Regionalization, international organizations and east Asian higher education

: a comparative study of east Asian higher education reforms

Abstract

This study looks at three different layers (Global, Regional and National) of influence on East Asian (taken as the ASEAN Plus Three framework) higher education reforms, but specifically focuses on the dynamics between regionalization and national higher education reforms. A comparative analysis of various international and regional organizations key initiatives and reports, historical socio-economic and higher education trends in seven East Asian nations (Malaysia, Singapore, Thailand, the Philippines and Vietnam in South East Asia, and Mainland China and Hong Kong in North East Asia) is conducted. Furthermore, various interviews were conducted to reinforce document analysis and trends, present primary data, and strengthen the comparative analysis undertaken by the study. The study shows that globalization, regionalization and internationalization, which should be seen as a national initiative, influence the three broad categories of higher education reforms in various ways. Structural reforms tends to be highly influenced by globalization, quality assurance and accreditation more likely influenced by regionalization, while internationalization of higher education is mostly a national initiative towards improving its international presence and acceptability of their respective higher education systems. Lastly, the study also shows the lack of theoretical mechanisms to fully explain the context of policy transfer, borrowing, and the different mechanisms used to influence national higher education reforms especially at the regional level. As such, further theoretical development in the area of regionalization of higher education still need to be conducted, but this study and the various country cases it presents should prove instrumental to furthering theoretical developments in the near future.

Date of Award	15 Jul 2014
Original language	English
Awarding Institution	City University of Hong Kong
Supervisor	David K K CHAN (Supervisor) & Mark Richard THOMPSON (Supervisor)