General Secretary Xi Jinping clearly pointed out in the report of the 19th Party Congress that a large number of strategic scientific and technological talents, leading scientific and technological talents, young scientific and technological talents and high-level innovation teams of international standard should be cultivated. in June 2020, the Opinions of the Ministry of Education and other eight departments on accelerating and expanding the opening up of education to the outside world in a new era were issued, further clarifying the need to promote the modernisation of China’s education and cultivate more globally competitive Talents. Our universities and colleges bear the sacred mission of establishing moral education, educating people for the Party and nurturing talents for the country. They should actively serve the major strategic needs of the country, respond to the demands of the era of talent cultivation, constantly adapt to the development changes, focus on building a new mode of international talent cultivation, and accelerate the cultivation of high-level international talents with global vision.
Changes in the internal and external environment of internationalized talent cultivation in universities in the new era
Response of the times: the importance and urgency of international talent cultivation in universities.
In terms of national demand for talents, the “One Belt, One Road” initiative and the concept of a community of human destiny, as well as the rapid increase in China’s international status, will certainly enable China to play a more important role in the international community and assume greater international responsibilities and obligations. However, there is currently a shortage of high-level talents sent by China to work in international organisations, especially those who hold high-level positions and participate in international agenda-setting and high-level dialogue. According to UN statistics, by the end of 2019, there were 36,574 UN staff members, with only 565 staff members in China, ranking 21st and accounting for 1.54% of the total number of staff. Among them, there are 378 D-level or above positions, and China has only 14 people, ranking 8th. China urgently needs a large number of new international talents with global competencies.
From the perspective of students’ personal development, globalisation has become an important development trend. As builders and successors of socialism with Chinese characteristics in the new era, contemporary university students should not be limited to learning knowledge in the classroom, but should also have a broad global perspective and keep their knowledge enriched and updated to meet the development and changes of the times and society. Globalisation has made more people realise that global competence (the core competency of university students in the 21st century) is one of the key competencies and essential qualities to cope with the future society. By enhancing the global competence of university students through international talent training, we can enable them to move from a knowledge-based approach to a quality-based approach and an ability-based approach, and thus become well-rounded talents. At the same time, it can also help students to embrace other civilisations in the world, based on their local culture, to look at the community of human destiny with a global perspective and international vision, and to participate in the creation of a beautiful new world with practical actions.
Intrinsic perspective: the positioning and role of international talent training work in universities is more clearly defined.
Universities should focus on enhancing the global competence of university students, cultivating a new type of talent team that is more in line with the needs of the times and the demands of society, and providing a broader prospect for the career development of university students. The cultivation of international talents is an important tool for universities to serve the strategic needs of national talents, as it reserves human resources for China’s participation in global governance and international affairs. At the same time, international talent training is an effective way and means to practice talent cultivation work, and it is also an inevitable choice to achieve high-level talent cultivation. To put it simply, international talent cultivation is to achieve the goal of talent cultivation through internationalization means (in a broad sense, including international mobility of personnel, internationalization of teachers, internationalization of curriculum, etc.). The service of talent cultivation and scientific research is the core content of the internationalization work of universities.
From the perspective of global competence, international talents refer to high-level talents who have a sense of home and country, global awareness, international first-class knowledge structure and ability, and can grasp opportunities and fight for initiatives in the global competition. Therefore, the purpose of cultivating global knowledge, skills, attitudes and values for university students is to help them build an international knowledge system, enhance global communication skills, cultivate the spirit of international understanding and develop noble values. In the process of cultivating international talents, universities should not only focus on “all” cultivation, helping all university students to expand their international vision and enhance interdisciplinary and intercultural skills as far as possible, so as to strengthen the foundation of talents to participate in global governance and international affairs; at the same time, they should also take into account “elite” cultivation, and carry out small class teaching or training. At the same time, it is also necessary to take into account the “elite” training, to carry out small class teaching or tailor-made projects, and to focus on cultivating innovative talents who are sentimental and responsible, and who may participate in and be competent for the work of international organisations in the future.
Reality demands: universities must adjust the international talent training mode in the context of the new era.
The international situation has become increasingly complex due to the influence of anti-globalisation thinking and geopolitics. Unilateralism, nationalism and populism dominate the formulation of policies, which directly affect the development of internationalisation of higher education and are difficult to improve in the short term. For example, the US introduced the Safe Campus Act in May 2020, which prohibits mainland Chinese nationals from obtaining visas to pursue graduate and higher degrees from US colleges and universities in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) fields, as well as receiving or participating in US federally funded research and development projects in these fields, and also issued the “Notice on Suspension of Entry of Some International Students and Researchers from the People’s Republic of China as Non-Immigrants” was issued to ban the entry of some Chinese students and researchers on the grounds that “China is threatening the security and interests of the United States by stealing U.S. intellectual property rights through international students and researchers”. On the other hand, the cumulative impact of the ongoing Newcastle pneumonia epidemic has delayed the internationalisation of higher education, and the global flow of students across borders has fallen sharply, even to the extent that the overseas study boom of Chinese students over the past 20 years has largely come to an end.
China, as the world’s largest source of international students and Asia’s largest destination country, has faced continued tests on the internationalisation of education, and the breadth and depth of its opening to the outside world has been severely constrained. At the same time, the Newcastle pneumonia epidemic has created a huge demand for local internationalisation, leading to the rapid emergence of new models such as ‘local internationalisation’ and ‘online education’.
Universities should adjust their international talent cultivation mode in the post-epidemic era
In the post-epidemic era, it is widely believed that the internationalisation of traditional education, with cross-border mobility as the main feature, and the internationalisation of local education, with the curriculum as the core, are organically combined and complement each other in order to promote the rational development of internationalisation of higher education. Of course, this is also determined by the characteristics of the two modes of internationalisation.
The first is the traditional internationalisation of education, which is mainly characterised by transnational (cross-border) mobility. Since the 1980s, it has been widely believed that students studying abroad is the ideal way, or even the only way, for universities to cultivate international talents. As a result, universities in various countries have generally focused on the traditional international talent cultivation model, which is mainly characterised by cross-border mobility of students, and encouraged students to study abroad through study scholarships and student exchange programmes. While cross-border mobility is more engaging and the best way to gain an international experience, it is expensive, less cost-effective, and less likely to lead to a more successful experience. However, features such as high costs, low cost effectiveness and narrow coverage have turned away the vast majority of university students. Some statistics suggest that the number of cross-border students worldwide before the epidemic was in the millions each year, although this represents less than 2% compared to the total number of university students enrolled.
The second is the curriculum-focused in-place internationalisation model. In situ internationalisation, which can also be referred to as local internationalisation or campus internationalisation, is an integral or important branch of internationalisation in education and has a high degree of dependency on internationalisation in education. It is generally defined as all activities related to international affairs that take place in the field of education, with the exception of the movement of students abroad. Internationalisation is rapidly gaining momentum in the field of higher education, with features such as “based on local schools”, “open to all students” and “effective in enhancing the global competence of all students”. The two models of internationalisation are being promoted in tandem.
To promote the development of internationalisation of higher education with both of these internationalisation models, universities are required to improve and refine the ways and means of internationalising talents. Firstly, in the traditional internationalisation programmes based on cross-border mobility, emphasis should be placed on both short-term overseas experience-based programmes and long-term programmes, such as semester-year programmes, credit programmes and internship training in international organisations; secondly, more emphasis should be placed on course-centred in-situ internationalisation programmes, such as international course weeks and online course programmes; thirdly, the role of platforms such as Sino-foreign cooperative programmes and global competence programmes organised by relevant departments of the Ministry of Education should be brought into play. Thirdly, the role of platforms such as Sino-foreign cooperation programmes and global competence programmes organised by the relevant departments of the Ministry of Education should be utilised.
Current universities should pay more attention to internationalisation in the field with the curriculum as the core
The huge impact caused by the epidemic, intertwined with counter-globalization, unilateralism and Sino-US economic and trade friction in recent years, has increased the instability and uncertainty of our external environment. Standing at a new historical starting point, how to cognize and grasp the great changes in the world economic and political landscape and the profound changes in the international order with the scientific spirit of seeking truth from facts and a strong sense of problems, cultivate new opportunities and open up new situations in the midst of the unprecedented changes in a century, and find a way out to turn crises into opportunities is the key to the cultivation of international talents in universities at present.
In the wake of the epidemic, the internationalisation of global higher education will continue, but the complex international situation has slowed down the pace of internationalisation of education. Whether it is a long-term plan or an urgent task, more attention should be paid to the construction of in-situ internationalisation with the curriculum as the core, and further play its role in the cultivation of international talents.
Curriculum resources are the basic elements of teaching and learning, and in-situ internationalisation, characterised by the internationalisation of the curriculum and the incorporation of “global competencies” into the curriculum, can help universities to achieve their international talent training goals. The proper development and use of curriculum resources will play a crucial role in the cultivation of international talents in universities, and the internationalisation of curriculum should also be more central in the practice of internationalisation. International exchange and cooperation, the employment of foreign teachers, the attraction of international talents and the encouragement of international mobility of local teachers all provide favourable conditions for the development and use of international curriculum resources. In teaching practice, international curriculum resources can be jointly identified or developed and utilised through teacher-led and student demand, leading to openness of teaching content and diversification of sources, and promoting changes or innovations in teaching modes.
Around the goal of international talent cultivation in universities, the structure, course content, assessment methods and resource supply of international courses from the perspective of internationalisation on the ground must be made clearer, and corresponding teaching changes must be made in the process of implementation. Universities must take into account the new situation, break through traditional constraints and take new initiatives to modernise and transform traditional classroom education methods. For example, online teaching can break through the time and space limitations of classroom teaching and is an important way for students to gain global knowledge and enhance interdisciplinary and intercultural understanding, so it should be actively used and integrated into teaching management systems. For example, universities can also strengthen the construction of a multimedia database of international course resources and organise teaching using relevant supporting audio-visual materials.
In conclusion, to explore the adaptability of international talent training work in universities to the changing needs of the quality structure of talents in the new era, and to enhance the global competence and international competitiveness of university students, are important theoretical and practical issues that deserve attention at present and in the future. Talent cultivation serves the purpose of education and the goal of education, therefore, the goal of internationalized talent cultivation in colleges and universities should also be reflected in the value and function of education. Under the background of the new era, the cultivation of international talents in universities should not only respond to the new requirements of China’s participation in global governance and international affairs for the quality of talents, but also aim at helping students to improve their international competitiveness and expand their current and future development space.
At the same time, the goal of international talent training should be based on a profound understanding of global competence development. Traditional internationalisation of education, characterised by cross-border mobility, has played an incomparable role in helping students to expand their international horizons, understand diverse cultures and enhance their communication skills. However, in the face of the new problems arising from the continued impact of the epidemic and the overlapping of complex international environments, universities should fully activate and mobilise relevant international and domestic resources, strengthen the internationalisation of the curriculum as the core, pay attention to the general rules of curriculum development and the special features of international courses, set scientific education objectives, improve the international curriculum system, expand the channels of practical practice, and cultivate high-quality students with national sentiment, international vision, global awareness and comprehensive competitiveness. The programme will be designed to cultivate high-calibre talents with a sense of home, international perspective, global awareness and comprehensive competitiveness.
