academic scholars and experts; (2) experts who have held senior managerial or technical positions in enterprises, important government agencies, or important international organizations outside of China (or Chinese territory); (3) influential academic leaders in prestigious higher education and research institutions outside China (or Chinese territory); (4) senior management and technical experts who have presided over major scientific and technical projects outside China (or Chinese territory); (5) experts with special expertise and skills urgently needed in China (State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs 2015a, b).

In addition to defining these categories of foreign experts, the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs is also responsible for reviewing and authorizing the institutions receiving international scholars as well as formulating relevant economic and political policies. In recent years, in order to attract more overseas experts, the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs has not only authorized more institutions to hire international scholars but has also set up awards to acknowledge international scholars who have made outstanding contributions. In 1991, the State Administration of Foreign Expert Affairs established the Friendship Award of the People’s Republic of China to recognize international scholars who have made outstanding contributions to China’s development, educational reform, technological innovation, and cultural exchange. Provincial Friendship Awards have also been established by the foreign expert bureaus of individual provinces to support financially foreign experts who are teaching and conducting scientific research (Li 2007).

The history of hiring foreign cultural and educational experts to work in Chinese universities can be divided into three stages: in the 1950s, the cultural and educational experts were mainly from the Soviet Union and other socialist countries; in the 1960s and 1970s, Chinese universities’ recruitment of international scholars was virtually suspended; since the 1970s, universities in China have witnessed a new era of hiring foreign cultural and educational experts as a major part of the talent introduction policies that have formed the social background to the Reform and Opening-Up Policy. Since 1978, China has restored its system of hiring international scholars to teach long-term or to lecture during short-term visits in China. On July 8, 1983, Deng Xiaoping delivered an important speech on Utilising Foreign Intelligence and Expanding the Scope of Opening-up, noting that "we should utilize foreign intelligence, and invite foreigners to participate in our key projects and in all aspects of construction. We were not fully aware of the importance of this, and had little determination to do so. As for modernization, we lack in both experience and knowledge. Don’t be afraid to spend a few extra dollars hiring foreigners. They can come for the long term. They can come for the short term. They can even come for one specific project, as long as we make sure they do their part when they come." Since then, inviting foreign talent has been cemented as a long-term strategic approach, leading to a new era of rapid development for talent introduction (Liu 2003).

The rapid advancement of higher education in China has significantly raised the number and scale of international scholars hired by Chinese universities. Meanwhile, the levels of talents hired have gradually been improved, and the structure of their expertise has been optimized. This has contributed positively to China’s development in education, scientific research, its economy, and its society in general (Liu 2003). According to the statistics of State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs, at the beginning of the Eighth Five-Year Plan (1991–1995), 624 organizations were qualified to hire foreign cultural and educational experts. This figure rose to 1,399 by the end of 1999, and to 2,087 by 2001. Up until the March 31, 2014, a total of 8,073 (State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs 2015a) organizations had become qualified to hire foreign cultural and educational experts, and an additional 43 foreign expert organizations had passed the qualification review. Furthermore, the number of foreign cultural and educational experts hired increased considerably. In the two decades from 1979 to 1998, the number of foreign experts engaged in the Chinese education system grew rapidly. The total number of foreign experts funded by the state and Chinese universities reached 70,677, 52 times the sum of the figures between 1949 (the founding of PRC) and 1978. In 2011, over 900,000 foreign experts were hired to work in China. They came from 73 countries and regions, and included top scholars, foreign talents, overseas students, returnees, and high-end domestic talent (Liu 2003).

This research focused on foreign experts working in the higher education system in China. It aimed to study the adaptation of international scholars to the organizational culture of colleges and universities in Shanghai. This involved researching cross-cultural adaptation at the teaching, scientific research, and managerial levels. Therefore, in this book, the term foreign expert refers specifically to international scholars working in colleges and universities in Shanghai who had undertaken certain teaching, scientific research, or management duties, and had a relatively comprehensive experience of working and living in China. (The experts included those with both long-term and multiple short-term work experiences.) Though foreign expert is the term widely applied in Chinese government documents, this research chose to use international scholars to describe its target group, as a way of demonstrating a cross-cultural perspective rather than perpetuating a local–foreign divide. As the international scholars in this study were living in a foreign land and they were employed in higher education institutions, this book will analyse the role of international scholars in cross-cultural adaptation from two perspectives: international scholars as sojourners and as expatriates.

1.3 The Rise of International Scholars in Universities in Shanghai

Since the 1980s, with the macro-control of the central government and the strong cooperation among provincial governments, China has made significant progress in terms of the scale of overseas talent introduction. The number of international scholars working in China initially increased at an explosive pace, especially beginning in 2001 when China was accepted as a member of the WTO (Jiao 2013). However, this rapid growth was not sustained; the number of overseas experts introduced in later years remained at the same level as that in the early twenty-first century, falling well behind the development of GDP and the higher education industry. Since 2008, China has launched a series of policies to foster talent introduction, represented by The Recruitment Program of Global Experts, where high-level overseas talents were introduced on a large scale systematically (Lu et al. 2010). Meanwhile, local governments have launched provincial policies for the introduction of high-level overseas talents corresponding to the national one, so as to ensure consistency in implementation and further expand the scale and level of talent introduction (Zhu and Shen 2013). These talent introduction policies have laid the human resource foundation for the Making the Nation Powerful Though Talents and the Making the Universities Powerful Though Talents policies as well as for building the world-class universities by bringing together the high-level overseas talents (Lu et al. 2010).

In accordance with the Outline of the National Medium- and Long-Term Talent Development Plan (2010–2020), China will continue to implement a more open talent policy in the future. Specifically, China will "establish a hiring regime for high-level overseas talents, improve the system of permanent residence for foreigners, and attract high-level foreign talents to work in China. China will also put more efforts into foreign talent introduction by experimenting with a system that brings in skilled immigrants, and by formulating regulations regarding foreign talents on their supply, discovery and evaluation, market access, incentives for employment, performance evaluation, and sharing of gains from expertise introduction." In this way, China is seeking to support international talents during their work in China by improving system for their entering, leaving and staying in China, taxation, insurance, housing, and children’s schooling, as well as the employment of their spouses (State Bureau of Foreign Experts Affairs 2015a, b).

As a highly internationalized region in China, Shanghai has a number of talent introduction projects running at the same time. According to the information published on the website of the Shanghai Bureau of Foreign Experts, in recent years, Shanghai has implemented a more active, open, and effective overseas talent policy so as to build a globally competitive talent system at a faster rate. Shanghai has launched two versions of talent introduction policies (the Twenty Provisions and the Thirty Provisions, referring to the Implementation Opinions on (Further) Deepening the Reform of Talent System and Mechanism to Promote Talents’ Innovation and Entrepreneurship) as well as a talent summit action plan to pilot actively the work permit system for foreigners in China and the visa system for foreign talents, improve the residence permit system for overseas talents, and further optimize the development environment for talents (15). Taking the Twenty Provisions (known as the Opinions on Further Deepening the Reform of the Talent Development Regime and Mechanism and on Accelerating the Construction of Science, Technology and Innovation Centers of Global Impact) as an example, Shanghai was the first in China to pilot a policy of gathering talents by lowering the application requirements for permanent residence permits for foreigners, reducing the age limit for foreigner employment, and simplifying procedures for foreigners to enter and reside in China. In 2018, 726 high-level overseas talents were granted a permanent residence permit on a market-oriented basis, and 6,000 people were granted a five-year residence permit under the new policy that has greatly facilitated the introduction of innovative talents (16). According to statistics (Wu 2018), in 2017, 110,426 overseas talents were introduced into Shanghai, of whom 80,914 were foreigners, 13,744 were overseas students and 15,768 were residents from Taiwan, Hong Kong, or Macao. More than 100 high-end overseas talent introduction projects and key expertise introduction projects were organized around key projects of the state and the city, with the funding for expertise introduction reaching over 15 million RMB. In addition, 52 international scholars in Shanghai won the Chinese government’s Friendship Award, and 1,145 were selected as a part of The Recruitment Program for Global Experts, among the top figures nation-wide (Wu