Assessment of Chinese Students' Experience With Foreign Faculty: A Case Study From a Chinese University

This article compares Chinese students' responses to local Chinese versus American professors, and the effectiveness of the professors' respective teaching techniques. A case study made at a single university in China, which had a joint academic program with the United States, found that Chinese students preferred local Chinese professors to American professors in spite of the students' perception that the American professors' were more highly qualified, and despite the American professors' student-centered teaching styles. The Chinese students consider local Chinese professors to be more effective in teaching and they have higher expectation of the Chinese students than the U.S. professors. This article explores the differences between Chinese and Western teaching styles and proposes approaches needed to guide Chinese students from their familiar teacher-centered classrooms toward accepting a student-centered classroom approach. Recommendations are offered for improving Western ways of educating Chinese students in China.