"Local Responsiveness" or "Home Brand"? A Comparative Study of China's Export of International Branch Campuses to Malaysia, Thailand, and Laos: Perspectives from Chinese and Local Staff

Background: The Belt and Road Initiative (BRI) promotes educational exchanges among member countries. China has established over 20 overseas campuses globally by 2023, leading to a significant deployment of Chinese staff in host countries. However, the interaction between Chinese and local staff at these branch campuses presents a strategic paradox: the need to standardize and centralize operations to maintain consistent quality assurance and brand identity with home university, while also adapting to local regulations and partnerships. Given these circumstances, it is essential to explore whether conflicts in values, power and authority, role and responsibility, and other factors arise between local and Chinese staff members in host countries’ higher education institutions, and how they navigate and address these challenges.

Purpose: This study compares China's IBCs established in Laos, Malaysia, and Thailand and examines the both Chinese and local staff perceptions regarding potential conflicts between "local responsiveness" and "home brand," and coping strategies employed to navigate the conflicts in higher education mobility.

Research questions: How do Chinese and local staff in IBCs perceive the maintenance of local responsiveness and the upholding of quality standards of their home universities in the respective contexts of these three countries?

Methodology: This study utilizes a qualitative comparative case study: Lao Soochow University (LSU), Xiamen University Malaysia Campus (XMUMC), and Beijing Language and Culture University Bangkok College (BLCU). A purposive sampling will be employed, selecting three Chinese and three local staff members from each institution, totaling 18 participants. Semi-structured interviews will be conducted, and thematic analysis of the interview transcripts will be performed using NVivo 12.

Excepted outcome: It is expected to offer a deeper understanding of how China’s IBCs more prudent strategies in addressing the challenges of local responsiveness and preserving their "home brand" rather than adopting colonialist approach, despite the potential existence of irreconcilable issues.