Glocal Tensions in Transnational Higher Education in China: The Case of a Foundation Year in a Sino-Foreign Cooperative University

Abstract

The paper argues that glocalisation can offer an interpretative lens to understand transnational education and it applies this perspective to a case study of a foundation year delivered through a transnational partnership in China. It builds on the literature that frames transnational education in China as a hybrid or cultural mixture, largely shaped by a regulatory framework that requires educational partnerships in the mainland to involve both local and overseas institutions. The concept of glocalisation fosters analytical strategies that examine the different ways in which local, national and global forces interpenetrate, refract and generate tensions. The case study demonstrates that a foundation year in China is not simply a replication of similar formats developed in the United Kingdom. Through examples of tensions surrounding the use of English as a medium of instruction, attendance monitoring, the reception of Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) ideals, and the development of AI policies, the study highlights significant processes of divergence between the foundation year delivered at the Chinese campus and similar programmes at the overseas institution. The paper concludes that individual agency and creativity play a key role in mediating these tensions within local arrangements.