The ‘internationalisation agenda’ and the rise of the Chinese university: Towards the inevitable erosion of academic freedom?

Abstract

This essay is a critical reflection on the challenge to academic freedom presented by the globalisation of practices of knowledge production. It explores a tension within the logic of the internationalisation agenda: UK universities are premised upon forms of knowledge production whose roots lie in European Enlightenment values of rationalism, empiricism and universalism, yet partnerships are growing with universities premised on rather different, non-liberal and, perhaps, incommensurable values. Therefore, in advancing the internationalisation agenda in non-liberal environments, UK-based scholars find themselves caught between a rock and a hard place: either legitimising and sustaining the subjection of knowledge production to the state on one hand, or engaging in a form of epistemological colonialism by demanding adherence to ‘our values’ on the other. Using Chinese research culture as an illustration, the article contributes to ongoing debate on the ethics of social science research collaboration with universities based in contrasting epistemological cultures.

Keywords

China decolonisation epistemology illiberalism internationalisation university

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