Understanding and practices of global competence in Sino-foreign cooperative universities

Abstract

In this new era of multiploidization, economic globalization, and cultural diversification, countries are actively advocating the joint construction of a community of shared futures for mankind. This value has led countries pay more attention on global competence (GC). To nurture GC, different higher education institutions have been in action. The nine Sino-foreign cooperative universities (SFCUs) have made outstanding achievements in the cultivation of international talents. However, few studies have assessed how these SFCUs correspond to GC. Therefore, qualitative content analysis was conducted to identify talent cultivation in SFCUs by analyzing the objectives and curriculum documents collected from the websites of these universities. Firstly, the five representative indicator systems were summarised based on the logic of modular elements, subject-object relationships, and action procedures and 20 operational indicators. Second, the objectives of SFCUs were compared to the GC indicators and found to be highly aligned with GC. Finally, the curricula were organized into language courses, literacy courses, and applied courses, which aligned with 20 indicators of GC, reflecting the cultivation of various aspects such as students' global thinking, knowledge of the world's humanities, adaptability, creativity, leadership, respect for cultural diversity, and concern for cultural diversity. This indicator system can support the global competence cultivation of universities in China, creating better alignment with global competence indicators. The results of the study on nine SFCUs can help us understand the current status of global competence in talent cultivation of these universities, and provide recommendation for SFCUs to optimise their talent cultivation strategies.