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Similar Agendas, Diverse Strategies: The Quest for a Regional Hub of Higher Education in Hong Kong and Singapore

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Abstract

This article examines the approaches that Hong Kong and Singapore are taking to develop themselves as ‘regional hubs of higher education’ and the implications of their approaches. It starts with a delineation of how the internationalization of higher education structurally alters the landscape of the global higher education market. These changes drive both Hong Kong and Singapore to compete for the higher education pie. Despite many similarities in the vision and policy instruments, the article argues that there are significant differences in terms of their implementation approaches. More importantly, such differences reflect the different mindsets of the two governments in their governance of the university sector.

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Notes

  1. Part of this section of the paper heavily draws from David Chan and William Lo (2008), ‘University restructuring in East Asia: trends, challenges and prospects’, paper accepted by Policy Future in Education (forthcoming).

  2. City University of Hong Kong is the first Hong Kong institution to recruit students from mainland China through the joint admission system.

  3. The Hong Kong Institute of Education (HKIEd) inquiry investigated allegations that the then Chief of the Education and Manpower Bureau, Professor Arthur Li, threatened Professor Paul Morris, the then president of HKIEd, to merge the institute with the Chinese University of Hong Kong or he would allow Mrs. Fanny Law, the then Permanent Secretary for Education and Manpower, to cut the institute's student numbers. It also was alleged that Mrs. Law pressured the institute to fire four academics who publicly criticized the government's education policies, and that Professor Li told HKIEd vice-president Professor Bernard Luk, ‘I'll remember this; you will pay’ when Professor Luk refused to issue a statement condemning redundant teachers who went on strike in 2004. The report made by the commission of inquiry on the allegations concluded that Mrs. Law had improperly interfered with academic freedom, whereas the commission has found the allegation against Professor Li not established.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Asian & International Studies, City University of Hong Kong, 83 Tat Chee Avenue, Kowloon Tong, Kowloon, Hong Kong

    David Chan

  2. National Institute of Education, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore

    Pak Tee Ng

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  1. David Chan
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  2. Pak Tee Ng
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Chan, D., Ng, P. Similar Agendas, Diverse Strategies: The Quest for a Regional Hub of Higher Education in Hong Kong and Singapore. High Educ Policy 21, 487–503 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1057/hep.2008.19

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