Chapter OneTransnational Academic Mobility: Chinese and British
Academics in Transnational Academic Space
Introduction: Transnational Encounters Across Space and Time
1Background of the Study
2Theoretical Framework
3Purpose Statement and Research Questions
4Significance of the Project
5Structure of the Thesis
Chapter TwoInternationalisation and Transnational
Academic Mobility
Introduction
1The Process of Internationalisation of Higher Education in
Chinese and British National Contexts
2Transnationalism, Academic Mobility and Practices
3Conceptual ToolsConnecting Pierre Bourdieus Theory
of Practice, the Notion of Place,and Transitional
Academic Migration
Conclusion: Research Agenda of the Study
Chapter ThreeResearching Transnational Academic Mobility
1Site Selection
2Participant Selection
3Research Methods for Data Collection
4Positionality
5Data Analysis
6Ethical Issues
Conclusion: Reflections after Fieldwork
Chapter FourSwitching Places: Offshore Working Challenges,
Opportunities and Reasons for''Moving''
Introduction
1Cultivating Transnational Capital form ''Above'': Importance
of Policy and Capital Exchange in Directing
Academic Migration
2Negotiating Restrictions from ''Below'': How is Academic
Mobility Influenced by the Reproduction of Academic
Disadvantage in Professional Practice?
Conclusion
Chapter FiveAcademic Challenges and Adjustments in Transnational
Teaching Space: a Recreation of Pedagogies
Introduction
1The Emergence of ''Transnational'' Teaching and Assessment
Methods
2TeacherStudent Relations in the Transnational Classroom
Chapter SixChinese and British Academic Migrants'' Working
Experience in Transnational University Space Introduction
1WorkplaceOffice
2Social Place
3Residence
Chapter SevenConclusion
1Academic Mobility, Capital Exchange and Grounded Working
Experience
2Transnational Teaching: Challenges, Adjustments, and
Creativeness
3Transnational Practice and University Space
4Final Conceptual Structure of the Thesis
5Limitations of the Study and Suggestions for Future Study
6Significance of the Study
內容試閱:
In the context of transnational higher education, this study examines Chinese and British academic migrants everyday worklife practices in a SinoUK university joint venture. The study breaks new ground by teasing out the difficulties, problems, misunderstandings, contradictions, and tensions that occur in an unfamiliar transnational academic field for academic migrants. Correspondingly, it also looks at the career opportunities and international social and academic connections that gradually cultivated in the transnational working environment. The study offers a deeper understanding of transnational academic space by providing empirical insights into transnational academics moving strategies, their pedagogic creativeness, and how their sense of belonging is intertwined with different places on the host university campus.
The study adopted a variety of qualitative methodological tools semistructured interviews, photo interviews and participant observation to explore the everyday texture of academic migrants working practices in transnational workplace. The findings suggest the unexpected barriers in the new transitional academic workplace have significance for academic migrants further professional improvement and transnational mobility. It also reveals how academic migrants are not just passively adapting or integrating into the new transnational professional structure, but also positively challenging and changing its boundaries.
The research sheds light on scholarly debates on transnational academic mobility and the internationalisation of higher education in the SinoBritish context. It goes beyond the national boundaries of higher education and places the investigation in a broader frame of social, cultural and spatial analysis in order to generate a deeper understanding of academic migrants everyday practices. It argues for a transnational and enduring understanding of academic migrants experience and points out that those experiences are nationally unbounded, yet locally specific. It also takes a step forward in academic mobility studies, by using grounded evidence gathered in transnational academic space to challenge the monoacademic cultural stereotypes bounded within national borders.
Here,I wish to acknowledge the encouragement, help and support from my faculty, supervisor, colleagues, friends and family during the completion of this dissertation and my doctoral studies in this four memorable years in London. Firstly, I would like to give my sincere thanks to Professor Katie Willis and Dr. Katherine Brickell for their expertise, guidance and support for my research through out the challenging PhD process. I would like to also give my thanks to the Department of Geography at the Royal Holloway University of London. This is very good Geography Department, not only because it is ranked 2nd in the UK and 1st in England for worldclass research, but also because there are many wonderful people I have met during my time here. I would also like to say a special thanks to Rupert Griffiths and Weiqiang Lin, who are my closest friends and colleagues, for their warmth, friendship and academic support in the past few years. Finally, a special thank goes to my parents, they are the best in the world. I am dedicating this work to both of them.