This study aims to elucidate how joint programmes can be used in the transfer and translation of Western policy to the local level in the context of China's efforts to build first-class higher education as a rising power. Although the Sino-French joint programme being studied was intended to be a wholesale adaptation of French engineering education, its development over the decade was around the theme of change rather than the monotony of replication, as envisioned in the beginning. This can be explained by what we call topology work, the process by which an organisation's boundary is constantly reshaped and recreated while maintaining certain traits. Awareness of the richer scope of change, supported by the concept of topological work, may suggest how comparative education can grow for global development.