‘Bridging borders in academia’: the motivations, barriers, and strategies of Global North scholars in Chinese higher education research

China’s rise as a global leader in technology and education has positioned its higher education system as a key site of international scholarly inquiry. This study explores the motivations, barriers, and adaptive strategies of Global North scholars conducting research on Chinese higher education through qualitative interviews with 16 of these scholars. The findings indicate that they were motivated by advances in China’s higher education system, opportunities for innovations in theoretical approaches to comparing higher education systems, and personal affinities with Chinese culture. However, they encountered significant challenges, including language barriers, cultural misunderstandings, participant distrust, and structural constraints such as uncertain career pathways in China and shifts in the academic climate of the Global North. To navigate these complexities, these scholars employed strategies such as forming reciprocal partnerships with Chinese colleagues, leveraging localized networks for data legitimacy, and balancing methodological rigor with cultural reflexivity. This study highlights the dual role of international scholars as critical analysts and cultural interpreters who exercise agency to traverse epistemic hierarchies and structural inequalities in the global knowledge system. By acting as boundary spanners, they advance the co-production of transnational knowledge and challenge reductive North–South binaries, thereby demonstrating that the Global South is not merely an empirical case study but a generative source of theoretical insight. While grounded in the Chinese context, the findings have broader implications for understanding how international scholars can engage with Southern knowledge systems to foster a more inclusive, dialogical, and pluralistic global academy.