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

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Development (DESD) in 2005, UNESCO World Higher Education Conference in 2009,
UNESCO Global Forum on University Ranking and Accountability in 2011 and many other
events are a series of initiatives that are contributing to the development of education at all levels
and in all parts of the world through motivating, encouraging, guiding, helping, and supporting
the member countries.
In the above section it is evident that all countries in Asia are working on policy development
and policy reform in order to harmonize the national education system according to national and
international needs. The time series data from 1980 to 2009, on the selected Asian countries,
show a positive change in all the sub-regions of the continent (see the Annex). The real pace of
change varies across national systems but the direction of change appears to be similar.
(Schugurensky 1999). The available data on Gross Enrolment Ratio (GER) and Net Enrolment
Ratio (NER) at primary, secondary and tertiary levels show an increase in all countries for both
genders. But the level and pace of the growth vary from country to county. In some countries,
like Iran, Saudi Arabia, the Philippines and Thailand, female participation rate has even
surpassed to the male at tertiary level but in some countries, like Afghanistan, Bangladesh, and
Pakistan, female participation rate at all levels is very low as compared to that of male. The
Gross enrolment ratio at tertiary level is 100 in South Korea, which is the highest in Asia and
even in the world, whereas Afghanistan and Pakistan have the lowest GER at tertiary level, 1.5
and 5.2 respectively. This low participation rate can be attributed to fragile political condition
and low economic development in these countries for the last many decades. But in these low
performing countries also a high increase in the participation rate has been witnessed in the last
decade as compared to the growth during 80s and 90s at primary, secondary and tertiary levels
for same indicator.
The states and the IGOs‟ efforts have not only resulted in an increase in the GER at all levels but
also positively contributed to the School life expectancy from primary to tertiary level for both
genders in all selected Asian countries except that of Iraq where for the last three decades it has
been decreasing. Though state spending on education is continuously rising, in the majority of
the countries per pupil public expenditure as a percent of GDP per capita is decreasing for
primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Likewise pupil teacher ratio is also increasing in majority
of the countries. This is due non-proportionate increase in resource allocation as compared to the
rapid increase in the student enrolment at all levels.