A Qualitative Study On Academic Experience Of Returned Overseas Scholars

In the context of globalization,the transnational flow of talents is becoming more and more frequent.It has become a trend for Chinese universities to introduce overseas talents while the overseas talents have the keen interests in returning home country.In the new era,what is concerned by the state and the universities is no longer limited to attracting overseas talents to return to work;instead,more attention is paid on whether these talents can give full play to their superiority and play an effective role.Against this backdrop,the researcher had taken 20 returned overseas scholars as the main research object,and the 20 returned overseas scholars were selected from 4 famous universities.Meanwhile,in order to get an in-depth understanding of their overseas education and career experiences,the method of interview was adopted.These returned overseas scholars had received overseas academic training and were edified by overseas academic environment deeply.Therefore,the researcher attempted to explore the experience and perception of these returned overseas scholars on the domestic academic environment,as well as the present situation of their professional development and adaption.Through their personal experiences,we can find some negative issues in the domestic academic environment.Moreover,we will form a general recognition on the effect of the current talents introduction policies of the state and the universities.The main findings of this research are as follows:1.The impact of studying abroad experience on the returned overseas scholars is significant.Benefiting from studying abroad,the returned overseas scholars have obtained independent research ability,critical thinking,practical ability,leadership and language skill,and established a rigorous style.At the same time,due to the experience of the overseas academic style,academic system and peer relationship,the returned overseas scholars have a higher recognition on the overseas academic environment.2.The experience for domestic academic environment can be investigated from two viewpoints--the internal academic environment and the external academic environment.In the internal academic environment,both the internal academic atmosphere and the support of college&department are conducive to the professional growth of the returned overseas scholars.However,the administration,evaluation system,promotion system,communication and cooperation between colleagues,and the quality of postgraduates are not so satisfactory.In the external academic environment,there are many negative phenomena existing in the country’s overall.academic atmosphere,funding system and the cooperation with extramural peer and enterprises.3.For the minority of the returned overseas scholars,there exists no difficulty to adapt after returning,while the majority of the returned overseas scholars express that it is necessary for them to adapt to the domestic academic environment.According to the recognition degree of overseas academic culture and domestic academic culture,the adaptation strategies of the returned overseas scholars can be divided into four types:"integration","assimilation","separation" and marginalization.Among them,"Integration" strategy is adopted by the majority.In other words,they not only want to adapt to the domestic academic environment,but also would like to maintain some characteristics accumulated from their own overseas experience.On the one hand,these returned overseas scholars endeavor to blend into the domestic academia through exchange activities and self-recommendation;on the other hand,they actively participate in international academic exchange activities in order to maintain their international advantages.4.As for current overseas talent introduction policies,the returned overseas scholars have put forward some suggestions:Firstly,the state and the universities should attach importance to the introduction and the support of young scholars;secondly,more attention should be paid to the fairness in the distribution of academic resources;thirdly,the universities should take some characteristics of the returned overseas scholars into consideration and develop a more humane evaluation system;the last but not the least,we cannot ignore the professional growth of local talents when the overseas talents are vigorously introduced.In addition,the researcher adopts "push-pull theory" as analytical tool in order to find out some important influencing factors which affect people’ decision of studying abroad or returning home as well as provide some suggestions for the introduction of overseas talents.In the meantime,the researcher will explore some differences in the academic environment of China and the United States according to the personal experience of the returned overseas scholars,make some suggestions for optimizing the domestic academic environment,and create favorable conditions for the returned overseas scholars.