Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...
Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...
Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...
Create successful ePaper yourself
Turn your PDF publications into a flip-book with our unique Google optimized e-Paper software.
250<br />
Accord<strong>in</strong>g to <strong>the</strong> World Declaration on <strong>Higher</strong> Education for <strong>the</strong> Twenty-first Century: Vision<br />
<strong>and</strong> Action, adopted by <strong>the</strong> World Conference on <strong>Higher</strong> Education (October, 1998), <strong>the</strong> central<br />
task <strong>of</strong> higher <strong>education</strong> is “to provide opportunities for higher learn<strong>in</strong>g <strong>and</strong> for learn<strong>in</strong>g<br />
throughout life, as well as an opportunity for <strong>in</strong>dividual development <strong>and</strong> social mobility”<br />
[Article, 1 (b) (UNESCO, 1998)].<br />
Today knowledge has become a divid<strong>in</strong>g l<strong>in</strong>e between <strong>the</strong> world economies. This knowledge<br />
divide is both deep <strong>and</strong> wide (Sanyal & Varghese, 2006). Efficient <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> production<br />
<strong>and</strong> propagation <strong>of</strong> knowledge has become key component for socio-economic development.<br />
<strong>Higher</strong> <strong>education</strong> plays a fundamental <strong>role</strong> <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> generation <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>tellectual capital that is a<br />
prerequisite for knowledge based economy. Many economic <strong>the</strong>ories have been established to<br />
study <strong>the</strong> relationship between <strong>education</strong> <strong>and</strong> growth at <strong>the</strong> macro level <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong> relationship<br />
between <strong>education</strong> <strong>and</strong> employability at graduate labor market at <strong>the</strong> micro level. Research <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
field <strong>of</strong> economics <strong>of</strong> <strong>education</strong> has supported economic <strong>the</strong>ories <strong>and</strong> fur<strong>the</strong>r enforced <strong>the</strong> idea<br />
that <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> <strong>education</strong> is pr<strong>of</strong>itable both for <strong>in</strong>dividual <strong>and</strong> society (Bourdon, Bydanova, &<br />
Giret, 2010). Thus <strong>the</strong> supply <strong>of</strong> <strong>and</strong> dem<strong>and</strong> for higher <strong>education</strong> is grow<strong>in</strong>g cont<strong>in</strong>uously. The<br />
world <strong>in</strong>dicators envisage that <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> future, this trend will cont<strong>in</strong>ue <strong>in</strong> most <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>countries</strong>. In<br />
this context, <strong>the</strong> importance <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong> <strong>in</strong>vestment <strong>in</strong> higher <strong>education</strong> is grow<strong>in</strong>g around <strong>the</strong> world<br />
<strong>and</strong> states <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>stitutions are allocat<strong>in</strong>g more <strong>and</strong> more resources to higher <strong>education</strong>.<br />
<strong>Higher</strong> <strong>education</strong> is more than a repository <strong>of</strong> knowledge, ideas, <strong>in</strong>novation, modernity <strong>and</strong><br />
actions. It acts as an agent <strong>of</strong> social <strong>and</strong> cultural change; it functions as an eng<strong>in</strong>e <strong>of</strong> economic<br />
growth; <strong>and</strong> it is a mean to achieve national <strong>and</strong> <strong>in</strong>ternational objectives. Perhaps because <strong>of</strong><br />
<strong>the</strong>se reasons higher <strong>education</strong> has always been at a respectable place s<strong>in</strong>ce <strong>the</strong> ancient times. In<br />
today‟s technology dependent life, knowledge driven society, knowledge based economic world<br />
its importance has fur<strong>the</strong>r augmented. The world elevated <strong>in</strong>terest <strong>in</strong> higher <strong>education</strong>, for <strong>the</strong><br />
last few decades, is l<strong>in</strong>ked to its potentials to raise human capacity <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>ir pr<strong>of</strong>ession <strong>and</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
field <strong>of</strong> <strong>in</strong>terest.<br />
Asia is <strong>the</strong> fastest grow<strong>in</strong>g region when seen on economic, <strong>education</strong>, <strong>and</strong> population <strong>in</strong>dicators.<br />
In this region higher <strong>education</strong> is experienc<strong>in</strong>g a dramatic <strong>in</strong>crease <strong>in</strong> dem<strong>and</strong> <strong>and</strong> supply: <strong>the</strong><br />
growth <strong>and</strong> expansion <strong>of</strong> higher <strong>education</strong> is unparallel <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong> higher <strong>education</strong> history <strong>of</strong> <strong>the</strong><br />
region. The process <strong>of</strong> re-organization <strong>and</strong> restructurization <strong>of</strong> higher <strong>education</strong> helped <strong>in</strong> <strong>the</strong>