Abstract
Asia’s rapid economic transformation is the defining event of the twenty-first century, popularly held to be restructuring the locus of global economic activity and with it the contours of the international geo-strategic and political order. But beyond Asia’s rise as ‘factory to the world’, there has also been sustained effort to develop higher education in the region and to evolve research and knowledge capacity that will reposition Asia at the forefront of the global knowledge-economy, driving research and scientific innovation. Investment in the region’s higher education systems has thus grown enormously in the last three decades, with governments increasingly motivated to position their economies competitively and develop higher education systems of world-class standing. Despite these ambitions and the provision of enormous resources, however, this chapter argues that there remain substantial barriers to reform and to the emergence of higher education systems able to meet the rising expectations of the region’s policymakers. To demonstrate our argument, we survey several higher education systems across Asia, grouped by region (Southeast and Northeast Asia) and analysed in relation to a series of qualitative institutional, political and social contexts: firstly, what we term higher education governance indicators such as merit-based recruitment, promotion and remuneration, censorship, institutional and academic autonomy (among others); and secondly, quantitative performance-based indicators such as bibliometric and research performance, reputational and esteem rankings. We draw upon the comparative conceptual framework developed by Dobbins, Knill and Vögtle (Higher Education 62:665–683, 2011) that sees governance of higher education (HE) as interrelated processes of control, coordination and the allocation of autonomy between three levels—the state, professoriate and university management—and broadly reflected in three typologies of governance: (a) state centred; (b) market-oriented; and (c) academic self-governance (Dobbins et al. in Higher Education 62:665–683, 2011), and highlight the continuing dominance of state-centred (often political) governance of higher education in Asia.
This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Notes
- 1.
The BRICS formed into a loose international coalition (initially without South Africa) in a summit in 2008; it collaborated to create the BRICS Development Bank in 2014, driven and substantially resourced by China, and now referred to as the New Development Bank, headquartered in Shanghai. Much like its namesake idiom, however, with domestic political and economic disruptions in Russia, Brazil and South Africa, the international significance of the forum relative to other multilateral groups has diminished (see Abdenur and Folly 2015).
- 2.
The only other examples are Brunei Darussalam (US$32,860) whose wealth is singularly attributable to resource extraction (oil) and Macau, SAR, China (US$65,130) which derives 88% of its entire GDP from ‘gambling services’.
- 3.
GNI per capita, Atlas method, current US$; see World Bank (2017).
- 4.
We recognise that university rankings are not the ultimate measure of excellence or achievements in teaching and research. Rather, they capture a broad cross section of performance metrics in research, teaching, internationalisation and other related esteem measures. We use only the Times Higher Education World Universities Rankings (THE WUR) data; we believe this is the most objective of all the available university rankings indices insofar as it does not use surveys based predominantly on reputational perceptions but metrics drawn from five areas weighted as follows: teaching (30% of the total score), research (30%), citations (30%), international outlook (7.5%) and industry income (2.5%). See https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/methodology-world-university-rankings-2018. (See also Hazelkorn 2017; Marope et al. 2013; Pratt 2013; Pusser and Marginson 2013).
- 5.
The World Bank estimates that research productivity per academic staff is roughly around 0.4 research outputs per year, well below international standards (Negara and Benveniste 2014, p. 36).
- 6.
The extremely low base of research output is also noted by the OECD in the organisation’s country background report, which highlighted that ‘an increase in research output and research papers in recognised international journals written by Indonesian researchers’, in part reflected ‘co-operation with foreign researchers’, and grew ‘from 578 research papers in 2000 to 1142 papers in 2008’—significant growth to be sure but still lagging behind equivalent-sized economies (OECD/ADB 2015, p. 202).
- 7.
Indonesia performs least well relative to other countries in Asia in terms of citations per document. In 2016, for example, citations per document were 1.26 (Pelupesssy, 2017).
- 8.
The universities classified as Autonomous Public Universities (PTN-BH) include: University of Indonesia, Bogor Agricultural University, Institute of Technology Bandung, Gadjah Mada University, University of North Sumatra, Indonesia Educational University and Airlangga University. Four other public universities are also in the process of acquiring autonomous public university status: Padjadjaran University, Diponegoro University, Nopember Institute of Technology and Hasanuddin University (Moeliodihardjo 2014, p. 4).
- 9.
HEIs consist of universities, institutes of technical education, colleges, polytechnics and academies.
- 10.
Most notably RMIT University Vietnam (the Vietnamese branch of the Australian research university the Royal Melbourne Institute of Technology) and the British University, Vietnam.
- 11.
Jean-Pierre Lehmann blames the declining fortunes of Japanese universities in international league tables a consequence of poor and declining levels of internationalisation, noting that ‘Japan, a very open country during the 1960s and 1970s, has become inward-looking’ and that Japanese ‘universities share an important part of the blame’ (Lehmann 2017).
- 12.
By one estimate, Project 985 universities enjoy 10 per cent of total national research expenditure while accounting for only 3 per cent of the nation’s researchers, bestowing on them an extraordinary level of resources compared to a typical Chinese university (THE WUR 2017).
- 13.
Information also ascertained through interviews with Chinese scholars at elite universities (i.e. DFCP-designated universities).
- 14.
Average salaries for fresh graduates from non-elite universities in 2017, for example, were reported at 4000 yuan (US$588) a month which is insufficient to meet living needs in most urban environments in China (Zuo, 2017).
- 15.
These issues likely account for the fact that of all overseas-trained Chinese scholars, between 70 and 80% do not return home—a figure that Altbach and de Wit indicate has been holding steady (Altbach and de Wit 2018, p. 25).
- 16.
Although historically, of course, Singapore was notorious for disciplining academic labour and for controls on free speech, including deportation (through revoking employment visas) of foreign academic labour.
References
Abdenur, A. E., & Folly, M. (2015). The New Development Bank and the institutionalization of the BRICS. R/Evolutions: Global Trends & Regional Issues, 3(1), 66–92.
ADB. (2012a). Private higher education across Asia: Expanding access, searching for quality. Manila: Asian Development Bank.
ADB. (2012b). Administration and governance of higher education in Asia: Patterns and implications. Manila: Asian Development Bank.
Altbach, P. G. (1998). Comparative higher education: Knowledge, the university and development. Greenwich, CT; London, UK: Ablex & JAI Press.
Altbach, P. (2009). China and India: A steep climb to world-class universities. In J. A. Douglass, C. J. King, & I. Feller (Eds.), Globalisation’s muse: Universities and higher education systems in a changing world (pp. 205–226). Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Public Policy Press.
Altbach, P. G. (2011). The past, present, and future of the research university. In P. G. Altbach & J. Salmi (Eds.), The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities (pp. 11–32). Washington, DC: World Bank.
Altbach, P. G. (2016a). Chinese higher education: ‘Glass ceiling’ and ‘feet of clay’. International Higher Education, Summer (86), 11–13.
Altbach, P. G. (2016b). Global perspectives on higher education. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Altbach, P. G., & de Wit, H. (2018). The closing of China? Possible implications for universities worldwide. International Higher Education, Spring, 93, 24–25.
Altbach, P. G., & Postiglione, G. A. (2012). Hong Kong’s academic advantage. International Higher Education, 66, 22–27.
Altbach, P. G., & Salmi, J. (Eds.). (2011). The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities. Washington, DC: World Bank.
Anh, L. T. K., & Hayden, M. (2017). The road ahead for the higher education sector in Vietnam. Journal of International and Comparative Education, 6(2), 77–89. https://doi.org/10.14425/jice.2017.6.2.77.
Ashley, R. K. (1983). Three modes of economism. International Studies Quarterly, 27(4), 463–496. https://doi.org/10.2307/2600557.
Asian Correspondent (2017, September 25). China aims to dominate higher education via 42 world class universities. Asian Correspondent. Retrieved from https://asiancorrespondent.com/2017/09/china-aims-dominate-global-higher-education-sector-via-42-world-class-universities/#8kY5ZOxM1UcXgGFS.97.
Bhandari, R., & Lefebure, A. (2015). Asia, the next higher education superpower?. New York: Institute of International Education.
British Council. (2018). Philippine higher education. British Council. Retrieved from https://www.britishcouncil.ph/tne/facts-figures/philippines.
Carroll, T., & Jarvis, D. S. L. (2017a). Developmental states in Asia: Change and transformation. In T.-K. Chang & A. Chang (Eds.), Routledge handbook of Asia in world politics (pp. 48–60). London & New York: Routledge.
Carroll, T., & Jarvis, D. S. L. (2017b). Disembedding autonomy: Asia after the developmental state. In T. Carroll & D. S. L. Jarvis (Eds.), Asia after the developmental state: Disembedding autonomy (pp. 3–50). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Carroll, T., & Jarvis, D. S. L. (2017c). Preface. In T. Carroll & D. S. L. Jarvis (Eds.), Asia after the developmental state: Disembedding autonomy (pp. xvii–xxxviii). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Chou, C. P. (2012). Who benefits from the massification of Taiwan’s higher education? Guest editor’s introduction. Chinese Education & Society, 45(5–6), 3–7. https://doi.org/10.2753/CED1061-1932450500.
Chou, C. P. (2014, November 12). Education in Taiwan: Taiwan’s colleges and universities. Taiwanese–US Quarterly Analysis. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution. Retrieved from https://www.brookings.edu/opinions/education-in-taiwan-taiwans-colleges-and-universities/.
Chu, Y.-W. (2016). Democratization, emergence of the knowledge-based economy, and the changing developmental alliances in South Korea and Taiwan. In Y.-W. Chu (Ed.), The Asian developmental state: Reexaminations and new departures (pp. 117–138). Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Coclanis, P. A. (2013). Asia’s next tigers? Burma, the Philippines, and Sri Lanka. World Affairs March/April. Retrieved from http://www.worldaffairsjournal.org/article/asia%E2%80%99s-next-tigers-burma-philippines-and-sri-lanka.
Corr, A. (2017, June 28). Chinese informants in the classroom: Pedagogical strategies. Forbes. Retrieved from https://www.forbes.com/sites/anderscorr/2017/06/28/chinese-informants-in-the-classroom-pedagogical-strategies/#31c8fd6412da.
Cummings, W. K. (2010). Is the academic center shifting to Asia? In D. W. Chapman, W. K. Cummings, & G. A. Postiglione (Eds.), Crossing borders in East Asian higher education (pp. 47–76). Hong Kong: Springer.
de Haan, J. (2017, April 27). Indonesia: Economic developments and future prospects. Future Directions International. Retrieved from http://www.futuredirections.org.au/publication/indonesia-economic-developments-future-prospects/.
Đỗ, H. M. (2014). Towards more flexible organization. In L. Trần, S. Marginson, H. Đỗ, Q. Đỗ, T. Lê, N. Nguyễn, T. Vũ, T. Phạm, & H. Nguyễn (Eds.), Higher education in Vietnam (pp. 54–85). London: Palgrave Macmillan.
Dobbins, M., Knill, C., & Vögtle, E. M. (2011). An analytical framework for the cross-country comparison of higher education governance. Higher Education, 62(5), 665–683. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-011-9412-4.
Etzkowitz, H., & Zhou, C. (2009). Evolution of the university’s role in innovation and the new Asian model. In J. A. Douglas, C. J. King, & I. Fekker (Eds.), Globalization’s muse: Universities and higher education systems in a changing world (pp. 229–247). Berkeley, CA: Berkeley Public Policy Press.
Feng, E. (2017a, April 25). Ideological purge hits China universities with western ties. The Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/8a7552d8-1f68-11e7-a454-ab04428977f9.
Feng, E. (2017b, September 20). ‘What China needs right now is more Steve Jobs’: Government pressure threatens an experiment in western style education. The Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/b4e68f66-76d7-11e7-a3e8-60495fe6ca71.
Fischer, K. (2016, May 1). When everyone goes to college: A lesson from South Korea. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/When-Everyone-Goes-to-College-/236313.
Fukuyama, F. (1992). The end of history and the last man. London: Penguin.
Gereffi, G. (2014). Global value chains in a post-Washington consensus world. Review of International Political Economy, 21(1), 9–37. https://doi.org/10.1080/09692290.2012.756414.
Gorban, A., Pokidysheva, L., Smirnova, E., & Tyukina, T. (2011). Law of the minimum paradoxes. Bulletin of Mathematical Biology, 73(9), 2013–2044. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11538-010-9597-1.
Grove, J. (2017). China targets ‘world-class’ status for 42 universities. Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/china-targets-world-class-status-42-universities.
Hallinger, P. (2014). Riding the tiger of world university rankings in East Asia: Where are we heading? International Journal of Educational Management, 28(2), 230–245. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJEM-11-2012-0126.
Hancock, T. (2017a, September 28). China’s EMBA programmes: Under government scrutiny. The Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/2fed43c8-5da9-11e7-b553-e2df1b0c3220.
Hancock, T. (2017b, October 30). Chinese universities race to embrace Xi Jinping’s theories. The Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/7002d916-bd47-11e7-b8a3-38a6e068f464.
Hazelkorn, E. (2011). Rankings and the reshaping of higher education: The battle for world-class excellence. Basingstoke: Palgrave Macmillan.
Hazelkorn, E. (2017). Global rankings and the geopolitics of higher education: Understanding the influence and impact of rankings on higher education, policy and society. London & New York: Routledge.
Heyward, M., & Sopantini, E. D. (2013). Indonesia: The challenge of quality and equity in education. In L. P. Symaco (Ed.), Education in Southeast Asia (pp. 71–94). London: Bloomsbury Academic.
Hou, A. Y.-C., Ince, M., & Chiang, C.-L. (2012). A reassessment of Asian Pacific excellence programs in higher education: The Taiwan experience. Scientometrics, 92(1), 23–42. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11192-012-0727-4.
Hultberg, P. T., & Calonge, D. S. (2017). Is South Korea in a higher education access trap? University World News, 468. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20170711111525929.
Hultberg, P., Calonge, D. S., & Kim, S.-H. (2017). Education policy in South Korea: A contemporary model of human capital accumulation? Cogent Economics & Finance, 5(1). https://doi.org/10.1080/23322039.2017.1389804.
Human Rights Watch. (2018). Philippines: Duterte’s ‘drug war’ claims 12,000 + Lives. New York: Human Rights Watch.. Retrieved from https://www.hrw.org/news/2018/01/18/philippines-dutertes-drug-war-claims-12000-lives.
Jarvis, D. S. L. (2017). The state and development in Malaysia: Race, class and markets. In T. Carroll & D. S. L. Jarvis (Eds.), Asia after the developmental state: Disembedding autonomy (pp. 201–236). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Jump, P. (2013, February 28). Strong but uneven patterns as bricks build on research. Times Higher Education Supplement.
Jusoh, D. S. I. (2017, May 7). Turning the world towards Malaysian education. New Straits Times. Retrieved from https://www.nst.com.my/opinion/columnists/2017/05/237032/turning-world-towards-malaysian-education.
Keohane, R. O. (2002). Power and governance in a partially globalized world. London: Routlege.
Keohane, R. O., & Nye, J. S. (1977). Power and interdependence: World politics in transition. New York: Little Brown.
Kim, T. (2016). Internationalisation and development in East Asian higher education: An introduction. Comparative Education, 52(1), 1–7. https://doi.org/10.1080/03050068.2016.1144309.
Kitamura, Y., Kuroda, K., Meerman, A., & Yonezawa, A. (2014). Emerging international dimensions in East Asian higher education. Dordrecht: Springer.
Kuo, Y.-Y. (2016). Taiwan universities: Where to go? Humanities, 15(1). https://doi.org/10.3390/h5010012.
Lamubol, S. (2015). Continued curbs on academic freedom under military rule. University World News, 370. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20150605102104963.
Lee, C. M. (2016). Fault lines in a rising Asia. Washington, DC: Brookings Institution Press.
Legowo-Zipperer, V. (2017, July 7). Indonesia among the best economies in the G20. Deutsche Welle. Retrieved from http://www.dw.com/en/indonesia-among-the-best-economies-in-the-g20/a-39598526.
Lehmann, J.-P. (2017, September 12). University challenge: Asia in the scales of global knowledge. The StraitsTimes. Retrieved from https://www.straitstimes.com/opinion/university-challenge-asia-in-the-scales-of-global-knowledge.
Levin, R. C. (2010). Top of the class: The rise of Asia’s universities. Foreign Affairs, 89(3), 63–75.
Lo, Y. W. (2014). University rankings: Implications for higher education in Taiwan. Singapore & Heidelberg: Springer Science + Business Media.
Logli, C. (2016). Higher education in Indonesia: Contemporary challenges in governance, access, and quality. In C. Collins, M. Lee, J. Hawkins, & D. Neubauer (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of Asia Pacific higher education (pp. 561–581). New York: Palgrave Macmillan US.
Macha, W., Mackie, C., & Magaziner, J. (2018, March 6). Education in the Philippines. World Education News + Reviews. Retrieved from https://wenr.wes.org/2018/03/education-in-the-philippines.
Marginson, S. (2011a). Asia-Pacific universities in the global space: Visions of university presidents. In S. Marginson, S. Kaur, & E. Sawir (Eds.), Higher education in the Asia-Pacific: Strategic responses to globalization (pp. 37–52). Dordrecht: Springer.
Marginson, S. (2011b). Higher education in East Asia and Singapore: Rise of the Confucian model. Higher Education, 61(5), 587–611. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-010-9384-9.
Marginson, S. (2013). Different roads to a shared goal: Political and cultural variation in world-class universities. In Q. Wang, Y. Cheng, & N. C. Liu (Eds.), Building world-class universities: Different approaches to a shared goal (pp. 13–34). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Marginson, S. (2015). Systemic challenges to educational quality and global competitivness. In R. Bhandari & A. Lefébure (Eds.), Asia, the next higher education superpower? (pp. 57–75). New York: Institute of International Education.
Marope, P. T. M., Wells, P. J., & Hazelkorn, E. (Eds.). (2013). Rankings and accountability in higher education: Uses and misuses. Paris: UNESCO.
McCarthy, J., & Ibrahim, R. (2010). Review of social science capacity building support to Indonesia’s knowledge sector. Retrieved from https://dfat.gov.au/about-us/publications/Documents/indo-ks9-socialscience.pdf.
McCoy, A. W. (2009). Preface: The Philippine oligarchy at the turn of the twenty-first century. In A. W. McCoy (Ed.), An anarchy of families: State and family in the Philippines (pp. xi–xxxii). Madison, WI: University of Wisconsin Press.
MEXT. (2017). Top global university project. Tokyo: MEXT. Retrieved from https://tgu.mext.go.jp/en/about/index.html.
Moeliodihardjo, B. Y. (2014). Higher education sector in Indonesia. Massification of higher education in large academic systems. British Council. Retrieved from https://www.britishcouncil.in/sites/default/files/indonesian_higher_education_system.pdf.
Mohrman, K. (2008). The emerging global model with Chinese characteristics. Higher Education Policy, 21, 29–48.
Mok, K. H. (2014). Promoting the global university in Taiwan: University governance reforms and academic reflections. In C. P. Chou (Ed.), The SSCI syndrome in higher education: A local or global phenomenon (pp. 1–24). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Mok, K. H., & Cheung, A. B. L. (2011). Global aspirations and strategising for world-class status: New form of politics in higher education governance in Hong Kong. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, 33(3), 231–251. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2011.564998.
Mok, K. H., & Hallinger, P. (2013). The quest for world class status and university responses in Asia’s world cities: An introduction by the guest editors. Journal for Higher Education Policy and Management, 35(3), 230–237.
Mok, K. H., & Neubauer, D. (2016). Higher education governance in crisis: A critical reflection on the massification of higher education, graduate employment and social mobility. Journal of Education and Work, 29(1), 1–12. https://doi.org/10.1080/13639080.2015.1049023.
Negara, S., & Benveniste, L. (2014). Tertiary education in Indonesia: Directions for policy. Working paper no.89301. Washington, DC: World Bank. Retrieved from http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/105061468044074141/Tertiary-education-in-Indonesia-directions-for-policy.
Nelson, A. R. (2013). Regionalisation and internationalisation in higher education and development: A historical perspective, c. 1950–1970. Journal of Higher Education Policy & Management, 35(3), 238–248. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080x.2013.786858.
Neubauer, D. E. (2012). The emergent knowledge society and the future of higher education: Asian perspectives. New York: Routledge.
Nizam, N., & Nurdin, M. (2014). Governance reforms in higher education: A study of institutional autonomy in Indonesia. In N. V. Varghese & M. Martin (Eds.), Governance reforms in higher education: A study of institutional autonomy in Asian countries (pp. 85–106). Paris: UNESCO & International Institute for Educational Planning.
Oberman, R., Dobbs, R., Budiman, A., Thompson, F., & Rosse, M. (2012). The archipelago economy: Unleashing Indonesia’s potential. McKinsey Global Institute. Retrieved from https://www.mckinsey.com/~/media/McKinsey/Featured%20Insights/Asia%20Pacific/The%20archipelago%20economy/MGI_Unleashing_Indonesia_potential_Full_report.ashx.
OECD. (2009). OECD reviews of tertiary education: Japan 2009. Paris: OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2013a). Indonesia: Innovation profile. In OECD, Innovation in Southeast Asia (pp. 153–180). Paris: OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2013b). Malaysia: Innovation profile. In OECD, Innovation in Southeast Asia (pp. 181–211). Paris: OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2013c). Singapore: Innovation profile. In OECD, Innovation in Southeast Asia (pp. 223–254). Paris: OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2013d). Viet nam: Innovation profile. In OECD, Innovation in Southeast Asia (pp. 281–305). Paris: OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2016a). OECD reviews of innovation policy: Malaysia 2016. Paris: OECD Publishing.
OECD. (2016b). OECD science, technology and innovation outlook 2016: Japan. Paris: OECD Publishing.
OECD/ADB. (2015). Education in Indonesia: Rising to the challenge. Reviews of National Policies for Education. Paris: OECD Publishing.
O’Neil, J. (2001). Building better global eeconomic BRICs: Global Economic Paper, No: 66. New York: Goldman Sachs. Retrieved from http://www.goldmansachs.com/our-thinking/topics/brics/brics-reports-pdfs/build-better-brics.pdf.
O’Neill, J. (2015, January 8). BRIC in danger of becoming ‘IC,’ says acronym coiner O’Neill. Bloomberg. Retrieved from https://www.bloomberg.com/news/…/bric-in-danger-of-becoming-ic-says-acronym-co.
Parry, Z. (2013). The higher education sector in Korea: What you see is not always what you get. The Observatory on Borderless Higher Education, October. Retrieved from http://www.obhe.ac.uk/newsletters/borderless_report_october_2011/higher_education_in_south_korea.
Pelupessy, D. (2017, September 14). Indonesia wants to be no. 1 in ASEAN, but in the world of science collaboration is more important. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/indonesia-ingin-jadi-no-1-di-asean-tapi-dalam-dunia-ilmu-pengetahuan-kolaborasi-lebih-penting-83984.
Peters, M. A., & Besley, T. (2018). China’s double first-class university strategy: 双一流. Educational Philosophy and Theory. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2018.1438822.
Polanyi, K. (1957). The great transformation (1st Beacon paperback ed.). Boston, MA: Beacon Press.
Postiglione, G. A. (2015). Research universities for national rejuvenation and global influence: China’s search for a balanced model. Higher Education, 70(2), 235–250. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-014-9838-6.
Postiglione, G. A., & Arimoto, A. (2015). Building research universities in East Asia. Higher Education, 70(2), 151–153. https://doi.org/10.1007/s10734-015-9873-y.
Pratt, S. M. (2013). The global institutional profiles project: A new approach to evaluating academic institutions. In Q. Wang, Y. Cheng, & B. C. Lui (Eds.), Building world class universities: Different approaches to a shared goal (pp. 181–196). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Pusser, B., & Marginson, S. (2013). University rankings in critical perspective. The Journal of Higher Education, 84(4), 544–568.
Quimbo, A. M. T., & Sulabo, E. C. (2013). Research productivity and its policy implications in higher education institutions. Studies in Higher Education, 39(10), 1–17. https://doi.org/10.1080/03075079.2013.818639.
Rakhmani, I. (2018). Reproducing academic insularity in a time of neo-liberal markets: The case of social science research in Indonesian state universities. Journal of Contemporary Asia, (forthcoming).
Rakhmani, I., & Siregar, F. (2016). Reforming research in Indonesia: Policies and practice. Working paper no. 92. New Delhi: Global Development Network. Retrieved from http://www.gdn.int/sites/default/files/Doing%20Research%20in%20Indonesia%20-%20Working%20Paper.pdf.
Rhoads, R. A., Wang, X., Shi, X., & Chang, Y. (2014). China’s rising research universities: A new era of global ambition. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Robison, R. (1986). Indonesia: The rise of capital. Sydney: Allen & Unwin.
Robison, R., Rodan, G., & Hewison, K. (2005). Transplanting the neoliberal state in Southeast Asia. In R. Boyd & T.-W. Ngo (Eds.), Asian states: Beyond the developmental perspective (pp. 172–198). London & New York: RoutledgeCurzon.
Rostow, W. W. (1971). The stages of economic growth: A non-communist manifesto (2nd ed.). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Sawa, T. (2017, December 24). Why Japan’s universities continue to fall in global rankings. The Japan Times. Retrieved from https://www.japantimes.co.jp/opinion/2017/12/24/commentary/japan-commentary/japans-universities-continue-fall-global-rankings/#.WzRh_xLpckI.
Sharma, Y. (2014). Rising unemployment: Are there too many graduates? University World News, 307. Retrieved from http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20140213153927383.
Sheridan, G. (2010). Viet Nam: Preparing the higher education sector development project (HESDP). Technical assistance consultant’s report. Asian Development Bank. Retrieved from https://www.adb.org/sites/default/files/project-document/63093/42079-01-vie-tacr-04.pdf.
Shi, J., Jo, L., & Li, J. (2016). Prospects of higher education in the Asian region with specific reference to China. In C. S. Collins, M. N. N. Lee, J. N. Kawkins, & D. E. Neubauer (Eds.), The Palgrave handbook of Asia Pacific higher education (pp. 211–226). New York: Palgrave Macmillan US.
Shin, J. C. (Ed.). (2018). Higher education governance in Asia: Transformations under Neoliberalism. Singapore: Springer.
Stapleton, K. (2017, April). Inside the world’s largest higher education boom. The Conversation. Retrieved from https://theconversation.com/inside-the-worlds-largest-higher-education-boom-74789.
Statistical Bureau. (2018). National statistics: Per capita GNI (US dollars). Statistical Bureau, Republic of China (Taiwan). Retrieved from https://eng.stat.gov.tw/point.asp?index=1.
StudyMalaysia. (2015, March 14). The Malaysian higher education system: An overview. StudyMalaysia. Retrieved from https://www.studymalaysia.com/international/the-national-education-system/the-malaysian-higher-education-system-an-overview.
Swanson, A. (2015, October 5). Why Asia is the new Europe. The Washington Post. Retrieved from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/wonk/wp/2015/10/05/why-asia-is-the-new-europe/?utm_term=.3211ad6485eb.
Times Higher Education. (2017). Best universities in China 2018. Times Higher Education World University Rankings. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-china.
Times Higher Education. (2018). Times Higher Education: World Universities Rankings 2018. Retrieved from https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2018/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats.
Tjeldvoll, A. (2011). Change leadership in universities: The Confucian dimension. Journal of Higher Education Policy and Management, 33(3), 219–230. https://doi.org/10.1080/1360080X.2011.564997.
Tollefson, J. (2018). China declared world’s largest producer of scientific articles. Nature, 553(390). https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-018-00927-4.
Trines, S. (2017, November 8). Education in Vietnam. World Education News and Reviews. Retrieved from https://wenr.wes.org/2017/11/education-in-vietnam.
UNESCO. (2014). Higher education in Asia: Expanding out, expanding up. The rise of graduate education and university research. Montreal: UNESCO Institute for Statistics.
UNESCO. (2018). China: Education and literacy. UNESCO. Retrieved from: http://uis.unesco.org/country/CN.
Usher, A. (2018). Have Chinese universities hit a plateau? International Higher Education (93), 25–26.
Wang, H. H. (2014). The political economy of quantitative indexes for measuring academic performance. In C. P. Chou (Ed.), The SSCI syndrome in higher education: A local or global phenomenon (pp. 25–38). Rotterdam: Sense Publishers.
Welch, A. (2017). Higher education and the developmental state: The view from East and South East Asia. In T. Carroll & D. S. L. Jarvis (Eds.), Asia after the developmental state: Disembedding autonomy (pp. 359–387). Cambridge: Cambridge University Press.
Wilhelm, I. (2013, March 11). China crowds into scholarly research and new patents. The Chronicle of Higher Education. Retrieved from https://www.chronicle.com/article/China-Crowds-Into-Scholarly/137815.
Willige, A. (2016). The world’s top economy: The US versus China in five charts. World Economic Forum, 2017. Retrieved from https://www.weforum.org/agenda/2016/12/the-world-s-top-economy-the-us-vs-china-in-five-charts/.
Wiratraman, H. P. (2016, February 15). Academic freedom post-Soeharto: Not much better. The Jakarta Post. Retrieved from http://www.thejakartapost.com/news/2016/02/15/academic-freedom-post-soeharto-not-much-better.html.
World Bank. (2012). Putting higher education to work: Skills and research for growth in East Asia. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank. (2013). Spending more or spending better: Improving education financing in Indonesia. Washington, DC: World Bank.
World Bank. (2016). New country classifications by income level. Washington, DC: World Bank. Retrieved from: https://blogs.worldbank.org/opendata/new-country-classifications-2016.
World Bank. (2017). GNI per capita, Atlas method (current US$): World Bank national accounts data and OECD national accounts data files. Washington, DC: World Bank. Retrieved from: https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GNP.PCAP.CD.
World Bank. (2018). World Bank data: Indonesia. Washington, DC: World Bank. Retrieved from https://data.worldbank.org/indicator/NY.GDP.MKTP.KD.ZG?locations=ID.
Xinying, Z. (2017, September 28). China has world’s largest education system. China Daily. Retrieved from http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/china/2017-09/28/content_32606890.htm.
Yamamoto, S., & Futao, H. (2014). Governance reforms in higher education: A study of institutional autonomy in Japan. In N. V. Varghese & M. Martin (Eds.), Governance reforms in higher education: A study of institutional autonomy in Asian countries (pp. 107–124). Paris: UNESCO & International Institute for Educational Planning.
Yang, R. (2016). Toxic academic culture in East Asia. International Higher Education, 84, 15–16.
Yang, R. (2017). The cultural mission of premier universities in East Asia. International Higher Education, 91, 29–30.
Yang, Y., & Zhang, A. (2017, June 18). China launches crackdown on academic fraud. The Financial Times. Retrieved from https://www.ft.com/content/680ea354-5251-11e7-bfb8-997009366969.
Yasih, D. W. P., & Mudhoffir, A. M. (2017, November 28). How autonomous are Indonesian universities? Indonesia at Melbourne. Retrieved from http://indonesiaatmelbourne.unimelb.edu.au/how-autonomous-are-indonesian-universities/.
Zha, Q. (2016). China calls for smarter standards for its world-class universities. International Higher Education, 86, 10–11.
Zhang, L., Bao, W., & Sun, L. (2016). Resources and research production in higher education: A longitudinal analysis of Chinese universities, 2000–2010. Research in Higher Education, 57(7), 869–891. https://doi.org/10.1007/s11162-016-9410-6.
Zhengqi, P. (2016). State-led innovation partnerships: Asian developmental states within the triple helix paradigm. European Journal of East Asian Studies, 15(1), 108–143. https://doi.org/10.1163/15700615-01501005.
Zuo, M. (2017, June 14). China’s new graduates earn US$588 a month … less than the cost of an iPhone. South China Morning Post. Retrieved from https://www.scmp.com/news/china/society/article/2098225/chinas-new-graduates-earn-us588-month-less-cost-iphone.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2019 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Jarvis, D.S.L., Mok, K.H. (2019). The Political Economy of Higher Education Governance in Asia: Challenges, Trends and Trajectories. In: Jarvis, D., Mok, K. (eds) Transformations in Higher Education Governance in Asia. Higher Education in Asia: Quality, Excellence and Governance. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9294-8_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-13-9294-8_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-13-9293-1
Online ISBN: 978-981-13-9294-8
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)