Internationalization of medical education in China: An assessment of teachers’ mobility efficacy through the lens of global competence

Background: The Chinese government and universities have invested significantly in the internationalization of teachers in the past decade, especially in supporting teachers’ outward mobility. However, this has not been analyzed in the current literature. This study examined teachers’ mobility efficacy using the construct of global competence in a comparative base. Methods An online questionnaire was distributed to the teachers of a medical university in China. Descriptive statistics were used to compare levels of global competence. A one-way ANOVA analysis was implemented to test whether overseas experience makes a difference in the development of global competence. Multiple comparisons tests were conducted to verify the results. Results There was a significant difference in the reported global competence between teachers with and without overseas experience. Long-term overseas experience and overseas degree studies had the strongest relationship with higher levels of global competence, although the difference between them was not obvious. The short-term overseas experience did not display obvious differences from the others. Conclusions Our findings reinforce the idea that overseas experience is likely to yield more gains in teachers’ levels of global competence, and long-term overseas programs can be encouraged to assist teachers in efforts to enhance global competence.