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Global Aspirations and Strategizing for World-Class Status: New Modes of Higher-Education Governance and the Emergence of Regulatory Regionalism in East Asia

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The Global University

Part of the book series: Historical Studies in Education ((HSE))

Abstract

Well aware of the growing importance of global university rankings, many governments in East Asia have introduced new strategies to enhance the global competitiveness of their universities. Determined to perform better in ranking exercises, leading universities have attempted to restructure their governance systems. One of the major trends of changing university governance is the emergence of regulatory regionalism, that is, new forms of regional governance that transcend the territorial spaces of nation states. As in Europe, university governance in Asia is now more international in scope; universities are increasingly subject to new external standards of measurement, even as their own internal governance procedures have become more managerial. This chapter examines policies and strategies employed by Mainland China, Taiwan, Hong Kong, South Korea, Singapore, and Malaysia to benchmark their universities with highly ranked (so-called world-class) universities. Specifically, this chapter reviews the strategies that selected Asian governments have adopted to make themselves into regional “hubs” of higher education, particularly the means they adopt to promote transnational higher-education governance.

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  1. Ka Ho Mok
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Adam R. Nelson Ian P. Wei

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© 2012 Adam R. Nelson and Ian P. Wei

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Mok, K.H. (2012). Global Aspirations and Strategizing for World-Class Status: New Modes of Higher-Education Governance and the Emergence of Regulatory Regionalism in East Asia. In: Nelson, A.R., Wei, I.P. (eds) The Global University. Historical Studies in Education. Palgrave Macmillan, New York. https://doi.org/10.1057/9780230392465_2

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