We are pleased to announce that Professor Xie Ailei from South China Normal University (SCNU) will be visiting our university in May, and you are cordially invited to attend the seminar organized by the Department of Education Policy and Leadership (EPL).
Also, Professor Xie will be available for one-on-one consultation sessions from May 13 to 14. Professor Xie is a distinguished scholar at the School of Education Science, SCNU, and serves as the Co-Chairman of the Child Education and Development Committee under the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy. Additionally, he is the Director of the Qualitative Research in Education Innovation Laboratory at SCNU.
His expertise in education policy, child education and development, and qualitative research methods makes this a valuable opportunity for faculty, postdoctoral researchers, and graduate students with research or teaching interests in education studies, educational policy analysis, and qualitative research methodologies.
If you are interested in a research meeting with Professor Xie, we encourage you to reserve a consultation session with him. Details regarding the time slots for the one-on-one consultation sessions will be provided in a follow-up email with a registration link. Stay tuned for more information!
Details of seminar on 13 May 2025 are as follows:
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Topic:
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Lecture Title: The Gamified Sensibility and Reflexivity of “Small-Town Exam Toppers”
Lecture Overview:
The positive significance of upward social mobility is undeniable. However, describing the narrative of social mobility solely through an economic lens risks narrowing its broader meaning. When examining the journey of rural and small-town youth who rise to become the pride of elite universities, it is insufficient to focus merely on their geographic or social relocation. Instead, attention must also be paid to their psychological and emotional experiences during this process. Higher education institutions are far from culturally neutral environments; they are saturated with the cultural norms and “rules of the game” of the upper-middle class. Immersed in a heterogeneous cultural space defined by mainstream discourse as more advanced, rural and small-town youth often bear significant psychological and emotional costs.
This lecture draws on a longitudinal study initiated in 2013 to explore the nature of these psychological and emotional burdens. It also examines the reflexivity they engender—a reflexivity that embodies the potential for transformation and success. By shedding light on these hidden dimensions, the talk aims to deepen our understanding of the lived experiences of these individuals and highlight the resilience and agency they develop in navigating their social mobility journey.
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Date & Time:
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13 May 2025 (Tuesday): 10:30 a.m. – 11:30 a.m.
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Mode:
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Face-to-face Mode
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Venue:
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D2-LP-18, Tai Po Campus, The Education University of Hong Kong
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Language:
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Chinese supplemented by English
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Applicable group:
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All staff and students
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Speaker:
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Professor Xie Ailei
South China Normal University - School of Education Science
Xie Ailei is a Professor at the School of Education Science, South China Normal University. He serves as the Vice Chairman of the Committee on Children’s Education and Development of the Chinese Society of Educational Development Strategy and the Director of the Laboratory for Qualitative Research Innovation in Education at South China Normal University. Professor Xie’s research focuses on the development of rural students in elite universities, educational anxieties among urban middle-class families, and educational cooperation in the Greater Bay Area.
He has published over 70 articles in prestigious academic journals, including Educational Research, Peking University Education Review, Journal of East China Normal University (Educational Sciences), Higher Education Research, Poetics, Higher Education, British Journal of Sociology of Education, and Comparative Education. His policy reports have been adopted by the Ministry of Education. Professor Xie has led numerous research projects, including the National Social Science Fund (Sociology) General Project, the Ministry of Education Humanities and Social Sciences Youth Project, and the Guangdong Province Philosophy and Social Sciences Planning Project. His research achievements have been recognized with the 6th National Outstanding Research Award in Education and the 3rd National Outstanding Empirical Research Award in Education. He has also been honored as a Guangzhou Young Cultural Talent.
Professor Xie’s notable works include “Small-Town Exam Toppers: Background, Mindset, and the Ivory Tower”, “Self-Underestimation: The Self-Construction of Social Competence among Rural Students in Elite Universities”, and “Is Education Useless or Hopeless? A Re-examination of Rural Residents’ Views on Education”. He maintains a sustained interest in exploring the connections between macro-social structural changes and individual psychological experiences. His research aims to amplify grassroots voices and integrate them into mainstream policy discourse and academic discussions.
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Online Registration:
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Click HERE
Registration starts now and ends on 12 May 2025.
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