Dr Jack Lee
Lecturer in Comparative Education and Education Policy

- Moray House School of Education and Sport, IECS
- University of Edinburgh
Contact details
- Tel: +44 (0)131 651 6389
- Email: jack.lee@ed.ac.uk
- Street
-
Moray House School of Education and Sport, SJ
- City
- University of Edinburgh (Holyrood Campus)
- Post code
- EH8 8AQ
Background
My research interests stem largely from my exposure to education systems in different societies from an early age as an immigrant child to my professional life working in different countries. I first entered the field of education as an intercultural communication trainer/educator at the University of British Columbia (Centre for Intercultural Communication). For 10 years, I worked closely with faculty, administrative staff, students, community organisations, and corporations to facilitate intercultural collaborations and campus-wide internationalisation initiatives. My growing interest in comparative education led me to the University of Oslo as an exchange student and ultimately to the University of Toronto to pursue my doctorate. My thesis focused on the internationalisation of higher education in the case of Malaysia, Singapore, and Hong Kong as education hubs. Prior to moving to Edinburgh in 2019, I was the director of the doctoral program in Higher Education Management at the University of Bath (supporting 200 students from 46 countries) and Assistant Professor at Nazarbayev University in Kazakhstan.
Qualifications
- PhD, University of Toronto (Higher Education with specialisation in Comparative, International, and Development Education)
- M.Ed., University of British Columbia (Adult Education)
Responsibilities & affiliations
- Ordinary Member (2021-24), Executive Committee, British Association for International & Comparative Edcuation (BAICE)
- Visiting professor, International Centre for Higher Education Management, University of Bath
- Member, Higher Education Special Interest Group, Comparative and International Education Society (US)
Postgraduate teaching
- Education Policy and the Politics of Education (course organiser)
- Introduction to Comparative Education (course organiser, launching 2022)
- The Sources of Knowledge (research methods)
Open to PhD supervision enquiries?
Yes
Areas of interest for supervision
I welcome students interested in higher education and comparative & international education to contact me to discuss potential supervision.
Current PhD students supervised
Amy Aukland -- Teacher Professionalism in Wales and Scotland
Jingbo Hua -- Cooperation Between Non-governmental Stakeholders and Local Government in Improving China’s Rural Education
Josh Watters -- Cosmopolitan Capital and Global Citizenship: British International Schooling in Post-Colonial Southeast Asia
Yan Liang -- Gender Inequality in Chinese Higher Education
Zarina Muminova -- Parental Engagement in Young Children’s Learning in Rural Tajikistan
Past PhD students supervised
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Paula Sanderson (DBA) -- Transnational Education: Inclusive development or re-colonisation? (Bath)
- Dana Abdrasheva (PhD) -- Kazakh-Chinese Higher Education Partnerships: Aspirations and Challenges (EdUHK)
- Wael Mekdach (DBA) -- The Role of Organisational Culture in Shaping the Academic & Societal Roles of Lebanese Private Higher Education (Bath; awarded the Richard and Shirley Mawditt prize for the best DBA dissertation at Bath 2020)
- Fahdia Khalid (DBA) --University Industry Knowledge Exchange and Continuing Professional Development of Academics (Bath)
- Katalin Kovacs (DBA) -- Accreditation Process and Student Learning: Mongolia (Bath)
- Togzhan Jumagulova (PhD) -- Student Financial Aid Policy in Kazakhstan: Issues of Equity and Efficiency (Nazarbayev)
Research summary
My research focuses on higher education from a comparative / international perspective. Specifically, my work examines globalisation, internationalisation, transnational education, cultural diplomacy, geopolitics, research capacity building, mobility, and regionalisation. I am particularly interested in educational developments in Asia and the Global South.
Current research interests
Germany's transnational higher education; China's revival of the historical Silk Road (Belt and Road Initiative) and implications for higher education partnerships; regionalisation of higher educationPast research interests
education hubs, international faculty mobility, research capacity buildingKnowledge exchange
- Facilitated roundtable discussions for university leaders on the ethics of internationalisation at the Universities UK (UUK) international symposium in London with Paula Sanderson and Caroline Chipperfield (2019)
- Taught research design and methods to university administrators representing South Africa's public higher education system, Nelson Mandela University, Port Elizabeth, South Africa (2018)
Affiliated research centres
Past project grants
International Faculty Mobility & Research Capacity Building (2015-17), Ministry of Education & Science, Kazakhstan
-
International joint, double and consecutive degree programs: New developments, issues and challenges: New developments, issues and challenges
Research output: › Chapter (peer-reviewed) (Published) -
Global pedigree and national imperative: Hong Kong universities’ response to China’s grand strategies
(17 pages)
In:
Higher Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-021-00758-9
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Complicit reproductions in the Global South: Courting world class universities and global rankings
(15 pages)
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-15-7598-3_6
Research output: › Chapter (Published) -
Comparative and international higher education in a new key? Thoughts on the post-pandemic prospects of scholarship
In:
Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2020.1838121
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Institutional logic meets global imagining: Kazakhstan’s engagement with China’s Belt and Road Initiative
(17 pages)
In:
Higher Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-020-00634-y
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Internationalization and local research capacity strengthening: Factors affecting knowledge sharing between international and domestic faculty in Kazakhstan
(15 pages)
In:
European Education
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/10564934.2020.1723422
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (E-pub ahead of print) -
Building local research capacity in higher education: A conceptual model
(16 pages)
In:
Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, vol. 41, pp. 342-357
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2019.1596867
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published) -
Relocation decision of International Faculty in Kazakhstan
(20 pages)
In:
Journal of Studies in International Education, vol. 22, pp. 414-433
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1177/1028315318773147
Research output: Contribution to Journal › Article (Published)
- Finalist (1 of 3) for Teacher of the Year Award (2021) in the College of Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences (Edinburgh University Students' Association)
- Best Dissertation (2015), Higher Education Special Interest Group, Comparative & International Education Society https://www.cies.us/
- Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) of Canada Doctoral Fellowship