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DAI Kun

Assistant Professor

DAI Kun

BSc., MSc. (Griffith), PhD (Queensland)

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Dr. Kun Dai is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Educational Administration and Policy within the Faculty of Education at The Chinese University of Hong Kong (CUHK). His research interests encompass international and comparative education, higher education, and education policy.

An active and highly cited contributor to the field, Dr. Dai has published extensively in premier international journals, including Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, Journal of Studies in International Education, Higher Education Research & Development, and Assessment & Evaluation in Higher Education. His scholarly reach also extends to top-tier Chinese periodicals, such as Fudan Education Forum and Peking University Education Review. Furthermore, he has (co-)authored five academic books released by leading global publishers, including Routledge, Palgrave Macmillan, and Brill.

Dr. Dai is deeply engaged in the global academic community, serving as an Associate Editor, Guest Editor, and Editorial Board Member for several prominent journals, including Higher Education Research & Development, Compare, and Journal of Diversity in Higher Education. Additionally, he has contributed his expertise as a peer reviewer for over 100 international journals.

His research has garnered competitive funding from the Hong Kong Research Grants Council (RGC). In 2025, Dr. Dai was honored with the prestigious Hong Kong RGC Early Career Award, standing out as the sole recipient in the field of education and one of only eight awardees across all disciplines in Hong Kong. Reflecting this exceptional global academic standing, Dr. Dai was also recognized in the 2025 Stanford-Elsevier list of the World’s Top 2% Scientists in Education. Prior to joining CUHK, he was a Postdoctoral Research Fellow at the Graduate School of Education, Peking University, where he received the Outstanding Postdoctoral Scholar Award in 2021.

Research Interests
  • Comparative Education
  • Education Policy
  • Higher Education
  • Intercultural Studies
  • Narrative Study
  • Overseas Education
  • Qualitative Methods
  • Sociology of Education
Courses Taught
Recent Publications
  • Dai, K., & Hardy, I. (2023). Pursuing doctoral research in an emerging knowledge hub: An exploration of international students’ experiences in China. Studies in Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2023.2166917
  • Dai, K., Matthews, K, E., & Liang, Y. (2023). ‘I wish to participate but…’: Investigating students’ perceptions of student-staff pedagogical partnerships at a Hong Kong university. Higher Education. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-023-01035-7
  • Dai, K., Hu, Y., Li, X., & Oladipo, O. (2023). Conducting doctoral study in China: An exploration of international students’ motivation at Chinese universities. Higher Education Research & Development. https://doi.org/10.1080/07294360.2023.2197195
  • Dai, K., Garcia, J., & Olave, K. (2023). In-between worlds: Chilean university lecturers’ experiences of teaching transition between face-to-face and virtual reality contexts during the Covid-19 pandemic. Educational Technology Research & Development. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11423-023-10217-0.
  • Dai, K., & Eillot, D. (2022). ‘Shi men’ as key doctoral practice: Understanding international doctoral students’ learning communities and research culture in China. Oxford Review of Education. https://doi: 10.1080/03054985.2022.2123309
Research Projects
Other Link

Researchgate

Google Scholar