Article 2015

Crossing international boundaries through doctoral partnerships: Learnings from a Chinese-Australian forum

International Journal of Doctoral Studies
Journal · Vol. 10 · pp. 418-438
Abstract

International forums for doctoral students offer a fertile context for developing strategic partnerships between higher education institutions, as well as for building the intercultural capacity of early career academics. However, there is limited research investigating the benefits of international doctoral forum partnerships. This paper presents learnings from a recent international doctoral forum held in Beijing, China and attended by doctoral students and academics from Beijing Normal University (China) and Queensland University of Technology (Australia). Drawing on qualitative case study method and a model of boundary crossing mechanisms, we identify the beneficial outcomes of the forum. We describe how the forum arose from a strong ongoing partnership between the Education Faculties of Beijing Normal University and Queensland University of Technology. We then identify how, at the institutional and individual level, international doctoral forum participants can be challenged and benefit in four areas: collaboration, intercultural capacity, academic enhancement and program development. Implications for engaging successfully in international doctoral forum partnerships are also discussed.

Keywords

Author Keywords

boundary crossing Case study Collaboration China university Australia international Doctoral forum

Index Keywords

Author Affiliations
Well Grounded Consultancy, Brisbane, QL, Australia
Faculty of Education, Queensland University of Technology, Brisbane, QLD, Australia
Faculty of Education, Australian Catholic University, Sydney, NSW, Australia
Funding & Acknowledgements
No funding information
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