Higher Education in Southeast Asia in the Era of Globalization

Southeast Asia consists of ten countries as reflected by the member states in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN)—Brunei, Cambodia, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Thailand, and Vietnam. These countries have marked differences in terms of size, economic wealth, political ideologies, and educational traditions. Brunei and Singapore are very small states as compared to Indonesia, which has a huge population and a wide geographical area. Singapore, Malaysia and Thailand are newly industrialized countries and Brunei is an oil-rich country. Cambodia, Myanmar, Laos and Vietnam are in a state of transition—moving from a centrally planned economy to a market economy, from an agricultural economy to an industrial economy, and from a socialist regime to a more democratic system. All these countries except Thailand have a colonial history, and their education systems have been very much influenced by their colonial heritage.