Challenges facing leadership of Australian universities for partnership-driven internationalisation with Chinese universities: Rhetoric, realities and implication

A case study was undertaken to explore the tensions and dilemmas that have been challenging the leadership of Australian universities in undertaking partnerships with Chinese universities. Three pairs of Australian and Chinese universities were selected for data-collection. The executive leaders, international managers and academics that had experiences in Australia/China partnerships were invited to participate in the form of interviews. Relevant documents such as national and university policies were also collected as alternative sources of data with respect to internationalisation strategies. Data analysis suggests that leadership of Australian universities is being challenged by both external and internal dilemmas. The external dilemmas are dominantly associated with the profit-driven marketing strategies of Australian universities. The internal dilemmas are associated with competing values and leadership roles among the multi-layered participants in these Australian universities. A concept of a new spirit of academic capitalism is developed to address the challenges, so as to contribute to sustainable and effective partnerships between Australian and Chinese universities.