ABSTRACT
In this chapter, we created the concept of ‘university habitus’ as a variant on ‘institutional/organisational habitus’ and used the tool of multiple correspondence analysis to apply that concept to understand the institutional logic of Chinese universities in establishing transnational higher education programs through the national scheme of ‘China–Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools’ (CFCRS). Our overall conclusion is that Chinese universities of different standings in a hierarchical field are enculturated into coexisting CFCRS strategies of academic capitalism, academic politicism, and symbolism of excellence, which constitute a system of dispositions—university habitus. This habitus steers Chinese universities to capture opportunities historically and imagine probable futures through CFCRS. It also establishes a correspondence between universities’ standings in the higher education field on the one hand, and three sets of power relations that help shape that field: (1) the influence of the logic of the field of power as the state pursues national higher educational goals through CFCRS; (2) the influence of economic logic as universities take up opportunities for revenue generation; and (3) status competition in the national and global higher education fields. These findings deepen understandings of the phenomenon of TNHE under the aegis of CFCRS in the period leading up to 2020.
