Purpose of this paper

Given the undeniable importance of the role CERA play in global higher education and their continuing expansion in terms of profits and market share, one would expect it to be studied extensively. However, there is still little academic research on this topic, along with a scattered grey literature. Against this backdrop, the aim of this paper is to explore the emergence and development of the Chinese education recruitment agents. To do this we draw on world society theory (Meyer et al 1981, Thomas et al 1987, Schofer & Meyer 2005, Meyer et al 2007) to understand the evolution of CERA in terms of organisational foundings and of their distribution, as well as in terms of their organisational characteristics. According to the world society paradigm, we test the expectation that CERA have been increasingly expanding and becoming similar, converging to a model of (Western) rationalised bureaucratic structure. We will discuss the implications of our findings in terms of theories of globalization in higher education, with regard to Chinese higher education and to the implications for universities and quality assurance.

Research hypotheses

The main research hypotheses intended to be tested in this paper is:

1. CERAs have been increasingly expanding in terms of the number of founding？
2. Geographic distribution of CERAs have been closely relate to the distribution of higher education institutions？
3. CERAs have been gradually evolving and converging to a model of (western) rationalized bureaucratic structure？

The lack of previous studies and systematic recording on the company activities of CERAs has caused difficulties in data collection on CERAs. We will use two open databases: Tianyancha (Skyeye), which comprises 140 million of Chinese businesses, and the database of the Chinese Bureau of Supervision and Administration of Foreign Affairs in Education (JSJ). Information such as company name, date of establishment, geographical location, organisational form, staff structures, and internal structure etc. will be collected systematically from JSJ and Skyeye, and grouped into two separate data sets (dataset A and dataset B) for the purpose of data accuracy. Both datasets will be filtered and /or ‘cleaned’ in Excel to ensure a high level of data quality and validity. The relevant figures from industry reports on international student recruitment will be also used supplementing to dataset A and B. Final datasets will be analysed in order to provide detailed descriptive statistics, as well as a cluster and/or factor analysis.

In this study, the aim of the present research was to explore the emergence and development of the CERAs by testing the expectation we draw from world society theory, namely, CERA have been increasingly expanding and becoming similar, converging to a model of (Western) rationalised bureaucratic structure. The investigation of CERAs has have evidently supported the latter hypotheses in relation to geographic distribution and structural evolvement of CERAs, to be specific, firstly, the geographic distribution of CERAs is densely located in southeast half of the country and displayed accordance with ‘Hu line’ which is sanctified as a theoretical ‘geo-culture’ divider of China with regards to population density, environmental resilience, balanced development of regional industry and economy, secondly, CERAs have been gradually evolving and converging into a model of (western) rationalized bureaucratic structure. Whereas, as regards to our hypothesis on number of founding, our data has shown that the number of CERAs reveal a tendency in accordance with the politic and economic fluctuations in the country rather than burgeoning in number as expected.

References: [Buck Sutton, S. & Obst, D. (2012). Dynamic time for international partnerships. University World News, Issue 204, Retrieved from:www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2012113202352271 Chinadaily, (2018). Education in Shandong province, Accessed at 27th November 2019. EAIE European Association for International Education. (2014). The EAIE barometer presentation at EAIE annual conference in Prague September 2014, Resource document. Retrieved from: www.eaie.org/blog/barometer-initial-finding EducationQQ.(2014).‘The service charge of education recruitment agents’ < https://edu.qq.com/a/20140227/021550.htm > Accessed at 10th May 2019. EducationSOHU.(2018).‘The cost of studying in the UK’, < https://zhinan.sogou.com/guide/detail/?id=316513259756 > Accessed at 10th May 2019. Goi, M. T. (2015). ‘External drivers of entry mode decisions of a higher education institution’, Asia Pacific Journal of Marketing and Logistics 28(1): 124–140. Lee, P. (2014). Key findings of global study on internationalization. University World News, Issue 315, Retrieved from: www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140409170137959 Maringe, F., Foskett, N. and Woodfield, S. (2013). Emerging internationalisation models in an uneven global terrain: findings from a global survey. Compare: a journal of comparative and international education, 43(1), pp. 9-36. ISSN (print) 0305-7925 John, W, Meyer.; John, Boli.; George, M, Thomas. & Francisco, O, Ramirez. (1981). "World Society and the Nation-State". American Journal of Sociology. 103 (1 (1997)): 144–181 Meyer, J. W., Ramirez, F. o., Frank, D. J. and Schofer, E. (2007) Higher Education as an institution In Gumport, P. J (Ed) Sociology of Higher Education: Contributions and Their Contexts, Johns Hopkins Ministry of Education of the People`s Republic of China. (2009). Openness, innovation; promote development of China higher education. Retrieved from: http://www.moe.gov.cn/s78/A20/gjs_left/moe_850/201005/t20100512_87589.html Observatory on Borderless Education. (2014). The agent question: insights from students, universities and agents, Retrieved from: http://www.obhe.ac.uk/documents/view_details?id=953 Raimo, V., Humfrey, C. and Huang, I.Y. (2015). Managing International Student Recruitment Agents. Approaches, Benefits and Challenges, London: British Council. Schofer, E., & Meyer, J. W. (2005). The Worldwide Expansion of Higher Education in the Twentieth Century. American Sociological Review, 70(6), 898–920. Times Higher Education. (2016). Agents paid an average of £1,767 per non-EU recruit. Retrieved from: https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/agents-paid-an-average-of-1767-per-non-eu-recruit/2018613.article The Guardian, (2018 ), The changing shape of Australia's immigration policy. Accessed at 27th Nov 2019. George, M. Thomas; John, W. Meyer; Francisco, O, Ramirez. & John, Boli. (1987). Institutional Structure: Constituting State, Society and the Individual. SAGE Publications. ]