The Governance and Management of Universities in Asia: Global Influences and Local Responses

This volume seeks to identify and explore the dynamics of global forces on the development of higher education in Asia, in particular, how neoliberalism has affected reforms on university governance and management in the region. It includes a set of country-specific studies on how various countries have responded to the dominant neoliberal ideology at the systemic, institutional, and process levels. The focus is on the relationship between the state and the universities, which is usually reflected in the degree of autonomy and accountability allowed in a particular higher education system. The selected countries are Cambodia, China, Indonesia, India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, South Korea, and Thailand. Each case study examines the establishment of corporatised or autonomous universities in the country focusing on (i) the acts, reports, and/or policies that led to such a move as well as the rationales behind the move; (ii) the changes in the governance and organisational structure of the universities, highlighting the kinds of autonomy that the universities have; (iii) the new management strategies, techniques, and practices that have been introduced to the university including the internal and external quality assurance mechanisms, and (iv) some of the tensions, conflicts, and acts of resistance that may have emerged.

Chang Da Wan (C.D. Wan) is Senior Lecturer and Deputy Director at the National Higher Education Research Institute, Universiti Sains Malaysia. His main interest includes higher education policy and practice, specifically on issues of governance and management, access and equity, doctoral education, the academic profession, and internationalisation. He has been involved in a number of research and consultancy projects with UNESCO-Bangkok, OECD, Commonwealth Tertiary Education Facility (CTEF), Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership (APHERP) Research Cluster, The Head Foundation, Bait al-Amanah, and the Ministry of Higher Education Malaysia. He was a team member of the Higher Education Strategic Plan Review Committee to review the Malaysian National Higher Education Strategic Plan. He is also an affiliate member of Young Scientists Network-Academy of Sciences Malaysia and a member of the Global Young Academy.

Molly N.N. Lee was the Coordinator of the Asia-Pacific Programme of Educational Programme for Development (APEID) and Programme Specialist in Higher Education at UNESCO Asia and the Pacific Regional Bureau for Education in Bangkok. Recently retired, she was also a Professor of Education at Universiti Sains Malaysia. Dr Lee has a PhD and a master’s degree from Stanford University, and a master’s degree in Education Planning and Development from University of London Institute of Education. Her research interests include higher education, science education, teacher education, globalisation and education, and gender and education. She is a Fellow at The HEAD Foundation.

Hoe Yeong Loke is Adjunct Research Manager at The HEAD Foundation, Singapore, and Associate Fellow at the European Union Centre in Singapore, National University of Singapore. He completed an MSc in Comparative Politics at the London School of Economics and Political Science and has since researched and published in a wide range of fields in the social sciences. His work in the field of higher education includes research on Southeast Asia with D. Bruce Johnstone and the International Comparative Higher Education and Finance project at the University of Buffalo, and in managing a higher education periodical with Philip Altbach and the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College.