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

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range from human rights to trade, from health to financial assistance and from peace keeping to
education.
The IGOs in the field of education are engaged in setting standards, innovating and
disseminating fresh ideas through the coordination and distribution of statistics on development
indicators, producing policy papers to provide objective and effective solutions to national and
regional problems (March & Olsen, 1998). Akin to field of economics, in the field of education
also ideologies, systems, strategies, programs and policies are more and more shared which is
further strengthening a type of Global Educational Network (GEN), an unseen driver of change.
The GEN is further enforced and supported by the international UNESCO conventions, OECD
and UNESCO Guidelines for Quality Provision in Cross-border Higher Education, World Bank‟s
education policy reform efforts, World Trade Organization‟s treaties of GATS, OECD‟s
initiatives on effective management.
Today knowledge, information, ideas, innovations, inventions and technological development
are no more restricted to one place or to one nation but circulate in the world at the speed of light
through different means of communication. As a result, this phenomenon has given birth to the
knowledge society, and knowledge based economy. Today the wealth of nations and higher
education institutions plays a key role in determining the quality and centrality of an academic
system and level of economic development. This places least and less developed countries at a
disadvantaged position, and puts special strains on most academic systems facing the dilemma of
expanded enrollment and the need to support top-quality research universities (Altbach,
Reisberg, & Rumbley, 2009). This change is the major driving force, both in the less and high
developed countries, pushing the stakeholders to go for educational policies and practices that
are responsive to the local needs and aligned with the global changes. This has new development
has further enhanced the importance of education. Today, education is a basic human right and a
catalyst for change, particularly higher education is regarded as engine of economic opportunity,
productivity, growth and development (Longanecker, 2009), (Powersa & McDougall, 2005),
(Johnstone, Arora, & Experton, 1998).
There are multi-level socio-economic and political forces that drive the development of higher
education in all parts of the world. The level and prevalence of education particularly higher
education in a society affects its efficiency to utilize the resources, competitiveness at national