Introduction

China has become not only a robust exporter of students to overseas universities, but also an active importer of international higher education. This research targets at cross-border joint-universities (built in mainland China) co-founded by Chinese higher institutes and overseas higher institutes. Institutional theories are applied as guiding theoretical perspective and qualitative research methods are employed. By examining the interactions and dynamics between one cross-border joint-university and its social environment in the process of institutional transplantation and organizational adaptation, this research suggests a concept of “organizational dilemma” to capture the characteristics embedded in cross-border joint-universities in mainland China, and develops an analytical model to unpack the tensions giving rise to the dilemmatic feature.