Introduction

Abstract

Institutions of higher education in Asia, as in other parts of the world, have experienced intense pressure to perform well in order to be in a better position to compete on a global level and attain world-class status (Mok and Wei 2008). One way of achieving the goal is to secure a top position in the global university league tables. Since the launch of the first global university ranking exercise by the Shanghai Jiaotung University, universities in Asia have been particularly keen to improve their world-class status. As Salmi rightly points out, “these world-class universities are now more than just cultural and educational institutions—they are points of pride and comparison among nations that view their own status in relation to other nations” (2009, x). With the recent proliferation of ranking exercises, more systematic assessments for world-class universities have emerged (IHEP 2007). The principal goal of this introduction is to establish the theoretical context for the present volume by highlighting a few key issues related to the search for new governance in higher education among selected Asian societies. We also introduce the major arguments discussed in this book.