Duke Kunshan University (DKU) invites applications for the China Director of the Institute for Global Higher Education (https://ighe.dukekunshan.edu.cn/) and a tenured faculty position to begin in July, 2025. The institute focuses on the future of higher education, providing a unique bridge between China and the United States and a platform for DKU’s regional and global engagement in initiatives that define the next generation of educational practices. The institute is situated at the nexus of internal DKU innovation and external outreach and engagement and partners with the office of Learning Innovation and Lifelong Learning at Duke University.
We are seeking an intellectual leader and institution-builder who possesses administrative experience and a record of organizational success. We especially encourage candidates with expertise in areas such as comparative higher education and/or globalization and higher education, Chinese and East Asian higher education, Sino-US academic cooperation, liberal arts education, the science of teaching and learning, and innovation strategies in higher education.
The successful candidate will serve as the China-based lead for the institute’s research, practice, and outreach portfolio and teach two courses annually as part of DKU’s broad interdisciplinary majors and will be a faculty member in one or more of these majors which sit within and across and the university’s academic divisions. The China Director reports to the Dean for Academic Strategy and Learning Innovation who oversees the IGHE’s global programming.
In order to meet Chinese visa requirements, prior to the position start date international (non-Chinese) candidates must have worked full-time (work experience obtained while studying full-time is not considered as full-time work experience) for at least two years in a relevant area (including post-doctoral work) after receiving their Bachelor’s degree, or begin their appointment at DKU within 12 months of obtaining their master’s degree/Ph.D. and without having work experience between graduation date on master’s degree diploma/Ph.D. diploma and position start date.
DKU is a collaborative partnership of Duke University, Wuhan University and the Municipality of Kunshan, China (https://dukekunshan.edu.cn/). Our campus provides an innovative and robustly interdisciplinary undergraduate liberal arts experience to a student body that will number 2000 students and 150+ faculty, with an acceptance rate of <8% and a student body represented by over 60 countries. We also offer a discrete number of Master’s level graduate programs. The DKU pedagogical model draws on the best of Duke’s educational experience and resources to reimagine undergraduate instruction on an intimate campus setting.
Similar to the best liberal arts colleges in the United States, DKU values dedication to teaching excellence in a liberal arts environment, as well as a strong commitment to successful scholarly engagement and research. This includes research with undergraduate students. As a whole, the Duke Kunshan faculty will have strong commitments to teaching and research, and outstanding quality in both areas will be highly valued.
Candidates must hold a Ph.D. degree or equivalent in a relevant field. Research experience at a postdoctoral level (or greater) and teaching experience are desirable, as is experience working in an interdisciplinary setting. Applicants should provide a cover letter including a clear statement of the candidate’s specific interest in DKU and IGHE, a curriculum vitae, a research statement, a teaching statement, and three reference letters. All materials should be submitted through Academic Jobs Online: https://academicjobsonline.org/ajo/jobs/28787. The search committee also invites and encourages letters of nomination for potential candidates. Nominations and questions about the positions may be sent to dku-academicaffairs@dukekunshan.edu.cn using the subject “IGHE China Director” as the subject line. Priority will be given to applications received by January 30, 2025; we will accept applications until the positions are filled.
The DKU campus is 37 miles west of Shanghai in Kunshan, and is connected to Shanghai via an 18-minute high-speed train and a subway-light rail train system. DKU provides internationally competitive compensation, housing allowance, child education benefits (for applicable faculty positions), and a discretionary fund or start-up package.
