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

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partner countries in Asia and no document was produce on rest of the Asia. Similarly OECD data
on Asian education is neither enriched nor covers many countries.
OECD is among those IGOS, one that performs only limited functions, such as guidelines,
coordination, research and information gathering and dissemination. In such cases organizations
are feeble actors and have a limited role to play so they should not be held responsible for
whether the larger problem is solved (Gutner and Thompson 2010). Furthermore the OECD is
more diplomatic than a political body because it relies purely on persuasion and cooperation
through discussion in a politically neutral environment (Brosius and Garner 1997). So its
activities are also focus only those aspects that time, resources, and political environment permit.
6.2.3 The World Bank
The World Bank consists of two IGOs; IBRD and IDA. The Bank is mainly a development
institution. It gives long term loans to only developing or transition economies for the projects
that contribute to economic growth. It also provides technical assistance and expertise in
different sectors and policy issues as well. In the development of higher education and research
different factors play an important role including monetary resources. In a centralized system,
money is used as an accounting device because virtually acquisition of all other resources
depends upon the availability of financial/ monetary resources (Chevaillier 2002). The Bank
started lending for Education sector in 1963 but the investment in higher education sub-sector in
low and lower middle income countries was not on the Bank‟s agenda until 1990s. The Bank‟s
lending policies on education have passed through many changes and reforms since its inception;
1963, 1968, 1980, 1992 and 2000. For the last
two decades the Bank has been giving
loans to higher education sector and
providing assistance in the strategy
development; capacity enhancement for
monitoring and evaluation; reforms in
finance and governance; reforms in
resource management; capacity in
research and technology development;
quality improvement and assurance; and