This quantitative, non-experimental study described the perceptions of the Deans of the Foreign Affairs Office in public institutions of higher education in China regarding their agreement with, and implementation of, the current national policy concerning the employment of foreign experts. This study utilized a descriptive survey design. Data were collected using a self-designed web-based questionnaire. The sample for this study consisted of 116 participants providing a sample which closely represented the characteristics of the population.

Data were analyzed by comparisons between the categories of the individual demographic variables and the participants' perceptions regarding their agreement with, and implementation of, the national policy—the 1991 Provision. Frequencies and percentages of the responses among the different Deans were calculated using Microsoft Excel 2007. Spearman rho correlation coefficients were calculated using the IBM Statistical Package for Social Sciences (SPSS) Statistics 19 to determine whether there were statistically significant ( p < .05) and statistically important (r ≥ .4) relationships between the four variables (age, years in position, number of foreign experts employed, and number of foreign experts needed) and the participants' perceptions regarding their agreement with, and implementation of, the national policy.

Data from this study revealed that: (a) the vast majority of the Deans of the Foreign Affairs offices felt it was difficult or very difficult to implement the national policy, (b) the vast majority of the participants strongly agreed or agreed that the national policy—the 1991 Provision is outdated and needed to be updated, (c) there were no statistically significant and statistically important relationships between the each of the four variables (age, year in position, number of foreign experts employed, and number of foreign experts needed) and the participants' perceptions regarding their agreement with, and implementation of, the national policy—the 1991 Provision. However there were statistically significant and statistically important relationships of moderate strength between two variables (number of foreign experts employed and number of foreign experts needed) and the participants' perceptions regarding their agreement with the Articles 30 and 32 of the 1991 Provision.