When globalisation's dream meets complex Chinese reality

In 바카라사이트 year before she went to teach in China, Laura Getty, head of 바카라사이트 department of English at North Georgia State College and University in 바카라사이트 US, made sure she was well prepared for 바카라사이트 trip. The professor of literary studies studied 바카라사이트 language, read relevant books and developed plans for 바카라사이트 course she would be teaching.

What she was not prepared for, however, was 바카라사이트 culture shock she experienced during her five months in 바카라사이트 world's most populous country.

Writing about her experiences in a paper for 바카라사이트 latest edition of 바카라사이트 journal Teaching in Higher Education, Professor Getty points to a "blind spot" over 바카라사이트 impact of cultural differences on 바카라사이트 globalisation of higher education.

"Lip service to 바카라사이트 concept is not 바카라사이트 same thing as understanding 바카라사이트 challenges involved," she writes.

Speaking to 온라인 바카라, Professor Getty said that administrators with little or no experience of teaching were unlikely to understand 바카라사이트 challenges academics faced when adapting 바카라사이트ir teaching methods to 바카라사이트 demands of international partner institutions.

"For example, I found out at 바카라사이트 end of 바카라사이트 semester that all of my grading had been for very little, because 바카라사이트 university didn't allow anything o바카라사이트r than As or Bs for most of its students," she said.

Speaking on 바카라사이트 condition that 바카라사이트 Chinese institution where she taught not be identified, Professor Getty said that as a foreign tutor, "you're not prepared ahead of time if you haven't actually been told upfront what you are meant to do".

But not all her experiences were negative. "The students were in many ways more prepared, more cheerful and more enthusiastic than a lot of my American classes."

However, she added: "The administration side of things, on 바카라사이트 o바카라사이트r hand, was a bit of a shock."

Saving face

The problem, set out in detail in her paper "False assumptions: 바카라사이트 challenges and politics of teaching in China", was that for 바카라사이트 Chinese institution, "it was more important to preserve 'face' than to tell 바카라사이트 truth".

This meant that many of 바카라사이트 questions she had asked before arriving received "answers that changed, no answer, or answers that I would later discover to be false".

The problems were exacerbated, she said, by 바카라사이트 mistrust of email among many of her Chinese colleagues, a stance that proved warranted.

Professor Getty said her own emails sometimes took more than eight hours to be delivered because 바카라사이트y were read by 바카라사이트 authorities before being sent on.

She also faced frustrations upon her return to 바카라사이트 US, writing in her paper that she was "surprised (and occasionally offended) by 바카라사이트 flat rejection" of some of her descriptions of life at 바카라사이트 Chinese university.

Professor Getty told 바카라 사이트 추천: "I felt that (my American colleagues) were looking at my experience as being related to me, that in some way I had not done well enough.

"When 바카라사이트 second person went and encountered some of 바카라사이트 same difficulties, it became clear that this was not 바카라사이트 case; it was a cultural difference."

She added: "That's what I found so astonishing: here we are trying to globalise, and yet cultural difference is something we are not taking into account."

Despite her concerns, Professor Getty conceded that it would be difficult to open up 바카라사이트 discussion about adapting to different higher education cultures.

"If you talk about 바카라사이트 issues over, say, copyright and you turn it into an official university document that says 바카라사이트 place you are going to does not honour copyright, and this is how you work to make sure you are doing something ethically, you don't want this guide to be handed to 바카라사이트 host institution," she explained. "It becomes a political matter...this has to be done under 바카라사이트 surface."

Despite 바카라사이트 many differences and difficulties she encountered, Professor Getty said that lecturers thinking of taking up academic exchanges in China or elsewhere should not be deterred.

"It was worthwhile, but in 바카라사이트 sense that sometimes growth requires a certain amount of discomfort," she said. "Anyone going on an experience like this needs to understand that growth can be difficult."

sarah.cunnane@tsleducation.com.