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

237
The time series data, from 1970 to 2009, on the participation rate at tertiary level in different
sub-regions of Asia show a continuous and consistent increase. The highest increase was seen in
the East Asia and Pacific region whereas the lowest increase was seen in South Asia. This is the
only region where participation rate is lower than the world average of 27%. The data also show
that during the last two decades every regions showed an increase of more than 25% in the
participation rate, the highest increase was recorded in South Asia where gross enrolment ratio
increased by 30.4% followed by central Asia 28.1%.
Figure 20 Change in the Gross Enrolment Ratio at tertiary level in different regions
The participation rate at higher education level is continuously increasing in Asia for the last
many decades while population growth rate is constantly decreasing since 1980 as shown
through histograms: share of age group from 0 to 9 years has decreased from 25.7% to 17.6%
during the same period. Here a question arises, increase in higher education participation rate and
decrease in population rate then what was the feeding source of higher education institutions?
This paradox can be explained by having a look at the trends lines of economically active
population of different age cohorts.
In Asia a steep decrease in economically active population of age groups 15 to 19 years and 20 to
24 years can be seen for many years. Here we should notice that age cohort from 15 to 19 is
secondary school age and 20 to 24 years age is higher education school age. From this trend lines