A Platform for Transcontinental Educational Dialogue
The Sino-European Hub on Global Transitions in Education represents a new model of international scholarly collaboration—one built not on hierarchical knowledge transfer but on genuine reciprocal exchange between educational research communities across continents.
The Challenge We Address
Contemporary educational systems worldwide face a paradox: while educational policies increasingly circulate globally, their implementation remains deeply embedded in local cultural, linguistic, historical, and institutional contexts. International assessments like PISA create new forms of comparison and competition, yet they often obscure the complex realities of teaching and learning in diverse settings. Reform initiatives travel across borders with unprecedented speed, yet their translation into practice produces unexpected—and often unexamined—transformations.
This paradox demands a new kind of comparative education: one that moves beyond surface-level borrowing and lending, beyond league tables and best-practice catalogues, toward deep understanding of how educational change actually happens across different cultural contexts.
Our Response
The Sino-European Hub brings together scholars from across Europe and Asia who share a commitment to:
Rigorous comparative methodology — We employ sophisticated analytical frameworks that account for the complexity of cross-cultural comparison, drawing on quantitative, qualitative, and mixed-methods approaches while remaining attentive to the epistemological challenges inherent in comparing across linguistic and cultural boundaries.
Sustained collaborative relationships — Unlike project-based collaborations that dissolve when funding ends, the Hub is built on long-term partnerships cultivated over years of joint research, shared doctoral supervision, faculty exchanges, and continuous scholarly dialogue.
Multilingual knowledge production — We recognize that knowledge produced only in English excludes vital perspectives and limits the reach of comparative scholarship. Our publications, events, and resources are available in multiple languages, and we actively support translation and cross-linguistic exchange.
Policy relevance without policy capture — We engage with policymakers and practitioners while maintaining scholarly independence. Our goal is not to prescribe solutions but to provide the evidence and analysis that enables informed decision-making.
What Makes Us Distinctive
Geographic Focus: While comparative education often privileges North Atlantic perspectives, the Hub centers the Europe-Asia axis as a crucial site of educational exchange and mutual learning. We pay particular attention to: – The educational traditions of East Asia (China, Japan, Korea, Vietnam, Cambodia) – The diverse educational systems of Europe (Nordic countries, Western Europe, Southern Europe, post-socialist transitions) – The growing educational connections along the Belt and Road corridor
Thematic Priorities: We focus on “global transitions”—the major transformations reshaping education worldwide: – Curricular reform and the emergence of new competency frameworks – The professionalization and deprofessionalization of teaching – Digital transformation and its uneven impacts – Education for sustainable development and global citizenship – The changing governance of education in an era of accountability.
Multilingual Scholarship : Comparative education gains depth when it draws on multiple scholarly traditions. The Hub supports research production and exchange in Chinese, French, and English, recognizing that each linguistic community brings distinctive theoretical resources and empirical insights. Our publication approach combines thematic reports—designed for broad dissemination across institutional networks—with peer-reviewed articles developed through collective workshops at our annual symposia. This process allows comparative findings to benefit from sustained cross-cultural dialogue before reaching wider audiences, strengthening both the research and the relationships that sustain it.
Methodological Innovation: We are committed to developing new approaches to comparative research that overcome the limitations of existing frameworks. This includes: – Multi-scalar analysis connecting classroom practices to global policy flows – Longitudinal comparative designs tracking educational change over time – Participatory methodologies that center the voices of teachers and learners – Visual and arts-based methods for capturing educational experience
“Comparative education at its best is not about ranking or racing, but about understanding how human societies have approached the fundamental challenge of transmitting knowledge, values, and capabilities across generations. In this understanding lies the possibility of mutual enrichment.”
— Founding Statement, Sino-European Hub on Global Transitions in Education, 2024
Our Commitments
To Researchers: We provide a vibrant intellectual community, opportunities for collaboration, access to resources and networks, and support for emerging scholars developing careers in comparative education.
To Practitioners: We translate research into accessible formats, facilitate exchanges between educators across contexts, and provide evidence-based resources for professional development.
To Policymakers: We offer rigorous analysis of educational reforms across contexts, critical evaluation of policy borrowing, and honest assessment of what comparative evidence can and cannot tell us.
To Society: We contribute to public understanding of education’s role in social transformation, challenge simplistic narratives about educational success and failure, and advocate for equitable, humanizing education systems worldwide.