Longitudinal impact of visiting scholarships on the professional practice of scholars from China An eSTEeM project Mark Endean & Daphne Chang School of Engineering & Innovation, STEM

What are OU scholars?

Policy towards visiting academics The Open University (OU) has always welcomed a wide variety of visiting academics and values the contributions which can be made by them. We encourage the appointment of such individuals, including non-academic specialists working with OU academics in areas such as research impact and enterprise. http://www.open.ac.uk/about/main/sites/www.open.ac.uk.about.main/files/files/Visiting-Academic-Policy-June-2017.pdf

Where do our scholars come from?

Distance Education in China 1953 Correspondence education 1960 Radio & TV education 1981 State examination system for self-study learners 1998 Online Education Courtesy Bai Bin, Beijing Normal University

‘Modern Distance Education’ in China 1998 Chinese MoE endorsed online education (MDE) 1998 MoE accredited 4 universities 1999 MoE accredited another 2 universities 2000 MoE accredited another 25 universities 2001 MoE accredited another 14 universities 2002 MoE accredited another 22 universities 2003 MoE accredited another 1 universities Courtesy Bai Bin, Beijing Normal University

Total of 68 recognised ‘online colleges’ 67 general universities MDE 1998–2018 Total of 68 recognised ‘online colleges’ 67 general universities China Central Radio TV University (CCRTVU) Courtesy Bai Bin, Beijing Normal University

1000 municipal RTVUs (formerly ‘branch schools’) The RTVU network 44 Provincial RTVUs 1000 municipal RTVUs (formerly ‘branch schools’) 2000 county-level RTVUs (formerly ‘work stations’) 60 000 tutorial centres

Started in 2010 – Education Reform Plan 6 RTVUs change to OUs New OU System Started in 2010 – Education Reform Plan 6 RTVUs change to OUs CCRTVU = OU China (OUC) Beijing OU Shanghai OU Jiangsu OU Guangdong OU Yunnan OU Change from 2012 OUC in process of forming alliances with PRTVUs

Some former scholars’ origins CCRTVU/OUC (21) Anhui RTVU (1) Guangxi RTVU (2) Guizhou RTVU (1) Sichuan RTVU (1) Xi’an RTVU (1) Beijing Open University (4) Beijing Normal University (2) East China Normal University (1) Peking University (Telemedical School) (2) Shanghai JiaoTong University (7) South China Normal University (1) Zhejiang University (2)

What did we do?

How did the scholars benefit from their time at the OU? Research questions How did the scholars benefit from their time at the OU? What influence did the scholar have on their ‘community’ post visit? How does the OU benefit from welcoming and supporting scholars?

Approach Email to make initial contact and brief participants ‘Priming’ contact form to establish baseline information and negotiate contact arrangements Semi-structure interviews to gather qualitative data on individuals’ motivation, experience, perspective, value and reflection over a period of time Beijing May 2018 chosen because of high concentration of visiting scholars 9 interviews Beijing and Shanghai November 2018 5 further interviews

What have we found out (so far)?

good balance between early, mid and late career scholars Scholar profiles 6 male participants 8 female participants good balance between early, mid and late career scholars cross section of academic and academic-related staff

Early Findings Lasting personal, institutional and national impacts Personal impacts personal growth job promotion positive influences on teaching practices Institutional impacts improvement of systems, practices, staff becoming more motivated/innovative better scholarship/academic outputs better staff development opportunities raised international profile National impacts some evidence to suggest that the ODL sector has became more outward

Unintended outcomes As a result of our findings, our initially inward-looking study revealed the profound influence the OU has had on many DE communities and has triggered a number of initiatives to promote inter-community collaboration.

THANK YOU

Workshop session

Discussion points What aspects of international collaboration have you heard about today (or know about already) that you could engage in to enhance your professional practice?  What needs to change in order to allow that to happen?  How could the University more actively promote international collaboration for the purposes of professional development?  Anything else?