The paper employs a glonacal agency heuristic to explore how certain research-intensive Chinese universities exercise agency in response to global and national impacts in creating the world-class university. Two global forces (international scholarly discussions on the world-class university and global university rankings) and one national force…

The concept of intercultural communication has become a focus in English language teaching (ELT) against the backdrop of globalization, as English is now used as a lingua franca (ELF) among people with different first languages (L1s). However, the current linguistic landscape of ELF does not reflect well in ELT practices in which native speakerism…

Over the past decade or so, Chinese government has been strategically luring back overseas Chinese high-fliers to strengthen science, technology, and higher education. One of the major initiatives is the Thousand Youth Talents Scheme (TYTS) launched in 2011. By 2017, 2980 Thousand Youth Talents Scheme scholars (TYTSs) had been recruited into…

This article argues that action learning has been incorporated into the Chinese administrative system because of a functional need for Western learning technology. This finding contrasts with those presented in the existing literature, which assert that Western practices have only been partially implemented, if implemented at all, because they…

Responding to globalization trends, many engineering schools are internationalizing their courses and curricula to prepare graduates for careers that involve working across countries and cultures. As a result, both students and staff are looking beyond study abroad to international work, research, and service learning opportunities as alternate…

Over the past few decades, the pursuit of teachers-as-researchers has become an ideal for developing teacher autonomy to which many in the world of curriculum development and language teacher education try to promote (Benson, 2001). Nevertheless, research into how teachers learn to do research has been scarce, and there are pressing needs for…

This pilot study explored the efficacy of a social-cognitive intervention program for adolescents with Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD). Seven adolescents with ASD (mean age = 12.57 years) attended a school-based 10-week program. Social Skills Improvement System Rating Scales, Goal Attainment Scaling (GAS), and Theory of Mind Inventory were…

In our study we analyse how the same interactional dynamic is produced in two different pedagogical settings exploiting a desktop videoconference system. We propose to focus our attention on a specific type of conversational side sequence, known in the Francophone literature as sequences of normative evaluation. More particularly, we analyse data…

Purpose: This paper aims to describe, explain and evaluate a graduate education program that provides international project experiences and builds competencies related to collaborative problem-solving, cultural capacity to work globally and sustainable development. Design/methodology/approach: Qualitative analysis of survey data from 28 students…

In a 2013-2014 Australia-China Council project, middle school students in Australia and China shared digital stories about their everyday lives and local cultures, and traditional tales with a modern twist. This article reports on research that aimed to explore the successes and challenges associated with this digital story exchange between…

The United Nations' declaration on climate change education in December 2014 has sparked a renewal of policies and programs initiated during the "Decade of Education for Sustainable Development" (DESD, 2005-2014), aimed at promoting awareness, understanding, and civic action for environmental sustainability within learning communities…

Common sense thinking on international professional development suggests that the rewards for teachers are automatic. One of the most frequently advertised gains teachers are expected to see from participation includes the likelihood that they will have a transformative experience, whereby aspects of their personal or professional attributes are…

This article reports on one aspect of a larger study which aimed to explore the context-specific experiences of English teachers at tertiary institutions in China (Wette & Barkhuizen, 2007). Data were collected during a professional development program run in the summer of 2006. The program aimed to cover recent trends in the field of second…

The Summer Camp of Mathematical Modeling in China is a recently created experience designed to further Chinese students' academic pursuits in mathematical modeling. Students are given more than three months to research on a mathematical modeling project. Researchers and teams with outstanding projects are invited to the Summer Camp to present…

Global efforts to prepare young developing minds for solving current and future challenges of climate change have advocated interdisciplinary, issues-based instructional approaches in order to transform traditional models of science education as delivering conceptual facts (UNESCO, 2014). This study is an exploration of the online interactions in…