Translation regimes in the semi-periphery: local agency and the reframing of internationalisation in Chinese universities

This article advances comparative education by theorising ‘translation regimes’ – the systematic logics through which semi-peripheral universities reinterpret global mandates. Drawing on a qualitative multiple-case study of three higher education institutions in China – as one strategic research site within the broader semi-periphery, we identify three strategic logics of translation: core-emulation for global prestige, geopolitically-aligned niche-building, and market-oriented entrepreneurship. Integrating World-Systems Analysis, Soft Power Theory, and Confucian Institutionalism, we propose the concept of ‘geopolitically-conditioned institutional agency’ to explain how universities navigate structural constraints while exercising localised agency.The findings from this Chinese case challenge state-centric soft power narratives by revealing how universities pragmatically appropriate – and sometimes subvert – national agendas. We identify a ‘soft power gap’ whereby a performative, metrics-driven culture erodes meaningful intercultural engagement, limiting diplomatic returns.The study contributes a portable model for analyzing internationalisation across the Global South, arguing that global higher education is increasingly reconfigured by semi-peripheral translation regimes shaped by state capacity, disciplinary positioning, and cultural-institutional legacies.