Start: April 16, 2025 3 p.m.
End: April 16, 2025 4 p.m.
Location: Teachers College, Room 1008
Join us for the final event in the 2024–2025 Teachers College Dean’s Lecture Series, featuring Dr. Shuning Liu.
Excellence by Design: The Role of College Admissions Counseling in China and International Private Education
April 16, 2025 | 3:00–4:00 p.m. | Teachers College Room 1008
As internationally focused public high schools began to emerge in major Chinese cities in the 2010s, a new profession took shape within the country's expanding international education market: the college admissions counselor. These professionals play a pivotal role in guiding socioeconomically elite Chinese students through the complex process of applying to top-ranked universities abroad, particularly in the United States.
What influence does this emerging profession have on students' educational experiences and the broader landscape of private international education?
In this lecture, Dr. Shuning Liu will share insights from her longitudinal qualitative study on the transnational educational journeys of elite Chinese students. She will examine how college admissions counselors—both within internationalized public high schools and in private practice—contribute to student success and how their work reflects and reinforces trends in global private education. The presentation will also explore the development of this profession in China and its broader implications for international education.
About the Speaker
Dr. Shuning Liu is an Associate Professor of Curriculum Studies in the Department of Educational Studies. Her research focuses on critical theory, curriculum studies, educational policy, globalization, comparative and international education, and qualitative inquiry. Her work investigates how international education shapes social hierarchies and elite identities. She is the author of Neoliberalism, Globalization, and “Elite” Education in China: Becoming International (Routledge, 2020), and her scholarship has appeared in Educational Policy, Curriculum Inquiry, Critical Studies in Education, and Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education.