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As international education continues to expand, countries providing such opportunities not only benefit but also face challenges. For traditional destinations, including the United States and the United Kingdom, the number of international students has been falling. At the same time emerging economies, such as China, are witnessing a rapid increase in the number of international students enrolled in their universities. China is, therefore, beginning to play an important role in the competitive global market for higher education. This thesis analyses and compares the experiences of international students in the UK and China using Transformative Learning theory. While there is an extensive literature on both international higher education and also Transformative Learning theory there are three important contributions that this thesis makes. First, this research applies the theory to two international student groups: UK students in Chinese universities and Chinese students in UK universities. Second, this study includes a focus on the intercultural learning of Chinese doctoral students in the UK filling a gap in current research. Finally, this investigation has extended the very limited number of current research projects on UK students in China. It is generally acknowledged that international students will experience various challenges when they are in a culturally different context. Little research has focused on how and why learners are transformed through exposure to their new environment and, also, why sometimes they are not. This study applies Transformative Learning theory to address two research questions: first, do UK international students in Chinese universities and Chinese international students in UK universities experience transformational learning in/during their overseas studies? Second, what factors foster or impede international students' experience of transformative learning? To answer the above questions semi-structured interviews were used to investigate international students' academic and social experiences. Based on the insights provided by Mezirow, Taylor, and previous studies on international students, I argue that international students' intercultural experience is a complex process. Transformation can occur in various ways and social and personal perspectives underpin the transformative learning of the students. Contributing factors include culture shock, educational conventions, the student's motivation, expectations, personality, gender and previous work experience. The results reflect the significance of differences in teaching styles in the UK and China and the impact this can have on the student teaching and learning process when they move to a new university.

Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Seminary, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-277).

Thesis (M.Phil.)--Hong Kong Baptist University, 2005. / Thesis submitted to the Dept. of Education Studies. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 109-120).

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Toronto, 2004. / Adviser: David Livingstone.

Thesis (M. Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-79).

Thesis (M.Ed.)--University of Hong Kong, 1999. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 70-79). Also available in print.

Project Thesis (D. Min.)--Denver Seminary, 2002. / Includes bibliographical references (leaves 261-277).

There are numerous approaches to quantitatively measure well-being. Most well-beingresearch are based on income or health situation from economics perspective. The needfor research on women’s relationship between education and well-being is an area thathas not been fully investigated. It is also important to know how the situation ofwomen’s well-being compare with men’s. The purpose of this research is to estimatewomen’s well-being and understand how well-being women is compared with men inChina. Different characteristics of men and women is considered and estimate thespecific relationship between education and well-being. Two measure of well-being areused: self-assessed unidimensional subjective well-being and parametrically estimatedmultidimensional well-being. Two measurement will help to understand the differencebetween subjectivity and objectivity of well-being. To achieve this goal, this researchcomputes and compares the well-being of 34,054 women and men by using ChineseGeneral Social Survey in 2012, 2013 and 2015. Well-being is measured by computingmultidimensionally by principal component analysis which depend on differentdomains of identity, capability, material well-being. All the domains contribute toindividual’s well-being. The findings suggest that, multidimensional well-being indexdiffer from the subjective well-being in ranking individual grouped by importantcommon characterizes. The difference is attributed to multidimensionality of the well-being index. Under this circumstance, education still does influence well-beingpositively conditional on controlling for identity, capability and material well-being.

At the heart of this study is a desire to unravel a puzzle of why I and other self-identified Chinese students share common experience of exclusion in the Canadian academy, despite our differences as individuals and as Chinese. Our experience of exclusion is made invisible by the stereotypical image of Asian students as the paragon of success within the academy. It is again made invisible by policy addressing inclusion in the academy that uses largely outcome measures to paint pictures of success, and keeps the less concrete parts of processes unpainted. There is a lack of attention to and an under-theorization of the less perceptible and less tangible processes of inclusion and exclusion. The central question of this study is: How do Chinese students’ experiences in higher education, as viewed through Bourdieu’s framework of culture, inform a nuanced understanding of inclusion and exclusion? I draw on Bourdieu’s framework along with its core concepts to analyse the narratives of sixteen self-identified Chinese students from six Ontario post-secondary institutions. Methodologically, I draw on a theme-based approach from Thematic Inquiry and a case-based approach from Narrative Inquiry to form a Bourdieusian methodological framework that stays true to the anti-dualistic epistemological foundation of Bourdieu’s theory. Captured in this study is a complex picture of inclusion and exclusion centred on a boundary that is so intangible and masked that it is largely imperceptible and hence unarticulated. The boundary is imperceptible because: 1) inclusion and exclusion is mediated through an unspoken system of meanings and values inscribed in disposition and practices; the boundary takes the form of a normalized way of being (disposition) and doing (practice) 2) inclusion and exclusion is unintentionally enacted; the boundary takes the form of unintentional domination and ‘voluntary’ exit (as if no external force is driving the exclusion) 3) inclusion and exclusion is diffused by the conversion of the boundary from an overt form to a neutralized or ‘normalized’ form such as social network. While the boundary is obscured, it is at the same time fluid and permeable when capital is strategically positioned and deployed. This study concludes by suggesting the need to take into consideration intangible and unintentional processes of inclusion and exclusion, and a two-way approach (again staying true to Bourdieu’s anti-dualistic framework) to broaden policy and research conversations about inclusion and exclusion. Only when invisible processes of inclusion and exclusion are brought to the fore can we begin to redress them. / Dissertation / Doctor of Philosophy (PhD)