Professional Development for Chinese University Leaders: Collaboration, Not Competition
While universities compete for students, resources, and prestige in the global economy, they can also collaborate to mutual advantage. One aspect of global collaboration in the higher education arena is professional development for university leaders on c
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Professional Development for Chinese University Leaders: Collaboration, Not Competition Constance Ewing Cook
Abstract While universities compete for students, resources, and prestige in the global economy, they can also collaborate to mutual advantage. One aspect of global collaboration in the higher education arena is professional development for university leaders on campuses abroad. Many U.S. universities, as well as those in other countries, have hosted programs for university leaders from the People’s Republic of China. This chapter reports on the long-time collaboration between the Chinese Ministry of Education and the University of Michigan (UM) to provide training for the leaders of top-ranked Chinese institutions as they build world-class research universities. It describes the best practices that have evolved over time for hosting international professional development programs, and it explains the ‘‘elasticity’’ of the UM program—i.e. that it is tailored to the Chinese cultural context and reflects the specific needs of program participants—which helps Chinese leaders adapt what they learn to the realities of their own campuses.
9.1 Introduction While universities compete for students, resources, and prestige in the global economy, they can also develop collaborations designed to be of mutual benefit. One aspect of global collaboration in the higher education arena is professional development for university leaders on campuses abroad. Many U.S. universities, as well as those in other countries, have hosted programs for PRC universities. This chapter reports on the long-time administrative collaboration between the Chinese Ministry of Education and the University of Michigan (UM) to provide training for
C. E. Cook (&) University of Michigan, Michigan, USA e-mail: [email protected]
Q. Li and C. Gerstl-Pepin (eds.), Survival of the Fittest, New Frontiers of Educational Research, DOI: 10.1007/978-3-642-39813-1_9, Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg 2014
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the leaders of top-ranked Chinese institutions as they build world-class research universities. Professional development, especially university faculty development, is a growing priority in many parts of the world (Chism et al. 2010). As higher education expands across the globe, its success depends to a great extent on quality assurance (Lee et al. 2011), and professional development for university faculty and administrators is a key step in fostering quality. It is often academic developers from countries with well-established higher education institutions who are asked to provide professional development for those in newly-established institutions in other parts of the world (or for those in established institutions for whom professional development initiatives are relative new). Lee et al. (2011) have written about best practices for experts from well-established institutions attending international conferences and consulting with colleagues at relatively new institutions. This chapter concerns best practices for hosting interna
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