View metadata, citation and similar papers at core.ac.uk brought to you by CORE provided by ASU Digital Repository A Case Study of One Confucius Institute: A China-U.S. University Synergistic Collaboration by Mengying Li A Dissertation Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for the Degree Doctor of Philosophy Approved February 2012 by the Graduate Supervisory Committee: Alfredo G. de los Santos Jr., Co-Chair Terrence Wiley, Co-Chair Gustavo Fischman ARIZONA STATE UNIVERSITY May 2012 ABSTRACT Universities have been increasingly engaged in international collaborations with peer institutions overseas. In recent years, Confucius Institutes have emerged as a new model of collaboration between American universities and Chinese universities. In an attempt to identify factors contributing to successful international university collaborations, this study used the case study method and focused on one Confucius Institute between MMU, an American University, and ZZU, a Chinese university, and intended to identify factors leading to the success of the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration. The study investigated the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration within the framework of the MMU- ZZU institutional partnership. Based on data collected from the institutional documents, interviews, site visits and news reports, this study examined the experiences and perceptions of the university's stakeholders involved in creating and sustaining this particular Confucius Institute, including stakeholders at the program level, at the college level, and at the institutional level both at MMU and ZZU. Using the glonacal agency heuristics framework, the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration was a result of joint forces of stakeholders at the program level, at the college level, and at the institutional level from ZZU and MMU. Stakeholders, no matter what level they are and which institution they are affiliated with, had to navigate through the significant differences between them to develop synergy to be successful. Synergy, including vertical synergy developed among stakeholders within each institution and horizontal synergy developed among stakeholders between institutions, turned out to be critical to the i success of the MMU-ZZU CI. The study concluded that synergy in leadership, organizational contexts, stakeholders' resources, and the synergy in the MMU- ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration and the MMU-ZZU institutional partnership, led to the success of the MMU-ZZU Confucius Institute collaboration. ii DEDICATION I dedicate this dissertation to my mother Tie Yang and father Wuqin Li, who have sacrificed so much to give me the opportunity to go to college and to pursue graduate study in a foreign country. I can never repay them for what they have taught me – to work hard, to believe in myself, to care for others, to be optimistic, and to be grateful. iii ACKNOWLEDGMENTS I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to Dr. de los Santos for his unwavering support in the progression of my work. Without the support, guidance, and invaluable suggestions from him, this dissertation would never have been completed. I am so grateful to him for having graciously taken over the role as my chair. He has patiently worked with me through all the twists and turns involved in a project of this type. He is extremely helpful not only with his precious international experience but also with intellectual wisdom that has inspired the final shape of this dissertation. My genuine appreciation also goes to Dr. Wiley, who has helped me tremendously in my professional and personal life. He opened the door for me to scholarship. It was under him that I published my first English article and made my first conference presentation. I still recall when my fellow students and I thanked him for taking us to the conference. He simply replied “If you really want to thank me, pass down this tradition to the next generation”. He is a role model as an excellent scholar, mentor, advisor, and good person. He has nurtured my professional and personal growth over the years and has always been there to help ever since I arrived at ASU. He is a mentor more than in the past years of my doctoral study. His scholarship, leadership and warm personality will be a permanent inspiration to my life. I want to thank Dr. Fischman for his constructive comments, his kind support, and for the manner in which he contributed key inputs that helped me iv organize the main ideas in my dissertation. He is very helpful not only with his knowledge in international higher education but in sharing his reading resources. I have benefited from other professors and staff at ASU and would like to extend my sincere gratitude to them: Drs. Caroline Turner, Joe Tobin, and Robert Fenske. Special thanks to my supervisors Mariko Silver and Stephen Feinson for their support for my doctoral study. In addition, I would like to express my heartfelt thanks to the participants of the study for their generosity in sharing their time and perspectives with me. Lastly, I sincerely thank my family for their love and support throughout this process. Thanks to my mom and dad for their unconditional love and unwavering faith in me over the past many years. Thanks to my husband Feng and parents-in-law for their support and help to take care of my son Eddie and my daughter Ella. Without them, I would not have gone so far in this program. v TABLE OF CONTENTS Page LIST OF TABLES .................................................................................................... xvi LIST OF FIGURES ................................................................................................. xvii CHAPTER 1 INTRODUCTION .................................................................................. 1 Introduction ......................................................................................... 1 Background ......................................................................................... 1 Problem Statement .............................................................................. 2 Research Questions ............................................................................. 4 Significance of the Study .................................................................... 6 Overview of the Methodology ........................................................... 9 Delimitations ..................................................................................... 10 Definitions of Terminology .............................................................. 11 Organization of the Dissertation ....................................................... 14 2 LITERATURE REVIEW .................................................................... 16 Introduction ....................................................................................... 16 The Glonacal Agency Heuristics ...................................................... 16 Definition .................................................................................. 18 Reciprocity ........................................................................ 20 Strength .............................................................................. 21 Layers and conditions ....................................................... 23 Spheres .............................................................................. 24 vi CHAPTER Page Stakehodlers .............................................................................. 25 Rationales .................................................................................. 26 Success factors .......................................................................... 26 Challenges ................................................................................. 27 Summary ................................................................................... 28 A Glonacal Agency Heuristic Perspective: Higher Education in China and the U.S. ........................................................................... 29 The global level ......................................................................... 29 The national level ...................................................................... 26 The institutional level ............................................................... 31 Internationalization ........................................................................... 34 International University Collaborations ........................................... 36 Definitions ................................................................................. 37 Stakehodlers .............................................................................. 39 Rationales .................................................................................. 42 Success factors .......................................................................... 44 Challenges ................................................................................. 45 Hanban and the MMU-ZZU CI ........................................................ 47 Hanban ...................................................................................... 47 The Confucius Institute Project ................................................ 48 Confucius Institutes .................................................................. 49 Application ........................................................................ 49 vii CHAPTER Page Supervision ........................................................................ 51 Operation ..........................................................................