# ICETC in Changchun: International conferences in China


[![](http://reganmian.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screen-Shot-2011-08-09-at-18.20.26-.png "Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 18.20.26")](http://reganmian.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screen-Shot-2011-08-09-at-18.20.26-.png)

While in Hong Kong attending [[cscl11:start|CSCL]], I was surprised to
receive an invitiation by Professor [Li
Luyi](http://www.nenu.edu.cn/professor/pro/show.php?id=847) at
[Northwestern Normal University](http://en.nenu.edu.cn/) in
[Changchun](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Changchun) to give [a keynote
lecture](http://reganmian.net/blog/2011/08/09/open-courses-and-informal-learning-in-a-web-2-0-world-a-research-agenda/)
at the upcoming [International Conference on Educational Technology and
Computer](http://www.icetc.org/). Since I would be participating in the
Beijing post-conference and doctoral summer school at the same time, I
initially thought that it would not be possible, but we were able to
arrange it in the end.

**The conference**

I would have loved to see more of Changchun, but it was a short visit. I
landed in Changchun late in the evening, gave my keynote the next
morning, and attended the conference during the day. I just had time to
attend part of the banquet in the evening, before I was whisked back to
the airport. I don't think I have ever flown somewhere for less than 24
hours, but despite the short time, the conference was full of
interesting people and experiences.

The morning begun with myself, [Dr. Wang
Qiyun](http://qywang.pbworks.com/w/page/4228790/FrontPage) from the
National Institute of Education in Singapore, and a professor from
Bangkok giving our keynote presentations. We went back for the hotel for
lunch, and then to another campus for the individual conference
presentations.

**Quality and pressure**

China is pushing hard to expand both the "objective" quality of its
academic output, and its academic standing in the world. Part of this
process is attracting international conferences to China, and
encouraging Chinese academics to publish in international journals, or
present at international conferences. Often this pressure can be very
strong, whether in the form of refusing any MA student to graduate, who
doesn't have a certain number of publications, or offering monetary
compensation, sometimes equivalent to several years' of salary, for a
single publication in a prestigious international journal.

Some international journals prey on this pressure, offering easy
publication with a steep publishing fee. Given the low price of
publishing a poor quality online-only publication, most of the
author-fee is considered profit, while the Chinese researcher gets a
publication to list on their CV. The difficulty for many universities
and department heads to sort out which international journals are
reputable might be what has lead to the "cargo cult" around SSCI and SCI
rankings - this means everything to Chinese academics, and they are
often incredulous when I tell them that Western researchers might not be
aware of which specific journals are or are not listed on the SSCI
index.

The ICETC conference also showed some of these tensions. The conference
had received many hundred submissions, and accepted more than 400
papers, which had all been printed in a gigantic proceedings (luckily,
we did not receive a hardcopy each). However, many of the participants
were quite happy to pay the few hundred yuan participation fee, and have
their paper appear in the proceedings, so they did not show up for the
actual conference. In fact, after lunch, when I was asked to chair a
session, only four presenters out of 24 on the program showed up to
present. Of these, the quality was quite poor, and one had not even been
aware that he would need to present his paper.

**Internationality**

![](http://reganmian.net/blog/wp-content/uploads/2011/08/Screen-Shot-2011-08-09-at-12.41.57-2.png "Screen Shot 2011-08-09 at 12.41.57")

The conference was billed as an international conference, supported by
[an international organization](http://www.iacsit.org/), and all
publications and communications were in English. However, almost all
participants were mainland Chinese, with the exceptions of a few
visitors from Taiwan and Singapore, and the Thai professor. In my
session, the papers were all delivered in English, but every single
person in the audience spoke Mandarin fluently, and the question and
answer sessions often turned into Chinese (which was much more
productive, since the English levels of the participants were often not
very good).

However, there was one unexpected "international" aspect of the
conference: the local students. Unbeknownst to me, Northwestern Normal
University has a large group of international students in education,
many of which were present. I met a number of students from Pakistan,
India, Cambodia, Columbia and other countries doing their MAs and PhDs
at the university, often with Chinese state scholarships. (For example,
China offers 50 PhD scholarships to Pakistan each year, which makes up a
substantial proportion of all PhD positions for Pakistani students).
Some of these students spoke fluent Chinese, while others were studying
in English.

There was a large difference in the demeanour of these students to their
Chinese counterparts. Many of them had been quite senior in their home
countries before coming to China, and had much more "life experience",
and they were not afraid to ask critical questions of the presenters.
After my keynote, every single question that I received came from one of
these international students, while the Chinese students and professors
sat silent (of course, difference in English levels could also have
played a role).

I have been aware of the case of international students in China for a
long time - when I first came to China in 2001, I had several friends
among the large group of African international students at Wuhan
University, and already on my way towards China, I met a large group of
Nepali medical students at the university in Cheboksari in Russia.
However, through all my visits to top schools of education in China, I
have not met any international students, so this was an interesting
experience. It also points towards an alternative route for
"internationalization", and it would be interesting to look at what
effect a significant group of international students can have on the
Chinese students, and on the atmosphere in the class.

**Conclusion**

As I mentioned above, the academic level of the conference was quite
low, but I still very much enjoyed it. The organization was great, and I
met a number of interesting Chinese and international researchers whom I
am sure I will stay in touch with. I know this blog post might seem
critical, but I am very appreciate of the strong efforts Chinese
universities and individual academics are putting in to bolster the
level of research and exchange, and I think even such a "not quite
international" conference can be a great starting point for graduate
students who have never attended a large conference before. I look
forward to seeing ICETC growing and improving, and I am very happy that
I had the opportunity to interact with the students and staff at
Northwestern Normal University!

Stian