Rui Yang (1964 - )
Short Biography & Significant Contribution
Rui Yang is Director of the Comparative Education Research Centre (CERC) at the University of Hong Kong, where he is Associate Professor. He was educated at the University of Sydney, Fujian Normal University and Anhui University. Prior to moving to Hong Kong, he taught in Shantou University, China; University of Western Australia, Australia; and Monash University, Australia. Yang's career bridges the theoretical thrust of comparative education and the applied nature of international education. His research interests are: education policy sociology, comparative and cross-cultural studies in education, international higher education, educational development in Chinese societies, and international politics in educational research.
He is well known in the field of comparative and international education, and Chinese education. This is evidenced by his impressive list of publications, research project grants, invited keynote lectures in international and regional conferences, leadership in professional associations and membership in editorial boards of scholarly journals. Concretely, he has delivered invited keynote addresses at international forums including at the universities of Sorbonne, Oxford, Kobe, Western Australia, and Southern California, as well as by supra-national and national education bodies (e.g. UNESCO, Beijing Municipal Government, Qatar Foundation for Education, Science and Community Development). He is a member of the editorial board of Asia Pacific Journal of Education and Chinese Education and Society and the CERC Studies in Comparative Series in Education (Springer). The research project grants he has received include such themes as Higher Education and Soft Power: Confucius Institutes as a Test of China's Global Engagement; The Chinese Knowledge Diaspora and the International Knowledge Network: Australian and Canadian Universities Compared; Building Global Universities; and University Responses to Globalisation in Singapore, Hong Kong, and China.
Yang uniquely contributes to the field of comparative and international education by harmonizing Chinese and global perspectives in his work. He accomplishes this through his roles as CERC Director, Vice President of the Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong (CESHK) and member of the Research Standing Committee of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies (WCCES). Through his initiative, the CESHK has had its national conference outside of Hong Kong: in Macao (2009) and in Guangzhou (2010).
Educational Background
Ph.D., University of Sydney, Australia (2001)
M.Ed., Fujian Normal University, China (1988)
B.A. in English, Anhui University, China (1985)
Professional Background
2008 - Associate Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
2005 - 2007 Senior Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia
2005 Research Assistant Professor, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
2003 - 2004 Lecturer, Faculty of Education, Monash University, Australia
2001 - 2002 Lecturer, Graduate School of Education, University of Western Australia, Australia
1995 - 1996 Associate Professor, Institute of Higher Education, Shantou University, China
1991 - 1994 Lecturer, Institute of Higher Education, Shantou University, China
1988 - 1990 Associate Lecturer, Institute of Higher Education, Shantou University, China
Affiliations (associations, organizations, institutions)
Comparative Education Society of Hong Kong, Secretary (2008); Vice President (2009-)
Association for the Study of Higher Education (USA), Member (2006-)
Australian Association for Research in Education, Member (2004-)
Australian and New Zealand Comparative and International Education Society, Member (1998-)
Chinese Comparative Education Society, Executive Member (1994-96)
Selected Publications
Yang, R. (2010, forthcoming): The Confucius Institutes as China's New Form of Higher Education Internationalisation: An Australian Case Study. Globalisation, Societies and Education.
Yang, R. (2010, in press): Chinese Ways of Thinking in the Transformation of China's Higher Education System. I J. Ryan (ed.), Understanding China's Education Reform: Creating Cross-Cultural Knowledge, Pedagogies and Dialogue. London: Routledge.
Yang, R. (2009): International Organisations and Asian Higher Education: The Case of China. In Bassett, R.M. & Maldonado-Maldonado, A. (eds.), International Organizations and Higher Education Policy. New York: Routledge, pp.174-191.
Yang, R. (2009): Enter the Dragon? China's Higher Education Returns to the World Community: The Case of the Peking University Personnel Reforms. In Smart, J. and Tierney, W. (eds.), Higher Education: Handbook of Theory and Practice. Dordrecht: Springer, pp.427-461.
Yang, R. (2008): Transnational Higher Education in China: Contexts, Characteristics and Concerns. Australian Journal of Education, Vol. 52, No. 3, pp. 272-286.
Yang, R. (2007): Comparing Education Policies. In Bray, M., Adamson, B. and Mason, M. (eds.), Comparative Education Research: Approaches and Methods. Hong Kong: Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong, and Dordrecht: Springer, 444 pp.
Yang, R., Vidovich, L. & Currie, J. (2007): Dancing in a Cage: Changing Autonomy in Chinese Higher Education. Higher Education, Vol. 54, No. 4, pp. 575-592.
Yang, R. (2006): The Commodification of Education and Its Effects on Developing Countries: A Focus on China. Journal Fur Entwicklungspolitik, Vol.22, No. 4, pp. 52-69.
Yang, R. (2005): The Chinese Professoriate in Comparative Perspective: Self-perceptions, Academic Life, Gender Differences and Internal Differentiation. In Welch, A. (ed.), The Professors: Profile of a Profession. Dordrecht: Springer, pp. 179-192.
Yang, R. (2005): Internationalisation, Indigenisation and Educational Research in China. Australian Journal of Education, Vol. 49, No. 1, pp. 66-88.
Yang, R. (2004): Openness and Reform as Dynamics for Development: A Case Study of Internationalisation at South China University of Technology. Higher Education, Vol. 47, No. 4, pp. 473-500.
Yang, R. (2003): Globalisation as a Context of Inequality and Scarcity for Higher Education Development: A Critical Analysis. International Review of Education, Vol. 49, No. 3, pp. 269-291.
Yang, R. (2003): Internationalised While Provincialised? A Case Study of South China Normal University. Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education, Vol. 33, No. 3, pp. 287-300.
Yang, R. (2002): University Internationalisation: Its Meanings, Rationales and Implications. Intercultural Education, Vol. 13, No. 1, pp. 81-96.
Yang, R. (2002): Third Delight: Internationalisation of Higher Education in China. New York: Routledge, 2002), 268pp.
Created: 8/19/2009
Updated: 3/10/2010
Contributed By: Kreangchai Tdai, The University of Hong Kong
