Comparative Discursive Analysis of University Mission Statements: Insights From Chinese and American Higher Education

ABSTRACT In the context of globalisation and ongoing educational reforms, universities are of increasing importance as central platforms for knowledge creation and talent cultivation. The mission statements articulated in institutional narratives play a crucial role in shaping the cultural identity and public image of universities. This study applies Corpus‐Assisted Critical Discourse Analysis (CACDA) to examine the ‘About’ sections of 147 ‘double first‐class’ Chinese universities and the top 150 US universities. Using AntConc for keyword, collocation and concordance analysis, this study identifies recurrent rhetorical strategies and sociocultural themes in institutional self‐narratives. We outline a stratified systemic functional transitivity module to connect clause‐level choices with identity work in mission texts. The findings reveal that while Chinese and American universities emphasise a global vision and research excellence, Chinese institutions place a stronger emphasis on national identity and cultural heritage. In contrast, American institutions focus more on liberal education and community engagement. These differences reflect distinct cultural, economic and political contexts in higher education, offering insights for cross‐cultural academic collaborations. The study contributes to higher education research and practice by linking corpus patterns, clause‐level realisations and organisational identity claims in mission discourse. This combined linguistic approach not only deepens theoretical understanding of identity construction in higher education but also informs more effective institutional communication.