The universities in Hong Kong have attracted large numbers of Mainland Research Postgraduates (MRPs) in the last ten years but little research has focused on their adaptation. Such a study is of value as MRPs have special features of being both graduate students and adapting to a sibling cultural environment, which are comparatively less investigated in previous research. Based on college impact theories, which propose that academic integration and social integration are the major predictors of student persistence and satisfaction, this study modified Tinto's (1993) model for the study of MRPs' adaptation to the universities of Hong Kong. Unlike most previous research that emphasized either institutional factors or cultural factors of student adaptation, this research enhanced Tinto's model with a new cultural element: interaction with Hong Kong culture and people. Persistence intention as well as satisfaction were utilised as indicators of MRPs' adaptation. Satisfaction, in particular, was also hypothesised as a mediating factor for persistence intention. Two quantitative and one qualitative studies were conducted. 103 MRPs from the University of Hong Kong participated in the first study, which aimed at validating instruments and exploring the pattern of correlations between the major variables involved. 222 MRPs from four universities of Hong Kong participated in the second study designed to test the model.
Another 24 and 3 MRPs participated in the focus-group discussions and follow-up interviews respectively in the third study designed for triangulation and a further understanding of MRPs' adaptation. The results generally supported the fit of the model with the data. They showed that the sibling cultural setting and the presence of large numbers of Mainland fellow peers in the universities of Hong Kong provided a culturally grounded environment for the MRPs but difficulties relating to cultural differences such as problems with language and in interactions with

Cross-border higher education has become an urgent agenda item for policy makers, and a major focus of scholarly enquiry. The existing literature mainly focuses on international flows, and pays less attention to flows across internal borders. The literature also underplays the complexity of forces which either push students to study away from home or pull them to new locations.
This thesis contributes to the literature by examining the distinctive determinants and characteristics of cross-border flows of mainland Chinese students in Hong Kong and Macao. This mobility within a single country has some similarities to international mobility because Hong Kong and Macao are Special Administrative Regions governed under different laws from the rest of China. Patterns in Hong Kong differ from those in Macao, and the territories are compared with each other as well as taken as a pair for comparison with other parts of the world. Hong Kong and Macao are hybrid in nature, with characteristics that are neither fully domestic nor fully international, and play a dual role both as destinations in themselves and as stepping-stones for further internationalization.
In a global market, both excess and differentiated demand trigger flows to the external locations in which various suppliers compete with and complement each other. The borders across which mainland Chinese students flow, both internationally and internally, are blurred and loosened by the interests of domestic and external actors and by the powers of globalization and neo-liberalism. Two categories of financial mechanisms of cross-border mobility, i.e. fee-paying and scholarship, serve as differentiated instruments of China’s social stratification and mobility. Fee-paying enhances social stratification, and scholarships favor social mobility.
The thesis presents a framework which includes analysis of internal and external dynamic forces. Among these forces are the actions of governments, institutions and individuals

In this paper, we report on an inquiry exploring the experiences of 10 mainland Chinese student teachers of English so as to understand why they came to Hong Kong for a teacher education programme. The study revealed that these students were largely attracted to teaching in Hong Kong because of its extrinsic benefits such as professional stability, the prestige associated with the English language teaching profession and the opportunities to acquire valued skills transferable to other professions including English competence. Facing challenges as non-local students, they were also uncertain of becoming teachers in the new context. As 'elite' Chinese students were often unwilling to become teachers, we found it strategic to attract a large number of talented non-local students to the teaching profession and retain them. We conclude the paper with recommendations for various stakeholders to support these non-local students' adaptation and development as committed and competent teachers in local schools.
[Copyright of Journal of Education for Teaching is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website: http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02607470902771037]

The purpose of this paper is to explore the potential of narrative inquiry to contribute to an understanding of immigrant students' educational experience. Research on immigrant students' education is reviewed and the need for detailed examination of these students' experiences in schools, such as is done in a narrative inquiry, is demonstrated. Current trends in narrative inquiry that focus on multicultural and cross-cultural phenomena are examined. Key questions that narrative inquirers engaged in international and comparative education need to consider are discussed. One narrative inquiry on Mainland Chinese immigrant students in Hong Kong is presented to demonstrate the particular qualities of this form of inquiry and its potential for understanding immigrant students' educational experience. Dilemmas and concerns associated with this form of inquiry are briefly addressed.
[Copyright of Compare: A Journal of Comparative Education is the property of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/03057920802066568]