Thursday, July 23, 2015

Are U.S.A. hiring processes relevant in other nations?

A job posting at Wenzhou-Kean University in China is raising concerns about different criteria being imposed in hiring at international partner campuses of U.S.A. universities. Specifically, the job posting expresses preference for candidates with Chinese Communist Party membership. Staff at Kean University (New Jersey), the U.S.A. partner, are affiliated with the New Jersey AFT which has criticized the posting as violating anti-discrimination agreements and raising concern over whether or not WKU has the academic freedoms advocated at universities in the U.S.A.

The concerns being raised demonstrate tensions that are present at many campuses that partner between the U.S.A. and other nations. Three questions come to mind:

  1. To what degree should U.S.A. laws, policies, and practices be observed when a U.S.A. entity is operating outside of the country?
  2. What local/cultural adaptations should be expected in partnerships between U.S.A. institutions and entities in other countries (WKU is a dual-degree)? The point in the WKU job postings are that they are for residence halls and discipline, both areas typically staffed in China by cultural officers who are Communist Party members.
  3. What should U.S.A. institutions expect in relation to their role in changing the international locations where they are going?
A distinguished law professor at the University of Houston is quoted in the article as advocating that U.S.A. institutions should not "acquiesce to regimes that need us more than we need them."

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