Abstract
Literature offers a theoretical framework exemplifying the inherent tensions between “becoming Chinese” and “remaining global” in the evolution of the international status of Hong Kong. Adopting this framework, this paper examines the global position of Hong Kong’s higher education through an investigation of universities’ participation in China’s Belt and Road Initiative and Greater Bay Area development plan. Specifically, drawing on data from interviews about universities’ engagement with the two Chinese grand strategies, the paper discusses university leaders and academics’ experience and perception of Hong Kong’s global status against a policy context that foregrounds a deeper integration with the Chinese national development. This discussion offers a theoretical dialogue that reveals different but overlapping scenarios for the future of Hong Kong’s higher education and sheds light on the link between the changing geopolitical contexts and international higher education.
Highlights
Since the handover of sovereignty from Britain to China, Hong Kong’s policymakers have intensified efforts at redefining the city’s identity in a post-colonial context
Postiglione’s (2013) thesis of anchoring globalization highlights the importance of internationalism, which is characterized by international recruitment and research collaborations, in shaping Hong Kong’s academic model
Recent research presents growing concern over the impacts of the growing integration with the Chinese Mainland on the higher education (HE) development in the city (e.g., Kang and Jiang 2020; Lo and Tang 2020; Tang 2020). These studies insufficiently address the interplay between the access to global networks and the national ambit of Mainland China for Hong Kong’s HE development
Summary
Since the handover of sovereignty from Britain to China, Hong Kong’s policymakers have intensified efforts at redefining the city’s identity in a post-colonial context. By investigating the development of the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, an American-style research university which was established in the late colonial era and continued to grow rapidly after the handover, Postiglione argues that extensive international research collaboration and international recruitment are important factors for the rapid growth of the university Based on this finding, he emphasizes that access to global knowledge networks is essential to Hong Kong HE’s success and acknowledges the importance of the British colonial legacy, cultural inheritance of Chinese traditions, and Hong Kong’s position as China’s gateway. According to the internationally shaped approach, Hong Kong entrenches its internationalized legacy by naturally displaying a tendency of leaning toward both East and West (Shen 2010); the essence of the hybrid and international elements of Hong Kong’s HE is “glocal” (Chu 2011) or “glonacal” (Jaffee 2013) rather than national
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