Dr. Rong Wang is the Professor and the Program Director of the Doctor of Education (EdD) program at the Department of Educational Studies in the Academy of Future Education, XJTLU. She has nearly fifteen years of research, teaching, and administration experience in higher education. Before joining XJTLU, Dr. Wang was the Director for Assessment, Planning, and Accreditation in the College of Liberal Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Dr. Wang also worked as the Assistant Director for Academic Strategy and Policy at Virginia Tech. She holds a Ph.D. in the Higher Education and Student Affairs program from Indiana University and a master’s degree in the Higher Education program from the University of Pennsylvania.

Dr. Wang’s research interests focus on college teaching and learning, student engagement, institutional research and assessment, and international comparative higher education. She is currently serving as the Deputy Head of the Research Center for Internationalization at the Academy of Future Education. She endeavors to foster data-informed decision-making in higher education. She worked at Indiana University’s Center for Postsecondary Research for five years. Dr. Wang has led several research projects using large-scale multi-institutional datasets from the National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE), the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), and the Beginning College Survey of Student Engagement (BCSSE). Her studies have been published and presented at international peer-reviewed journals and conferences. Dr. Wang is the Principal Investigator of the Student-Centered Faculty Survey in Chinese Higher Education (SCFS) project. Localizing the Faculty Survey of Student Engagement (FSSE), SCFS helps participating universities construct mechanisms for self-evaluation feedback for evaluation and quality enhancement. Based on a large-scale, multi-institutional survey among faculty, SCFS provides comprehensive and objective reports and constructive feedback to participating universities, which helps participating faculty to improve effective teaching, faculty development, and student support continuously.

Dr. Wang’s cross-cultural teaching experiences ranged from the undergraduate to the doctoral level and between China and the United States. She has been committed to creating an inclusive and supportive learning environment for all students and proactively applies her research to effective teaching practices for supporting students’ higher achievement.

College Teaching and Learning

Student Engagement

Institutional Research and Assessment

International Comparative Higher Education

Program Director of the Doctor of Education (EdD) program, Department of Educational Studies, Academy of Future Education, Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, February 2024-Present

Head of Department of Educational Studies, Academy of Future Education, Xian Jiaotong Liverpool University, Suzhou, Jiangsu, November 2020-November 2023

Director for Assessment, Planning, and Accreditation, College of Liberal Arts Sciences, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, Charlotte, NC, USA, April 2019-November 2020

Assistant Director for Academic Strategy and Policy, Undergraduate Academic Affairs, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, VA, USA, August 2017–April 2019

Research Project Associate, Center for Postsecondary Research (CPR), Indiana University, Bloomington, IN, USA, August 2012–June 2017

EDS442 Engaging with Educational Literature, EdD module, XJTLU

EDS444 Conducting Quantitative Research, EdD module, XJTLU

EDS404 School of Tomorrow: Managing Change in Global Education, master's level, XJTLU

EDS409 Education in the Asia-Pacific Region, master's level, XJTLU

EDS410 The Student Experience in Global Education, master's level, XJTLU

EDS411 Dissertation, master's level, XJTLU

EDUC-C750 Research Seminar for Student Engagement, PhD course, Indiana University

EDUC-U580 Issues and Problems in Higher Education and Student Affairs Administration, master's level Indiana University

2021 Editor’s Choice Award, Journal of International Students, May 2021 (25 out of 254 peer review board members received this award, 10%), May 2021

2020 Excellence in Peer Review Award, Journal of International Students (12 out of 188 peer review board members received this award, 6%), May 2020

2019 Editor’s Choice Award, Journal of International Students, May 2019

Professional and Organizational Development (POD) Network Graduate and Professional Student Development (GPSD) Career Development Award, Louisville, KY, USA, November 2016