Staff profile

William Yat Wai Lo is an Associate Professor in Intercultural and International Education at the School of Education, Durham University. His research focuses on higher education as well as comparative and international education, with a particular emphasis on East Asia. William’s work has been widely published in leading international journals, covering topics such as university governance, student activism, education hubs, international student mobility and higher education internationalisation. William actively contributes to the research community through service on the editorial boards of prominent academic journals. He is also engaged in research development initiatives and collaborative projects that bridge global and local perspectives. William holds a PhD in Social Policy from the University of Bristol and has extensive teaching and supervisory experience in postgraduate and undergraduate education.

Information for Prospective Doctoral Research Student Supervisions

William is interested in working with students whose research interests include international higher education, comparative studies of policy and governance in higher education, and higher education reforms within a global context.

Research Interests

• Higher education policy and governance in East Asia
• Comparative and cross-cultural analysis of higher education
• Social and policy studies in education
• Globalisation, internationalisation and educational reforms

• 2023: Editoral Review Board Member of Higher Education:
• 2023: Editoral Board Member of Comparative Education:
• 2020: Associate Editor of Asia Pacific Journal of Education:
• 2018: Associate Editor of Higher Education Evaluation and Development:
• 2015: Editorial Advisory Board Member of International Journal of Comparative Education and Development:

Chapter in book

• Lo, W. Y. W., & Allen, R. M. (2023). The Ranking Game. In D. Kapur, D. M. Malone, & L. Kong (Eds.), The Oxford Handbook of Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific Region (210-227). Oxford University Press. https://doi.org/10.1093/oxfordhb/9780192845986.013.10

Journal Article

• Gao, F., Lo, W. Y. W., & Ng, F. S. K. (online). The emergence of multipolarity in global higher education: the Belt and Road Initiative and African students’ motivations to pursue postgraduate education in China. Educational Review, https://doi.org/10.1080/00131911.2024.2399730
• Li, D., Lo, W. Y. W., & Yang, R. (online). Unpacking the discourse surrounding the impact agenda in the Hong Kong Research Assessment Exercise 2020. Research Evaluation, https://doi.org/10.1093/reseval/rvae034
• Lo, W. Y. W., & Auld, E. (2024). The role of university leaders in a political crisis: Students' perspectives from Hong Kong. Higher Education Quarterly, 78(1), 4-19. https://doi.org/10.1111/hequ.12418
• Lo, W. Y. W. (2024). Towards governmentality with Chinese characteristics: higher education policy discourses in post-colonial Hong Kong and Macao. Comparative Education, 60(4), 626-646. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2024.2335014
• Lo, W. Y. W., & Li, D. (2023). Reimagining the notion of Hong Kong as an education hub: National imperative for higher education policy. International Journal of Educational Development, 103, Article 102938. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.ijedudev.2023.102938
• Vong, S. K., & Lo, W. Y. W. (2023). On the (re)move: exploring governmentality in post-colonial Macao’s higher education. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 44(3), 389-406. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2023.2200076
• Lo, W. Y. W., & Yang, R. (2023). Hybridisation and recombination: perspectives on higher education in Chinese societies. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 44(3), 337-347. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2023.2200073
• Lo, W. Y. W. (2023). Departing from hybridity: higher education development and university governance in postcolonial Hong Kong. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 44(3), 407-424. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2023.2200077
• Lo, W. Y. W. (2023). Vulnerable autonomy: university governance in the context of student activism in Hong Kong. International Studies in Sociology of Education, 32(2), 293-312. https://doi.org/10.1080/09620214.2021.2007504
• Chan, S.-J., Yang, C.-C., & Wai Lo, W. Y. (2023). Adopting neoliberal values in Taiwan’s higher education governance: a hybridisation process. Discourse: Studies in the Cultural Politics of Education, 44(3), 425-440. https://doi.org/10.1080/01596306.2023.2200078