'In-betweenners': Chinese students' experiences in China-Australia articulation programs

Set against globalization and as an expression of it, transnational higher education (TNHE) has become an important part of the Chinese educational higher education (HE) system. Research has widely investigated macro topics, for example, policy and developmental history of Chinese HE. However, limited studies have explored Chinese students’ learning experiences in TNHE, especially in 2+2 articulation programs. This study aimed to investigate this under-researched topic and interviewed twelve Chinese students who studied in China-Australia 2+2 articulation programs. Based on analysis of students’ learning narratives from the theoretical perspectives of diaspora and space and place, this research found that the 2+2 setting created an in-between or third learning space for students, many of whom became in-between learners. The contours of such space were shaped by several cross-system academic differences in teaching, assessment, usage of internet-based technology and university culture. This positions 2+2 program students in a unique, in-between learning pathway that demands constant negotiations between different HE systems and cultures. These academic differences indicated that articulations between Chinese and Australian universities in such programs may still be only on a surface level.