The open seminar will be held as follows:

■Date
15:00-16:30, Wednesday, March 24th, 2021

■Theme
A comparative study of international faculty members and researchers in Korea, Japan and China

■Venue
Online (Zoom)   ※We will inform you of the participation URL by the day before

■Language
English

■Lecturers and abstracts
Presentation 1: Policy initiatives and challenges relating to international researchers and faculty members in Korea
Yangson Kim (Hiroshima University) and Inyoung Song (Korean Council for University Education)

The study aims to overview policies (projects) for international faculty members and researchers in universities and beyond enforced by the central government in Korea by reviewing the current status. The Korean government has implemented policies to encourage universities and research institutes to hire international faculties and researchers to enhance their global competitiveness. However, previous studies on international researchers in Korea have been conducted mainly on international faculty members in individual universities. Moreover, although tremendous efforts have been made to recruit international faculty and researcher to work in Korea, many of them have left Korea because of the limited support system and closed academic culture in Korean society. Therefore, it is meaningful to explore the challenges and limitations of the policies for international faculty members and researchers with overall social and economic contexts in Korea. In particular, universities and research institutes have different organizational cultures, and the expected roles for international researchers seem to be different, too. Hence, it is significant to analyze the academic activities and experiences of international researchers in universities and research institutes in more detail. Further, the policies of World Class University by the Ministry of Education, Korea Research Fellowship by the Korea Research Foundation, and Brain Pool by the Ministry of Science Information and Technology are also discussed, focused on their achievements and challenges they face.

Presentation 2: Identifying the key issues of international faculty at Japanese universities: A qualitative approach
Lilan Chen (Doctoral candidate at the RIHE)

This study is devoted to identifying the key issues of international faculty at Japanese universities via a qualitative approach. Semi-structured interviews with 40 international faculty hired in Japanese universities with various backgrounds were applied. Key issues from various facets ranging at international, national, social, institutional, and individual levels have been identified explicitly. Furthermore, this study investigates the variations among these issues according to the demographic attributes of the participants by indicating that the issues distributed in the open dimensions were considered consistent with all international faculty, whereas, the issues noted in the closed dimensions are bound to be diverse depending on the participant individuals. Theoretical and practical implications drawn from the key findings are offered to better tackle the tokenization of international faculty and improve the comprehensive internationalization of Japanese higher education in practice.  

Presentation 3: International faculty at Chinese universities
Futao Huang (RIHE)

This presentation is mainly concerned with the analysis of the basic characteristics of international faculty, their motivation to work in China, and their expected roles in their current universities based on both quantitative and qualitative methods. It first presents key characteristics of international faculty in 12 Chinese universities. It then discusses main results from a survey of international faculty in these 12 Chinese universities. The study argues their characteristics and work roles from a comparative perspective.

■Note
・This seminar is related to the following JSPS Grants-in-Aid for Scientific Research (Basic Research B). A series of this seminar, four times in total, will be held every Wednesday from March 3rd.
      (19K01640) Futao Huang, Hiroshima University (Principal Investigator), A comparative study in the roles and contributions of foreign faculty and researchers
・Participation fee is free (maximum number: 40)
・If you would like to attend online, an internet access, device with camera and microphone are needed.
・Using your full name for your personal meeting ID is required when you enter the meeting room. You may not receive a permission to enter the room if the ID is different from the name registered.
・As a participant, you are not allowed to record the seminar or take the screenshot at your own.
・Organizing seminar through Zoom is a new attempt for us. Please accept our apologies for any inconvenience this may cause you, and thank you for your understanding.
・The Zoom meeting room are available from 15 minutes before the seminar. 
・We will inform you of the participation URL by the day before. Please contact us at the following address if you do not receive the email.
　　　k-kokyo(at)office.hiroshima-u.ac.jp
　　　*Replace (at) with @