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<p>Supervising international doctoral students can be a challenging task for many academics. While research has extensively explored the intercultural supervision experiences of academics in Western contexts, few studies have investigated the experiences of Chinese academics supervising international doctoral students in China. This exploratory qualitative study draws on concepts, including intercultural contact zones, transculturation, unhomeliness, and identity, to examine the experiences of 25 Chinese academics at a research-intensive university in China. The findings reveal that supervising international doctoral students disrupts traditional supervisory norms associated with the ‘Shi Men’ system, leading to ambivalent experiences characterised by feelings of disempowerment, shifts in identity, and cultural displacement. Many Chinese academics often find themselves oscillating between roles as mentors, collaborators, or nominal hosts while navigating language barriers, cultural differences, and institutional hierarchies. These dynamics are further complicated by university-level mandates for internationalisation, which are influenced by neoliberal and managerialist logics. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how power, identity, and institutional discourse intersect in the Chinese context, providing new insights for global doctoral education.</p>

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Shifting roles and unsettled selves? An exploration of Chinese academics’ experiences of intercultural doctoral supervision in China

  • 期刊论文

  • 发表日期：

    2026年2月16日

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  • Kun Dai,
  • Yabing Liu,
  • Jie Xu

摘要

Supervising international doctoral students can be a challenging task for many academics. While research has extensively explored the intercultural supervision experiences of academics in Western contexts, few studies have investigated the experiences of Chinese academics supervising international doctoral students in China. This exploratory qualitative study draws on concepts, including intercultural contact zones, transculturation, unhomeliness, and identity, to examine the experiences of 25 Chinese academics at a research-intensive university in China. The findings reveal that supervising international doctoral students disrupts traditional supervisory norms associated with the ‘Shi Men’ system, leading to ambivalent experiences characterised by feelings of disempowerment, shifts in identity, and cultural displacement. Many Chinese academics often find themselves oscillating between roles as mentors, collaborators, or nominal hosts while navigating language barriers, cultural differences, and institutional hierarchies. These dynamics are further complicated by university-level mandates for internationalisation, which are influenced by neoliberal and managerialist logics. This study contributes to a deeper understanding of how power, identity, and institutional discourse intersect in the Chinese context, providing new insights for global doctoral education.