1. No category

GRAND
CHALLENGES
IN ASIA-PACIFIC
EDUCATION
www.britishcouncil.org
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
3
CONTENTS
Foreword by Lord Puttnam of Queensgate
4
Chapter 1
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
6
Paul Smith, Senior Analyst, British Council East Asia Education
Chapter 2
Oceans Revisited: Education, Leadership
and Mutual Prosperity
18
Sir Michael Barber, Chief Education Advisor, Pearson
Chapter 3
Avoiding The Middle Income Trap
22
Dr Halima Begum, Head of East Asia Education, British Council
Chapter 4
Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo – Innovation Hotspots?
28
Dr Anders Karlsson, Vice President, Global Academic Relations, Elsevier
Chapter 5
Gender: Bridging the Leadership Gap
36
Dr Sarah Jane Aiston, Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong
Chapter 6
Issues and Challenges for Post-Massification
Higher Education: the Chinese Response
41
Qiang Zha, Faculty of Education, York University, Canada, and Chuanyi Wang, Institute of Education,
Tsinghua University, China
Chapter 7
The Private Sector and Higher Education Enhancement:
The Myanmar Case
46
Dr Roger Chao Jr, International Consultant for Higher Education, UNESCO, Myanmar
Chapter 8
Values and Leadership – Wherefore the Humanities?
Prof Simon Haines, Chairman, Department of English Director, The Research Centre for Human Values,
The Chinese University of Hong Kong,, Vice-President, The Hong Kong Academy of the Humanities
52
4
The 21st Century will be defined and celebrated
by our collective response to events in the
Asian region. This continent of four billion souls is
likely to shape all of our hopes and fears – irrespective
of where in the world we call home. The 21st Century
is set to be the Asian Century, and it is in the realm of
education that its challenges will be met.
FOREWORD
BY LORD PUTTNAM
OF QUEENSGATE
The 21st Century
will be defined by our
collective response
to events in the Asian
region. This continent
of four billion souls is
likely to shape all of
our hopes and fears –
irrespective of where
in the world we call
home. The 21st Century is set to be the Asian
Century, and it is in the realm of education
that its challenges will be met.
This collection of essays on Asian education,
curated by the British Council, throws a
fascinating light on some of these questions,
exploring as it does the colossal challenge
facing Asian nations as they enhance their
education systems to help consolidate their
role as the next global leaders.
I have written on many occasions about the
need for imagination and creativity to be allied
to education as the essential building blocks
of a better world. At this pivotal moment in
history we find ourselves looking eastwards
with increasing curiosity, and some trepidation
as Asia Pacific takes on a new and unfamiliar
leadership role. Just how will the continent
manage? Can a region still in the throes of
development successfully shape a future in
which innovation is the only viable path to
sustainability?
We next consider Asia’s quintessential dilemma:
The British Council’s Dr. Halima Begum looks at
how regional leaders can develop education
policies to shape a more imaginative and
prosperous future, one in which economic
growth is no longer dependent on the old
world of manufacturing and cheap labour.
The contribution from Sir Michael Barber builds
on his provocative essay, Oceans of Innovation,
in which he shines a light on the relationship
between leadership and innovation within
Asia’s own traditions.
In a similar context, Elsevier’s Dr Anders
Karlsson makes the crucial argument that Asian
cities must continue to develop their capacity
as research hotspots – hubs of innovation – to
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
help drive global growth. Reassuringly, Karlsson
observes that, in a networked society, great
innovation need not solely emanate from the
region’s mega-cities.
Dr Sarah Aiston then considers the thorny issue
of gender equality in Asia’s higher education
system, and examines a disturbing fact: if
more and more women are graduating from
universities, and in many cases out-performing
their male counterparts, why are we seeing
so few female leaders in leadership and
management roles?
Prof Qiang Zha next considers China as a grand
challenge in itself; the main protagonist, against
which all other nations position themselves.
China’s education system is the largest in the
world. The country’s immediate challenge is to
open access to higher education.
What happens in China has implications that
extend far beyond its borders – not least in
terms of the global supply and demand for
education – and such an important country,
with such a tremendous tradition of learning,
surely deserves our fullest attention.
With political and social emancipation
extending across Asia, this is a timely moment
for Dr Roger Chao to examine the case of
Myanmar, and reflect on how the private
sector might improve access to learning and
education outcomes. Myanmar, a country with
which the United Kingdom has long maintained
cultural ties, has one of the youngest
populations in Asia. The education of its youth
is increasingly important if social stability is
to be maintained during the fragile transition
from a closed society to one that embraces the
region and the wider world.
In the final chapter, Prof Simon Haines –
like Dr Sarah Aiston, a Hong Kong based
academic – considers the role of the
humanities in Asia; a region in which many
universities seek to demonstrate their worldclass status by prioritising science as the sole
means of super-charging their ascent in the
world league tables.
Progress in the humanities, states Professor
Haines, is progress beyond what we can
presently foresee, and the type of ideas that
change the world can only emerge from the
human imagination. In a career spanning over
half a century – one in which I’ve had the
privilege of watching my traditionally analogue
industry emerge blinking into the sunny
digital uplands – this notion of powerful and
constructive change is incredibly appealing.
As we approach 2015, a key year for ASEAN
integration almost 60 years after its European
counterpart, I’m convinced that the spirit of
human imagination has yet to reach its peak.
I’ve little doubt that it’s from within the great
Asian continent that the next tectonic shifts
in education will emerge, which makes it a
pleasure as well as a privilege to introduce this
British Council publication – Grand Challenges
in Asia-Pacific Education.
LORD PUTTNAM OF QUEENSGATE
United Kingdom Prime Minister’s Trade Envoy
to Burma, Cambodia, Laos and Vietnam
5
6
Chapter 1 | Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
GRAND CHALLENGES
IN ASIA-PACIFIC
EDUCATION
Dr Jo Beall
Director, Education and Society, British Council
Paul Smith,
Senior Analyst, British Council East Asia Education
INTRODUCTION
Asia is the engine of the world, with substantial growth
in areas including economic output and wealth, trade,
resources, population, labour force and urban migration.
In education specifically, Asia continues to see growth in
metrics relating to government and consumer expenditure,
mean years in schooling, higher education provision,
innovation and digital technology, and internal as well as
regional government cooperation across the sector.
While decreased emigration is indicative of the growing number
of opportunities within the region, to build on the achievements
already taking place there are grand challenges to address.
This introduction serves as an outline of the different areas
in which Asia Pacific has shown and will continue to show
strength, in order to build a foundation for understanding
and surmounting those challenges it faces.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Asian companies as
global leaders
As more Asian companies become
multinational and global leaders, Chapter 2
assesses the crucial importance of regional
universities ensuring their graduates have the
skills required to assume leadership roles, and
are able to operate across national boundaries
with people from different cultures.
In tandem with the increasing political
importance of the region, Asian companies
have become more vital to global commerce.
Indeed, by revenue the region now has the
largest number of companies on the Fortune
Global 500 list (180), with China accounting for
just over half of the East Asia total (91).
According to the United Nations Conference
on Trade and Development (UNCTAD), in 2013
East Asia was the number one recipient for
Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) inflows at
30 per cent of the world total.
However, there are also high levels of outward
FDI, especially from China. The January 2014
Lenovo investment of over $5 billion in two
deals for companies based in the United States
is an example of the growing importance of
Asian companies, and a world moving away
from established investment flows from the
developed world to the developing. Now
investment travels both directions.
7
8
Chapter 1 | Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
500 by country (Fortune, by revenue)
Global Fortune 500,2014
2014Global
(by revenue)
6 7
United States
10
Brazil
China
15 8
91
South Korea
India
57
Other
Japan
17
Canada
128
Middle East Oceania
(8)
(2)
Other
North America
(151)
Asia
(180)
Europe
(152)
France
Germany
31
39
United Kingdom
Netherlands
28
13
28
Note:
One
company
counted
twice,
under Netherlands
the
Note:
One
company
counted
twice, under
Netherlands
and the Unitedand
Kingdom
13
Switzerland
Other
United Kingdom
Economic output and wealth
The future of global growth in GDP is driven by
Developing Asia, specifically India, China and
the ASEAN countries as compared to, say, the
traditional developed countries in the West
including those in North America and Europe.
allow more of the population to access
further education and training services
as more citizens have higher levels of
disposable income.
Chapter 3 considers why education is
important for long term growth, especially as
Asia-Pacific countries seek to move further
up the economic value chain from extractive
industries and low skilled manufacturing to a
higher skilled economy, where services play
a more important role.
Indeed the Asian Development Bank forecasts
that if the current trajectory continues, per
capita GDP in Asia could reach European levels
by 20501. Furthermore, by 2020 over 100
million people in ASEAN countries will follow
middle class spending patterns2. In the short
term, the World Bank forecasts that the East
Asia and Pacific regions will grow at an average
of 7.1 per cent from 2014-163. Given the slower
growth of developed countries and other
developing regions, geopolitical spheres of
influence seem destined to shift eastwards.
This growth in income – GDP per capita in US
purchasing power parity adjusted dollars – will
1
3
Asian Development Bank: Asia 2050: Realising the Asian Century |
World Bank: Global Economic Prospects, June 2014
As countries move to being more globally
facing the workforce will have to compete on
the global stage, again demonstrating the value
education can add to the economy. Should
the developing countries of the region master
this challenge they will be able to escape the
middle income trap.
2
The Boston Consulting Group, McKinsey & Company
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Real GDP growth
Real GDP growth
REAL GDP GROWTH
2012
2013
2014
2015
2016
World
2.5
2.4
2.8
3.4
3.5
East Asia and the Pacific
7.4
7.2
7.1
7.1
7
China
7.7
7.7
7.6
7.5
7.4
Indonesia
6.3
5.8
5.3
5.6
5.6
Thailand
6.5
2.9
2.5
4.5
4.5
OECD countries
1.3
1.2
1.8
2.4
2.5
Japan
1.4
1.5
1.3
1.3
1.5
United States
2.8
1.9
2.1
3
3
Euro Area
-0.6
-0.4
1.1
1.8
1.9
Source: World Bank Global Economic Prospects Summer 2014
Note: 2013 estimate, 2014 onwards are forecasts
Alongside this high level of growth, GDP per capita will also increase.
Developed
nations’ GDP
per GDP
capita
forecast
Developed
nations’
per
capita forecast
90,000
Developed nations’ GDP per capita forecast
80,000
90,000
(USD)
(USD)
70,000
80,000
30,000
2013
J
K
B
2013
K
2017
H 2016Hong Kong
2016
2017
J
Japan 2018
J
Japan
K
K
South Korea
B
Brunei
Source: Euromonitor International
South Korea
J
K
J
K
J
K
2016
K
Brunei 2014
J
K
J
K
J
K
J
2016
2014
J
B
H
H
B
H
B
H
B
J
K
H
B
J
K
H
B
J
K
40,000
50,000
S
B
H
S
H
B
H
S
B
H
S
B
H
S
B
H
B
S
50,000
60,000
S
S
S
S
60,000
70,000
30,000
40,000
S
S
2018
Year
S
H
Year
Singapore
Hong Kong
S
Singapore
Middle-income and developing nations’ GDP per capita forecast
Source: Euromonitor International
Middle-income
and developing nations’ GDP
25,000
M
M capita forecast
per capita forecast
Middle-income
and developing nations’
GDP
per
M
(USD)
(USD)
20,000
25,000
M
15,000
20,000
12,616
M
C
T
C
5,000
10,000
P
T
V
L
C
M
P
T
V
L
C
M
0
5,000
P
V
2013
L
C
M
P
V
2014
L
C
M
0
C
2013
Cambodia
2014
C
T
P
V
L
C
M
P
V
2015
L
C
M
Year
C 2015China
M
C
T
Malaysia
Cambodia
Thailand
M
C
V
Year
Myanmar
China
Vietnam
M
Malaysia
M
Myanmar
Source: Euromonitor International
Thailand
T
V
Vietnam
Source: Euromonitor International
T
C
T
C
T
C
M
C
M
C
M
C
M
C
T
10,000
15,000
12,616
M
M
M
C
T
C
T
P
V
L
C
M
T
P
V
L
C
M
T
P
V
L
C
M
P
V
L
2016
C
M
P
V
L
2017
C
M
P
V
L
C
2018
M
2016
L
Laos PDR 2018
2017
P
L
Philippines
Laos PDR
Middle-income threshold
P
Philippines
Middle-income threshold
9
10
Chapter 1 | Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Research and development
Asian companies and universities are
already the leading source of patents globally,
data from the World Intellectual Property
Office shows.
the region have even higher targets, with the
Philippines aiming for 2 per cent and China
2.15 per cent by 20204.
The growth in R&D spending across the region
has been driven by government reasoning
that such investment will lead to economic
development. As the UNESCO report on Higher
Education in Asia describes, many countries
in the region have set R&D targets, including
Malaysia and Thailand which are aiming to
spend 1 per cent of GDP on R&D by 2015 and
2016 respectively. Other countries in
If governments want to meet the targets they
have set themselves then it is important to
consider where research is taking place and
how governments can do everything possible
to ensure that universities are able to recruit
the best researchers. Chapter 4 therefore
considers the role of cities as hotspots of
innovation and how such hubs can act as
catalysts for research output.
across geographical
regions, 2012
Patent applicationsPatent
across applications
geographical regions,
2012
Latin America
Oceania
(63)
Africa (33)
(14)
Europe
(346)
Asia
(1,314)
China
North America
(578)
Japan
653
South Korea
617
India
Other
343
189
44
Source: WIPO Statistics Database, May 2014
Source:
WIPO
Statistics
Database, May
2014 form of IP is estimated for the offices in each region for which data are missing
Note:
The
number
of applications
of each
Note:
The totaled,
numbersare
of applications
ofas
each
form of IP are
estimated for the world
officestotals.
in each
region for
databy
are
missing
and,
when
represented
percentages
of WIPO-estimated
Regions
arewhich
defined
the
Unitedand, when totaled, are
represented
percentages
of WIPO-estimated world totals. Regions are defined by the United Nations (UN), available at: unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/
Nations
(UN), as
available
at: unstats.un.org/unsd/methods/m49/m49regin.htm
m49/m49regin.htm
Note: Values in thousands
4
Higher Education in Asia: Expanding Out, Expanding up p.58 http://www.uis.unesco.org/Library/Documents/higher-education-asiagraduate-university-research-2014-en.pdf
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
11
Gender equality
Despite the fact that across the region women
generally constitute at least half the student
body, women are not progressing to the senior
ranks on faculties across East Asia. Chapter 5
considers this issue, and what can be done to
address such persistent gender inequality.
Enrolment in tertiary education,all
programmes, female %
Enrolment in tertiary education, all programmes, female %
70
B
B
65
B
B
B
B
B
B
M
T
M
T
T
H
C
S
V
H
C
S
V
I
H
C
S
I
J
JI
J
L
60
However, while there is now broad gender
parity in student enrolment at universities, as
can be seen in the data from UNESCO Institute
of Statistics, there are differences in the
programmes males and females study.
M
55
(%) 50
T
H
J
C
M
H
T
V
CI
J
M
M
M
T
T
T
H
H
VI
C
C
V
S
H
C
S
V
I
I
J
J
J
45
Generally, a far greater percentage of male
students choose science and technology
subjects, as the data from 2011 shows. Across
the region, female students are more likely to
be studying arts and humanities or education
programmes than their male counterparts.
Given the desire expressed by the Association
of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) to develop
a strong science and technology offering
across the region, the push towards these
subjects is understandable5. A key challenge
for the future will clearly be the promotion of
science and technology subjects to women.
40
L
V
K
L
L
L
K
C
2005
C
2006
K
K
K
C
35
30
L
L
L
K
K
K
C
C
C
C
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
Year
B
Brunei
C
Cambodia
C
China
H
Hong Kong
I
Indonesia
J
Japan
K
South Korea
L
Lao PDR
M
Malaysia
S
Singapore
T
Thailand
V
Vietnam
Source: UNESCO
5
ASEAN Ministerial Meeting on Science and Technology http://www.asean.org/communities/asean-socio-cultural-community/category/
asean-ministerial-meeting-on-science-and-technology-ammst-2
2012
12
Chapter 1 | Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Percentage of students in tertiary education enrolled in science and technology,
education
and
humanities
Percentage
of arts
students
in tertiary education enrolled in science and technology, education and
arts and humanities
Brunei
Science and
technology
Education
Japan
Science and
technology
Education
Education
Art and
humanities
Art and
humanities
Science and
technology
Education
Science and
technology
Education
Art and
humanities
Art and
humanities
Education
Education
Art and
humanities
Science and
technology
Education
Art and
humanities
Science and
technology
Education
Education
Art and
humanities
Education
Art and
humanities
Source: UNESCO
Note: Symbols represent 5% of the population
Science and
technology
Education
Art and
humanities
Education
Art and
humanities
Science and
technology
Education
Art and
humanities
Art and
humanities
Thailand
Science and
technology
Science and
technology
Myanmar
Science and
technology
Art and
humanities
Singapore
Education
Science and
technology
Malaysia
Art and
humanities
Science and
technology
Science and
technology
Art and
humanities
Lao PDR
Science and
technology
South Korea
Vietnam
Science and
technology
Education
Art and
humanities
Science and
technology
Education
Art and
humanities
Science and
technology
Education
Art and
humanities
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
13
Population
In the next 40 years, the Asian higher
education population will slowly decrease,
mainly driven by the slowdown in growth of
young Chinese, but there will still be a large
demographic dividend of Asian students.
Specifically, the number of university-aged
students from countries like Indonesia and the
Philippines will boom, but will be balanced by
a slowdown in students from Japan, Singapore,
South Korea and Vietnam. The region may also
become increasingly competitive due to the
need to entice foreign students and labour
in the next 20 to 40 years.
Specifically, the number of
university aged students from
countries like Indonesia and the
Philippines will boom, but will
be balanced by a slowdown in
students from Japan, Singapore,
South Korea and Vietnam.
By 2024 the UN’s World Population Prospects
expects that India, China, the US and Indonesia
will be home to over half the world’s 18 to 22
year olds.
Youth unemployment, % of total labour force age 15 to 24 (ILO modelled estimate)
Unemployment, youth total (% of total labor force ages 15-24) (modeled ILO estimate)
Country Name
2004
2005
2006
2007
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
Brunei
10
10
10
10
9.8
10.6
11.2
11.3
11.4
China
9
8.7
8.3
8
9.2
9.3
9
9.3
9.7
Hong Kong
12
10.7
10.4
9
8.7
12.5
12.1
9.5
9.1
Indonesia
28.6
32.7
30.9
25.6
23.5
22.5
22.6
21.2
21.6
Japan
9.5
8.7
8
7.7
7.2
9.1
9.2
8
7.9
South Korea
10.4
10.2
9.9
8.9
9.3
9.9
9.8
9.7
8.9
Lao PDR
5.7
3.3
3.2
3.2
3.2
3.2
3.2
3.2
3.2
10.2
Malaysia
10.8
10.9
10.4
10.7
10.6
11.6
11
10.2
Myanmar
10.7
10.7
10.8
10.9
11.8
11.6
11.6
11.6
11.5
Philippines
23.3
16.9
18.1
17.5
17.2
17.4
15.5
14.9
14.9
Singapore
15.7
14.6
12.8
10.8
11.7
15.9
11.2
10.7
10.2
Thailand
4.7
4.6
4.9
4.6
5.1
5.9
4
2.9
2.8
Vietnam
4.4
4.2
4.8
4.8
5
4.9
4.8
4.3
4.4
Source: World Development Indicators
14
Chapter 1 | Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Population forecast: 15-24
years olds
Population
forecast: 15-24 years olds
400
350
(thousands)
300
250
200
150
100
50
0
2005
1,500
(thousands)
1,200
900
600
300
0
2010
2015
Year
2020
2025
2030
China
Indonesia
Vietnam
Philippines
Japan
Thailand
Myanmar
South Korea
Malaysia
Cambodia
Laos
Hong Kong
Singapore
Brunei
Malaysia
Cambodia
Singapore
Brunei
LaosChallenges in Asia-PacificHong
Grand
Education
Kong 15
Population forecast: 15-24 year olds (cumulative)
1,500
(thousands)
1,200
900
600
300
0
2005
2010
2015
2020
2025
2030
Year
Africa
Rest of Asia
China
India
Latin America
Europe
Northern America
Oceania
Source: United Nations Population Division
Currently, over 50 per cent of international
university students hail from Asia, with the
leading sending countries being China, India,
South Korea, Indonesia and Malaysia. Indeed
China and India alone accounted for 31 per
cent in 2011. Improving higher education
systems across the region is an aim for both
ASEAN and the South East Asia Ministers of
Education Organization (SEAMEO), through
work on a standard ASEAN quality assurance
framework and the ASEAN University Network.
As both the number of students who can
afford to attend university and the quality of
universities in the region increases, it is likely
that more students will seek to stay within
their countries’ borders and attend home
universities. Higher education systems will
therefore need to be ready to educate a larger
group of students, a challenge China has
already begun to deal with, as Chapter
6 examines.
Chapter 1 | Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
The correlation between household wealth
and education is well established and as each
of the 13 nations in East Asia is set to see
steady growth in GDP, both private and public
expenditure on education will increase. This
growth will pressurise existing local systems,
which will need to respond to a dual challenge:
ensuring students gain the requisite skills
needed by businesses, and increasing the
number of students being educated.
Government expenditure on education per capita
Government expenditure on education per capita
2,000
Government expenditure on education per capita
S
2,000
S
S
S
1,500
J
(USD)
Education expenditure
1,500
S
J
(USD)
16
1,000
S
H
K
1,000
As the graphs below show, both public and
private education expenditure has increased
substantially in many of the countries:
HT
M
K
500
T
M
500
0
S
J
S
J
H
S
J
S
H
H
T
K
M
T
H
K
T
K
M
T
K
T
C
P
C
P
C
P
T
2008
T
2009
T
K
South Korea
2008
2009
Singapore
China
CS
Source: Euromonitor
South Korea
K
Singapore
J
J
H
J
H
HJ
H
M
K
T
H
M
K
T
M
K
T
M
K
T
T
C
T
C
T
C
P
P
T
2011
C
T
C
2012
P
T
C
2013
H
T
K
M
T
K
M
2010
C
P
C
P
China
J
M
T
C
J
S
M
T
C
P
0
J
S
H
M
Year
P
P
P
Hong Kong
2010
2011
Year
Malaysia
J
2012
Japan
2013
P
Philippines
HT
Hong
Kong
Taiwan
J
T
Japan
Thailand
M
Malaysia
P
Philippines
Consumer expenditure on education perThailand
capita
S
Taiwan
T
T
Source:
1,000 Euromonitor
Consumer expenditure on education per capita
Consumer expenditure on education per capita
1,000
800
800
S
S
K
KS
S
K
K
H
S
H
S
H
S
T
J
T
JH
SH
T
J
J
T
H
H
T
J
T
J
T
J
T
J
M
P
T
C
M
P
T
C
M
M
P
T
C
M
M
P
T
C
P
C
T
P
C
T
2008
2009
2010
2011
2012
M
M
2013
P
C
T
P
C
T
(USD)
J
T
H
S
J
T
H
S
600
(USD)
K
K
S
K
S
K
600
K
K
K
K
400
T
J
H
H
J
T
H
400
200
200
0
0
M
P
T
C
C
2008
K
China
M
P
T
C
2009
South Korea
H
M
P
T
C
2010
M
Year
M
P
T
C
Hong Kong
2011
Malaysia
Year
J
Japan
2012
P
2013
Philippines
S
C
Singapore
China
T
H
Taiwan
Hong Kong
T
J
Thailand
Japan
K
South Korea
M
Malaysia
P
Philippines
S
Singapore
T
Taiwan
T
Thailand
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
17
Private providers also play an important role
in the provision of higher education as the
data from the Higher Education in Asia report
released by UNESCO shows.
Number and type of higher education institutions, 2012
3,000
Private
2,500
Public
2,000
1,500
1,000
Singapore
Cambodia
Lao PDR
Thailand
Vietnam (2011)
South Korea
Malaysia
Philippines
China (2011)
0
Indonesia
500
Source: UNESCO
However there is a notable exception to this
list: Myanmar. Until recently, the only providers
of higher education in Myanmar were the 169
institutions funded solely by the government
and controlled by 13 ministries. Chapter 7
examines the case of Myanmar and the merits
of the country seeking to increase the role of
private sector institutions in the provision of
higher education at an epochal moment, as the
country engages the international community
and opens up to globalisation.
Until recently, the only providers
of higher education in this
country were the 169 institutions
funded solely by the government
and controlled by 13 ministries.
18
Chapter 2 | Oceans Revisited: Education, Leadership and Mutual Prosperity
OCEANS REVISITED:
EDUCATION,
LEADERSHIP AND
MUTUAL PROSPERITY
It is impossible to anticipate all the changes the
next 50 years will bring in the field of education, but
some of the elements that will drive that change can be
predicted. In 2012, we wrote about these developments
in Oceans of Innovation1.
Sir Michael Barber,
Chief Education Advisor, Pearson
1
Oceans of Innovation: The Atlantic, the Pacific, Global Leadership and the Future of Education. Barber, Donnelly & Rivzi,
Institute for Public Policy Research, 2012
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Asia is home to a staggering 4.4 billion people
who enjoy varying degrees of civil liberty,
economic development and life expectancy.
Naturally, this means there are significant
disparities in individuals’ needs and aspirations
as well as different national challenges across
the region.
We have also described how the pace of
innovation, which will continue to accelerate
in science and technology, compels all of
us to consider whether the search for social
solutions – that seize the good from science
and technology and prevent the harm – can
keep up. All this is happening in a G-zero world
in which a historic transition from Atlantic
global leadership to Pacific global leadership is
evidently taking place.
Meanwhile, the nature of global leadership itself
is changing as the problems we seek to solve
become more complex, more inter-connected
and are addressed by more subtle forms of
power and influence. What is clear, though, is
that education – deeper, broader and more
universal – has a significant role to play in
enabling the global community to succeed and
prosper in the next half century.
We need to ensure that students everywhere
leave school ready to continue to learn and
adapt, ready to take responsibility for their own
future learning and careers, ready to innovate
with and for others, and to live in turbulent,
diverse times.
Nations in the Asia region that have embraced
education development, such as Singapore
and South Korea, have witnessed a powerful
multiplier effect in their economic and social
development: education drives economic
and technological development and it also
engenders stronger civic relations that
promote tolerance, the rule of law and more
harmonious cross-border relations, for instance
through the establishment of trade blocs such
as ASEAN.
Nations that have been slower to embrace
education development have tended to see
their economies grow more slowly. The pace
of change and increasing complexity of our
world mean that “global leadership” can no
longer be something that simply occurs behind
closed doors at international summits. In an era
of transparency, leaders will find themselves
constantly in dialogue with those they purport
to lead and be held more accountable than
ever – even if this is not achieved through
traditional democratic models of governance.
Innovations that transform societies can
and will occur anywhere. In China, South Korea,
and Japan, and some other parts of Asia where
hierarchy is still predominant, the need to
innovate will drive change. Leadership, in short,
will increasingly become a horizontal as well
as a vertical concept; and to be a leader will
require increasing sophistication
and adaptability.
It is in this context that the Asia region, and
in particular East Asia, seems destined to
become the focus of global leadership. The
economic and educational achievements of
this region in the past 50 years are spectacular;
unprecedented in fact. They lay a foundation
for the next 50 years – a much better
foundation than exists in many Atlantic systems.
However, the mix of factors that brought that
success will not be enough for the region
to meet the challenges ahead. Among other
things, an education revolution will be required.
It will need to be based not just on the growing
evidence of what works, but on the capacity of
systems to innovate. It will need to unleash the
leadership capacity that sustained progress in
the next 50 years will demand.
Education systems in the region will need to
focus, relentlessly, on qualitative improvements
to ensure that young people develop the
essential knowledge, understanding and skills
in key areas such as resilience, inter-cultural
sensitivity and adaptability as career pathways
change and the portfolio career becomes less
the exception more the norm. Simultaneously,
core cultural capital will need to be retained –
even built upon – to provide
19
20
Chapter 2 | Oceans Revisited: Education, Leadership and Mutual Prosperity
a strong foundation in history, ethics, and
general knowledge.
In order to provide high quality education to
meet wider societal ends, Asia will also need
outstanding schools and universities to act as
the powerhouses of change.
Improving the quality of teachers and lecturers
is key to creating these powerhouses. And
good leadership is crucial. It will generate
the vision, coordinate the deployment of
strategic resources to bring about education
transformation and ensure that institutions are
outward-looking and open to the world.
Achieving high quality educational standards
within schools and universities requires a
differentiated response. Within schools,
standards can be improved without an
explicitly international focus. The reverse is true
in higher education, which is much more global
in outlook. Universities can only succeed if
they build partnership ventures with education
players beyond national boundaries.
Neither can the importance of soft skills
and the role of universities and education
systems be under-estimated as the region
seeks to produce well-rounded, civically
engaged populations. This is a monumental
and universal challenge. Building the capacity
of education leaders is therefore essential, in
order to build a cadre of young people who
can flexibly move between being leaders and
followers, depending on what circumstance
demands.
That future is inevitably collaborative. These
days, the value of collaboration is seldom
questioned and the debate tends to centre on
how to enable productive, global partnership.
However, there is still a fundamental need to
tear down faculty walls in Asia, as elsewhere,
to unleash fully the power of education to
innovate, reform and cultivate the leaders and
institutions of the future. It is often the breadth
of discipline, and synergies between disciplines
that generate creative thought, imagination,
and insight to power society and build
inspirational leadership – interdisciplinary work
leading to new knowledge and its application.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Until recently, the
only providers of
higher education in
Myanmar were the169
institutions funded solely
by the government
and controlled by 13
ministries.”
The exciting areas in which innovation
takes place will often be at the boundaries
of disciplines. Too often, the best and the
brightest ideas stall at the critical stage of
technology transfer to commercialisation.
The complexity and chaos of tomorrow will
require different leaders, who can build diverse
teams from across borders, collaborate fully,
push through ideas to the market place, and
bring about adaptive, breakthrough thinking.
The region’s future and its capacity to become
an ocean of innovation are being shaped today,
tomorrow and every day in the classrooms,
lecture theatres and online platforms of
Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, and Shanghai,
Hong Kong and Hanoi. On the success of those
endeavours, all our futures depend.
21
22
Chapter 3 | Avoiding the Middle Income Trap
AVOIDING THE
MIDDLE INCOME TRAP
Dr Halima Begum
Head of East Asia Education,
British Council
Asian economies have for the most
part developed rapidly. Prosperity
has risen, poverty fallen and humandevelopment indicators improved.
Countries such as Japan, Singapore
and South Korea are already well
established as high-income economies.
Middle-income economies, such as
Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines,
Thailand and Vietnam are seeking to
break into that group with gross national
income per head of at least $12,616.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
In 1960, Brazil and South Korea had similar per capita
income. Today, Korea’s GDP per capita is four times that
of Brazil. Korea started to increase investment in tertiary
education significantly during the 1970s.
Their success in developing education systems
capable of raising productivity will play a big
part in deciding if they advance to high-income
status or not.
population exceeds their dependents by an
unprecedented level. This puts time pressure
on these countries to invest in the knowledge,
skills and qualifications of their young people.
Developing nations must move up the value
chain to avoid the middle-income trap of lowskilled, labour-intensive growth, which strong
expansion in China has underwritten in the
past, but which may be less sustainable now
that economy’s growth is slowing. Yet the skills
deficit in some Asian countries is alarming. It
will take time to overhaul education systems
and build the skills demanded by the labour
market.
Even with the right resources, policies and
interventions, there is no fast track to sustained
improvement. Policy choices matter. South
Korea and Brazil’s choices in education
planning demonstrate how one country can
succeed in reaching high-income status while
another can fall into the middle-income trap.
Most governments in the region recognise the
importance of improving education provision
to improve the skills base. In Indonesia, for
example, the education budget has increased
significantly in recent years. But progress may
be hindered by policies such as closing the
country to foreign universities and inefficient
use of resources.
Some countries are showing a greater
willingness to open foreign campuses
(Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand) that will drive
up education standards. But this alone will not
be sufficient to bring about change in the more
numerous domestic universities that must drive
the large-scale transformation in skills.
Many of Asia’s high-income economies,
notably Japan, Singapore and South Korea,
have ageing populations. By contrast, some
of its developing countries are experiencing
a demographic dividend—the productive
In 1960, both nations had similar per capita
income. Today South Korea’s GDP per capita
is four times that of Brazil. South Korea started
to increase investment in tertiary education
significantly during the 1970s, when per capita
GDP was only around $2,000 and enrolment
rates were below 10 per cent.
It took two decades for significant
improvements to be made in South Korea’s
tertiary education sector, but by the 1990s
the impact of these changes helped power
a knowledge-driven economy capable of
researching and developing new technologies.
Across Asia, there is more money for
education than ever before, and greater
numbers of young people willing to pay for
education. However, the supply side is not
ready to meet rising demand. As a result,
Asian tertiary institutions have yet to close
the quality gap with Western peers. Students
who can afford the investment often look
to study overseas.
23
24
Chapter 3 | Avoiding the Middle Income Trap
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Yet this is only likely to accrue benefits to small
sections of the elite who can afford high fees
in Australia, Europe or the US. Such trends
will not have a transformational effect on the
wider skills shortages of the population. Asian
countries must therefore focus on improving
domestic education standards.
Quality-driven reform
Across Asia, it is crucial to look at education
improvements that transform curriculum
development, with more focus on applied
teaching methods, innovation and creative
thinking. The quality of education matters
enormously for economic growth (Hanushek
and Woßman, 2007). The cognitive skills of
the population are closely related to individual
earnings, the distribution of income and
economic development.
As many governments and aid agencies
have found, improving education quality is
no easy task. Closing the economic gap
between developed countries and middleincome ones requires major structural
changes. This will not happen overnight.
Asia has a tradition of visible “performancebased” pedagogy that focuses on mastery of
skills in a pattern. These are teacher-centred
learning models. Moving towards studentcentred learning, which develops problem
solving and higher-order thinking skills, is a
significant undertaking. Countries like Japan
and Singapore are already heavily investing
in this area.
The policy choice for countries like Cambodia,
Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam is
whether to move slowly along the linear
learning curve, continuing with visible
pedagogy before embarking on invisible and
learner-centred models, or move straight to
invisible pedagogy. The latter would enable
wider economic transformations to take place
given the imperatives to innovate faster.
Many Asian countries have developed
economic master plans (Indonesia), educational
blueprints (Malaysia) and roadmaps designed
to tackle the quality gap in higher education.
However, few of these strategies have been
operationalised. Often they remain aspirational.
Singapore provides a model of growth,
but it does not seem to inspire neighbours as
South Korea has done. In 1991 the National
Science and Technology Board was set up to
raise the city state’s science and technology
capabilities. This achieved remarkable success
in fostering a strong education environment
that facilitated research and development
and created local talent. It also co-located
public research institutions and commercial
laboratories together to serve both societal
and economic ends.
The policy choice for countries like Cambodia,
Indonesia, the Philippines and Vietnam is whether to
move slowly along the linear learning curve… or move
straight to invisible pedagogy. The latter would enable
wider economic transformations to take place.
1
The Role of Education Quality for Economic Growth, Eric A. Hanushek and Ludger Woßman, World Bank Policy Research Working
Paper No. 4122, February 1, 2007.
25
26
Chapter 3 | Avoiding the Middle Income Trap
Innovation, turning ideas into reality, drives an economy
faster than traditional variables like cheap labour… Building
dynamic and strong education systems, particularly at tertiary
level, is fundamental to avoiding the middle income trap.
Globally Competitive
HE institutions
A country can improve the quality of its higher
education system by expanding graduate
teaching programmes, and, through this, earn
respect and reputation through improved
university rankings and globally competitive
higher education institutions.
In many developing countries the desire to
host world-class universities has become an
explicit national goal. In Japan, for instance, the
revitalisation of universities is considered key to
the revitalisation of Japan itself.
The government at the highest levels has
concluded that the delay in the globalisation
of Japanese universities has led to a crisis,
and the country is now radically pursuing
a foreign policy that includes the
internationalisation of its universities into
globally competitive HEIs, as exemplified by
the University of Tokyo.
In another model for university reform, less
well-known institutions such as Kumamoto
in the south, are positioning themselves
to be globally engaged research-intensive
universities with local roots.
With the exception of Malaysia, which leads the
way in Asia by strengthening the notion of the
multi-national university
and foreign partnerships via a special
education zone in Iskandar, Asia’s middleincome countries have not entered into a
serious phase of HEI internationalisation.
They need to do so soon.
International collaboration is of course widely
known to boost the quality of university-based
research and the spill-overs are evident in
commercial research, too. The focus, however,
has not been on creating domestic, world-class
HEIs, despite this being explicitly linked to the
ability of countries to secure their competitive
advantage in science, research and creativity.
University autonomy
Improvements are also needed in governance,
legal and financial frameworks and institutional
capacity to develop autonomous institutions
and programmes, accreditation and testing.
Gains in these areas will reinforce academic
freedom and autonomy in countries that
presently suffer from excess government
regulation. Myanmar and Vietnam, for example,
face stark choices in which ways to develop
more autonomy for their institutions. In
Myanmar current reform efforts are about
freeing the university sector from state control
after decades of regulation, which has left the
country trailing regional neighbours.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Looking at ASEAN as a more integrated market
from 2015, the next few years will usher in
greater mobility of both skilled workers as well
as students and researchers (from bad to good
universities). Plans are underway to introduce
international standards and harmonised
education systems.
However, much remains to be done before the
region can build globally competitive universities
with a strong graduate and research base, or
tackle skills shortages through its education
system, let alone forge multilateral research
partnerships to effectively tackle challenges like
climate change and environmental degradation,
water scarcity and food insecurity.
Summing up, Asian countries have to
improve their education systems to avoid the
middle-income trap. Economic success and
improvements in sectors such as manufacturing
have been phenomenal, but the slow pace
of higher education reform means there is a
severe skills shortage that will hinder growth.
There must be a shift to productivity-led
growth, offsetting slowing labour force
efficiency through innovation to sustain
relatively dynamic economies.
Innovation, turning ideas into reality, drives
an economy faster than traditional variables
like cheap labour. The countries that invest in
innovation do well and continue to grow; those
that do not will stagnate; and building dynamic
and strong education systems, particularly
at tertiary level, is fundamental to avoiding the
middle-income trap.
Productivity can be singularly improved
through better-educated and skilled workers,
so that these workers moving into higher valueadded jobs can be successful and find a place
in the new economy. Better use of technology
and the introduction of new technology will
only go so far. Without improving skills and
seeing talent as a resource, many Asian
economies cannot move on.
The caveat, though, is that improving education
systems is a long-term investment. Jobs and
firms do not stand still. Education reform will
require deeper structural changes in pedagogy
and curriculum, and it may be necessary to
leap-frog by expanding supply through the
private sector.
At the same time, middle-income countries
must consider creating a few flagship, globally
competitive HEIs to keep their focus and
attention on innovation – without which, the
opportunities that the demographic window
affords will not be realised.
27
28
Chapter 4 | Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo - Innovation Hotspots?
HONG KONG,
SEOUL, TOKYO
– INNOVATION
HOTSPOTS?
Dr Anders Karlsson,
Vice President, Global Academic
Relations, Elsevier
With increasing urbanisation, cities hold one of
the keys to prosperity and sustainability for future
generations. A majority of the world’s population lives in Asia,
and any study of global trends cannot preclude that continent.
The grand challenges in the innovation context embrace those
pertaining to an ageing population, balancing growth and
environmental concerns, as well as imbalances between the
habitation of cities and the countryside.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Here we argue that higher education,
research and universities are key contributors
to society and its future. The Economist
Intelligence Unit found that without exception
the top cities all have globally competitive
research universities.1 Besides being
educators of an able workforce, universities
are increasingly expected to contribute
to economic outcomes via generations of
Intellectual Property (IP), technology licensing,
as well as nurturing start-ups.
The Kaufmann Foundation found in a
2009 report2 that an estimated 6,900 MIT
alumni companies with worldwide sales of
approximately US$164 billion were located
in Massachusetts alone and represented 26
per cent of the sales of all Massachusetts
companies.
Invention to innovation
Innovation goes beyond research and
development. The OECD Oslo Manual of 19973
states: “An ‘innovation’ is the implementation
of a new or significantly improved product
(goods or service), or process, a new marketing
method, or a new organizational method in
business practices, workplace organization or
external relations.” Thus, unlike the discovery
itself – i.e. “invention” – innovation stresses
“new or significantly improved”, and it is not
restricted to physical artefacts.
At the KAIST Forum 2013, President Jörg
Steinbach, Technische Universität Berlin,
referred to the role of universities as: “Centres
of invention; but,” he added, “if we do not
have partners, then invention will never be
transferred into innovation.”4
Service innovation also increases in
importance. In most developed countries
services stand for more than 50 per cent
of GDP, and “technology companies” are
becoming service solutions companies with
technology as a base platform. To give two
examples, services now account for close to
40 per cent of revenues for IT and telecom
giants IBM and Ericsson, respectively.
Innovation and new ideas increasingly happen
at the crossroads between cultures, with
science as a starting point. Around 23 per
cent of all scientific articles today are written
with authors from more than one country, an
increase from 17 per cent in 2005. For highly
globally-connected countries, such as the
United Kingdom, about 47 per cent are now
internationally co-written.5
Researchers are also increasingly mobile, and
these mobile researchers are also typically
more productive. For companies, being
able to tap into a global pool of talent and
infrastructure allows them to optimize global
value chains, i.e. to develop and produce
products or services where the value added is
the most. As companies move beyond national
borders, towards regions or cities to be
innovation hotspots, this becomes a challenge
and opportunity of its own. Later the case of
Seoul, Tokyo and Hong Kong will be discussed
in this respect.
Finally, innovation does not need to be hightech. In 2010, The Economist wrote a special
report on innovation in emerging economies
– Frugal Innovation6. Frugal innovation for
instance includes the Tata Nano car, the GE MAC
400 hand-held electrocardiogram (ECG), and
the M-PESA (“M” for Mobile, “PESA” the Swahili
word for cash) mobile payment system in Kenya.
Looking at the history of many successful
companies, frugality was a key driver: Toyota’s
1
Hot Spots 2025: Benchmarking the Future Competitiveness of Cities,” The Economist Intelligence Unit, 2013 http://www.citigroup.com/
citi/citiforcities/home_articles/n_eiu_2013.htm | 2 “Entrepreneurial Impact: The Role of MIT,” Kaufmann Foundation, 2009 http://web.mit.
edu/newsoffice/2009/kauffman-study-0217.html | 3 Oslo Manual: Guidelines for Collecting and Interpreting Innovation Data, 3rd Edition
http://www.oecd.org/sti/inno/lomanualguidelinesforcollectingandinterpretinginnovationdata3rdedition.htm
4
KAIST International Presidential Forum 2013, http://forum.kaist.ac.kr/img/pub/2013_brs.pdf p49 | 5 “Performance of the UK research
base: international comparison – 2013”, Department for Business Innovation and Skills, 2013 https://www.gov.uk/government/
publications/performance-of-the-uk-research-base-international-comparison-2013 | 6 “The world turned upside down”, special report by
The Economist, see especially “First break all the rules: The charms of frugal innovation”. The Economist Newspaper Ltd. Apr 15th 2010,
http://www.economist.com/node/15879359
29
30
Chapter 4 | Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo - Innovation Hotspots?
Finding innovation hotspots should embrace an
ecosystem perspective with universities, hubs of talent
and inspiration, as a natural starting point.
lean manufacturing, IKEAs “flat packages”,
and Skype – first developed to cut telephone
costs in the founder’s company. Again, global
companies increasingly leverage from such
diverse perspectives of innovation.
Innovation Hotspots – are
Tokyo, Seoul and Hong Kong
still places to be?
Let us now look at three mature Asian megacities: Hong Kong, Seoul and Tokyo. It may
be asked why we did not choose Singapore,
Taipei, Bangalore, Shanghai, Beijing, or why not
Shenzhen, recently dubbed the Silicon Valley of
Asia by the BBC, which is the cradle of Telecom
Giants Huawei and ZTE, and where Tencent,
Asia’s largest internet company (behind China’s
most popular app WeChat) was founded by
Shenzhen University graduate Ma Huateng?
Our choice is indeed somewhat arbitrary, yet
not. Using the Economist Intelligence Unit
City Report7, the telecom company Ericsson’s
Network Society readiness index8, and the
Cornell University – INSEAD Global Innovation
Index9, besides Singapore (which ranks very
high on all indices), all three are developed
knowledge cities.
To dig deeper into the role of universities,
we look at the combined scientific output of
five renowned universities per city, as derived
from Elsevier’s abstract and citation database
SCOPUS10.
In table 1 we summarize the relative position
of Tokyo, Hong Kong and Seoul based on
the indexes above. Due to their size and
state of development, they all score very
highly. Looking at other cities on these three
indices may, however, give inspiration to other
“Innovation Hot-Spots”.
Table 1: Ranking position in four indices pertaining to city competiveness, ICT readiness and innovation
(note: they are not linearly independent). The fifth and sixth columns are the country share for Top 5
chosen universities per city in terms of publication output, as well as academic-corporate joint publications,
the latter discussed below.
“Hot Spots 2025: Benchmarking the Future Competitiveness of Cities,”
Ericsson Networked Society Index 2013 http://www.ericsson.com/thinkingahead/networked_society
9
Cornell University and INSEAD Global Innovation Index 2013 http://www.globalinnovationindex.org/content.aspx?page=GII-Home
10
SciVal and Scopus are part of Elsevier Research Intelligence solutions. The analysis presented follows established industry practice
7
8
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
And how do the combined science outputs
of five top universities for Tokyo, Hong Kong
and Seoul compare to one another? We group
together the following universities:
• Hong Kong: University of Hong Kong,
Chinese University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong
Polytechnic University, City University of
Hong Kong, and Hong Kong University
of Science and Technology
• Seoul: Seoul National University (SNU),
Yonsei University, Korea University,
Sungkyunkwan University (SKKU), and
Hanyang University
• Tokyo: University of Tokyo, Tokyo Institute
of Technology, Waseda University, Keio
University and Tsukuba University
We further chose five areas to analyse:
computer science, medicine, business and
management, biochemistry and engineering.
31
In figure 1a) we show the publication output
and in fig 1b) the number of papers written in
collaboration with corporate entities. Of course,
many results may not be published, instead,
being patented or turned into products directly.
Here we simply use the number of jointly coauthored papers as an indicator.
In figure 2a) we show the output and in figure
2b) the field weighted citation impact (FWCI)
in five areas of science, looking at five top
universities combined for each of the regions.
FWCI is an indicator of mean citation impact
which compares the actual number of citations
received with world average levels, and is
widely used as a proxy for the scientific quality
of a paper or group of papers. The strength of
the cities is different. Interestingly, the citation
impact of papers from Hong Kong is higher,
which correlates well with a higher degree of
international collaborations.
Fig. 1 a) The number of publications 2008-2012 and b) The number of joint publications between universities
and companies, The percentage in bar chart indicates the proportion of publications of the Top 5 Institutions
relative to that of the country. For example, in Fig. 1 b) Hong Kong’s Top 5 Institutions contribute 4.84 per cent
of the total number of academic-corporation publications in China.
Scholarly Output (2008 to 2912) in five selected areas
Figure 1a
Academic-Corporate Collaboration (2008 to 2012)
Figure 1b
32
Chapter 4 | Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo - Innovation Hotspots?
Fig. 3 a), b), c) Word-clouds of the most frequently-occurring keywords in the Top 200 most cited publications
from the Top five institutions selected. The size of the word refers to the frequency of occurrence.
Top 200 Publications of Tokyo Top 5 Institutions in 2013
Figure 3a
Top 200 Publications of Hong Kong Top 5 Institutions in 2013
Figure 3b
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Top 200 Publications of Seoul Top 5 Institutions in 2013
Figure 3a
In figures 3 a), b), and c) we show “word-clouds”
generated via author keywords from Top 200
most cited publications in 2013 for all areas of
science. This gives an indication on the level
of alignment of research areas between the
mega-cities, as well as the areas of influence
of the respective top five universities.
Hence, in each case these five universities
represent a significant fraction of the research
output for each country. Furthermore, they
all have distinct strengths in their profile that
to some extent represent areas where they
can expect to contribute to innovation. We
believe this type of analysis, which looks at the
combined output of research entities, provides
a useful indicator of innovation.
Are these three mega-cities and “Innovation
Powerhouses” effective in translating
inventions into innovations that reach the
market? Here the story is mixed: patents and
the rate of corporate collaboration alone do
not tell the full story.
One needs to consider if knowledge is
generating economic impact via start-ups or
via large companies, as well as whether ideas
are receiving the funds to be put into practice.
Looking at OECD technology indicators
provides a perspective on this. For
instance, in both Seoul and Tokyo, there is
a tendency for talent to choose to prosper
inside the “safe haven” of large companies.
At the KAIST presidential forum, both the
Presidents of Tokyo Institute of Technology
and KAIST admitted this was a challenge. For
instance, the support system for industryacademia collaboration at Tokyo Institute of
Technology seems mainly to focus on avenues
for collaboration with established, large
companies. Things are changing, however,
and both Seoul and Tokyo do have a relatively
vibrant start-up scene, with AngelList – a
website aimed at startups seeking debt or
equity investment – listing just over 100
and 200 companies in Seoul and Tokyo
respectively11, though these cities still have
a long way to go to catch up with Hong Kong
or Singapore.
As seen from table 1, Hong Kong is ranked
highest in Asia, number seven in the Global
Innovation Index with infrastructure, economic
conditions and market sophistication its
strongest points. There are, however, concerns
around the support lent to start-ups as well as
around the percentage of high-tech exports.12
AngelList locations https://angel.co/locations (accessed May 28th 2014) |
11 12
Global Innovation Index 2013 p.9
33
34
Chapter 4 | Hong Kong, Seoul, Tokyo - Innovation Hotspots?
What then are the grand challenges for
these mega-cities? For Tokyo and Seoul we
argue it is the need to embrace globalization
and to provide cultural diversity in terms of
people talent. Whilst there is a push to have
more international students, researchers, and
generally a broader workforce mix, there is
still some way to go compared to Singapore,
Hong Kong, and any European or US city.
In the case of Tokyo, when we examine the
SCOPUS database for the five universities
above, collaboration rates in terms of scientific
publications range from 21 per cent for Keio
University to 31 per cent for the University of
Tokyo, with the other three Tokyo universities
lying in between. Similarly for Seoul,
collaboration rates range from 24 per cent
for Yonsei University to 28 per cent for
Korea University.
The case of Hong Kong, as expected, is
completely different, with collaboration rates
ranging from 57 per cent for the University of
Hong Kong to 67 per cent for City University
of Hong Kong. In terms of internationalization
of faculty and students, which could be seen
as another proxy for international idea-flow,
the universities in Hong Kong achieve
an almost perfect score and the Korean
universities also score well on international
exchange students. But for the Japanese
universities analysed, the score for international
faculty and for outgoing students given by the
QS Asia rankings is comparatively low. 13
In a number of interviews for the UK
government, stakeholders pointed out the clear
benefit of international collaboration in terms
of bringing in the best expertise for the tasks
at hand as well as supporting the development
QS Asia Universities Ranking 2014, released May 13, 2014 http://www.topuniversities.com/system/files/tu_auth/
QS-University-Rankings-Asia-2014.pdf
13 Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
of students’ global perspectives and skill
sets14. Hence for the benefit of the innovation
ecosystem of Seoul and Tokyo further
collaborations are to be encouraged.
A final challenge lies in demographics.
Both Tokyo and Seoul, unless immigration
is increased, will enter a period with
disproportionately aged populations.
For Tokyo a decreasing population will be
a hindrance to ground-breaking ideas and
their development into innovations, and an
anchor on general economic growth. For
Hong Kong, the grand challenge, and indeed
opportunity, will be to leverage on the western
connection with the strength of being a
special administrative region of China. Unlike
Tokyo and Seoul, Hong Kong lacks a strong
technological industry base; its strength lies
more in the financial sector. This again points
to Hong Kong having close collaborations with
universities and regions in mainland China, for
instance exploiting its closeness to Shenzhen
as a competitive advantage.
New hotspots,
old role models
Finding innovation hotspots should embrace
an ecosystem perspective with universities,
hubs of talent and inspiration, as a natural
starting point. Here, for simplicity we used
research output as an indicator of innovative
ideas. However, as seen from numerous
examples, innovation often comes from
people leaving university before completing
their degree, or from people starting
companies while at university. Again, it
becomes important to look at entrepreneurship
and corporate culture.
Seoul, Hong Kong and Tokyo will remain
attractive due to their size, maturity, quality
of life and pool of educated people. All three
have addressed the issue of combining megacity status with achieving a stable political
environment. It is our belief that other Asian
cities may look to them for inspiration.
Taking frugality as an example, it is obvious
that one should also increasingly expect the
unexpected. An idea such as the Solar Bottle
Bulb, made from a plastic soda bottle to
provide light inside homes, has spread from
its creation by Brazilian mechanic Alfredo
Moser in 200215, to being used in over 28,000
homes in Manila in the Philippines alone16 and
almost a million homes worldwide17.
This example shows that in a networked
society, ideas spread fast and wide. Hence,
great innovations will happen in places that
do not fit the wealthy mega-city framework
above. With one of the missions of the British
Council being to “demonstrate the innovation,
creativity and excellence of British science,
arts, literature and design”, this reiterates
where innovation hotspots will be found –
at crossroads, where ideas from different
spheres meet.
Alexander van Servellen, Georgin Mong
Teng Lau, and George Lan, SciVal of Elsevier
Research Intelligence and Elsevier’s Ludivine
Allagnat contributed to this article.
“Encouraging a British Invention Revolution: Sir Andrew Witty’s Review of Universities and Growth”, Department of Business, Innovation
and Skills, https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/249720/bis-13-1241-encouraging-a-britishinvention-revolution-andrew-witty-review-R1.pdf
15
“Alfredo Moser: Bottle light inventor proud to be poor”, BBC News, 12th August 2013, http://www.bbc.com/news/magazine-23536914
(accessed May 26, 2014) | 16 MyShelter: A Liter of Light http://aliteroflight.org/about-us/ (accessed May 26, 2014) | 17 “Alfredo Moser:
Bottle light inventor proud to be poor”
14
35
36
Chapter 5 | Gender: Bridging the Leadership Gap
Early in 2014, at the British Council’s Global Education
Dialogue (GED), Michelle Li, Deputy Secretary for Education
in Hong Kong, spoke passionately about an inclusive higher
education sector in which ‘no one will be left behind’ and of
the importance of looking for the leader in every one of us.
The focus of the two-day dialogue was inclusive leadership.
GENDER:
BRIDGING THE
LEADERSHIP GAP
Dr Sarah Jane Aiston
Faculty of Education,
The University of Hong Kong
What is ‘inclusive’ leadership? Why, and how,
should we bring about this change?
Inclusive leadership is the engagement of
‘significant others’, namely marginalised or
under-represented groups, in the decisionmaking processes of an organisation. And
across Asia, women regrettably remain one of
the ‘significant others’ not included in senior
leadership positions within the HE sector. This
is not just a regional problem but a global
phenomenon that, in 2012, saw academics put
forward a manifesto for change to increase
women’s participation in HE leadership and
research globally.
There is the common misconception, as
voiced by one Vice-Chancellor during the
two-day dialogue, that women are ‘taking over
the world’. This is known as ‘the feminization
thesis’. The increase in the number of female
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
undergraduate students worldwide (although
this trend is far from universal) has led to the
assumption that the academy is increasingly
becoming feminized. However, despite
an increase in the number of women at
undergraduate level, women academics remain
underrepresented in leadership roles. Evidence
indicates that in the Asian context, the issue
of inclusive leadership might be particularly
challenging for a number of reasons.
Available data indicates that women as
academics are far from ‘taking over’ in terms
of the numbers working within the HE sector
across the region. The Global Gender Index
(published by Times Higher Education in 2013)
shows that in China, Taiwan and Japan under
25 per cent of academics are women.
While pipeline theory posits that the
underrepresentation of women in senior
positions will be resolved once women
become suitably qualified to move through the
academic hierarchy, time manifestly cannot
be relied upon to achieve parity. An analysis of
statistics from the University Grants Committee
in Hong Kong, where 30-35 per cent of
academics are women – a figure that compares
favourably with the UK, Norway, Netherlands,
Germany
and Italy – shows that over a 16-year period
from 1995 to 2012 the increase in the number
of senior women academics is marginal, at
best. Women are simply not progressing
through the system.1
In addition, it is not only the marginality of
women academics in terms of their statistical
presence – referred to in the literature as
‘counting women in’ – that is of concern, but
also cultural issues that serve as barriers to
Aiston, S.J. (2014). Leading the Academy or being led? Hong
Kong women academics. Higher Education Research and
Development. 33(1). 59-72.
1
37
38
Chapter 5 | Gender: Bridging the Leadership Gap
women both entering the profession and being
considered as leaders in the Asian context.
Take China, for instance, where the discourse
concerning ‘leftover women’ and the ‘third
sex’ serves as a powerful force against women
becoming highly-educated. The term ‘leftover
women’ (shengnü) refers to professional
women in their late 20s who are single. As the
number of unmarried, highly-educated young
women increases, this is portrayed in the
Chinese media as a ‘crisis’.2
Higher education, and particularly graduate
education, serves as a form of negative equity
in the marriage market of contemporary China.
The pursuit of a PhD is regarded as being in
conflict with a woman’s familial responsibilities
and coinciding with the ‘golden age’ (age 2528) for women to have children.
Evidence suggests that the discourse of
‘leftover women’ is a lived reality for women
undertaking graduate studies: “Chinese men
are old-fashioned. They do not want these
women. If they find out this woman has been in
education for so many years… well…”3
The concept of the third gender has also
become popular in modern-day China. Women
possessing what are referred to as the three
highs – high education (PhD), high income
or high standards (in some accounts replaced
with high professional achievement) – are
considered to be neither men nor women
but of a third sex.
In a cultural context in which the value of
a PhD is distorted if appropriated by a woman,
it is unlikely that there will be a significant
increase in the number of women academics,
particularly in senior roles, in the foreseeable
future.
Academic leadership has traditionally been
associated with (‘masculine’) agentic attributes,
such as ambition, aggression, self-confidence
and independence. ‘Think leader – think male’
has been particularly flagged within Western
literature as problematic in terms of women
being considered as academic leaders.
Within an Asian cultural context this issue
is potentially even more problematic with
respect to how women inhabit, experience,
and negotiate this space and the nature of
their leadership role. If Asian culture expects a
woman’s conduct in public life to be subdued,
quiet and withdrawn4, characteristics that are
antithetical to how we perceive leadership,
then academic women in Asia face specific
cultural challenges.
Fincher, L.H. (2014). Leftover Women: The Resurgence of Gender Inequality in China. London: Zed | 3 Bamber, M. (2014) What motivates
Chinese women to study in the UK and how do they perceive their experience? Higher Education. 68. 47-68, Issue 1 | 4 Luke, C. (2000).
One step up, two down: Women in higher education management in Southeast Asia. In M. Tight (Ed.) Academic work and life: What is it an
academic and how this is changing (285-305). Bradford: Emerald Group.
2
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Hong Kong women academics are more committed to
knowledge exchange and student engagement making them
well-placed to provide leadership as academic citizens and to
foster a more inclusive notion of the 21st Century university.
Moreover, emphasis is also being placed in
the literature on how academic women are
assigned particular leadership roles regarded
as consistent with their ‘femininity’. One
delegate (a senior academic leader herself)
commented that in Asia you are seen as a
‘mother’ or ‘big sister’. This familial metaphor in
which male academic leaders are positioned as
the head of household and their female peers
as the institutional mother-figure is not unique
to Asia5. However, in a cultural context in which
a premium is placed on women’s role as wife
and mother, Asian academic women leaders
face even greater challenges.
In further analysing the failure of pipeline
theory and the ability of suitably qualified
women to move through the academic
hierarchy into leadership positions, the
concept of the prestige economy is helpful.
Research and publication outputs are obvious
commodities that are favoured in terms of what
counts for, and what will help gain, recognition
and promotion in the HE sector. Indeed, the
current emphasis on global rankings – rankings
that favour research-intensive institutions6 –
indicates that research excellence is becoming
a dominant factor worldwide.
Here again, data throws up examples of gender
inequality across the region. In Japan, for
instance, women academics are in a precarious
position. An analysis undertaken by Aiston and
Jung of the Changing Academic Profession
(CAP) Survey – an international survey
undertaken in 2008 administered to academics
in 19 counties – indicates a significant
difference in the research productivity of
5
6
male and female academics in that country.
On average, over a three year period,
Japanese male academics published 8.56 book
chapters and articles, whilst female academics
published only 3.60.
It is important to note the correlation of
research output with family-related variables
(e.g. marriage, career-breaks, children) showed
that familial responsibilities could not explain
this difference. This finding seems particularly
counter-intuitive given Japan’s more traditional
view of women’s role in society. Alternative
explanations need to be explored, for example
workload allocation, to understand and in
turn support Japanese women academics.
Having considered the nature of inclusive
leadership and the barriers to achieving this
in Asia, one might well ask why strive for
inclusive leadership? Indeed, there was much
discussion of this issue during the GED. York
Yat-Ngok Chow, chair of the Hong Kong Equal
Opportunities Commission, spoke of a sense
of fairness being important. Unfortunately,
much of the discussion focused around how
inclusive leadership can ‘add value’ and be
‘cost-effective’. It was the business case, rather
than social justice, that was seen as the means
by which to encourage inclusive leadership in
higher education.
It is certainly not difficult to make the business
case if need be. A number of effective
leadership approaches in higher education are
more likely to be found amongst female rather
than male leaders7, and an analysis of the
values of academics in Hong Kong, for example,
Fitzgerald, T. (2014). Women Leaders in Higher Education: Shattering the myths. Routledge: Oxon.
De Witte, K. and Hudrlikova, L. (2013). What about Excellence in Teaching? A Benevolent Ranking of Universities. Scientometrics. 96(1). 337-364.
39
40
Chapter 5 | Gender: Bridging the Leadership Gap
revealed that women academics hold stronger
values than men on significant issues within
current conceptualisations of higher education.
In this regard, the CAP survey indicated that
Hong Kong women academics are more
committed to knowledge exchange and student
engagement, making them well-placed to
provide leadership as academic citizens and to
foster a more inclusive notion of the twenty-first
century university.8
are socialised into the organisational patriarchal
‘rules of the game’. Women-only mentoring
programmes appear remedial – ‘fix the women’
(Aiston, 2011)9. Policy not only needs to be put
into practice, but also monitored and evaluated
to demonstrate something greater than a
lukewarm commitment to the idea of inclusive
leadership. Moreover, it is equally important
to be sensitive to the cultural context in which
attempts to initiate change are being made.
Delegates also spoke of the need to change
the organisational culture of higher education
to one that recognises women’s talent and
implements gender-sensitive organisational
policies and practices.
There are many issues to consider, in what is a
complex problem. Presently, too few women are
progressing through the academic hierarchy
in order to be even considered for senior
leadership posts. Without dealing with this
situation, talk of inclusive leadership becomes
a moot point. We should also ask to what
extent the higher education sector in Asia is
genuinely committed to the value of inclusivity.
Interviews undertaken by Aiston with the most
senior women leaders in Hong Kong (Dean and
above) indicate that, with the exception of a few
instances, the issue of inclusive leadership for
women is not on the agenda.
Unconscious-bias training, mentoring schemes,
and the presence of more women on selection
panels were suggested as ways to address this
issue. Such proposals are well-grounded in the
literature, but not unproblematic. For example,
some would argue that mentoring programmes
are an acculturation to the status quo. Mentees
Bryman, A. (2009). Effective leadership in higher education. London: Leadership Foundation for Higher Education |
Aiston, S.J. (2011). Equality, Justice and Gender: Barriers to the Ethical University for Woman. 6(3). 279-291.
7
9
8
Aiston, op.cit
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Dr Qiang Zha,
Faculty of Education,
York University, Canada, and
Dr Chuanyi Wang,
Institute of Education,
Tsinghua University, China
41
In the past decade or so, Chinese
higher education struck the world with
its remarkable pace of expansion.
ISSUES AND CHALLENGES
FOR POST-MASSIFICATION
HIGHER EDUCATION:
THE CHINESE RESPONSE
42
Chapter 6 | Issues and Challenges for Post-Massification Higher Education: the Chinese Response
Aggregate enrolment grew at an annual rate
of 17 per cent between 1998 and 2010. In
absolute numbers, higher education enrolment
soared from 3.4 million in 1998, the year
before the expansion that aimed to massify the
system, to 22.3 million in 2010 – a 6.6 times
increase over 12 years.
The number of institutions rose from 1,022 to
2,358 in the same time span, or by 2.3 times.
Taking into account all enrollments, China’s
higher education participation rate (18-22 age
group) reached 15 per cent in 2002, or the
commonly recognised threshold of mass higher
education, and 26.5 per cent in 2010, from 9.8
per cent in 1998. The participation rate was
raised by nearly 17 per cent in 12 years.
In 2007, China’s higher education system
overtook America’s in terms of enrolment
numbers, becoming the world’s largest. In
the process, the Chinese government and
local administrations played a pivotal, behind
the scenes role creating incentives for rapid
enrolment expansion and supporting a massive
development of institutional infrastructure.
Issues and challenges
facing Chinese HE in the
post-expansion era
Many systems suffered from quality
deterioration during the HE expansion period.
Thus, higher education expansion and
differentiation often become twin phenomena,
which in turn, however, have sometimes led to
issues and problems associated with equity
and the relevance of higher education. As a
matter of fact, there has been a phenomenal
impact and considerable discussion with
respect to equity issues, for instance graduate
unemployment. The increasingly steep
hierarchy of the Chinese system has aroused
enormous concerns about whether higher
education can still facilitate social mobility.
The elite universities are now accused of
nurturing the “refined egoist” among their
student body. At the lower echelons, it is no
secret that over 30 per cent of graduates
are now having difficulties finding a job upon
graduation.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
The increasingly steep hierarchy of the Chinese system
has aroused enormous concerns about whether higher
education can still facilitate social mobility.
While the Chinese system aims to provide
40 per cent of the age cohort with a form of
higher education by 2020, it clearly needs to
find solutions to address these pressing issues.
At the core are the needs to widen the path of
social mobility (perceptually and practically)
and increase the relevance of participation in
higher education.
Quiet change
A number of changes are currently happening
in the Chinese system. Atop the hierarchy,
there seems to be a paradoxical move
towards “re-centralization.” It is well known
that Chinese higher education went through
a decentralization process in the 1990s,
when around 250 universities previously
administered by the central ministries were put
under jurisdiction of provincial governments.
This move was considered unprecedented
in the history of Chinese higher education.
In the meantime, the local higher education
sector grew quickly, dominating China’s higher
education expansion from the late 1990s.
Some 500 new universities emerged from
mergers and upgrades of local colleges,
while even more higher vocational colleges
and private institutions came into being.
Consequently, the national universities now
represent a much smaller share of the Chinese
system: 6.6 per cent in terms of proportion
of all institutions and 8.7 per cent of entire
enrolments in 2010 (down from 32.8 per cent
and 43.9 per cent in 1989), while the local
sector now makes an absolute bulk of the
Chinese system, accounting for 93.4 per cent
and 91.2 per cent respectively in 2010. These
changes, together with such elite university
schemes as Projects 985 and 211, in turn serve
to further hierarchise the Chinese system.1
From 2004, China’s central education
authority, the Ministry of Education (MoE),
launched an initiative co-sponsoring a selected
group of local universities with provincial
governments, particularly in provinces without
national universities.
The local universities selected for this
scheme would enjoy similar status to national
universities affiliated to the MoE, with enhanced
support (fundamentally in terms of resources
and strategic planning) from the Ministry. Up to
now, there are 35 such universities that have
been “upgraded” to this semi-national status.
Some other central ministries, e.g., the Ministry
of Agriculture, the Ministry of Industry and
Information Technology, the Ministry of
1
Project 211, launched in 1996 by China’s Ministry of Education, is an initiative concentrating key resources and raising the research
standards of top universities. During the first phase of this project, from 1996 to 2000, approximately US$2.2 billion was distributed among
selected schools. China today has 117 universities designated Project 211 institutions, which are largely national universities, as well as
some veteran local universities. They take on the responsibility of training four-fifths of doctoral students, and two-thirds of all graduate
students. They offer 85 per cent of the country’s key subjects, hold 96 per cent of the state’s key laboratories, and utilize 70 per cent of
research funding. Later on, Project 985 allocated even larger amounts of funding to a more selected group of universities in order to build
centers of research excellence. Currently it supports 39 universities in total (which are all national universities, and included in Project
211), commonly perceived as the elitist part of Project 211 yet eponymous after the date of its announcement, May 1998.
43
44
Chapter 6 | Issues and Challenges for Post-Massification Higher Education: the Chinese Response
China appears to be on
the shift towards a binary
higher education system.
Transport, the Ministry of Water Resources,
the State Forestry Administration, China
Meteorological Administration, etc., have
followed suit, gradually co-sponsoring some
100 universities and colleges with provincial
governments.
Most of these universities and colleges were
originally run by those central ministries and
agencies, and later decentralized to local
control. Now they have been “re-centralized.”
This move has put the aggregate size of
national and semi-national universities almost
back to levels preceding decentralization.
Changes happened at the lower/local levels
as well. Hundreds of newly founded local
universities emerged amid the expansion of
enrolments. Initially, they emulated the veteran
universities with respect to their curricular
and programme offerings, and played a major
role in absorbing that increased enrolment,
together with fast growing sectors like higher
vocational colleges and private institutions. For
a while, they rode the wave of higher education
growth and dramatically expanded their
student body and infrastructures. However,
they soon experienced difficulties.
In order to ensure the public of the quality
of their curricular and programme offerings,
they were put under periodic evaluation
and assessment by the MoE, and essentially
benchmarked against mature universities. This
not only applied enormous pressure upon them
but also placed them in hopeless competition
with long-established peers.
Worse, such competition quickly extended to
their graduates in the job market who often
lost out to peers from older universities on the
basis of institutional reputation and programme
quality. They even came second to graduates
from some higher vocational colleges and
private institutions on relevance of their
programme concentrations and learnt skills.
As a result, many of the new universities are
now seeking to transform their curricular and
programme offerings, and are keen to label
themselves as Fachhochschulen – universities
of applied sciences.
To facilitate such a transformation, the MoE
initiated a project aiming to introduce the
institutional fabric of Europe-originated applied
type universities to the Chinese system, and
supported the founding of a national alliance of
such institutions in 2013.
Given this species of institution is new to higher
education policy makers and practitioners in
China, this alliance serves as a hub for drawing
on the European experience, and exploring the
niche for this type of institution on Chinese soil.
Similar “collective actions” can be observed
even earlier at local levels, which in turn points
to the strong tendency and enthusiasm for
embracing new phenomena. For instance, in
Anhui province in central China, 16 universities
(of 33 located in the province) formed a similar
consortium in 2008, helping one another to
absorb the ideas, experiences and functions
of the German Fachhochschulen into their
own operations, and meet the needs of local
and regional economies through development
of programmes and curricula that are more
responsive to, and interactive with, local
economic and social development. Now a
consensus has been formed among these
newly founded universities at local level, that
they should indeed follow a path alternative to
academic-oriented universities, and focus on
curricular and programme offerings in areas of
applied arts and technology. They see this path
as the solution to addressing their deficiency
in competitiveness in attracting students and
ensuring their employability.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Binary system?
Should this tendency continue, China appears
to be on the shift towards a binary higher
education system, from the current unitary
and stratified one whereby all institutions are
measured and positioned according to one
single set of criteria.
While it is now premature to state a binary
system is taking shape in Chinese higher
education, there is further evidence that
supports such speculation. The MoE stipulates
that new universities are entitled to apply
to offer advanced degree programmes at
master’s level and above, after a minimum
of eight years operating undergraduate
programmes. Now a few dozen such
universities are starting to offer master’s
programmes – all with clear relevance to
local needs – and even professional doctoral
programmes. Most recently, the MoE launched
a pilot project, for the designated period 2012
to 2017, allowing new universities to offer
master’s and doctoral degree programmes
even before they fulfil the minimum
requirement of operating undergraduate
programmes, as long as they can prove
that their advanced degree programmes
are explicitly geared towards meeting
specific needs of local, regional and national
development.
Thus, it is likely that Chinese higher education
will have two parallel and discrete systems.
One comprises the national, semi-national,
and those local universities that are included
in Project 211, as well as a few dozen more
veteran local universities founded well before
the expansion of higher education from the
late 1990s. They are no more than 400 in total,
and provide a broad array of programmes in
the established disciplines and professions.
They are academic and “cosmopolitan” in their
outlook, and, as such, support their academic
staff to conduct intensive research and train
the next generation of researchers.
The other consists of the new universities,
higher vocational colleges and private
institutions. It is huge in size, incorporating
approximately 2,000 universities and colleges,
which are local, and teaching and service
oriented. If they conduct any research, it is
applied research. Despite the fact that such
a binary divide is not favored in some other
systems, e.g., Australia and the UK, it helps
diversify the view of higher education quality
and increase its relevance, as well as improving
equity in higher education by providing a
working alternative path for students.
This is of particular significance in a system
like China’s, where there is a strong tradition
of meritocracy and elitism in higher education,
which in turn tends to vertically divide all
higher education institutions.
2
Limited upward mobility is now possible within this system. A certain proportion of college graduates are allowed to continue to study
in local universities, through participating in a competitive examination. Effective from 2008, all Projects 985 and 211 universities are not
permitted to take college graduates through this articulation arrangement.
45
46
Chapter 7 | The Private Sector and Higher Education Enhancement: The Myanmar Case
THE PRIVATE SECTOR
AND HIGHER EDUCATION
ENHANCEMENT: THE
MYANMAR CASE
Dr Roger Chao Jr,
International Consultant for Higher
Education, UNESCO, Myanmar
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
In this age of massification,
one of the grand challenges
in contemporary higher
education (HE) is to increase
private sector investment.
With an estimated 31.3 per
cent of global HE enrolments
into the private sector1 , private
investment – in enhancing
capacity and quality of higher
education systems – has not
only provided increased access
and alternative funding but also
created its own challenges.
47
In the context of increasing regionalisms
across the world, finding the balance between
private and public investment in HE is seen as
relevant to more effective collaboration within
national and regional HE systems. With no
distinction between developed and developing
countries2, increasing private investment in
HE is a truly global issue, but of particular
significance to countries that are either in
transition or, like Myanmar, have recently
opened up their economies.
Overview
Although historical, political and socioeconomic development shaped the initial
development of private HE, the focus and
growth of private investment in recent decades
are influenced by increasing economic
interdependencies, challenges in fiscal
capacities, changing skills and competencies
required in the global labour market, and the
wide acceptance of the knowledge-based
economy discourse. Furthermore, the shifting
nature of the global world order into a world of
regions presents opportunities and challenges
to increased private sector investment in
higher education.
1
Levy, Daniel (2013). ‘The Decline of Private Higher Education’. Higher Education Policy (26) pp. 25-42. | 2Altbach, P.; Reisberg, L.; and
Rumbley, L. (2009). ‘Trends in Global Higher Education: Tracking an Academic Revolution’ A report prepared for the UNESCO 2009 World
Conference on Higher Education.
48
Chapter 7 | The Private Sector and Higher Education Enhancement: The Myanmar Case
The rise of the middle class and HE’s perceived
social mobility function have significantly
fuelled demand. Dramatic growth in the
number of secondary school graduates, partly
arising on the back of Education for All and the
Millennium Development Goals, has expanded
the appeal of HE, widening the gap to be filled
by private providers.
In spite of the massification of higher
education, fiscal capacity constraints and a
strong neo-liberal view of HE as a private good,
more demand for HE reflects individual and
national perceptions of the need to acquire
relevant qualifications and competencies in
global and regional labour markets, opening
up space for private operators – their
investment and influence in the sector. Private
higher education regulation, recognition
and relevance to individuals and national
development, however, remain key challenges.
With global trends to introduce tuition fees,
adapt cost recovery measures, corporatise
public HE and public-private partnerships
increasingly predominant, governments
encouraged and facilitated the establishment
of private higher education institutions through
legislation and liberalisation, essentially
including them within national higher education
regulatory frameworks.
Private higher education (especially in the
case of for-profit institutions), however, is
demand-driven, catering to high demand and
low investment programmes that may not be
in the best interest of national development. In
fact, finding the balance for private and public
higher education provision, that promotes
complementarity rather than competition, is a
core challenge in contemporary HE worldwide.3
The trend of corporatising public HE
institutions and public-private partnerships
has implications for increasing private
investment. Within the knowledge-based
economy discourse, HE is now seen as
a production line of human capital and
knowledge, a space for the dissemination
and application of knowledge to students
and industry.
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=201309171610270 | 4Based on 2013 matriculation examination results
The various Universities of Distance Education in Myanmar. | 6 http://www.elevenmyanmar.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=a
rticle&id=6453:microsoft-and-myanmar-s-company-to-provide-it-training&catid=44:national&Itemid=384
3
5
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Lastly, global economic interdependencies
and the establishment of the global HE market,
partially driven by the World Trade Organization
and its General Agreement on Trade in
Services, increased skilled and professional
labour mobility and competition in the HE
sector within and beyond national boundaries.
With increased regionalism, for instance
through the establishment of the ASEAN
community, this development is replicated
regionally with increased competition in global
HE and labour markets at the regional level.
Aside from establishing private higher
education institutions, private investment in
HE also manages to incorporate quasi-private
functions (e.g. establishing spin-off companies;
commercialising knowledge) within public
higher education institutions, as well as publicprivate collaboration, especially with industry,
in training, research, and even the facilitation of
learning (e.g. learning modules developed with
industry and joint curriculum development).
Myanmar’s higher
education sector
Increasing private sector investment in HE in
Myanmar is the key to improving access, equity
and relevance, and developing a sustainable
and modern higher education sector.
As mentioned, private investment is not
limited to establishing the private HE sector
but more broadly includes privatisation and
commercialisation of public higher education
institutions, public-private partnerships,
and increasing private involvement in
various aspects of HE including curriculum
development, governance, and funding.
HE in Myanmar today still resembles Soviet
models with small mono-disciplinary institutions
contrasting the global trend for comprehensive
universities incorporating an inter-disciplinary
focus. In fact, the country’s 169 HE institutions
fall under the ambit of 13 different line
ministries, with the Ministry of Education
and the Ministry of Science and Technology
responsible for the greater number.
Decades of limited engagement with the
outside world have rendered the HE sector,
infrastructure, learning and research support
facilities (e.g. libraries and laboratories), faculty,
curriculum, and the quality of teaching and
learning in dire need of reform. Furthermore,
challenges to access, equity and relevance
are prevalent due to the matriculation
system, limited public places, and the lack
of private sector participation in curriculum
development, research collaboration, and the
commercialization of research.
Myanmar’s matriculation examination screens
entry to specific disciplines and higher
education institutions based on a nationallevel exam where roughly a third of 300,000
examinees4 make the grade to enter the public
HE sector. On a per cohort basis, only 10 per
cent of first time examinees pass matriculation.
Those that need to retake the examination, or
those that do not immediately enter the public
HE sector after secondary school graduation,
have little choice than to participate in the
public HE sector’s distance learning system5,
which is seen to be of questionable quality, or
participate in Myanmar’s unrecognised private
HE sector. Overseas study is only an option for
a wealthy minority.
HE in Myanmar today still resembles Soviet models…
the country’s 169 HE institutions fall under the ambit
of 13 different line ministries
49
50
Chapter 7 | The Private Sector and Higher Education Enhancement: The Myanmar Case
Microsoft’s partnership with Myanmar
Computer Company6 (MCC) to provide
information technology training highlights
the challenges of relevance of public higher
education. MCC trainees are highly sought after
by the local computer industry compared to
those trained in the public sector’s Universities
of Computer Studies.
Since 2012, Myanmar has been undertaking a
comprehensive education review to facilitate
reform across the entire sector. In late 2013,
the Education Promotion and Implementation
Committee was established to facilitate fast
tracking these reforms.
Such pro-active and positive developments
have increased the visibility and importance
of national education reform, with the initial
aim being the achievement of ASEAN and then
global standards.
A National Education Law is soon expected to
clear Parliament, and drafting of HE legislation
as well as a stand-alone private sector HE law
has commenced. The importance of increasing
private investment in HE in Myanmar,
establishing a recognised private higher
education sector and balancing public and
private higher education provision, cannot be
over-emphasised at this juncture.
Enhancing private
investment
That there exists a private higher education
sector in Myanmar is largely due to its demandabsorbing function and the vagaries of
regulation. Diplomas and degrees, including
offshore diplomas awarded by the private
sector, are still not officially recognised by
government or industry.
Private sector students pay significantly higher
fees relative to the 500 kyat (approximately
US$0.50) per month of their peers in public
schools.7 The private sector also provides
foundation and preparation courses for GCE,
SAT and A-level examinations, catering to
students aspiring to study abroad. Fees range
from US$100 to $200 per month.
7
Based on discussion with some university rectors. Students are required to pay admission and textbook fees. Some universities also
charge more than the above mentioned figures. National Management College charges a 7,000 to 8,000 Kyat (US$ 7-8) tuition fee per
semester. | 8Based on 2013 matriculation examination results
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
In spite of the wide funding differential between
the two streams, around 200,000 matriculation
examinees who fail to make the grade every
year8, who are crowded out of the public
sector, provide a considerable client base for
Myanmar’s private HE schools, which thrive on
providing in-demand, low investment programs.
The lack of government regulation of private
HE institutions, however, results in considerable
variance in course standards, and a lack of
consumer protection for students.
Establishing a recognised and regulated
private higher education sector that ensures
quality standards would not only increase
access to higher education but rectify that
deficit. An official private sector, regulated
and recognised by Myanmar’s education
authorities, would also expand capacity in the
national HE space and provide the graduates
required to sustain national development. It
could also prompt a much-needed increase in
public sector tuition fees, a rise in academic
compensation in public higher education
institutions, and the corresponding potential to
attract and retain the best faculty.
Corporatisation of public institutions would
allow greater flexibility to adjust, react and
strategically position respective institutions
within the increasingly competitive national,
regional and global higher education markets.
Such a move would also facilitate public-private
partnership, the commercialisation of research,
and enhance fundraising potentials beyond the
public coffers whether through endowments,
private sector research funding, company spin
offs, service and training provisions to industry,
or joint development of new programmes
required by industry.
Public-private partnerships, especially in
knowledge production, commercialisation of
research and internships, increase student
learning, introduce students to realities within
and across communities, and mould them into
good global citizens. The broader participation
and improved transparency of private sector
involvement in higher education governance,
at institutional and national levels, promotes
good governance and enhances the relevance
of HE, especially if this involvement expands to
curriculum development.
Enhanced private investment, however, should
be balanced to promote complementarity in
HE provision across Myanmar. Competition for
students and funding is a reality at national,
regional and global levels. Healthy competition
brings increased efficiency and improved
quality for the entire sector. Public and private
participation should be seen within the
broader HE space: the aspiration to provide
quality, relevant teaching, mould good global
citizens, and contribute to sustainable national
development – important aspirations in the
context of the establishment of the ASEAN
community in December 2015.
Conclusion
Enhancing private investment is a grand
challenge for HE in Myanmar. Challenges
to access, equity and relevance have
been greatly exacerbated by globalisation,
regionalisation, and growing demand for quality
higher education worldwide. Enhancing private
investment in HE is particularly important
for improving systems characterised by
limited capacity, questionable quality, and
lack of relevance to industry and society –
exemplified, as in Myanmar’s case, by decades
of isolation and underinvestment.
The most challenging aspect of enhancing
private sector participation is instilling the
general will to improve governance, funding,
access, equity, quality and the relevance
of national higher education systems in an
increasingly competitive, global HE market, to
prepare for the opportunities and challenges
of ASEAN regional integration.
51
52
Chapter 8 | Values and Leadership in Education – Wherefore the Humanities
VALUES AND
LEADERSHIP
IN EDUCATION:
WHEREFORE THE
HUMANITIES?
Prof Simon Haines,
Chairman, Department
of English Director,
The Research Centre for
Human Values
The Chinese University
of Hong Kong,
Vice-President, The Hong Kong
Academy of the Humanities
We often point out to our English majors here at the
Chinese University of Hong Kong that the achievement
of leadership positions in international and multinational
organizations and corporations, irrespective of their “home”
language, has been shown to correlate closely with advanced
English proficiency.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
Many Asian policy makers do seem to regard
English competency as a key economic tool,
critical to growth, employability and even
creativity, especially in the new “knowledge
industries”.
A distinguished keynote speaker at a
conference we held last April on “The Future
of English in Asia” warned against any kind of
“linguistic triumphalism”, arguing that English
has in fact plateaued as a Greater China or
indeed Asian lingua franca; another argued
that local “Englishes” would make a better
pedagogical foundation for school language
classes than a “standard” model. Still, the
interpenetration of the largest first- and
second-language communities in human
history, namely Chinese and English, does look
like one of the greatest knowledge transfer
phenomena we have ever known: a global
challenge on a grand scale. And English
competency looks like remaining a policy goal
in the region for some time to come.
Handling this challenge, however, isn’t a matter
only of technical instruction, of more and
better language classes at all levels. The most
inspiring presentation at our conference was
by an eminent Hong Kong Chinese scholar
in East-West cultural studies, who described
how in his school-days reading Shakespeare
was for him a secret, life-changing redemption
from the physical oppressions and mental
impoverishments of the Cultural Revolution.
Primo Levi and Dante came to mind. That
schoolboy eventually became a leading
professor of literature because of his secret
reading, and he reminded us all of why we too
were in the field.
This was a story about the cross-cultural
values dimension of education: a parallel
dimension to instruction; a deeper layer of
education underlying it. What this schoolboy
and future professor really learned was
something about ends, not means. The
ostensible means was learning a foreign
language; the end, found almost accidentally,
even against the grain of a stultifying formal
training, was dramatic poetry, and the
transformative light it shines on human lives.
There’s a lesson here, but it isn’t about
whether you should learn English to design
software or to read Shakespeare. It’s about
what lies beneath all instruction, especially in
universities: about education itself. And it’s a
lesson for anyone who is either a researcher
or an institutional leader at any level in the
field of post-secondary education — since
part of the lesson is that the values dimension
is as integral to institutional leadership as it is
to pedagogy.
Anyone who teaches undergraduates in a
university—or school students for that matter—
knows that the best discoveries and insights
happen when the teacher is able to create a
climate in which the students’ own imaginations
and ideas seem to them to flourish as if
spontaneously. A discussion seems to take on
a life and movement of its own. The teacher
may well learn something too. The same can be
said of graduate supervisors, and of leaders of
research teams and academic units. It can also
be said of creative corporate CEOs and policydriven civil service leaders.
Such a sense of movement and life can
transcend bureaucratic inertia, political
constraints, compliance activity and, in the
university case, the purely instructional
requirements of a professional training.
Possibly the most vital element in the teacher’s
or leader’s creation of this climate is a kind
of recognition. People feel their contribution
is valued both in itself and as contributing
to some greater whole. But this only works if
53
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Chapter 8 | Values and Leadership in Education – Wherefore the Humanities
they, in turn, recognize the authority of the
teacher or leader. That authority has to be
both recognised by and recognisant of others.
It derives largely from its author’s creative,
inclusive and values-based engagement with
his or her discipline of thought and fellowpractitioners.
This is a conception of university and
institutional leadership, and much more than
that, of the nature of university education
in general, quite contrary to the prevalent
managerialist doctrines and practices of the
last twenty years. Contrary also, or so our
mainland Chinese students tell us, to the
doctrines and practices of university education
in China. (There is a strange cross-cultural
resemblance between the stultifying effects of
rule by commissar in Chinese universities and
rule by administrator in the Anglosphere, with
Australia as probably the worst case).
Even in business schools, which created the
language of managerialism, the pendulum
seems to be swinging away from the familiar
vocabulary of “outcomes”, “impact” and
“measurement” of “performance”, away
from the system-gaming, status-seeking
and grantsmanship which that language
encourages. Of course good management
is important in any institution – managing
can be harder than leading. But the very
word “management” comes from the Italian
maneggiare, which is a term used of training
horses. Human beings are not horses, to be
led by the nose. Management is secondary to
overall direction or purpose.
Before the last swing of the pendulum there
was an older, pre-managerialist conception
of academic inclusivity. It was known as
“collegiality”. It still exists all but unchallenged
in a few privileged oases, and under siege
in others. One taught one’s students, and
published for one’s peers: that was enough;
that was one’s community. But outside those
places, even perhaps inside them, in any case
nearly everywhere else in the world, it no
longer seems enough. Perhaps it never really
was. In the humanities, certainly, such a view
tends to encourage the complacencies and
arrogances of the ivory tower: a head-in-thesand, eventually self-defeating attitude towards
the value of what one does. Still, collegiality
was a better model than what replaced it: a
better starting point for reform.
University degrees have become ever more
professionalized and vocational, especially
since 2008. They have also, not coincidentally,
become more commonplace. They are being
funded more and more by the students
themselves, or their families; the costs in the
Anglo world are already almost unmanageable
for many, while in China they are often ruinous.
Career and financial incentives are almost the
sole drivers of a university “education” — if that
is still the right word for the experience.
The more all this happens the more urgent
it becomes that top-class universities (not
necessarily high-ranking ones: an entirely
different matter) offer or continue to offer
themselves not just as training schools,
initiating their students into professional
practices such as law, medicine or engineering,
or indeed English language competency; not
as places where career success and personal
wealth are the ultimate values; but as nurseries
of values-based reflection, responsive to the
human capacity and need for ends
and meanings.
A fully intelligent humanity needs its values-based heart.
This is recognised in China, where there is widespread
dissatisfaction with rigid technical training, and a sense
that true innovation needs something else.
Grand Challenges in Asia-Pacific Education
This feature can be built in to any professional
training, such that it embodies some process
of self-reflection on the values inherent in the
relevant profession: producing more selfaware doctors, lawyers, engineers or language
teachers, conscious of their work not just as
a series of practical solutions to immediate
problems of illness, adjudication, construction
or translation, but as modes of response to the
human condition.
concentration but is yet to exploit it fully). A
fully intelligent humanity needs its valuesbased heart. This is recognised in China,
where there is widespread dissatisfaction with
rigid technical training, and a sense that true
innovation needs something else.
For this to be possible there have to be some
entirely values- and ends-based disciplines
to act as the focal points and enablers of this
kind of thinking within the university. These
are the Humanities, where the thinker’s own
consciousness is his or her primary tool
and primary field of inquiry. But to make this
kind of professional self-awareness possible,
practitioners in the humanities disciplines
need to be more consistently aware in their
own work of this aspect of what they do; and
to work more closely than they have in the
past with their colleagues in the professional
schools. Also in the IT hubs: Steve Jobs is far
from the only creative CEO to have insisted that
his best people are from arts and humanities
as much as from technical backgrounds. It’s no
coincidence that the three greatest regional
drivers of the world’s new knowledge economy,
namely Silicon Valley, the Boston Route 128
beltway, and the Oxford-Cambridge-London
triangle, also have the greatest concentrations
of major full-spectrum universities with strong
humanities faculties (Hong Kong has a similar
This is what leadership is. The Old Germanic
origin of the English word “leader”, leidjan,
derives from an older word that means “path”
or “way”. A leader is a pathfinder, the one
finally responsible for identifying and in a
sense creating the direction all are or should
be headed in. The authority mentioned above
derives from general recognition of the leader’s
capacity to do this: he or she is the author of
that creative identification. But to repeat: this
recognition must be reciprocal. The leader is
the one who inspires creativity in others: who
stands up for, articulates and advocates the
deepest primary values of the institution or unit
or set of disciplinary practices he or she leads,
however large or small: who can open in the
lives of students, colleagues and the broader
community a parallel and transformative values
dimension, a dimension of ends. The grand
challenge in global leadership is first and
foremost to produce global leaders; whatever
other languages they speak, they must know
the language of value.
Further, just as those professionally trained
people go on to become members of the
broader community outside the university, so
practitioners in the Humanities need to become
more engaged with that broader community.
“Knowledge exchange” or “knowledge
transfer” isn’t just a matter of showcasing
one’s scholarly work in public, as in a museum
exhibition: important as that is. It has as much
to do with being recognised as the focal
point and enabler of values thinking beyond
the university. “Impact” is entirely the wrong
metaphor to convey this enabling process. In
increasingly secular Western societies, and
certainly also in an overwhelmingly materialist
China, the need for such a repository of values
thinking is already widely acknowledged; it’s
a matter of who will take responsibility for
creating it.
55
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