A Case Study of Transnational Higher Education Programs in Application-Oriented Chinese Universities: Challenges in Teaching Objectives and Curriculum Design

Over the past decades, transnational higher education (TNHE) in China has experienced rapid growth under the government policy support and the demands of an increasingly globalized environment. Except for independent Sino-foreign cooperative universities, many local Chinese universities have also launched collaborative programs. Comparing with studies in research universities, TNHE programs in application-oriented universities require separate and focused study.

As an initial exploratory effort, this study examines the current state of TNHE programs in application-oriented universities and tries to investigate whether they face similar challenges to those in research universities. By conducting semi-structured interviews, this study has collected basic feedback in a cooperative program at a local application-oriented university in mainland China. The findings show significant differences from previous studies on those programs in research universities. For students, the program is provided primarily as an alternative option for college entrance exam applicants, with minimal distinction from other domestic programs. Based on this limited interest in studying abroad or internationally, the university does not provide long-term courses with foreign faculty or English-language teaching. Therefore, their curriculum design is also similar to non-TNHE programs with the same major. These results suggest that the establishment context and curriculum design of TNHE programs in application-oriented universities still require further research and development to better align with their unique objectives.