Push and pull factors influencing Mainland Chinese MEd students in Hong Kong

2019 ◽  
Vol 33 (7) ◽  
pp. 1539-1560 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Cheung ◽  
Xin Guo ◽  
Xiaorui Wang ◽  
Zhuang Miao

Purpose The purpose of this paper is to examine the key factors affecting Mainland Chinese students pursuing a Master of Education degree in Hong Kong on their study abroad decision and return intentions. Design/methodology/approach The current study employed a mixed-methods approach to investigate factors that affect Mainland Chinese students pursuing MEd degrees in Hong Kong. Participants were first invited to fill out a questionnaire. After collecting and analyzing the survey data, in-depth interviews with a selected group of students were carried out by the research team to obtain useful qualitative data to triangulate the survey findings. A purposeful and convenience sampling method, carried out through the personal network of the research team, was used to recruit MEd Mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong to participate in the current study. Findings The findings provided compelling evidence that Hong Kong was an attractive study destination to this particular group of MEd Chinese students. The findings also indicated that academic factors were more important than social, cultural and economic factors when it came to choosing their study destination. In contrast to previous studies, participants expressed a much stronger desire to return home upon graduation. The three most influential predictors of their decision to return were the lack of a Hong Kong teaching certificate (r=+0.36), the opportunity to contribute to their hometown (r=+0.31) and the inclination to be closer to family and friends (r=+0.20). Originality/value While a number of studies have been carried out to study why Mainland Chinese students chose Hong Kong as their study destination to pursue their teacher training degree, none of these studies focused exclusively on fee-paying MEd Chinese students. Hong Kong is facing keen competition from both traditional host countries and emerging host countries to recruit students from Mainland China. It is therefore crucial to understand the needs of these Mainland Chinese students in a competitive, globalized, tertiary education market, as the satisfaction of students, in the form of positive discussion among alumni, promotes a university’s reputation and sustains its advantage in attracting students.

2017 ◽  
Vol 6 (3) ◽  
pp. 290-302 ◽  
Author(s):  
Timothy Wai Wa Yuen ◽  
Alan Chi Keung Cheung ◽  
Ping Man Wong

Purpose Mainland Chinese students (hereafter called Mainland students) are a major source of international student applications. Some countries have initiated policies to enable Mainland students to stay and work after graduation. Additions to the literature, particularly more country-specific studies, are much needed to cast light on the employment issues for such Mainland students overseas. The purpose of this paper is to fill this gap by focussing on Mainland students who have completed teacher education programmes in Hong Kong and then served as teachers in Hong Kong schools (Mainland teachers). The incentives that attracted them to stay and work in Hong Kong and the challenges they faced were examined. Their future plans were also probed. Design/methodology/approach The study adopted a mixed methodology. Data collection comprised both a questionnaire survey and interviews. The semi-structured interviews provided opportunities for respondents to explain their answers, to narrate and widen the scope of data to areas hitherto unanticipated by the researchers. Findings Mainland teachers were attracted to stay on in Hong Kong to work for both intrinsic and extrinsic reasons. They were in fact settlers. They found the programmes they had taken to be practical and believed that they had acquired a niche situation in the teaching profession. Working and living in Hong Kong was satisfying, but some experienced social distance from local colleagues. Originality/value The paper can be read with reference to countries that recruit Mainland students and there is a possibility that some of them may stay behind to work. It sheds light on the selection criteria of such students, on ways to enrich their programmes, as well as their employment, living and social integration issues.


2000 ◽  
Vol 34 (01n02) ◽  
pp. 57-72 ◽  
Author(s):  
晓东 岳 ◽  
成荣 黄 ◽  
宙桥 张

本研究抽样调查了763名香港和中国大陆(南京、长沙和南通)中学生对自己偶像人物的看法。首先,受访者需提名三名其生活中最钦佩的人物,然后就其可成为个人之偶像或榜样的程度打分(1=最低,10=最高)。其后,受访者需填写一个26道题目的问卷,其中涉及个人在偶像崇拜方式、取向和选择方式的差异。结果表明,香港中学生主要提名娱乐界名人(如歌坛、体坛和演艺界名人)为其偶像,而中国大陆的中学生主要提名思想界名人(如著名政治家、科学家、文学家、企业家等)。此外,香港中学生所选择的偶像相当单一化和商业化,而中国大陆中学生所选择的偶像则相当多元化和政治化。最后,香港中学生在偶像崇拜中很看重偶像的浪漫性和性感特徵,而中国大陆中学生在偶像崇拜中很看重偶像的人格和思想性特徵。本文在结尾就香港和中国大陆青少年在偶像崇拜的差异进行了深入的探讨。 The present study examined how youths in Hong Kong and mainland China view idols in life; 763 high school students in Hong Kong, Nanjing, Changsha and Nantong (Tibetan students) participated in the study. They were first required to nominate three most admired people in their lives and rate them based on degrees to which these people could become their idols and models. Then, they were required to complete a 25-item questionnaire that examined their differences in manners, motives and perceived influence of idol worship. Hong Kong students mostly nominated recreational celebrities in the entertainment and sports industries while mainland Chinese students mostly nominated ideological celebrities in politics and academics. The most admired people nominated by mainland Chinese youths were a lot more diverse than those nominated by the Hong Kong youths. Hong Kong students were more interested in romantic and sexual characteristics while mainland Chinese students were more interested in personality and ideological characteristics of those whom they admire. The different idol worship cultures in Hong Kong and mainland China may be attributed to a strong commercialisation of adolescent idol worship culture in Hong Kong and a strong ideological identification of adolescent idol worship culture in mainland China.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Maggi W. H. Leung ◽  
Johanna L. Waters ◽  
Yutin Ki

AbstractAround 30,000 children living in Shenzhen, Mainland China cross the border to Hong Kong to attend school every day. This paper focuses on the school as a key meso-level organisation that mediates macro-level policies and micro-level everyday life experiences among these children and their families. We advocate a relational, spatial perspective, conceptualising schools as webs of intersecting physical, social and digital spaces, where differences between the “locals” and “others” are played out, negotiated and (re)produced, and in turn giving rise to specific (and understudied) geographies of in/exclusion. Drawing on our qualitative research, we offer a close reading of three exemplary school spaces: (i) the physical classroom and school grounds, (ii) the digital classroom, and (iii) at the school gate. Our findings demonstrate the complex and at times contradictory ways in which “the school” is a place of both inclusion and exclusion. It is a dynamic and power-traversed space where social differences between the “locals” and the “others” are played out, contested and redefined continuously.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Chung Shing Chan ◽  
Birgit Pikkemaat ◽  
Dora Agapito ◽  
Qinrou Zhou

Purpose This paper aims to present the host experience of student hosts in Hong Kong, a popular educational destination for international students from mainland China and other countries. This study examines the interconnection between the experience-based and sociocultural dimensions of visiting friends and relatives (VFR) travel, considering the overall host experience, the host–guest relationship and post-hosting changes in perception of both the VFR experience and destination. Design/methodology/approach This research adopts a qualitative approach to compare the experience-based and sociocultural dimensions of VFR travel considering international university students as VFR hosts in Hong Kong, taking a student sample from both mainland Chinese and overseas students. Based on a voluntary sampling approach, the research team had face-to-face interviews with the students that agreed to participate. The interviews were conducted voluntarily and anonymously and included those students who had hosted any friends or relatives in the past 12 months. A total of 26 interviews were successfully completed, including 10 mainland Chinese and 16 non-mainland Chinese students. Findings The results confirm that the VFR host experience is generally shaped by an integration of internal characteristics (sociocultural characteristics of both hosts and visitors) and external environment (urban infrastructure and tourism resources). The two groups distinctively express their host experience that shows some areas of cultural barriers and geographical proximity. Research limitations/implications The limitations of this research mainly lie on its relatively small sample size because of constraints in accessing the contact information of international students across universities. These shortcomings should be improved by adopting a research design that uses other sampling approaches, such as snowball sampling, to include a wider scope of students from different local universities, or convenience sampling, to interview and compare responses of international students from various educational destinations. Alternative data sources may be considered, for example, through user-generated contents from online and social media platforms that contain sharing of students as hosts. Practical implications The geographical and cultural proximities influence VFR tourism development and social construction of values and the consequent hosting behaviour. The unique role of international students should be further explored, especially in the Asian context. The outcome of VFR travel must be evaluated and studied more from cultural and personal dimensions than economic gain, which should be relevant to host perspective such as improved quality of life, social ties and place attachment and psychological benefits. The changing risk perception caused by the COVID-19 pandemic may be examined through some forms of travel intention. Social implications Firstly, the destination marketing organisations of the educational destination should address the difficulty faced by student hosts in terms of external attributes such as local culture, urban infrastructure, tourism resources and information accessibility. Secondly, to target the hosts, some specific VFR-related products and services may be developed for international students through local tertiary institutions such that the role of hosts as ambassadors can be facilitated and enhanced. Thirdly, the functional role of international students can be distinctive based on their unique network, activities and knowledge constructed upon learning during the period of education. Originality/value The studentification of many educational destination cities, the dynamism of the role of international students as VFR hosts and their cultural differences between places of origin have provided an opportunity for deepening the understanding of VFR tourism.


Author(s):  
Alan Chi Keung Cheung ◽  
Jocelyn Lai Ngok Wong

The purpose of this chapter is to examine major adjustment challenges facing mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong. Even though a large amount of studies have been carried out to understand adjustment issues of mainland Chinese students studying overseas, few are with students in Hong Kong. This study aims to deepen our understanding of the major adjustment issues of this particular group. The current study employed both quantitative and qualitative methods and included over 300 mainland Chinese students studying in seven major government-funded universities. The findings of this study point to the need that individual tertiary institutions and the Hong Kong government should step up their effort in responding sufficiently and flexibly in meeting the critical needs of these mainland Chinese students by paying additional attention to the quality and accessibility of both education-related services and non-education factors.


Significance The strike is a major escalation of the months-long anti-government protest movement, causing serious economic disruption for the first time and setting a precedent. The government’s suspension of a controversial bill allowing extradition to mainland China has failed to satisfy activists and a significant section of the public. Police today continue to clash with protesters in several locations around the city, resulting in arrests, serious injuries and destruction of public property. Impacts Use of mainland Chinese military riot police is now realistic. The longer protests continue, the more opportunities there are for miscalculation or radical tactics on both sides that deepen animosities. Limited mainland intervention as a last resort still seems more likely than a risky attempt to intimidate using overwhelming force.


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