Understanding Collaborative Art Degree Programs and the Recruitment of International Students

Abstract

Internationalization has transformed the higher education landscape in the 21st century. As a result, international student recruitment has become more important in the United States, which remains the host country for most international students, and in China, the single largest source of young people seeking to go abroad for higher education. Students from different countries bring distinct perspectives and experiences to American colleges and universities, broadening the horizons of American students and making U.S. higher education institutions (HEIs) more competitive in the global market. Various recruitment methods are used to attract international students, including collaborative degree programs that award joint and dual credentials, which are getting increasingly popular. Sixteen percent of U.S. colleges and universities were engaged in collaborative degree programs in 2016, according to the American Council on Education (ACE), compared to only 10 percent in 2011. This study analyzes why and how HEIs come together to establish collaborative degree programs, and how these programs are used to recruit international students. Specifically, this study focuses on U.S.-China higher education partnerships in the context of rapid development of art education in China, which has not been extensively researched. Adopting the Logic Model as a framework and using NVivo software for analysis, this study takes a narrative approach to provide insights into three partnerships involving six institutions, three in the United States and three in China.

The selected collaborative art degree programs involve a bachelor’s level credential in theater and dance from Queens College, part of the City University of New York (CUNY) system, and the Jackie Chan Movie and Media College in Wuhan, China; a bachelor of fine arts degree offered by the School of the Art Institute of Chicago (SAIC) and the Central Academy of Fine Arts in Beijing; and a master’s degree in interactive media studies conferred jointly by the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and New York University Shanghai, China.