Cultivating Cultural Confidence

Yuanyuan Shi, Associate Professor at, School of Teacher Education, Jiangsu University in China, and now she is a visiting researcher at the Graduate School of Human-Environment Studies, Kyushu University in Japan. Her expertise lies in the realms of international and comparative education, with a focus on higher education systems, general education, university curricula, interdisciplinary approaches to learning, AI-integrated higher education, and the dynamics of postgraduate education.Yeow-Tong Chia, Senior Lecturer in History Education in the School of Education and Social Work at the University of Sydney. He is also the President of the Malaysia and Singapore Society of Australia. His research interests include history education and citizenship education in Singapore and Australia, the teaching of Chinese history in Ontario’s high schools, Chinese Canadian history in Canadian history education, and education and developmental state formation.

“What is general education and where and how does it fit within higher education, particularly in East Asia? The evolution of general education in China’s universities emerges clearly in this absorbing new work that traces the dialectic of modernity and tradition, specialisation and holistic development, and East and West.”Anthony R. Welch, Professor of Education, University of Sydney, Australia“An unusual book for leaders, educators and researchers with interests in the interplay of culture, higher education and general education, given that Drs. Yuanyuan Shi and Yeow-tong Chia portray a broad yet nuanced landscape of general education in Chinese higher education institutions, based on empirical data uniquely articulated with contemporary and historical lenses.”Jun Li, ARC Chair & Professor, the University of Western Ontario, Canada“This timely and insightful volume offers a rigorous and original analysis of how Chinese universities integrate cultural confidence into general education through empirical research and innovative models. It makes a significant contribution to theory-building and educational practice in a global context.”Futao Huang, Professor, Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University, Japan“This essential work provides a compelling analysis of the 'glocalization' of general education in China, focusing on the cultivation of cultural confidence. By illuminating both the rationale and mechanisms of China’s evolving ‘global-local hybrid’ model, it offers valuable theoretical insights and an indispensable resource for exploring the intersection of national heritage and globalized higher education.”Chen Xin, Associate Director, Institute of Comparative and International Education, Northeast Normal University, China

• 1. Introduction: Why and How General Education Enhances College Students’ Cultural Confidence? 2. Historical Tracing of General Education and the Development of Cultural Confidence 3. National and Provincial Policy Analysis: Enhancing General Education and Cultivating Cultural Confidence 4. Case Study on the Integration of General Education and Cultural Confidence in Chinese Higher Education: Qualitative Analysis of 12 Universities 5. Evaluating Integration Through Surveys and Interviews: General Education and Cultural Confidence in Chinese Universities 6. Advancing Cultural Confidence through General Education: Strategies and Future Directions 7. Conclusion: Balancing Cultural Confidence and Global Engagement in a Globalized World