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Research Productivity of Returnees from Study Abroad in Korea, Hong Kong, and Malaysia

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Abstract

This study analyzes whether academics with advanced degrees from foreign universities are more research productive than their domestic counterparts in the three selected East Asian higher education systems – Korea, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. The three systems have relatively large proportions of foreign degree holders among their professoriates. The data for this study is drawn from the Changing Academic Profession survey. In our negative binominal regression analysis, we found that foreign degree holders are not more research productive than their colleagues with domestic degrees, and even slightly less productive than domestic degree holders in soft disciplines (arts, humanities, and social sciences) in Korea unless they have further foreign post-doc experience after their PhD. Furthermore, foreign degree holders are less productive in hard disciplines (natural sciences, engineering, and bio-medical sciences) in Malaysia. Finally, we discuss the findings and attribute them to contextual differences between the three localities.

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Notes

  1. As used here, East Asia includes both southeast and northeast Asia.

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Acknowledgments

We thank two reviewers for their thoughtful comments. This work was supported under the framework of an international cooperation program managed by National Research Foundation of Korea (NRF-2013054345) and the General Research Fund of the Research Grants Council HKU 7456/05H and HKU 7021-PPR-12.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. College of Education, Seoul National University, Sillim dong, Kwanak-gu, Seoul, South Korea

    Jung Cheol Shin

  2. Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Pokfulam, Hong Kong SAR, China

    Jisun Jung & Gerard A. Postiglione

  3. Faculty of Education, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, 43600, Bangi, Selangor, Malaysia

    Norzaini Azman

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  1. Jung Cheol Shin
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Correspondence to Jisun Jung.

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Shin, J.C., Jung, J., Postiglione, G.A. et al. Research Productivity of Returnees from Study Abroad in Korea, Hong Kong, and Malaysia. Minerva 52, 467–487 (2014). https://doi.org/10.1007/s11024-014-9259-9

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