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This paper intends to provide a thematic literature review of the scholarly research articles orbiting the Sino–African education cooperation and exchange, published between 2005 and 2022.

The methodology used in this paper is qualitative in nature with a thematic approach. The author used content analysis techniques to spotlight the major themes of the topic studied. The author selected the papers and theses, based on their heuristic capacity, from two major databases for the English and Chinese literature: Web of Science and CNKI. The selection process resulted in 60 high-quality peer-reviewed articles and theses. Another 30 research articles and theses were used as supplementary resources.

The literature concentrates on six points: the historical development, the nature of the exchange, the frameworks of the cooperation, vocational training and knowledge transfer, African students in China and their experiences, and education cooperation and soft power. However, research tends to be somewhat polemical rather than an academic debate between Chinese researchers and their western peers. Therefore, empirical studies beyond the geopolitical preoccupations and the “YEA” or “NAY” to the Sino–African education exchange are critically needed.

The implications of this study go beyond the east/west or developed/developing world rhetoric and focus more on sustainable educational development on a global scale. Understanding how the literature on the Sino–African education engagement is shaping, provides valuable insights into international education in the global south. It can also be implied to approach educational engagement with other destinations such as India, Türkiye and Brazil.

This thematic literature review concentrates on the educational aspect of Sino–African relations. It compares English and Chinese peer-reviewed scholarly articles and theses on China–Africa educational engagement and has heuristic implications for sustainable educational development globally.

The purpose of this paper is to examine whether the welfare and social policy ideas that characterize Chinese aid in Africa are influencing traditional donors and becoming global.

The paper utilised a qualitative study that has two main components: first, a comprehensive content analysis of over 50 key Sino–African, Chinese and Western policy documents from 2000 (since cooperation between Beijing and African countries first became institutionalised); and, second, there were semi-structured interviews with Chinese, African and Western stakeholders in Addis Ababa (Ethiopia), who were directly involved in the relationship between China and Africa and related development issues.

The results of documentation and interview analyses show that there are currently significant differences between Chinese and Western approaches. China has developed much stronger and more explicit links between development aid and economic activity than most Western donors. The aid is usually implemented through specific projects rather than broader programmes or policies.

It is reasonable to assume that the new developments initiated by the Agency’s international pioneers are likely to be a new emerging trend. As the conditions and processes of social policy design in developing countries are so closely linked with the ideas of international development institutions (if not predetermined), a possible change in the direction of travel of the ideas and activities of this community requires close coordination analysis and evaluation.

The purpose of this paper is to examine China-Africa educational cooperation under the framework of Forum on China-Africa Cooperation (FOCAC) while illustrating the modalities of Sino-Africa educational cooperation.

Based on empirical and documentary analysis, the paper describes and explores the unique features of China-Africa educational cooperation.

In the past decades, China's expanding engagement with Africa in the field of international development assistance has attracted great attention and given rise to mixed reactions and arguments at the international level. China's cooperation with Africa has a long and notable history, dating back to the 1950s. China's cooperation with other developing countries is known as South-South development cooperation, based on principles of equality, mutual benefit, solidarity and no conditionality. With a thorough and critical analysis of the decision-making mechanism and the practices of China's educational cooperation with Africa, this paper puts forward some important issues regarding the perspective of sustainability and effectiveness in Chinese cooperative arrangements.

The paper tries to explain the dynamic and the practices of China's education engagement with Africa and puts forward key challenges regarding its effectiveness toward new strategic partnerships. However, the answers to these questions require some innovative measures in the future practices of China-Africa educational cooperation.

The China-Africa education partnership is not a stand-alone sector, which can be better understood in the context of the historical development of China-Africa cooperation and under the framework of the FOCAC.

The purpose of this paper is to critically assesses the major contributions to the academic literature on China’s increased focus on Africa, from 2001 to 2011. It discusses the key trends concerning China’s presence in Africa and draws conclusions on the significance of the studies by emphasizing and contrasting the prevailing positions.

Based on a qualitative approach using an integrative and comprehensive literature review, the authors performed a content analysis of high-impact, peer-reviewed papers.

The paper questions and repositions some of the existing controversies. The results from existing studies remain questionable, requiring further clarification and more theoretical backing. It, moreover, highlights the notion that behind the explicit neutrality views of China’s presence in Africa, implicit assumptions may exist. These are often the differences in narratives conveyed by Western and Southern stakeholders.

Most of the conclusions drawn from this paper need to be re-explored and supported by additional research. This could be done by widening the scope of the analysis. Studies need to provide more empirical support for their assertions through quantitative data and evidence-based qualitative analyses

all within a framework that considers more cultural, social and historical dimensions. The paper also suggests that an institutionally based view appears most relevant in better explaining China in Africa.

This paper reviews a decade of research on China in Africa and presents a snapshot of the current state of knowledge. It also raises concerns to be analyzed by future research and proposes new avenues for better understanding China’s presence in Africa.

This chapter highlights the characteristics of Asia through the analysis of policy-related documents by five donor countries, namely Japan, South Korea, China, India and Thailand. It will also examine the roles played by regional bodies such as the Southeast Asian Ministers of Education Organization (SEAMEO) and ASPBAE (the Asia South Pacific Association for Basic and Adult Education) as the horizontal channels influencing aid policies in respective countries. Together with the analysis of the national and organizational policies, the regional process of building consensus on the post-2015 agenda is examined, with a particular focus on the Asia-Pacific Regional Education Conference (APREC) held in August 2014.

The analysis reveals that the region has two faces: one is imaginary and the other is functional. There is a common trend across Asian donors to refer to their historical ties with regions and countries to which they provide assistance and their traditional notions of education and development. They highlight Asian features in contrast to conventional aid principles and approaches based on the Western value system, either apparently or in a muted manner. In this sense, the imagined community of Asia with common cultural roots is perceived by the policymakers across the board.

At the same time, administratively, the importance of the region as a stage between the national and global levels is recognized increasingly in the multilateral global governance structure. With this broadened participatory structure, as discussed in the chapter ‘Post-EFA Global Discourse: The Process of Shaping the Shared View of the ‘Education Community’’, the expected function of the region to transmit the norms and requests from the global level and to collect and summarize national voices has increased.

The study explores African partners' experiences regarding Chinese expatriates' knowledge control practices in 29 Sino-African joint ventures in 12 countries. It provides insights into power dynamics and knowledge transfer (KT) from African partners' perspective.

The qualitative paper mobilized semi-structured interviews with Africans who worked with Chinese expatriates across Africa. The study focused on understanding the experiences of African partners when collaborating with their Chinese expatriate colleagues on assignments in joint ventures (JVs) in Africa.

Chinese expatriates employed five tactics, as described by African partners, to control knowledge based on power, behaviors and knowledge type. Particularly, through the lens of unofficial power, this study explains knowledge hiding tactics between knowledge-holding Chinese expatriates and host country knowledge-seeking locals. A new dimension of authority-based knowledge hiding is discovered.

The paper brings new insights into the analysis of power (official and unofficial) boundaries regarding knowledge control mechanisms in joint venture collaborations between employees from China and Africa. Unofficial power appeared as a major leverage for expatriates in monopolizing their strategic knowledge. The study recommends mobilizing African diaspora and repatriates from China to improve KT for Africa.

The aim of this study is to examine the motive of China's and India's engagement in African countries particularly in Ethiopia and to address the land grabbing and debt-trap diplomacy between Ethiopia and the Asian drivers, which creates challenges across the diverse social, political, economic and ecological contexts.

This study utilises both primary and secondary data. The available literature is also reviewed. The primary data were gathered through semi-structured interviews and discussions from (1) several authority offices in Ethiopia, sources close to authorities, information-rich informants, employees and (2) perspectives, perceptions and prospects from individual members of society.

The study unmasks the win-win cooperation strategy from the perspective of the members of society in Ethiopia, evaluates whether China and India have strings attached or land grabbing motives. The study also shows that whether China's and India's move was deliberate, the implications of debt-trap diplomacy and exploitation in Ethiopia are apparent. Additionally, this study investigated several considerable potential threats to Ethiopia that will persist unless significant measures are taken to control the relations with Asian drivers.

Some of the limitations of this paper pertain to the primary data collection process from the Ethiopian Investment Commission (EIC) and other authorities, which was very challenging because people can be punished for talking to journalists or researchers. Furthermore, some investors were not willing to participate in discussions because they were engaged in areas that are not related to their licenses. Many interviewees were also not willing to disclose their names, and the data are not exhaustive in the number of investment projects covered.

This study provides new evidence on the influence of Chinese and Indian investment, aid and trade on Ethiopia's social, political and economic spheres. Additionally, this study contributes to the ongoing debate on land grabbing and debt-trap diplomacy in Ethiopia.