July 22-26, 2024, the 18th World Congress of Comparative Education Societies was held at Cornell University in the United States, with the theme Cultivating Inclusive Knowledge Ecosystems: Toward Equitable and Sustainable Educational Futures. The congress brought together global scholars and education experts, featuring five keynote speeches and seventy parallel forums to discuss issues such as educational equity, globalization and education, and indigenous knowledge systems. It aimed to collectively address global educational challenges through cross-cultural exchange and cooperation. Associate Professor Song Jia from TEC (UNESCO Teacher Education Centre), along with graduate students Ma Yining and Wu Mengying, attended the congress in the US.
Associate Professor Song Jia delivered a report entitled China’s Model in Global Knowledge Communities: Institutional Logic of Disciplinary Layout and Changes in Universities under the ‘Double First-Class’ Initiative at a sub-forum. She analyzed the changes in the addition and reduction of first-level disciplines, second-level disciplines, and discipline clusters in universities during the first and second rounds of China’s Double First-Class initiative. Using an institutional logic perspective, she examined the knowledge production models behind these disciplinary changes from five dimensions: state, market, society, academia, and globalization. Finally, in the context of globalization and through a comparative analysis of Eastern and Western cultural differences, she proposed prospects for disciplinary changes in mainland Chinese universities under the Double First-Class policy and within the global higher education competitive landscape.
Master’s student Wu Mengying presented a report entitled Exploring the Emotional Labor Experiences of Chinese Volunteer Teachers in Confucius Institutes in Africa at Sub-forum 26. She explored the connection between emotional labor strategies and emotional rules among international Chinese language teachers, analyzing teachers’ choices of emotional labor strategies under the influence of three aspects: teacher professionalism, social culture, and organizational structure. She also highlighted the study’s supplementary significance for research on emotional labor among cross-cultural teacher groups.
Master’s student Ma Yining delivered a report entitled Phase Characteristics, Effectiveness, and Prospects of China’s Higher Education Aid to Africa at a sub-forum. He shared insights from three aspects: the historical phases and characteristics of China’s higher education aid to Africa, the effectiveness of cooperation, and future prospects. He summarized the characteristics of educational aid in different historical periods, clarified China’s philosophy and practices regarding aid to Africa, and attempted to analyze policy prospects for future China-Africa higher education cooperation.
