September 2009 — Volume 3, Issue 5

Transnational education for Chinese educators

With increasing numbers of international students transnational education has become an important issue for Australian universities.

As a bilingual and bicultural academic Dr Ting Wang is well qualified to develop transnational education programs, as she has done since 2001. Her work as course convenor of the University of Canberra’s Master of Educational Leadership Hangzhou program has now been nationally recognised by an ALTC Citation.

The bilingual masters program, taught at Hangzhou Normal University in China’s Zhejiang province, promotes leadership in education by investigating various perspectives, theories and concepts of educational leadership practice.

Dr Wang says she encourages exchanges of diverse perspectives and supports students to build new frameworks rather than simply accepting imported wisdom. Her approach challenges students to critically examine Western leadership ideas in the Chinese context and to develop their intercultural competency.

The course in China is taught by the same teachers as the onshore program to ensure the quality of the content and has the additional support of four local co-teachers.

“On the one hand we need to maintain the equivalence [between the onshore and offshore programs] and on the other we need to pay attention to the local cultural and political context. So in China we also incorporate
some of the literature about Chinese educational leadership development.

“Our principle is to provide the students with context specific and transferable assessments. Students are asked to relate their assessment closely to their workplace context. As professionals they need to see the relevance.”

Most of the program’s Chinese students are educational leaders ranging from school principals to directors of provincial education departments, through to deans and university presidents. Many are high-profile policy makers who look after education in their region.

The current cohort includes the deputy mayor of Hangzhou city and Dr Wang says that so far all the current
directors and deputy directors of the Hangzhou bureau of education have passed through the program.

Consistently receiving positive feedback and high ratings, the program is reviewed by the
Chinese Ministry of Education every two to three years and has been acknowledged as having a national impact. Now because of its reputation for top quality learning and teaching, the two universities have signed an amendment to their agreement to double the annual intake of students in the program. This year there are nearly 120 students. There has also been interest from other Chinese universities to set up similar programs.

Dr Wang says the program has only been possible with the support of both universities at all levels.

“In China it is important to get high level support. We have established a very good professional relationship with the president of Hangzhou Normal University who has played a very important role in securing the
success of this program.”

Dr Wang also acknowledges the significant contribution of her team of Australian academics and local teachers.

“We couldn’t have such a successful program without their strong support and dedication.”