Foreign Degree Holders in the East Asian Countries:
Acculturation Processes and Academic Performance

About

The aim of this study is to develop a theory of acculturation process of foreign degree holders in East Asian universities and empirically examine their academic performance. In particular, this study focuses on Korea and Hong Kong academics. This study will explore on how foreign degree holders have socialized in each national context, and develop a theory of acculturation of foreign degree academics in East Asian countries, and empirically examine whether foreign degree holders are actually more research productive than domestic degree holders across higher education systems. For this study, we selected Korea as a county that mainly hires Korean returnees after their PhD in abroad, and Hong Kong SAR as the case of hiring foreign degree holders across their nationalities.
This study contributes to the theoretical discussions of academic acculturation in different contexts. Further, the comparative perspective of this study will enable to understand how acculturation processes are different or similar across countries.
Funding supports
  • Research Duration
    2 years (September, 2013- August, 2015)
  • Funded by
    National Research Foundation of Korea
Members
Core Research Members

  •  Prof. Jung Cheol Shin (Seoul National University)
  • Prof. Gerard A. Postiglione (University of Hong Kong)
  • Prof. Jisun Jung (University of Hong Kong)
  • Prof. Zaini Azman (University Kebangsan Malaysia)

Research Members

  • Dr. Yangson Kim (Seoul National University)
  • Dr. Heejin Lim (Seoul National University)