Re-entry Cultural Adaptation of Foreign-Educated Academics at Chinese Universities

Mingsheng Li; Stephen Croucher; Min Wang

doi:10.36923/jicc.v20i3.308

Open Access Article Intercultural Communication

Mingsheng Li ⁽¹⁾ , Stephen Croucher ⁽²⁾ , Min Wang ⁽³⁾

1. School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University (Wellington Campus), 63 Wallace Street, Mt Cook, Wellington 6021 New Zealand.

2. School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing, Massey University (Wellington Campus), 63 Wallace Street, Mt Cook, Wellington 6021 New Zealand.

3. School of Foreign Languages, Yunnan Minzu University, China

https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v20i3.308

Issue
Vol. 20 No. 3 (2020)

Submitted
2019 March 12

Published
2020 December 10

Keywords:

Re-entry acculturation, cultural identity, returned academics, cultural integration, knowledge transfer

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Abstract

This study investigates the re-entry acculturative experiences and challenges facing foreign-educated returnees working at Chinese universities. Fifteen returnees from five universities in a southwestern province of China participated in semi-structured interviews. The study, using the ABC theoretical framework, highlights the acculturative process of returned academics in terms of role expectations, transformed identities, and cultural learning. The process involves challenges and unmet expectations, including low salaries, heavy workloads, unsupportive administrative bureaucracy, political control, and lack of a healthy academic community culture. The findings show that re-entry acculturation is a never-ending process. Returnees need constantly to realign their expectations and to negotiate and reinterpret shifting realities.

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Authors

Mingsheng Li

M.S.Li@massey.ac.nz (Primary Contact)

Stephen Croucher

Min Wang

Author Biographies

Mingsheng Li

Mingsheng Li, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing at Massey University, New Zealand. His research interests center on intercultural communication, international education, migration, and media studies.

Stephen Croucher

tephen Croucher, PhD, is professor and head of the School of Communication, Journalism and Marketing at Massey University, New Zealand. His research interests include migration, intercultural communication, organizational communication, religion, and communication.

Min Wang

Min Wang, PhD, is an associate professor in the School of Foreign Languages at Yunnan Minzu University, China. Her research areas include intercultural communication, translation studies, and second-language acquisition.

Li, M., Croucher, S., & Wang, M. (2020). Re-entry Cultural Adaptation of Foreign-Educated Academics at Chinese Universities. Journal of Intercultural Communication, 20(3), 1-16. https://doi.org/10.36923/jicc.v20i3.308

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