Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...

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productivity that has become essential to stay in and to compete with the globalized knowledge
based economy.
In the most of the Asian countries education at all levels has expanded at an unprecedented rate
during the last decade and the process is still going on. There are multi-level socio-economic,
political and international forces that drive this rapid development in higher education sector. In
Asian region the importance of higher education is on the rise due to two main reasons: rapid
economic growth and the presence of vast resources both human and natural. In Asia many IGOs
are engaged in the process of development and promotion of education at all levels that range
from pre-primary to higher education.
The main goal of this research is to study, in the presence of empirical evidence, the role of IGOs
in the development of higher education in Asia. The research is “explanatory” in nature as it
attempts to explain the IGOs‟ role by answering the questions what, how and why? This research
is more extensive than intensive in nature
This research is based on explanatory study of three IGOs, which are engaged in the
development of higher education: OECD, UNESCO and World Bank. The major focus of this
research is to investigate into the role of the selected IGOs in the development of higher
education through outlining the background of the IGOs involvement in higher education,
studying different initiatives, and exploring the result and outcomes of these initiatives and
activities. To study the role of IGOs, in Asian higher education, two major pointers were used;
the first was related to process of policy reform in the member states, restructuring of education
system, decentralization and devolution of power at local level and more autonomy to higher
education institutions. Whereas the second pointer was associated with the increase in the
enrolment at post secondary level, increase in the school life expectancy form primary to tertiary
level, and quality development and enhancement initiatives.
Empirical evidence shows that the IGOs‟ policy reform initiatives have contributed to the change
in the member countries as in the majority of the countries, for the last two decades, policy
reform process has accelerated and it has resulted into more appropriate education polices and
legal instruments to serve better the needs of education sector. Likewise an unprecedented
increase in the Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) at primary, secondary and tertiary levels has been
seen.