Analysing the national and institutional policy landscape for foreign academics in Thailand: opportunity,ambivalence and threat

While academic expatriation is a longstanding global phenomenon, Thailand has emerged in recent years as an increasingly popular destination for internationally mobile academics. The objective of this article is to identify current policy dispositions towards foreign academics at the national and institutional levels in Thailand. The article finds that within Thai higher education policy discourse, foreign academics are framed in three primary ways: as opportunities, as absent or unimportant, and as threats to Thailand. While foreign academics are often cast as experts who might accelerate the economic development of the nation and enhance the competitiveness of the Thai higher education sector, they may also be presented as threats to Thai culture, values and security. However, the most prevalent disposition found in this study was one of absence and marginality, suggesting a high degree of ambivalence toward foreign academics. The article concludes with implications for future researchers and policymakers to consider.     

Islamic Versus Western Conceptions of Education: Reflections on Egypt

Creating an education system based on Islamic principles while also meeting the demands of a modern, technological world is a daunting, perhaps impossible task. This paper examines the contradictions between Islamic education theory and the Western-based education systems found in most Islamically oriented countries. Egypt is used as a case study to illustrate the complex and delicate balance policy makers must achieve in meeting the needs of economic development while also affirming their countries' Islamic cultural heritage.     

Education Reform for Raising Economic Competitiveness

Globalization has increased economic competition within and between countries and the world’s regions. Economic competitiveness is commonly seen as a valid index for judging a country’s level of economic prosperity. Many recent large-scale education reforms have been justified by the urgent need to increase labor productivity and promote economic development and growth through expanded and improved education. It is generally assumed that to increase economic competitiveness, citizens must acquire knowledge, skills and attitudes necessary for civic success and the knowledge-based economy. This article argues that what schools are expected to do in order to promote economic competitiveness often contradicts commonly accepted global education reform thinking. Experience in many countries indicates that increased standardization of teaching and learning, for example, may be counterproductive to the expectations of enhanced economic competitiveness. The conclusion is that rather than competition between education systems, schools and students, what is needed is networking, deeper co-operation and open sharing of ideas at all levels if the role of education in economic competitiveness is to be strengthened. The key features of education reform policies that are compatible with competitiveness are those that encourage flexibility in education systems, creativity in schools and risk-taking without fear on the part of individuals.P. Sahlberg - The views are those of the author alone and do not necessarily represent those of the World Bank or any of its affiliated institutions     

How Do National Economic Competitiveness Indices View Human Capital?

Economic competitiveness is at the top of national, regional and global political and economic agendas. Several countries in all regions of the world have established policies and institutions devoted to economic competitiveness, including in developing and transition countries. This leads to the question of how to define national economic competitiveness and, as a logical consequence, how to measure it. This article provides a critical analysis of two major global indices measuring national economic competitiveness, the World Economic Forum (WEF) and the International Institute for Management Development (IMD), with a special focus on the index published by the WEF due to its broader global coverage. The article shows that human capital has been given relatively little explicit recognition, despite the large weight of human capital in the WEF index. This article asserts through simulations based on WEF data that countries performing poorly in national economic competitiveness rankings can improve their standings significantly by focusing reform efforts on raising quality of education and on expanding access to education and training. The simulations also show that the potential improvements in national economic competitiveness are unequally distributed across the globe, and that in terms of national economic competitiveness, developing and transition countries stand to gain relatively most from improving their education and training systems compared to developed nations. Suggestions for improving measurements of education and training in the WEF index conclude the article and it is shown that educationalists can help refocus policy discussions on how to improve education and training systems through discussions on substance.     

Civics and Values Education in Thailand: Documentary Analysis

The era of globalization has vast implications for Thai society: the effects of globalization upon its national civilization are beyond imagination. The key factor to enable the society to develop in the right direction is the quality of the Thai people. For this reason, civics and values education are recognized as the principal target of educational management. In Thailand, civics and values education are based on religion, especially Buddhism; Thai culture and family life; the institution of monarchy; and social and economic conditions. It is currently realized that economic development without human development leads to disaster in terms of natural resources, the environment, communities, as well as the individual's quality of life. Civics and values education are being revived again to save the country from the risk of this damage, and in order to seek a new balance between “global” and local” values.     

Pedagogy for Economic Competitiveness and Sustainable Development

Accelerating threats to a sustainable relationship between economic growth and the capacity of the global social-ecological system to support it require that the implications of competitiveness be reassessed. Today, the capacities that underlie economic competitiveness must also be brought to bear on policy and pedagogy to prepare the coming generation to face an unprecedented and dangerous global future. This article argues that the bureaucratic ‘industrial’, standards-driven model of schooling currently fails to release the talents of students either for the competitiveness or collaboration that will be crucial in facing the demands of the decades ahead. It argues for policies, schools and pedagogies that promote creativity and a human capacity for innovation, not the relentless pursuit of externally imposed measurable standards. The types of necessary learning experiences are explored and examples are provided of principles and practices that teachers and schools need to develop further. Education for economic competitiveness on one hand and education for sustainable development on the other both require similar open minds, creative skills and teaching methods to prepare students for the transformations and innovations ahead. In answering the question ‘what do competitiveness and sustainable development require from schools and teachers?’ we conclude that most elements of appropriate pedagogies are available but they need to be extended. Managing their extension on a large scale to transform complex education systems is a major challenge for policy-makers and educators at all levels.     

中国素质教育发展中的得与失

中国教育在70年的发展历程中，坚持以培养全面发展的人才为教育目标，取得了令人瞩目的成就。如今，中国正从教育大国逐渐走向教育强国，足见其教育方针的基本内容和方向是好的、正确的。针对改革开放以来的中国教育状况，从泰国华人的视角，对中国素质教育在实施过程中的得与失进行了分析和思考，探讨了中国在素质教育改革与发展中存在的问题及解决对策，并得出结论：中国素质教育要有全局的考虑，要适应中国和全球经济、社会发展的需要。只有对文化科学知识教育和品德修养教育给以同等重视，中国的素质教育才能培养出更多品学兼优且适应社会发展的人才，才能满足中国经济高速发展和树立良好国际形象的需要。     

Examining massification policies and their consequences for equality in Chinese higher education: A cultural perspective

This study extends the theoretical perspectives in policy studies on the issue of educational equality by analyzing the influence of cultural values on policies and policy processes. The present paper first teases out the key cultural values regarding education and equality, and then explores how these values shape the institution and policy making in the Chinese context. The policies of expansion, reform in governance and finance, differentiation of provision, and their consequences on equality in Chinese higher education are examined through the lens of culture. The context of close family bonds and strong commitment to education in the Chinese society has bolstered the policies of cost-sharing, privatization and concentrating resources in selected universities. Confucian bureaucracy and hierarchy shaped the strong state and top-down policy process; collectivism and elitism coupled with utilitarianism legitimized the paramount goal of development and strengthened the hierarchy of the higher education system; meritocratic tradition mediated the public demands and state’s policies on provision, and buffered the debates about inequality. The idea of minben (people are essence of a nation) in Chinese tradition served as a counter force to balance the pursuit of development and equality.     

Whose context for what quality? Informing education strategies for the Caribbean

An enduring tenet of the comparative education tradition is the significance of cultural context, of the distinctive features that characterise a society or social group. The close link that has been established between culture and development has prompted Caribbean leaders to place more emphasis on an appreciation of the region's cultural assets, and to find ways of translating these into economic wealth in the international market place. This is particularly challenging in an increasingly globalised environment where knowledge is considered the primary resource. While the Caribbean's capacity for facing the dilemmas of difference is thought to give it some comparative advantage, one of the key challenges for its educational policy‐makers is how to provide a quality education that is sensitive to the ‘local’ context while remaining responsive to the demands of the ‘global’ market. To meet these challenges, the Caribbean is revisiting traditional concepts of ‘knowledge’ and initiating comprehensive reforms aimed at refashioning its education systems to prepare an internationally competitive labour force and to promote the region as a global partner in international policy‐making.     

美国联邦政府国际学生教育政策的价值取向评析

二战后,美国联邦政府的国际学生教育政策在美国例外论、多元文化主义和实用主义价值观影响下,呈现出注重文化输出与国防安全、倡导技术移民、坚持国家利益至上的价值取向。后“9·11”时代,美国又确立了将国际学生教育作为保护国家安全和知识产权的重要屏障、吸纳海外科技创新人才的主要手段和提高经济效益的关键途径的政策理念。美国经验表明,国际学生教育政策可以与国家安全、经济贸易、文化外交、全球竞争力等多方面利益相融合,有效支撑国家发展战略。在全球学生流动受阻与大国博弈的背景下,美国的国际学生教育政策也暴露出深受外部环境牵制、吸引高科技人才政策缺乏稳定性、难以抵御高等教育财政风险的弊端。     

促进学生国际流动的国家政策:何以可以与何以可为?

随着全球社会发展与国际教育相互关系变得广泛与深刻,国家已成为参与国际高等教育竞争有影响力的行动者.作为国际教育竞争的基石与国家经济竞争力领域的关键结构,学生国际流动被视为促进国家公共外交与培养全球竞争力人才的重要政策工具.全球范围促进学生国际流动的国家政策呈现既复杂又不平衡的特点.以国际教育战略与项目计划为发展先导、参...     

A `Public Good' Test to Guide the Transformation of Public Education

Most systems of public education have experienced major change in recent years and more is clearly in store. There is much debate as to whether the public good is served. This paper proposes a `public good' test of policy and practice based around six core values (choice, equity, access, efficiency, economic, growth and harmony). Three scenarios for the future of public education are tested against these values, with only one offering an optimal balance. Nine domains of policy and practice are explored in the light of these values (curriculum, pedagogy, design, professionalism, funding, leadership, management, governance and boundary spanning). Abandonment of some policies and practices is proposed to help ensure the feasibility of this work.     

提高区域文化竞争力的文化生态学探析

提高区域文化竞争力是促进区域经济社会全面发展的科学战略决策。文化生态学对于提高区域文化竞争力的实践具有重要的指导意义。我们需要运用文化生态理论及其视角,全面审视区域文化竞争力的文化生态要素,深刻理解文化生态学的实践理念,科学构建提高区域文化竞争力的建设思路,为提高区域文化竞争力提供有益的思想资源和科学的改革方法。     

Globalization and higher education restructuring in South Africa: is democracy under threat?

My intention is to explore the link between globalization and higher education restructuring in South Africa and whether it looms as a threat to democracy. I contend that an argument can be made that the ascendancy of market-driven concerns in defining the restructuring of higher education in South Africa may have the effect whereby higher education institutions (universities and technikons) become subordinated to the demands of the market place, which situation in turn, can be detrimental to the consolidation of South Africa's newly found democracy. First, I argue that the restructuring of higher education according to the ‘logic of globalization’ would not necessarily minimize socio-economic inequality, thus providing a major barrier to the move towards deepening democracy. However, the economic, political and cultural effects of globalization as determinants of higher education restructuring in South Africa are not going to disappear, at least not for the immediate future. Already the South African government considers as a central feature of its economic policy the meeting of the ‘challenge of international competitiveness … (and) an inability to compete will increasingly marginalise the South African economy (and), have profound effects on its rate of growth and consequences for the social well-being and stability of South African society’ (CHE 2000a: 20)

Second therefore, in order to safeguard and promote democracy, in spite of the market-bound trend, I assess some democratic prospects of a globalizing world in the restructuring of higher education. Like Jones (1998: 153), I contend that an argument can be made for achieving democracy in a sphere of corporate dominance if higher education is considered as a public good that allows space for the development of relations of trust, individual autonomy and democratic dialogue.     

Policy reform: testing times for teacher education in Australia

In Australia as well as elsewhere, initial teacher education has become centre stage to a political agenda that calls for global competitiveness in the knowledge economy. The common problem cited has been declining educational standards linked with the quality of teaching and teacher education. The avalanche of review and policy reform has exposed teacher education to neoliberal demands as well as political and public scrutiny. A policy web of interconnected concerns related to selection, curriculum, professional practice, graduation as well as employment fuels current reforms.     

The politics of international league tables: PISA in Japan’s achievement crisis debate

Using the political‐economic analysis of globalisation and education as well as a culturalist approach to education policy borrowing, the paper analyses the role of local actors, specifically, national newspapers and the Ministry of Education, in mediating the potentially homogenising curricular policy pressure of globalisation exerted through the PISA league tables. Using the recent Japanese education policy debate as a case study, the author demonstrates how the Japanese media interpreted the PISA 2003 findings in a way that resonated with the specific cultural, political, and economic context of the time and how the Ministry used the findings to legitimise otherwise highly contentious policy measures. Questioning the conventional interpretation that the PISA 2003 shock caused the Ministry to redirect its controversial yutori (low pressure) curricular policy, the paper reconstitutes the Ministry as an active agent that capitalised on an external reference (PISA) to re‐establish its political legitimacy in a time of increasing neo‐liberal state‐restructuring.     

中泰高等教育合作交流进展与挑战

高等教育国际化是一国文化软实力建设的重要表征和关键途径。本研究采用混合研究方法,通过分析中泰高等教育合作交流中的科研合作、学生流动和机构合作情况发现,当前中泰高等教育合作交流已取得重要进展,两国在人文社科和艺术领域蕴藏巨大合作潜力,中国经济的高速发展和中泰经贸合作的良好态势、丰厚的奖学金项目、中国高校的国际化视野是吸引泰国学生的潜在增长点;存在中国高等教育现有实力对泰国学生的吸引力相对不足,中泰高校在高等教育合作中的活动空间还极为有限等一些亟待突破的瓶颈。新时代深化中泰高等教育合作交流要扩大人文社科和艺术领域合作,增进中泰文化交流与互信;提高留学生质量和管理水平,坚定不移地走高等教育国际化发展道路;充分发挥高校在中泰高等教育合作中的能动作用。     

Widening participation in higher education: the role of professional and social class identities and commitments

Since the neoliberal reforms to British education in the 1980s, education debates have been saturated with claims to the efficacy of the market as a mechanism for improving the content and delivery of state education. In recent decades with the expansion and ‘massification’ of higher education, widening participation (WP) has acquired an increasingly important role in redressing the under-representation of certain social groups in universities. Taken together, these trends neatly capture the twin goals of New Labour’s programme for education reform: economic competitiveness and social justice. But how do WP professionals negotiate competing demands of social equity and economic incentive? In this paper we explore how the hegemony of neoliberal discourse – of which the student as consumer is possibly the most pervasive – can be usefully disentangled from socially progressive, professional discourses exemplified through the speech and actions of WP practitioners and managers working in British higher education institutions.     

Two discourses: Researchers and policy-making in higher education

The theme of this article focuses on how policy discourse and research discourse meet in contract research in higher education. The interplay of these discourses has consequences for researchers who have to balance conflicting demands, which we view as links between research and policy cycles. Two evaluation studies on the introduction and effects of new policy instruments are discussed, focusing on the interaction between policy needs, and research design. The examples are taken from policies in the development towards increasing self-regulation in higher education, of which Finland and the Netherlands are interesting examples in the European context.