Suggestions and Procedures for Choosing a Chinese Institution of Higher Education as a Partner

Abstract

China has one of the largest and most complex higher education systems in the world, and a key challenge facing any foreign education institution is how to select an appropriate potential partner. This paper considers how a number of foreign university managers selected a university in China. Issues of location, ranking, status, programs, mutual benefit and “fit” are considered along with less specific and tangible issues related to the nature and environment in which the Chinese university operated. One of the findings of the paper was that identifying and selecting an appropriate partner was often based not only on a range of tangible, cognitive factors, but also on less specific, affective issues such as how the two sides would actually relate to each other at a human level. A second key issue is the observation that foreign university staff had to make the decision between selecting a high ranking Chinese university which had status, ranking, income and-often a wide range of existing foreign partners and a lower ranking Chinese university which had none of these attributes, but which was often a more willing and easier partner at least in the initial stages of alliance activity. Finally, selection was made against a rapidly changing and deregulating university environment in China, making selection both more challenging and demanding than in the past. The paper will be of use to existing and potential foreign university staff wishing to enter this busy market for a range of collaborative activities planned for either China or the foreign country.