Integration or Re-mobility: Exploring the Typology of Academic Returnees’ Post-return Experiences in Chinese Universities from the Cultural Assimilation Perspective

Abstract

In this century, Chinese overseas-educated academics have been attracted to return to their homeland to reverse the brain drain trend in China. However, many studies have found that these academic returnees may face difficulty reintegrating upon returning. This study examines the complexity of academic returnees’ post-return integration process in Chinese universities via the cultural assimilation theory perspective. Twenty-nine in-depth semi-structured interviews with academic returnees from eight top universities in Shanghai and Guangzhou were conducted. In our analysis, academic returnees perceived two obstacles to their cultural integration after returning: the mismatch in valuing research outputs and the barriers to forming a trustworthy local research community. According to their reactions to perceived challenges and given rationales, we categorized returnees’ post-return integration processes into three patterns: integration, enclavement, and self-separation. We suggest that institutionalized practices to cultivate mutual understandings between returnees and local academia regarding overseas-developed academic culture and its distinction with dominant values and norms in the local academic community are imperative to facilitate academic returnees’ post-return integration.