Mainland Universities Research Articles

The discrepancies between inclusive campus climate initiatives and realities: the perspectives of Hong Kong students in a Mainland university of the Greater Bay Area

ABSTRACT Within the context of the multipolar higher education landscape, China in the past decade has emerged as an important destination for Hong Kong students, especially in the Guangdong-Hong Kong-Macao Greater Bay Area (GBA). However, little is known about their experiences in Mainland universities. The extant literature on international students moving from the rest to the West, considers individuals’ language barriers and cultural differences as main inhibitors for their academic and social engagement in the destination institution. Little research examined the role of the institutional context, especially for international students who do not head to the West to study. Building on the theory of campus climate for diversity, this study interviewed ten Hong Kong students in the early years of their undergraduate programmes in one Mainland China university, located in the GBA, and interrogated the impacts of inclusive campus climate initiatives, perceived and experienced by these cross-border Hong Kong students. Two salient initiatives, namely mixed residential living arrangements with their Mainland peers and a Hong Kong/Macao student organisation, were identified by participants who indicated that when the initiatives aimed to better integrate Hong Kong students into the host institution/society, they separated them from the domestic counterparts while strengthening their in-group trust and safety nets for navigating the university. This study’s findings have implications for the development and evaluation of institutional strategies for the purpose of embracing Hong Kong and other international/non-local students upon their arrival and supporting their well-being and academic progression in Mainland universities.

Digitized fuel load survey in commercial and university office buildings for fire safety assessment

Fuel load significantly affects fire development in compartments, and its design value derives from the statistical results of numerous surveys. This work enhances the fuel load database by employing a digitized survey method to assess 27 university and commercial offices in Hong Kong and Mainland, China. The results revealed significant differences in fuel load densities: university offices averaged 382 MJ/m2 (SD: 297 MJ/m2) and commercial offices averaged 1804 MJ/m2 (SD: 1319 MJ/m2). Moreover, it proposed an online questionnaire method to overcome onsite access limitations. Furthermore, it identified higher fuel load densities in commercial offices due to higher paper-made content and greater occupancy density than university offices. The fuel load of university offices was lower than that in previous surveys and design codes, while commercial fuel load was higher. Notably, there is an increasing tendency of fuel load density and plastic combustible composition over the years. Additionally, it considers that Gompertz distribution better fits cumulative probabilities of fuel load density data with a small sample size. Overall, it provides a valuable database for future fire scenario design, fire codes edition, and fire safety assessment and discusses future collaboration with AI applications.

Innovation and Practice of the Concentric Circle Education Model for Hong Kong and Macao Students in Chinese Mainland Universities

In the guideline of building a high-quality higher education system in the new era, the implementation of the "five sides of education" of all around development of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetics and labour education is the inherent prerequisite and core initiative for carrying out the basic task of fostering virtue through education. With the aim of promoting the global development of students, Sihai College of Jinan University has made useful attempts to cultivate students from Hong Kong and Macao by actively exploring the model of Concentric Circle Education, by innovating the process of evaluating students’ all around development of moral, intellectual, physical, aesthetics and labour education and perfecting the global quality evaluation system to cultivate students with a strong personality, innovative thinking, broad foundation, global vision and patriotic sentiment.

National Identity and Cultural Immersion:Reform and Strategy of Educational Paradigm for Hong Kong Students in Chinese Mainland Universities

This paper analyses the current situation of patriotism education for Hong Kong students in Chinese mainland universities and proposes the practical paths of introducing patriotism education into teaching materials, classrooms, and the minds of Hong Kong students, establishing and improving the institutional mechanism of cultural education for Hong Kong students, constructing a system of social practice and education for Hong Kong students in the whole process, and innovatively carrying out network patriotism education for Hong Kong students.

A Comparative Study on General Education Courses for Physical Education Majors in Chinese Universities

In order to further promote the high-quality development of general education courses in physical education majors in Chinese universities, this article adopts methods such as questionnaire survey, literature review, and logical analysis to compare the current situation of general education courses in mainland and Hong Kong universities. The research results indicate that the goals and requirements of Hong Kong's general education curriculum emphasize the breadth and connection of knowledge, adopt diverse interdisciplinary approaches, and encourage students to explore and express themselves, while the mainland focuses more on the infiltration of cultural qualities in professional education and the supplementation and correction of knowledge. The general education curriculum for physical education majors in mainland universities tends to be more focused on the field of sports science, while Hong Kong universities focus on learning broad knowledge and offer more courses for non-physical education majors. Hong Kong universities have their own characteristics in the mode of general education curriculum.

Transborder habitus transformation: In‐country mobility of Hong Kong students in the Chinese Mainland universities

AbstractUnder the context of the in‐country mobility of Hong Kong students studying at Chinese Mainland universities, this paper proposes the notion of ‘transborder habitus’ to understand Hong Kong students' experiences and perceptions. Through qualitative research with in‐depth interviews with 51 Hong Kong students studying in major cities, namely Beijing, Shanghai, Guangzhou and Xiamen, how these students move across the socio‐cultural and academic fields at specific times is dissected. The process of how they perceive and adapt to their new life and identities on the mainland campuses is scrutinised. Students exhibited three types of adjustment styles: the Adjusters with pre‐adapted habitus, the Strangers with cleft habitus and the Outsiders with mis‐matched habitus. Their coping strategies are discussed and the salient factors shaping the students' transborder habitus are analysed.

The Influence of Self-Esteem on Sociocultural Adaptation of College Students of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan: The Chain Mediating Role of Social Support and School Belonging.

Mainland universities have become one of the important choices for students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan, but the maladaptation caused by environmental migration will have a negative impact on the mental health of them. Therefore, it is urgent to explore the psychological mechanism of sociocultural adaptation of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan students. In order to explore the influence of self-esteem on the sociocultural adaptation of college students of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan studying in mainland universities, as well as the mechanism of social support and school belonging, a survey was conducted among 1108 college students from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan studying in mainland universities, with the help of Rosenberg Self-Esteem Scale, Sociocultural Adaptation Scale, Perceptive Social Support Scale and The Psychological Sense of School belonging Scale. The results show that (1) Different grades of college students of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have differences in school belonging and sociocultural adaptation (P<0.05); (2) Self-esteem, social support, school belonging and sociocultural adaptation were positively correlated (P < 0.01); (3) The mediation model test showed that self-esteem could directly and positively predict sociocultural adaptation with a direct effect size of 0.245; Social support and school belonging played a mediating role between self-esteem and sociocultural adaptation, and the mediating effect sizes were 0.094 and 0.085, respectively. The chain mediating effect of social support and school belonging was also significant, and the mediating effect size was 0.108. Self-esteem can not only directly affect college students' sociocultural adaptation, but also indirectly affect college students' sociocultural adaptation through the chain mediating effect of social support and school belonging. This study further reveals the mechanism of self-esteem on sociocultural adaptation and provides psychological basis for universities to improve the sociocultural adaptation level of different groups of students.

A study on the influencing factors and response strategies for young teachers from Taiwan to teach in universities in China: a push-pull-mooring model perspective.

A growing number of Taiwanese teachers are choosing to teach at universities in mainland China, but their jobs are not always stable. Therefore, this study aims to investigate the factors infuencing young teachers from Taiwan to teach in universities in China. Twenty-seven young teachers from Taiwan with master's or doctoral degrees who were willing to apply to work at universities in China and who were already teaching in China were invited to conduct in-depth interviews to collect research data.The interview data were coded and analyzed according to the Push-Pull-Mooring (PPM) Model. The results showed that the understanding of mainland Chinese universities among young Taiwanese teachers is not entirely consistent. Taiwanese teachers who previously studied in mainland China have a more comprehensive understanding of mainland Chinese universities, and some teachers have gained a superfcial understanding through academic exchanges between the two sides and information shared by friends.However,still,7% of the teachers have no understanding at all. Most young Taiwanese teachers indicate that they do not understand the talent recruitment policies of mainland Chinese universities. The push factors that infuence young teachers from Taiwan to teach at mainland universities are: Oversupply of teachers in Taiwan, poor environment for higher education in Taiwan, poor articulation of the cross-strait academic system, and four aspects of teacher retirement and re-employment in Taiwan. The pull factors are: Benefcial policies, salary, living environment, educational advantages and cultural dissemination in 5 areas. Mooring factors are divided into 3 aspects: personal factors, environmental factors and social factors.

Facilitating EFL learners’ willingness to communicate amidst the pandemic: a digital storytelling-based online flipped learning approach

ABSTRACT Purpose: This mixed-methods study proposed a digital-storytelling-based (DST-based) online flipped learning approach during the pandemic, and investigated its impact on EFL learners’ willingness to communicate (WTC) and their perceptions of the approach. Design/methodology/approach: A 16-week quasi-experiment was carried out in a college English course at a comprehensive university in Chinese mainland. A total of 69 EFL learners were recruited from two intact classes and assigned to either an experimental (the DST-based online flipped learning approach) or comparison (the online flipped learning approach) group, in order to explore the effects of the DST-based online flipped learning approach on learners’ WTC. The quantitative data were obtained from the learners’ WTC questionnaire. Then, semi-structured interviews were conducted in order to gauge the students’ perceptions of the different learning approaches. Findings: The quantitative results demonstrated that the experimental group outperformed the comparison group in terms of WTC at the end of the experiment. Thematic analysis of the qualitative data also lent support to the contribution of this DST-based online flipped learning approach in terms of boosting their English speaking confidence and encouraging more meaningful interaction and collaboration with others. Originality/value: Findings from this study offer insights into integrating the DST-based online flipped learning approach as an instructional implementation of technology-enhanced task-based language learning (TETBLT) in COVID/ post-COVID times. Pedagogical suggestions for EFL instructors and researchers are also provided, which would be significant for improving EFL learners’ communication skills and would enable them to become more capable and globalized citizens in the twenty-first century.

Research on the effect evaluation of the implementation of educational exchange programs between Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao

Since the 18^th National Congress of the Communist Party of China, the Ministry of Education has launched the "Teachers and Students Exchange Plan among Colleges and Universities in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao " and "Construction of 'Sister Schools' Platform for Primary Schools and Kindergartens in Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao", promoting the vigorous development of educational exchanges and cooperation among Chinese mainland, Hong Kong and Macao, and laying a foundation for the growth and development of young people in Hong Kong and Macao. It is of great significance to carry out project implementation effect evaluation by using CIPP evaluation mode, comprehensively summarizing project development experiences, exploring characteristic projects and typical cases, deepening typical demonstration, refining scientific and effective project management model, promoting the quality and efficiency of projects and promoting the integration of Hong Kong and Macao into the overall development of the country.

Evaluation of Electronic Service-Learning (e-Service-Learning) Projects in Mainland China under COVID-19

The use of electronic service-learning (e-Service-Learning or e-SL) is valuable under COVID-19 because we can provide the service without physical contact. Unfortunately, evaluation of e-SL is not widespread and there is no known study in different Chinese societies. Besides, there are many methodological limitations of the existing studies in the field. In this paper, we evaluated e-SL projects implemented in summer 2020 and 2021 in three sites in China. First, we examined service providers’ changes based on pretest and posttest scores (i.e., objective outcome evaluation) and their perceptions of the e-SL projects (i.e., subjective outcome evaluation based on the service providers). Second, graduate student assessors in Chinese mainland universities and teachers of primary school students (i.e., service recipients) rated the SL program quality, service providers’ performance and benefits to the service recipients after program completion (i.e., subjective outcome evaluation of SL projects based on other stakeholders). Third, trained graduate student assessors evaluated service quality during the implementation process (i.e., process evaluation). We found that university students (i.e., service providers) showed higher posttest scores in positive youth development attributes, leadership attributes and life satisfaction relative to pretest scores. Besides, service providers showed positive perceptions of their learning experience, own performance, benefits to the service recipients and themselves in the SL projects. Similarly, other stakeholders also had positive evaluation of the SL projects and related benefits. Finally, trained graduate student assessors had positive assessment of the quality of program implementation. The findings underscore the utility of e-SL involving both online teaching and learning as well as online service, particularly in a Chinese context.

A Study on the National Identity of Special Administrative Region Students in Mainland Universities—— A Qualitative Study Based on the Grounded Theory

A Study on the National Identity of Special Administrative Region Students in Mainland Universities—— A Qualitative Study Based on the Grounded Theory

The Spatial and Temporal Characteristics of Industry–University Research Collaboration Efficiency in Chinese Mainland Universities

The aim of this study was to investigate the spatio-temporal characteristics of the industry–university research (IUR) collaboration efficiency of Chinese mainland colleges and universities, from 2008 to 2018. A comparative analysis method was used to analyze the data from the Statistical Yearbook of China’s Education Funds, the Compilation of Science and Technology Statistics of Colleges and Universities, and the China Statistical Yearbook. The principal components were extracted from relevant indicators of IUR capability in colleges and universities, with a principal component analysis (PCA) method. The principal component scores and comprehensive scores of 31 provinces in mainland China were calculated. The results showed that the efficiency of IUR collaboration in Chinese colleges and universities has increased rapidly within the 11 years studied. The efficiency in the eastern region has grown faster than that in the western region, and the gap between the southern region and the northern region has also continued to widen. The results also showed that the development of IUR collaboration efficiency of colleges and universities in mainland China is unbalanced. Scientific and technological funds, and scientific and technological manpower, were excessively concentrated in the southeast. Therefore, there is large room for improvement in the overall development of IUR collaboration in Chinese colleges and universities.

The Influence of Positive Affect on Mental Health of Undergraduates from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in the Context of Smoke-free Campus in Chinese Mainland

In recent years, more and more young people from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan have come to universities in Chinese Mainland for higher education. However, due to the differences in political, economic and cultural environment between Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan regions and Chinese Mainland, these young people have encountered psychological problems such as examination anxiety, interpersonal loneliness and lack of sense of meaning in life due to the related learning and life difficulties in Chinese mainland universities, which affect their growth and success. Many of the students originally thought that smoking was used in a more secluded environment to relieve stress, psychological counseling and energy recovery, but in fact smoking brings more harm. In the creation of a smoke-free campus, a variety of measures are adopted to give full play to the positive emotions of students to promote their mental health, which will help to achieve the creation of a smoke-free campus and share a healthy life on the campus. Based on the survey of a total of 658 undergraduates from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in H University on their positive affect and mental health, the following conclusions are drawn through data analysis: undergraduates from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in Chinese Mainland have positive affect at the upper-middle level, negative affect and overall affect at the lower-middle level; some undergraduates from Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan in Chinese mainland universities have middle-level mental health status and significant differences in grade and family relationship satisfaction; family relationship satisfaction has an important impact on students' emotional and mental health; the negative emotional performance and mental health of senior students, science students and students with low family relationship satisfaction need more attention from educators. Correlation analysis shows that positive affect is positively correlated with health concerns, energy status, satisfaction and interest in life, mood status, control of emotions and behaviors, relaxation and tension, and total score of mental health (P &lt; 0.01). Regression analysis shows that positive affect has significant positive predictive effects on six factors in mental health, such as "health concerns", "satisfaction and interest in life", "energy", "mental state", "control of emotions and behaviors", "relaxation and tension" and mental health. The enlightenment of this study lies in the suggestions that actions should be taken from the two levels of school education and home-school combination to strengthen the cultivation of positive affect of Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan undergraduates in Chinese mainland universities, so as to improve their mental health level.

Trans-contextualized cross-border student choice under “one country, two systems” from Hong Kong to Mainland China for higher education

PurposeThis article examines the complexity and dynamics of Hong Kong students' choice to pursue undergraduate education in Mainland China under the context of “one country, two systems.”Design/methodology/approachThis study mainly draws on primary data from in-depth interviews of 51 Hong Kong students studying in Mainland universities. Qualitative approach of inquiry is adopted to probe into the underlying reasons and processes undergone during the educational choice.FindingsAcademic factors push Hong Kong students away from local universities due to the failure of getting admissions in preferred programs or universities, and pull them toward Mainland universities due to attractions of specific universities and programs. During three phases of decision-making process, different influencing factors have conditioned three orientations: pragmatists enrolled in their aspired programs as the first choice, achievers utilized a fast-track path to enter elite universities and underachievers treated such study opportunity as a last resort for a degree.Originality/valueThis article contributes to a better understanding of the dynamics of educational choice to higher education in Hong Kong at a strategic point of time. It explains how the macro political/policy and sociocultural contexts, the institutional influences of hosting universities and sending secondary schools, perceived parental influence and students' personal characteristics have shaped students' college choice.

University EAP Students' Perceptions of Using a Prototype Virtual Reality Learning Environment to Learn Writing Structure

This study investigates English language learner (ELL) perceptions of using a prototype virtual reality learning environment (VRLE) designed for teaching and learning writing structure. A mixed-methods approach was used, incorporating pre- and post-participation questionnaires, as well as semi-structured interviews. Participants consisted of 10 ELLs enrolled in first year English for Academic Purposes (EAP) courses at a university in Mainland, China. Results indicate that while the majority of students enjoyed using the VRLE, they maintained varying attitudes regarding the usefulness of the VRLE. Additionally, results from a correlation analysis suggest that learners' attitudes towards the material or content being learned (EAP writing) significantly correlates with learners' attitudes towards using the VRLE for learning writing structure.

EAP for undergraduate science and engineering students in an EFL context: What should we teach?

This paper presents a new approach for a four-level EAP course to meet the recently emerged needs to internationalize and improve undergraduate science and engineering programs at a typical research university in China's mainland. The biggest challenges for the course were students' inadequate entry-level English proficiency, English teachers' insufficient subject knowledge, a complete lack of appropriate textbooks, along with stakeholders' conflicting appeals but their common belief in the vital role of academic English to students' career and the university's prestige. To address these challenges, a new solution was formulated characteristic of a compromise between the narrow-angle and wide-angle EAP perspectives and an integration of skills development, content acquisition, and genre awareness, with the aim to prepare students for the cognitive and linguistic demand in scientific communication and to bridge the gap between their entry level English proficiency and research writing and presentation abilities. Accordingly, four typical genres in scientific communication were selected as the main types of teaching materials – science popularizations, semi-popularizations, technical reports, and research articles – representing a continuum with increasing technicality levels. Students' positive feedback suggests the novel approach might be an important contribution to the ongoing quest by EAP practitioners worldwide for context-specific pedagogical practices.

Discussion on Approaches to Top-level Design of Cultural Work in Chinese Mainland Universities

Discussion on Approaches to Top-level Design of Cultural Work in Chinese Mainland Universities

Students’ Perception of Using Digital Badges in Blended Learning Classrooms

A digital badge system with a leaderboard ranking was implemented in an 18-week course offered by a Chinese mainland university during the 2018 Spring Semester. Fifty-four junior college students participated in this study, and the learning activities were based on a combination of online and offline methods using the Moodle system. The purpose of the study was to explore these college students’ perception of digital badges in blended learning classrooms as well as their perception of digital badges in general. Q methodology was used in a single case study of the students’ subjective experience of digital badges, and thirty-six Q-statements were selected after a comprehensive reflection of their views of digital badges. The participants were asked to sort the statements to model their opinion in a modified rank-order procedure. Twenty-two valid sorts were entered for the analysis, and three factors were identified to represent groups of participants with similar views. The results are discussed based on the views of students at a local university in mainland China and the way their demographic characteristics related to their perception of digital badges.

Analysis on the Times Higher Education World University Rankings and the Performance of Chinese Mainland Universities

The Times Higher Education World University Rankings, issued by Times Higher Education annually (hereinafter referred to as “THE”), is recognized as the most authoritative and influential global university rankings by the international community because of its more objective criteria. Combing the THE ranking indicators, The paper selects the ranking data of Chinese mainland universities from the year 2013 to the year 2016, analyzes the performance of Chinese mainland universities and put forward advice for Chinese mainland universities strengthening international cooperation, accelerating the “Double-First Class” initiative and enhancing their overall strength and international influence.