Higher education beyond SDG 4: China’s scholarship provision in the Global South

Yuan, Tingting

Abstract

In international development of education, the United Nation’s Sustainable Development Goal four monitors the scholarships offered by Western donors to developing countries. This paper, based on a qualitative study with 43 students from 26 developing countries, examined the foreign students’ perceptions of Chinese scholarships. By looking at students’ scholarship application, university experience and post-study plans, the findings revealed a centralised multi-level scholarship system, in particular attracting post-graduate students. The language of instruction in both Chinese and English, knowledge in shared development contexts and the perceived good value for future career had a combined effect to the students’ experience. In considering education as a cultural political economic ensemble in the global context, the paper concluded that China’s scholarship and higher education practice, serving the country’s soft power and representing South-South Cooperation, contributed to the global education targets from both quantity and quality dimensions but could step further towards education for social and global justice.

Citation

Yuan, T. (2022). Higher education beyond SDG 4: China’s scholarship provision in the Global South. International Journal of Chinese Education, 11(3), 1-20. https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X221136735

• Journal Article Type: Article
• Acceptance Date: Oct 17, 2022
• Online Publication Date: Oct 25, 2022
• Publication Date: Sep 1, 2022
• Deposit Date: Oct 18, 2022
• Publicly Available Date: Oct 26, 2022
• Journal: International Journal of Chinese Education
• Print ISSN: 2212-585X
• Electronic ISSN: 2212-5868
• Publisher: Brill Academic Publishers
• Peer Reviewed: Peer Reviewed
• Volume: 11
• Issue: 3
• Pages: 1-20
• DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/2212585X221136735
• Keywords: Education
• Public URL: https://nottingham-repository.worktribe.com/output/12614942
• Publisher URL: https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/10.1177/2212585X221136735