Regional Trends in Asian Higher Education

Abstract

This chapter identifies a number of regional trends and challenges in higher education in Asia. The regional trends are the massification, marketization, diversification, bureaucratization, and internationalization of higher education. It is argued that the dynamics of globalization have impacted on the development of higher education in Asia. An examination of the regional trends shows that the emergence of knowledge-based economy, the spread of neoliberalism, and the advocacy of education as a human right continued to have significant effects on higher education. Thus, higher education reforms in any particular society are not only related to its socio-economic and political development but also motivated by global influences. Although it is possible to observe some common trends and challenges, it cannot be assumed that there is total convergence of educational policies and practices in all the higher education systems. Often times, even though there may be similarities in the educational policies, there are variations when it comes to the implementation of these policies because of the decoupling between policies and practices. What usually emerges is a hybrid of local variations of educational policy ideas that may have originated from various metropolitan centers.