Understanding China in the Asian Century: A Future of Higher Education Internationalization?

Asia’s growing influence in global higher education, visible in China’s emergence as a ey destination for international students, comes with a call to re-examine international student mobility (ISM) through evolving geopolitical and cultural lenses. This collective writing study discusses the motivations and adaptive experiences of international Ph.D. students in Chinese universities, and reveals that while academic opportunities and career prospects initially drive enrollment, students’ objectives and perceptions shift substantially during their academic journeys in China. Through our discussion we demonstrate how institutional policies, intercultural dynamics, and geopolitical positioning collectively shape these transformations. Our conclusions challenge static student-choice models, and call for further analyses of the continuously evolving academic or sociopolitical factors that inform responsive internationalization policies in Chinese higher education.