Australian universities’ approaches to transnational higher education in China: a Bourdieusian multiple correspondence analysis

Abstract Australian universities have been ambitious players in transnational higher education (TNHE) since the late 1980s. Yet there is little research based on large-scale evidence on their approaches to TNHE provision and the underlying logic behind these. Drawing on a self-created database, this study mapped 35 Australian universities’ approaches to their 587 TNHE partnerships with China. Through a Bourdieusian multiple correspondence analysis (MCA), the study unveiled distinctive approaches of Australian universities to various TNHE arrangements operated in China. The findings revealed how Australian universities’ capital portfolios and dispositions inform their different strategies for competition within the complex Sino-Australian TNHE space, which is structured around three poles, namely, the academic-driven pole, the market-oriented pole, and the state-regulated pole. The findings further illuminated how Australian universities targeted particular groups of students as part of their strategies for competition and competition aversion. This paper enriches the understanding of the nature and dynamics of Sino-Australian TNHE and reinvigorates the powerful but under-utilized methodology of MCA within the Bourdieusian sociology of education.