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The cultivation of research labor in Pacific Asia with special reference to Singapore

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Abstract

This paper adopts a political economy perspective in understanding how the country context frames the development of higher education doctoral science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) programs. We argue that a country’s commitment to research and development spending as a strategy to maintain its economic competitiveness creates the market for research labor. This embeddedness of STEM doctoral training programs in the country’s science and technology system enlarges differences between STEM and non-STEM doctoral programs. This argument is validated from a survey of doctoral students in leading Pacific Asian universities which shows that STEM doctoral programs have stronger research networks, are better financed, use better facilities, and incorporate a variety of research placements. The embeddedness of STEM programs is further illustrated from the case of Singapore. Singapore-based STEM doctoral students mention enjoying better financial support and receiving better career advice from their supervisors. They depend on collaborative peer learning and cite more varied employment options when asked about their career plans.

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Fig. 1

Source data retrieved from OECD website on December 31, 2017: https://data.oecd.org/rd/gross-domestic-spending-on-r-d.htm

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Notes

  1. Pacific Asia is defined as the part of Asia on the west coast of the Pacific Ocean (Zhang 2003) and broadly encompasses the regions of East and Southeast Asia (Douglass 2002).

  2. Data retrieved from the website of the Ministry of Education, the People’s Republic of China on March, 2018: http://www.moe.edu.cn/jyb_sjzl/sjzl_fztjgb/201707/t20170710_309042.html.

  3. Information retrieved from the website of the Ministry of Education, the People’s Republic of China on March, 2018: http://www.moe.edu.cn/srcsite/A01/s7048/201007/t20100729_171904.html.

  4. See also article entitled “How Can China Afford its Science and Technology Goals” in East Asia Forum: http://www.eastasiaforum.org/2017/10/13/how-can-china-afford-its-science-and-technology-goals/.

  5. Information retrieved from a 2013 Times Higher Education article entitled “East Asia leads the world in business funding” on January 1, 2018 : https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/east-asia-leads-the-world-in-business-funding/2006387.article.

  6. The study, which was conducted between 2009 and 2012, involved a survey of international students in nine universities in five countries including China (Renmin University and Zhongshan University), Japan (Tokyo University, Osaka University, and Asia-Pacific University [this was excluded from the analysis]), Singapore (National University of Singapore) South Korea (Korea University and Seoul National) and Taiwan (National Taiwan. The subset of the GUISM survey sample yielded 647 doctoral students, of which 415 were STEM students and 232 were HSS students. STEM disciplines include Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics and Medicine, while HSS disciplines include Humanities, Social Sciences, Business, including Law and Architecture.

  7. Data retrieved from the website of the Ministry of Education, the Republic of Korea on December 1, 2017: http://unpan1.un.org/intradoc/groups/public/documents/apcity/unpan015416.pdf.

  8. Information regarding these two companies were retrieved from their websites on March 28, 2018: Qinghua Tongfang: http://www.thtf.com.cn/about.html.Peking University Founder Group Corp: http://www.founder.com/about/intro.html.

  9. Information regarding the alliance between Sungkyunkwan University and Samsung Electrics was based on the paper of Pieter Stek, which was retrieved from the triplehelix association website on March 28, 2018: https://www.triplehelixassociation.org/helice/volume-4-2015/helice-issue-12/the-strategic-alliance-between-sungkyunkwan-university-and-the-samsung-group-south-korean-exceptionalism-or-new-global-model.

  10. In this section, Singapore data from a more recent study “Asian Flagship Universities and Doctoral Training Project” (AFUDTP) is used to illustrate the key features and analysis of supervisory process, students’ evaluation on the program they enrolled in, and their future plan. In total, 288 doctoral students in National University of Singapore were surveyed from August 2015 to February 2016. Among these students, 207 are from STEM programs and 81 are from HSS programs. A proportionate quota sampling will be used with two dimensions: gender (male vs. female) and discipline (STEM disciplines: Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics, including Medicine) versus HSS disciplines: Arts and Social Sciences, Business, including Law and Architecture).

  11. Quote retrieved from the website of Channel News Asia on January 1, 2018: https://www.channelnewsasia.com/news/business/govt-commits-s-19b-to-new-5-year-plan-for-r-amp-d-initiatives-ri-8214052.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. School of Education, University of Saint Joseph, Macau SAR, China

    Yun Ge

  2. Department of Sociology, National University of Singapore, Singapore, Singapore

    K. C. Ho

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  1. Yun Ge
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  2. K. C. Ho
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Correspondence to Yun Ge.

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Ge, Y., Ho, K.C. The cultivation of research labor in Pacific Asia with special reference to Singapore. Asia Pacific Educ. Rev. 19, 199–210 (2018). https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-018-9531-z

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