China v. U.S.A. rivalry could impact higher education

The President of the National University of Singapore warned that the tensions between China and the U.S.A. could impact higher education in Asia. The rivalry between the two super-powers could disrupt research and other collaboration as smaller countries in Asia navigate a path that allows for continuing relations with the two competitors.

While warning of broader problems throughout Asia, the NUS President continues to focus on making sure that his institution is in the best possible position. Concerns for stability and preeminence as an elite institution harken back to the controversy of NUS parting ways with Yale University. The decision was criticized by some as arbitrary and ill-timed but consideration was evidently underway further back than most realized. NUS reported that expansion of curriculum beyond just those enrolled in the Yale-partnered program was the objective. This expansion is underway as well as other innovations such as offering a grade-free year (similar to MIT's first-year strategy). The grade-free year allows students to explore more diverse subjects without the threat of failure while at the same time encouraging students to double-major.

U.S. institutions that have counted on significant enrollment of Chinese students face significant challenges left from the pandemic. As travel restrictions are lifted, recruiters will find changing expectations from prospective Chinese students and families. Shifting federal policies are part of the problem but more important is the loss of confidence in the U.S. as a desirable destination. Recent policy changes invalidating online programs for Chinese students left many of them scrambling for in-person options, which could result in a boost in students from China studying in many other countries.

William C. Kirby's Creating the Modern University from Germany to America to China raises important questions about the potential for China to overtake the primacy of U.S.A. higher education. If the U.S.A. wants to maintain world-wide preeminence it must understand that: institutions can improve and/or decline rapidly (so watch out!), sustained ambition is essential, and elite education and national power and world leadership are engaged in a powerful dialectic.

One measure of China's viability in the international higher education world is its ability to attract scholars who are willing to serve as repatriated Chinese or expatriate intellectuals. China is failing this test thus far. The Young Thousand Talents initiative was designed to  draw scholars particularly in STEM fields to China, resulting in the return of many Chinese who studied abroad and did not return to China but stayed in the U.S.A. or other countries to pursue their careers. Chinese authorities claim that YTT is working but others suggest that improvement of the research infrastructure needs to occur first.

In addition to China's inability to attract scholars, U.S. institutions that previously struck agreements to offer branch programs in China are now experiencing more headwinds. The challenges of operating in China is causing institutions such as Duke University to carefully consider whether or not they will conintue.

FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 raises academic questions

The FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 raised academic freedom concerns related to Qatar's Education City American branch programs. Geoff Harkness, who formerly served in a postdoctoral teaching role for Carnegie Mellon University and Northwestern University in Qatar, commented "The World Cup is a branding opportunity of a lifetime for a country like Qatar... Education, and Education City in particular, is a big part of the image that Qatar is trying to project to the world, using the World Cup as a platform to do so." Harkness claimed he left his teaching roles in 2013 partially due to concerns over academic freedom.

Craig LaMay, who taught and served for a time as the Dean of Northwestern's program, said that he was once ordered to cancel a student event that included a gay performer. As a result, he "remained unconvinced and uncertain about the country's prospects as a higher education destination, noting that a lot of institutions were rethinking the value of international campuses more widely, not just in Qatar."

Another Carnegie Mellon University faculty member, David Busch, reflected on his two years at the Qatar campus. His essay referenced F. Scott Fitzgerald's assertion in "The Crack-Up" that "The test of a first-rate intelligence is the ability to hold two opposed ideas in the mind at the same time, and still retain the ability to function." He went on to describe asking students in his class to debate the historical record of race in the U.S.A. and a current pressing public policy issue. The students explored the same issues related to Qatar on a second day. The example was used to demonstrate Fitzgerald's thesis that first-rate intelligence could see both the negative and positive aspects of the two governments. Busch assessed the debate about the U.S.A. as effective but he was disappointed in the defensiveness he observed when it came to Qatar, supporting the Fitzgerald thesis in one case but not in the other. When exploring whether or not teaching in Qatar was effective or defensible, Busch cited Fitzgerald again - "I must hold in balance the sense of the futility of effort... and the sense of the necessity to struggle."

Having worked for Qatar Foundation and interacted with faculty and students of branch programs on a regular basis from 2007-14, I recognize the tensions that Harkness and LaMay expressed. I saw the tensions somewhat differently as a result of my working directly with QF and Qatari colleagues where faculty working for the branches have much less contact with the real people and leaders of the country. My view is that significant change has been, and continues to be, underway. A deep encounter of cultural perspectives like that of U.S.A. academic institutions in an Islamic monarchy is destined to have points of conflict on everything from recognition of LGBTQ+ rights to free speech and more. The point for me was and continues to be that the change process is underway and that it requires adaptive responses among everyone and every institution involved.