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

17
study without setting delimitation. The researcher has set the following delimitation to overcome
the barriers and constraints:
Among the forty eight Asian countries twenty three have been included in this study.
Furthermore to make the study more compact and comprehensive the researcher sometimes
restrict himself to study at sub-region levels only: East, South-east, South, Central and West
Asia.
As the three IGOs have launched hundreds of programs and projects for the development of
education during the last two decades in the selected countries, so it was beyond the space, scope
and capacity of this research study to present the details of all projects and programs launched by
these IGOs. In this context the researcher adopted an approach to focus the broader picture of
IGOs role in higher education by studying initiatives as indicators of IGOs role in the
development of higher education.
This research did not attempt to study outcomes of IGOs programs and projects launched for
development the higher education in Asia.
It was not the purpose of this study to undertake a detailed review of the state of higher education
at country level. Such types of detailed studies are already. For details see (UNESCO-
SEAMEO, 2006), (IAU, 2011).
1.4.3 Presumptions
The researcher had assumed the following statements true to advance the study and to derive the
conclusions. UNESCO has also used similar approach to assess and evaluate the performance of
its own programs, for details see, 34 C/5 Approved (UNESCO , 2008). The presumptions set for
this study are:
IGOs‟ publications, reports, analysis, guidelines and other documents are effective tools
of policy reforms.
Conferences, Forums, Seminars, Workshops, training programs and other activities
related to education sector, organized by the IGOs, play an important role in human
capacity building.
Country data and information, provided by IGOs, are important and beneficial for the
policy reforms, planning and management of higher education sector.