Introduction: Some Dynamics of Regionalization in Asia-Pacific Higher Education

Abstract

As the past three decades in particular have demonstrated, the phenomenon we conventionally term contemporary globalization is complexly constituted out of a series of dynamics that interact to produce outcomes that are themselves complex, intensely interactive, and in many instances productive of unexpected (and some would suggest unpredictable) outcomes (Hershock 2011). It is increasingly difficult to identify areas of contemporary society that are not profoundly affected by these dynamics; so it is unsurprising to include education in general and higher education in specific within generalization. The essays that constitute this volume are part of a continuing effort on the part of the East—West Center to focus on various aspects of these higher education changes through a series of annual scholarly meetings organized through a program called the International Forum for Education 2020 (IFE 2020).¹ The problematic of this effort is both simple and profound: It is asserted that many aspects of the world— as a direct consequence of the changes being wrought by contemporary globalization—are changing more rapidly than higher education.