Internationalization: Chinese Communist Party & Western Education (Part 2)

The first installment of this three-part series presents reasons to be cautious in forming higher education (HE) internationalization relationships with China. Much of the evidence is based on my seven years of living in China, while studying its (higher) education system, teaching at levels from middle school to university, owning a private education business, and hosting 100s of hours of Philosophy Club (an open face-to-face forum for philosophical discussion of myriad topics raised by attendees).

In a nutshell, the reasons for recommending caution are that the Chinese Communist Party (CCP) does not subscribe to fundamental values which instruct HE pedagogy and policy in the West – e.g., Anglo-American, European, and Australian. These differences in values should not be tolerated or compromised and under the CCP there are no feasible means by which they can be changed through domestic action or international cooperation. Part one also presents the PSA model as a way for the West to reduce the current substantial reliance on HE export to China and thereby escape the actual and potential value compromises associated with such internationalization.

This second post considers a defense of China as an internationalization partner. The defense comes from, Fei Xiaotong (费孝通), who having lived through the early emergence of modern China was to become a notable social anthropologist and political apologist. In the second stage of his career, up to his death in 2005 at the age of ninety-four, Fei advocated for what he called, “harmony within diversity.” During this time, he disparaged the Western approach to international and national (hereafter, (inter)national) harmonization, while offering what he claimed to be a superior approach grounded in Chinese philosophy, politics, policy, and practice.

Internationalization: Chinese Communist Party & Western Education (Part 1)

This is the first post in a three-part series that explores why nations such as the United States, Canada, Britain, Australia, Norway, Finland, France, Demark, Germany, and the like – what will hereafter be referred to as the “West” – should be very cautious about forming higher education (HE) relationships with China. At the same time, it explains how, compared to the higher education institution (HEI) model of universities and colleges, PSA can better serve internationalization goals while protecting the Western ethos of HE. Initial discussion emphasizes socio-political considerations and then turns to economic, while both sections engage academics.

Parts two and three of this series respond to social anthropologist Fei Xiaotong’s (费孝通) cultural self-awareness strategy for (inter)national harmonization and his claim that (Communist) China offers a better model for internationalization than does the West.

China Higher Education: A PSA Translation

This is a first attempt to apply the PSA model to Chinese higher education (HE). As with all translations, there is room for revision to achieve greater accuracy and precision. Further, the current western model dominates our conception of how HE is provided and gives central place to higher education institutions (HEIs) in the form of colleges and universities. The PSA model does not and so such preconceptions must be set aside in order to appreciate the translation.

Open Letter to Sean Faircloth

Dear Mr Faircloth,

My name is Shawn Warren.  I am a Canadian with a PhD in philosophy and a decade of experience as an adjunct.  I have in development an alternative model for the provision of higher education that I believe can further the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science (RDFRS) Mission:

The mission of the Richard Dawkins Foundation for Reason and Science is to support scientific education, critical thinking and evidence-based understanding of the natural world in the quest to overcome religious fundamentalism, superstition, intolerance and suffering.

Link to my blog and an initiation document:  http://professionalsocietyofacademics.blogspot.ca/2013/07/a-new-tender-for-higher-education.html

The current model for the service is a triad of accredited institutions (universities and colleges), public finance and union labour representation that cannot be sustained and exploits academics and students - as evinced most recently in the fate of the City College of San Francisco, California.

I believe the professional model in use by physicians, attorneys, engineers, accountants and others for the provision of their valued services can be successfully used to provide higher education.  Both the institutional and professional models are forms of social contract for service, only the professional stands to put into circulation many more academics than can be accommodated by the bottle-neck of institutional employ and service facilitation.

Higher education would reorient toward the individual relationships that matter (e.g., student/teacher) and away from institutions (e.g., universities and colleges) that do not.  I believe offering the service through licensed academics in professional society and private practice would also significantly reduce the cost of the service, while improving completion rates, quality, innovation and price competition in the service - all without loss of the face-to-face education characteristic of technological solutions such as MOOCs.

If the mission of RDFRS is to spread rational thought - a cause dear to philosophers’ hearts - then as we know (higher) education is a primary means.  At the moment 100s of thousands of individuals in California alone (not to mention 100+ million individuals world-wide) are on waiting lists with no access to higher education: an acknowledged right and source of culture and instruction in the rational.

If we could improve global access to higher education, we could better achieve the Mission - not to mention the numerous other benefits I believe the professional model can deliver.   

I hope that you find this work of use.  If you have any questions about the model or how I believe it might help realize the RDFRS Mission, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Sincerely,

Shawn Warren

Higher Education in the Social Economy

This is naked thinking on systemic higher education reform aimed at moving higher education from the capitalist to the social economy. It discusses use of the existing co-operative service/business model as a plausible global strategic response to the crisis in higher education, with some notes on integrating elements of the professional service/business model.

The Right to Earn a Living in a System with Free Higher Education: Part 2

The first part of this extended argument combines a basic maxim of rights with advantages of the professional service paradigm to show that continued use of the triad is a violation of the unenumerated right of academics to earn a living.

This leg focuses on the positive nature of enumerated rights articled in the International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights and the United Nations International Declaration of Human Rights.

Canada, France, Germany, India, the UK and US have ratified these rights documents. These and other signatories who use the triad stand in breach of two articles with explicit reference to higher education:

The Right to Earn a Living in a System with Free Higher Education: Part 1

There are two human rights related here in argument, one enumerated the other not. The first is the much debated unenumerated right to earn a living. The other is the less publicized but recognized right to free higher education.

The current system violates both without excuse. These violations prevent academics from earning a living in a higher education system free of tuition or public expense. 

Economic Argument for the Professional Model

There are several lines of argument that favour the professional model for higher education over the current triad model of institutional service providers (universities/colleges), government funding and union labour representation - with intersection on topics such as economics, labour, stewardship, access, and ethics.

The following argument is economic and has important implications for higher education labour conditions, access and ethics.

"Enrollments Grow, but More Slowly" - Inside Higher Ed

http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2012/03/28/us-data-show-rate-enrollment-growth-slowing-2009-10

"Winning the Global War for Tech Talent" - Harvard Business Review Blog Network

http://blogs.hbr.org/cs/2012/04/winning_the_global_war_for_tec.html#disqusComments

"How to recruit international students in China" - The Guardian UK

http://www.guardian.co.uk/higher-education-network/blog/2012/mar/27/recruiting-students-from-china?commentpage=1&msg=a#end-of-comments

"Chinese Students Account for About Half of All International Applicants to U.S. Graduate Programs" - The Chronicle of Higher Education

http://chronicle.com/article/Chinese-Students-Account-for/131416/