Re-entry cultural adaptation of foreign-educated academics at Chinese universities

Abstract

This study investigates the re-entry acculturative experiences and challenges facing foreign-educated returnees working at Chinese universities. Fifteen returnees from five universities in a southwestern province of China participated in semi-structured interviews. The study, using the ABC theoretical framework, highlights the acculturative process of returned academics in terms of role expectations, transformed identities, and cultural learning. The process involves challenges and unmet expectations, including low salaries, heavy workloads, unsupportive administrative bureaucracy, political control, and lack of a healthy academic community culture. The findings show that re-entry acculturation is a never-ending process. Returnees need constantly to realign their expectations and to negotiate and reinterpret shifting realities.