Globalization and the Transformation of Asian Higher Education

Abstract

Some Asian societies are outperforming traditional educational leaders. This is partially due to the fact that Asian higher education systems have adapted in rapid massification, internationalization of the Science, Technology, Engineering and Math fields, and investing in building “world-class research universities.” Program for International Student Assessment has globalized a relatively old technology of governance, testing outcomes, to render certain forms of learning comparable globally, and has generated a wealth of discussion about the effects of various policies and practices on students’ learning. It has revealed that, despite disparaging views among educators toward apparent rote learning, students in the most economically advanced Asian societies are outperforming the rest of the world. Although, there is currently no comparable measure of university students’ abilities, but the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development’s Assessment of Higher Education Learning Outcomes has proposed to do the same for higher education.