LIST OF PANELS

Asia is an exciting region for examining contemporary higher education policies and politics. Traditionally an exporting region of international students, scholars, and scientists to established institutions in the West, the region is now transforming into an attractive global destination for academic talents. This is visible in world university rankings where flagship universities from China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, or South Korea are recognised alongside top institutions from the US, UK, Europe, Canada, or Australia. Asia is also the site where new initiatives facilitating intra-, inter-, and trans-regional higher education cooperation are to be observed. These initiatives are drawing previously less- or disconnected individuals and knowledge institutions to deepen collaboration. This in turn demonstrates what Asia offers to the world and moves beyond the more common Western-centred approaches. The dynamic nature of these developments makes Asia a compelling case for research into how higher education policies and politics have been crafted, as well as how they in turn transformed societies in the region.

Governments in Asia have played central roles in these developments. By steering their universities to internationalise, improving higher education access for citizens, and introducing policies to bring back skilled nationals and attract foreign talents seeking robust research supports, Asian governments crafted innovative policy solutions. These policies and practices often went beyond merely mimicking those from the West, and exhibit “Asian characteristics”. As Asian governments strive to stabilise their higher education systems, the literature tells us that non-democratic states would struggle to meet the demands of widening higher education access at the risk of system stability. Asia is home to a variety of democratic and authoritarian regimes; thus, examining the Asian experience provides an opportunity to assess this assumed relationship between higher education policies and democratic development. In the same way, demographic pressures and labour market skill shortages affect Asian countries similarly as those in the West, focussing on Asia would reveal how its governments balance local politics with the need to meet global challenges.

This panel brings together scholars working on the politics and policies of higher education in Asia. Specifically, the contributions from this panel examine one or several of the following four overarching themes. First, the politics of higher education governance reforms focusses on how governments steer higher education and the tools used to ensure that universities meet state and societal expectations. Second, the politics of higher education finance covers how higher education is funded and the politics behind changes in the funding system. Third, the framing of higher education policy over time explores how governments talk about higher education policy and the linkages they create between this policy area and other issues (e.g., economic growth, social mobility). Fourth, the varieties of Asian higher education regionalism identify the forms and mechanisms driving regional institutional and policy collaboration.

Together, the contributions explain how higher education policies evolved over time in a rarely compared region, test the robustness of existing higher education analytical frameworks and concepts through Asian case studies, and identify regional specificities concerning the role(s) of key actors, discourses, and structures in policy processes.

Asia is an exciting region for examining contemporary higher education politics and policies. Traditionally a sending region of international students, scholars, and scientists to established institutions in the West, Asian governments are transforming the region into an attractive global destination for scientific talents. This is visible in world university rankings where flagship universities from China, Singapore, Japan, Hong Kong, or South Korea are recognised alongside top institutions from the West. Asia is also where new initiatives facilitating intra-, inter-, and trans-regional higher education cooperation are observed; hence, positioning the region as a node in the global higher education landscape. As Asian governments strive to stabilise their higher education systems amid demographic pressures and skill shortages, the literature tells us that non-democratic states would struggle to meet the demands of widening higher education access at the risk of system stability. Asia is home to a variety of democratic and authoritarian regimes; thus, examining the Asian experience provides an opportunity to assess this assumed relationship between higher education policies and democratic development, and how governments in the region are meeting global challenges.

This panel invites papers addressing one or several of the following overarching themes. First, the politics of higher education governance reforms focusses on how governments steer higher education and the tools used to ensure that universities meet state and societal expectations. Second, the politics of higher education finance covers how higher education is funded and the politics behind changes in the funding system. Third, the framing of higher education policy over time explores how governments talk about higher education policy and the linkages they create between this policy area and other issues (e.g., economic growth, social mobility). Fourth, the varieties of Asian higher education regionalism identify the forms of, and mechanisms driving, regional institutional and policy collaboration.

All contributions must be empirically-grounded in at least one Asian country case study and analytically address the following: how higher education policies evolve over time, the robustness of existing higher education analytical frameworks and concepts, and any regional specificities concerning the role(s) of key actors, discourses, and structures in policy processes.