Rachel N. Lee

Institutions of higher education have proliferated in China since the 1978 economic reforms. In a moment of nationally unprecedented post-secondary enrollment rates and as part of ongoing urbanization and globalization processes across China, the first U.S.-China joint venture university opened in 2013: New York University Shanghai. Signaling a transformation in the landscape of Sino-American institutional and educational ties, NYUS is both a novelty in China and part of a growing global trend in international university collaborations. How are students educated to become global subjects through transnational spaces in Chinese education? This work explores how Chinese youth experience upward social mobility through their embodiment and perception of higher education.