Private Universities: A
Future Force in Global
Leadership in Asia Pacific
Da Hsuan Feng
University of Macau
Higher education is the
pulse of a nation. When it
is strong, so is the nation.
If there is one national
issue which should be
absolutely above politics,
it should and must be
education!
Case study: Korean vs.
Taiwan universities
“Some twenty years ago, if you
were to ask me which universities
in Korea would be top twenty in
the country, I would probably find
15 national universities and 5
private ones. Today, the situation
is completely reversed. This tells
me that Korean higher education
has come of age!”
Shanghai Jiaotong University
2014 Ranking of Korean
universities in the top 500
globally
Seoul National University
KAIST
Korea University
Sungkungkwan University
Yongsei University
Hanyang University
Kyun Hee University
Pohang University of Science and Technology
Catholic University of Korea
Ewha Women’s University
(101-150)
(201-300)
(201-300)
(201-300)
(201-300)
(301-400)
(301-400)
(301-400)
(401-500)
(401-500)
Times Higher Education 2014
Ranking of Korean universities
in the top 400 globally
Seoul National University
KAIST
Pohang University of Science and Tech
Sungkyunkwan University
Korea University
Yonsei University
Ewha University
Hanyang University
50
52
62
148
201-225
201-225
351-400
351-400
Shanghai Jiaotong University
2014 Ranking of Taiwan
universities in the top 500
globally
National Taiwan University
National Cheng Kung University
National Tsing Hua University
National Chiao Tung University
Chang Gung University
National Sun Yat Sen University
National Yang Ming University
(101-150)
(201-300)
(201-300)
(301-400)
(401-500)
(401-500)
(401-500)
Times Higher Education 2014
Ranking of Taiwan universities
in the top 400 globally
National Taiwan University
National Tsing Hua University
National Chiao Tung University
National Cheng Kung University
National Sun Yat Sen University
National Taiwan University of ST
155
251-275
276-300
351-400
351-400
351-400
First, without the slightest
exaggeration, the palpable
rise of the quality of private
universities is challenging
the national universities
intellectual leadership in
Korea.
First, without the slightest
exaggeration, the palpable
rise of the quality of private
universities is challenging
the national universities
intellectual leadership in
Korea.
Second, I was astounded by
the fact that one of the top
private universities of Korea,
Yonsei University, with
40,000 students, has an
annual budget at ~$2.8
billion U.S. dollars.
Harvard University: $36 Billion (2014) $26 Billion (2009)
Stanford University: $22 Billion (2014) $12 Billion (2009)
Princeton University:$21 Billion (2014) $12Billion (2009)
MIT
$12 Billion (2014)
$8 Billion (2009)
Caltech
$ 2 Billion (2014)
$1.4Billion(2009)
University of Pennsylvania $10 Billion (2014) $5 Billion
(2009)
Pohang University of Science and
Technology (Postech) has an
endowment of $1.3 U.S. Billion.
In many ways, this is comparable
to Caltech! There is NO
comparable private institution in
Taiwan.
Third, the relationship between the
Government of South Korea and
higher education institutions must
have reached a substantially more
mature and sophisticated level then
between the Government of Taiwan
and the higher education
institutions.
Fourth, just as private universities
in the United States are “legally
owned” by the respective Board of
Trustees (BOT,) so are the private
universities in South Korea.
Lessons Learned and
Implications for Malaysia
Populatio Number of Ethnicity
n
Universities
Korea
51 million ~230
Population
Malaysia 30 million ~100
Multi
Taiwan
Primarily
Single
23 million ~160
•Universiti Malaya (UM)
(151)
•Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia (UKM)
(259)
•Universiti Sains Malaysia (USM)
(309)
•Universiti Teknologi Malaysia (UTM)
(294)
•Universiti Putra Malaysia (UPM)
(376)
•International Islamic University Malaysia (IIUM)
•Universiti Malaysia Sarawak (UNIMAS)
The multi-ethnic
composition of Malaysia’s
population is
unquestionably its
strength, not its weakness!
“... a university, in any worthy sense of the
term, must grow from seed. It cannot be
transplanted from England or Germany in
full leaf and bearing. ... When the
American university appears, it will not be
a copy of foreign institutions, or a hot-bed
plant, but the slow and natural outgrowth
of American social and political habits...
The American college is an institution
without a parallel; the American
university will be equally original.”
Good luck Malaysia!