Rethinking the mission of internationalization of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region

This article adopts the critical theory approach to reflect and analyse the impacts of globalization on the internationalization process of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region. It argues that globalization forces many of the higher education institutions in the region to follow global practices and ideologies of the Anglo-American paradigm without developing their own unique systems and honouring the rich cultures of their own countries. While higher education institutions are indulging in internationalization in terms of marketization and economic pragmatism, they have to ask themselves, ‘What is missing in the process of internationalization?’ This article argues that internationalization of higher education contributes to building more than economically competitive and politically powerful states. It represents a commitment to the development of an internationalized curriculum where the pursuit of global citizenship, human harmony and a climate of global peace is of paramount importance.     

Reflecting globalization effects on local policy: higher education reform in Taiwan

Recent comparative education policy studies show that even though there seems to be similar patterns and trends in higher education reforms in East Asian societies, the recently initiated higher education reforms have had very diverse agendas. Thus, the considerable convergence of policy rhetoric and general policy objectives may not satisfactorily explain the complicated processes of changes and the dynamic interactions between global, regional and local forces that shape education policy-making in individual countries. This article discusses globalization effects on national policy, with particular reference to how the higher education sector in Taiwan has transformed itself under the global tide of marketization and decentralization. There are a lot of changes similar to both higher education in Taiwan and that of elsewhere, which suggests that Taiwan's higher education has been affected by the trends of globalization. But before we jump to this conclusion, maybe we should also bear in mind an alternative hypothesis that local factors are crucial and determining factors for change. The core of the article is to examine the ways and strategies the Taiwan Government has adopted to reform its higher education systems in response to the changing local socio-economic political context and regional-global environments, with a particular focus on provision, regulation and financing.     

Education in the knowledge-based society: the case of the Philippines

There has been a sustained interest in the contribution of higher education in local, regional and national development in many countries. Along this line is the increasing internationalization and globalization of services to which the higher education sector is anticipated to respond through the updating and modernization of its offerings, changing of its formal structures and methods, policies regarding access, among others. The challenges of higher education in the global context anticipate the internationalization of this sector as a means that can provide an efficient response to and training for the evolving demands of modern society. This article reviews the programmes enacted by the Philippine government in response to the changing context of higher education with the move towards the knowledge-based society as central in policy. Issues relevant to the growing internationalism of education as seen through, among others, related human capital training, the role of research and development (R&D), and the increasing privatization of education as a result of the expansion of higher education will also be discussed.     

The global,the local,and the science curriculum: A struggle for balance in Cyprus

In documenting educational reforms in the science curriculum of developing countries, a number of tensions become apparent as a result of struggles to preserve local values while incorporating global trends. This article describes and analyses these tensions and paradoxes, and discusses the intersections of cultural, economic, administrative and educational history of elementary school science curriculum development in Cyprus since its independence from the British in 1960. Using a combination of methodological tools that range from document analysis, historical research and ethnographic methods of collecting data, it is argued that the global and the local can be viewed spatially in terms of linking people, spaces and diverse knowledges. In order to ensure that local values in science curriculum development can be sustained without being absorbed by globalization curriculum developers in developing countries need to create spaces in which the local can be performed together with the global.     

The global politics of education: Brazil and the World Bank

This paper questions the cultural neutrality of modernizationand globalization policies that are imposed by major internationalmonetary agencies. The authors propose that the structuraladjustment policies imposed by the World Bank and InternationalMonetary Fund are predominantly guided by the concept of developmentalassociation. Guided by this concept, the dominant countries andagencies perceive all developing countries to be merely culturalvariations of the same problem that assumes all countries requirethe same solutions. Through an analysis of the failures of WorldBank programs in Brazil and other developing countries, the authorsargue for greater recognition of the problems inherent in imposingcosmopolitan and global solutions on local contexts. The authorsconclude that globalized solutions for local contexts areinappropriate when they are formulated out of ignorance of thelocal culture and context.     

美国高校国际学生的语言问题及对策研究

高等教育国际化是高等教育发展的趋势,也是我国高等教育发展的新方向。在这一背景下,对发达国家在教育国际化方面所推行的措施和经验进行研究,有利于改进和完善具有中国特色的高等教育国际化体系。针对美国高等教育中国际学生的语言问题以及美国高校采取的措施和对策的研究,将为中国下一步的留学生培养和教育国际化过程中可能出现的类似问题提供借鉴。     

Globalization or Glocalization? Higher Education Reforms in Singapore

Globalization and the evolution of the knowledge‐based economy have caused dramatic changes to the character and functions of higher education in most countries around the world. However, the impacts of globalization on universities are not uniform though business‐like practices have been adopted to cope with competition in the global marketplace. The pressure for restructuring and reforming higher education is mainly derived from growing expectations and demands of different stakeholders in society. In recent years, widespread concerns over widened access, funding, accountability, quality, and managerial efficiency are perceived as the prominent global trends related to university education. Because of the divergent political, social, economic, cultural and historical backgrounds, national/local governments may adopt similar strategies in response to pressures generated from globalization. Nonetheless, through a close scrutiny of the ways that national policies are made, we may find that governments around the globe, particularly in East Asia, have tried to make use of the globalization discourse to address/justify the local policy/political agendas. This paper aims to examine the latest higher education reform initiatives proposed by the Singapore Government, with particular reference to reflect upon how the Singapore Government reforms its university systems in the context of globalization. It is argued that the latest comprehensive review of public university governance and funding brings about a changing role of the government in the regulation, finance and provision of higher education in Singapore and eventually alters the state‐university relationship.     

Addressing quality challenges in the private university sector in Bangladesh: from policy formulation to institutional implementation

Private higher education is growing, especially in developing and transitioning countries. Rapid growth frequently comes with concerns about quality. This article explores challenges and opportunities for higher education quality among private universities in Bangladesh. By presenting a vertical case study that explores interactions among actors at the institutional, national and global spheres, the authors argue for the need of developing quality standards that respond to the local realities of developing and transitioning countries. It is also argued that self-regulation among private universities is likely the most effective pathway for improvement. Bangladesh presents an ideal case for analysis given the rapid growth that higher education has experienced in the last 20 years in that country and given the current policy junction as Bangladesh begins to implement a newly developed quality assurance system. Other countries in the region in early stages of developing quality assurance and accountability systems may benefit from the findings of this study.     

Whose knowledge,whose values? the contribution of local knowledge to education policy processes: a case study of research development initiatives in the small state of Saint Lucia

This paper draws upon a case study of education in the small Caribbean state of Saint Lucia (population 154,000) to examine how local knowledge and values can influence the education policy process. It is argued that recent research development initiatives have strengthened the ability of Saint Lucia to mediate international education agendas to suit its distinctive ‘social ecology’ and circumstances as a small state. Saint Lucians, it is argued, are reconceptualizing educational research in ways that better reflect the society's Kwéyòl‐majority culture, oral traditions and postcolonial context. The boundaries of educational research are therefore being stretched to incorporate local knowledge and values and multiple modes of meaning‐making. The paper argues that increased recognition of the epistemological issues and cultural values that are at the heart of efforts to strengthen research capacity can play a crucial role in democratizing the education policy process and educational research itself.     

Spatial imaginaries: universities,internationalization, and feminist geographies

In this article, we conduct a discourse analysis of the strategic plans of two universities, one from the global South and the other from the global North, to understand how the constitution of space and place reconfigures human experience in the two institutions. We argue that universities do not simply respond to dominant logics of globalization but are active participants in its production. We draw on feminist geographers to elaborate how these universities’ discourses of internationalization reify a division of higher education as local ‘place’ and globalization as abstract global space, ‘out there’. This imaginary spatiality obscures the work of the ‘local’ in producing the ‘global’ with important implications for the redefinition of the student-citizen, useful knowledge, and managerial practices.     

The international flow of third level lesser developed country students to developed countries: Determinants and implications

This study analyses the international flow of third level developing country students to advanced countries from the perspective of sending authorities in developing countries. The magnitude of this flow can hardly be overemphasized; on the basis of a conservative estimate made in the article, the annual loss of foreign exchange entailed by this flow amounted to 17 percent of the interest repayment on total external debts of the lesser developed countries (LDCs) in 1979, a sum which the developing countries themselves can hardly ignore.On an aggregate basis, our principal hypothesis is that the outflow of students is determined primarily by excess demand for third level education in developing countries. The empirical results support this hypothesis, while pointing to the importance of other factors. Excess demand for third level education in the developing countries is one of the most important determinants of the flow of developing country students to the advanced countries.On the whole, expansion of developing country tertiary education, at the national or regional levels, could effectively divert some of the flow to local institutions. Aside from this, expansion can also be argued on the basis of the high returns to third level education in developing countries compared to the returns to physical capital, as well as the considerable economies of scale associated with this level of instruction. Further, given the willingness/ability of the students to pay, as witnessed by the fact that the vast majority of developing country students finance privately their education abroad, the expansion of third level education in LDCs could be funded substantially via user charges and student loan schemes.     

Asian lifelong learning in the context of a global knowledge economy: A task re-visited

This article revisits and reinterprets my previous paper. It is a snapshot of the lifelong learning system building in selected Asian countries, reflected in the mirror of the Asian Financial Crisis in the 1997s and the aftermath of that event. I reconsidered the arguments (1) the economic recession had delivered a global dimension of lifelong learning to the re-shaping of the local education system beyond local attributes; (2) and that the divergent tradition of adult education in this context was to meet the global market standards. Additionally, (3) I tried to further the discussion about the relationship between global forces and the lifelong learning system in the context of a knowledge economy, but with a number of different approaches. I argued that the lifelong learning system under the global forces of capitalism, as per the Asian experience in the 2000s, can be apart of a knowledge economy itself, not a tool of it, and in this sense, a knowledge economy sets the conditions of a lifelong learning system as an embryo of its attributes.     

全球化语境下的文化多样性与多元文化教育

全球化和文化都是当前人们普遍关注的“中心话语”。文化多样性是经济全球化时代世界文化发展的标志和表现,是世界各国的地域文化形式维持其存在的重要表现。文化全球化与文化多样性是全球化背景下文化发展的两个维度,二者是辩证统一、相生相成的。文化全球化与文化多样性并不是对立的,而且,文化全球化发展的必然结果只能是文化多样性,而不是文化同质一体化,更不会是“文化霸权主义”。而文化多样性发展的动力则是多元文化教育。     

全球化时代发展中国家的高等教育

随着经济、贸易和金融的全球化，发展中国家的文化传统与价值观念面临着诸多的冲击。作为各国文明和文化传承者的高等教育，该如何发展才能实现本真意义上的全球化，这是发展中国家面临的重要问题。发展中国家发展高等教育应该持一种积极的态度来应对全球化，发展中国家在全球化时代发展高等教育应该注意三个问题，即全球化、国际化和一体化；全球化、现代化和西方化；全球化与全球性。     

WTO多哈谈判农产品特殊保障机制问题的思考——基于生存权与发展权平等视角

农产品特殊保障机制是WTO多哈回合谈判中的重要议题,当前的GATT一般保障措施和SSG对发展中国家农产品进出口贸易保障问题关注不足,SSM的建立可有效缓解传统保障机制对发展中国家保护不力的难题。后多哈时代,农产品特殊保障机制问题的有效解决应在全球化视野下,以生存权与发展权平等为逻辑起点,构建全球性的利益协调机制,加强发展中国家的合作。中国应继续坚持特殊保障机制只能为发展中国家使用,适用范围包括一般农产品且适用较低的触发水平,从而易于简便、有效的实施,维护发展中成员的利益。     

发展中国家应对技术扩散的劳动力教育政策探析

借助国际技术扩散推进国内技术进步,是经济后起国家实现跨越式发展的重要手段。技术效应的扩散程度是以劳动者技术获得能力为前提的,而劳动力教育政策体系又是劳动者技术获得能力的重要影响因素。发展中国家构建以提高技术获得能力为主旨的劳动力教育政策体系,既要符合国情要求,又要体现与技术全球化传播及扩散趋势相适应的共性规律。     

Universities,civil society and the global agenda of community-engaged research

This article explores a key point of tension in contemporary discussions of community-university research engagement. Two perspectives are discussed. The first suggests that changes in the nature and structure of research have helped create democratic research spaces and opportunities within the university for communities. In this emerging (global) knowledge democracy movement, community-based researchers are increasingly seeking to connect lessons learned in local settings to the global context. The second perspective situates such developments in the context of the knowledge economy of higher education and suggests that community engagement is also developing in a manner that supports the advance of knowledge capitalism. The decisive tension is that universities around the world are being encouraged by governments to assume greater responsibility for economic development and to translate knowledge into products and services for the market – whilst at the same time being tasked to work with communities in alleviating the social and economic excesses of the market.     

Learning Stories as cross-national policy borrowing: The interplay of globalization and localization in preprimary education in Contemporary China

Chinese kindergartens’ over 110 years of adaptation of foreign models is a vivid example of how globalization comes into direct contact with Chinese culture and creates cultural hybridities. Learning Stories as a narrative assessment tool to children’s development from New Zealand, has swept China with the endorsement from the professional organizations and local authorities, especially attracting many followers in Beijing. Based on a two-year participatory action research in Beijing, the article examines Learning Stories as policy borrowing, redesigned as an innovative reflection tool for professional learning community which results from processes of mutual influence between the global and the local. The article highlights the importance of culture and context in considering professional development and the ‘fluid’ and dynamic nature of ‘glocalization’ working towards integration of globalization and localization. Furthermore, borrowing or learning foreign policies in preprimary education can be seen as one of governmental strategies to assimilate education more thoroughly than ever before into a network of disciplinary procedures and voluntary self-control.     

Losing the elite: Caribbean educational policy responses to the emigration of skilled labor

Abstract

The Caribbean ranks second only to Africa as the region with the highest levels of skilled emigration, which is defined as the outward migration of people holding a bachelor’s degree or extensive/equivalent experience in a given field. Based on the cost of educating their citizens, there are strong arguments supporting the view that skilled emigration comes at significant economic and social cost, especially to small island developing states of the Caribbean. This paper, therefore, explores how the emigration of skilled labor from the CARICOM Caribbean impacts education policy nationally and regionally. Drawing on data collected through questionnaires and document analysis, the research unearths four dominant educational policy responses to skilled emigration: bonding and compulsory service at the national level; regional cooperation on the movement of skilled labor through CARICOM’s Single Market and Economy (CSME); market based approaches to educating skilled professionals; and education funding policy. The paper also analyses the efficacy of each of these four policy responses and their implications. Ultimately, these policy responses coalesce to highlight the national and regional complexities of educational policy-making under globalization, and the limitations of Caribbean national and regional educational policies aimed at controlling skilled emigration in the context of globalization’s market forces.     

析英国开放大学与美国高等教育机构的合作战略

本文以开放大学在北美的演进与实战发展为参照系,从马里兰大学学院大学、美国开放大学和新学院大学这三个与英国开放大学有着密切合作的案例入手,遵循历史发展的轨迹,研究开放大学在美国高等教育市场扩张的战略决策,深入剖析开放大学在美国高等市场沉浮的内在动因,旨在揭示全球一体化背景下远程开放大学发展变化的根本原因和本质规律,反思和探寻发展中国家远程开放大学的发展之路。