From global agendas to local practice: institutional mediation and the glocalization of adult education in Taiwanese community colleges

Despite growing attention to global agendas in education systems, limited empirical research has examined how these agendas are translated into community-based adult education. This study investigates how Taiwanese community colleges reinterpret global educational agendas through locally situated educational practice. It conceptualizes community colleges as institutional mediators through which global educational priorities are recontextualized within local communities. The study draws on in-depth interviews with 13 institutional leaders, administrators, and educators from community colleges across Taiwan, as well as representatives of the National Association for the Promotion of Community Universities. Interview data were analyzed using thematic analysis. Three interconnected themes emerged from the analysis: institutional interpretation, curricular recontextualization, and sustained community engagement. Rather than implementing internationally promoted educational agendas directly, Taiwanese community colleges reinterpret lifelong learning, global citizenship education, education for sustainable development, cultural diversity, and social inclusion through organizational decision-making, locally grounded curricula, and long-term community engagement. The study contributes to adult and lifelong education by explaining how to circulate global agendas and acquire educational meaning and practice through institutional engagement. The findings also provide a sociological account of glocalization by showing how global educational priorities are reconstructed through community-based educational practice.