Education and Global Cultural Dialogue: Analyses of the Chinese Knowledge Diaspora at a Major Canadian University

Abstract

Based on a case study of a major Canadian university, this paper examines the potential to deploy China’s large and highly skilled diaspora in the service of Chinese and Canadian scientific and technological development. It studies more broadly the Chinese faculty members of Western universities as a kind of Chinese knowledge diaspora, and argues that they are a modern kind of cosmopolitan literati, who could contribute actively to higher education internationalization in both China and Canada. This case study of demonstrates that the Chinese knowledge diaspora could, under the right circumstances, contribute much to both Canada and China, and they are keen to do so. As potential knowledge bridges, they can play a unique role in integrating China more closely with the international scholarly community. In practice, however, a variety of factors have restricted successful research collaboration. With rich experiences in different cultures and intellectual traditions, such individuals are a particularly important asset in an era of intensified globalization, and thus deserve special consideration at both institutional and national levels. However, many of the respondents reported that their qualities had been much undervalued.