The marketization of higher education in China: a comparative multimodal genre analysis between top-public and international universities
-
Yuxuan Mu
and
Luoxiangyu Zhang
Abstract
With the growing marketization of higher education in China, the About-us webpage of universities has become an important venue for academic institutions to display both introductory information and self-promotional content to attract prospective students. This study draws on multimodal genre analysis to examine and compare the generic structure of the About-us webpages of two academic associations: C9 universities (nine public, top-tier universities) and Sino-foreign cooperative (or international) universities. We analyze how these two groups of universities structure their webpages differently across three layers: layout, rhetorical, and navigational features. The findings suggest that both groups employ rhetorical moves, such as providing an overview of the university and establishing academic credentials. However, C9 universities narrate their histories and political affiliation, while Sino-foreign universities elaborate on their international-oriented education through the massive use of multimodal resources. This study contributes to the framework of multimodal genre analysis, demonstrating how Chinese academic institutions strategically mobilize linguistic and visual resources to engage with Chinese sociopolitical discourses.
Appendix: Overview of C9 and international universities
| University Name (Abbreviation) | Year | Type |
|---|---|---|
| Xi’an Jiaotong University (XJTU) | 1896 | C9 |
| Shanghai Jiaotong University (SJTU) | 1896 | C9 |
| Zhejiang University (ZJU) | 1897 | C9 |
| Peking University (PKU) | 1898 | C9 |
| Nanjing University (NJU) | 1902 | C9 |
| Fudan University (FDU) | 1905 | C9 |
| Tsinghua University (THU) | 1911 | C9 |
| Harbin Institute of Technology (HIT) | 1920 | C9 |
| University of Science and Technology of China (USTC) | 1958 | C9 |
| University of Nottingham Ningbo (UNNC) | 2004 | International |
| BNU-HKBU United International College (UIC) | 2005 | International |
| Xi’an Jiaotong-Liverpool University (XJTLU) | 2006 | International |
| Wenzhou-Kean University (WKU) | 2011 | International |
| New York University Shanghai (NYU) | 2012 | International |
| Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shenzhen (CUHK) | 2012 | International |
| Duke Kunshan University (KDU) | 2013 | International |
| Guangdong Technion-Israel Institute of Technology (GTIIT) | 2015 | International |
| Shenzhen MSU-BIT University (SMBU) | 2016 | International |
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Articles in the same Issue
- Frontmatter
- Research Articles
- Use of inscribed objects in roleplay training sessions at a Japanese insurance company
- Visual and multimodal literacies in secondary education in Spain: voices from English language teachers
- The marketization of higher education in China: a comparative multimodal genre analysis between top-public and international universities
- Sustainability as an element of corporate identity: multimodal analysis of an Italian coffee company’s website
- Communicating political achievements: a semiotic analysis of political posters in the linguistic landscape of Tanzania
- From aspiring to authentic engineers: prioritizing real people and real problems in engineering through service design methodology
- Whoosh! visual depictions of direction, speed, and temporality: a corpus analysis of motion events in global comics
- Sharing experience or selling service?: a multimodal critical discourse analysis of self-proclaimed Hong Kong female PhD student identity in Xiaohongshu (Little Red Book)
- Professors’ perception of body language in the aftermath of the Covid-19 online teaching period
