Neither world leaders nor leading medical professionals would have anticipated the adverse impacts of the global health crisis resulting from the outbreak of the COVID-19 pandemic on multifaceted aspects of contemporary society. Set against the broader political economy context, this Special Issue focuses on examining the impacts of the present…

In the last few decades, the Chinese higher education system has changed considerably from an elitist model to a massified one with public and "minban"/transnational provisions. Accordingly, this study sets out against the context of higher education expansion initiated in late 1998 to critically examine the major trends of non-state…

Realizing the growing importance of universities in Knowledge Transfer and innovation-centric entrepreneurship, the Government of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region (HKSAR) actively encourages government-funded universities in Hong Kong to work with the market and industry, as well as wider society to stimulate innovation and…

In the last few decades, higher education expansion is becoming increasingly a growing trend in the Asia and Pacific region. With strong conviction to produce more people better equipped with knowledge and skills for coping with the challenges of the globalizing economy, many governments in the Asia and Pacific region have increased higher…

With strong intention to enhance the global competitiveness of their higher education systems, the governments of Singapore and Malaysia have made attempts to develop their societies into regional hubs of education; hence transnational education has become increasingly popular in these societies. In order to attract more students from overseas to…

With strong intention to enhance the global competitiveness of their university systems, both the Singapore and Malaysia governments have introduced reforms along the lines of ideas and practices embedded in neo-liberalism. In the last decade or so, we have witnessed reforms being introduced to the higher education sectors in these Asian states,…

High EdWell aware of the growing importance of the global university ranking exercises, many governments in East Asia have introduced different strategies to benchmark with leading universities in order to enhance the global competitiveness of their universities. With strong determination to do better in such global ranking exercises, universities…

In the era of globalisation, competition has also become global. In higher education, countries worldwide are attaching increasing importance to international ranking exercises and subscribing to the "world-class universities" paradigm, complemented by various strategies to benchmark with leading universities in order to enhance the…

With a strong conviction to enhance their global competitiveness, governments across different parts of the world have tried various means to promote the ranking of their universities in the global university leagues. With a strong determination to do better in such global ranking exercises, universities in mainland China and Taiwan have attempted…

With strong intention to enhance the global competitiveness of their university systems, the Singapore and Malaysia governments have made attempts to develop their societies into regional hubs of education. Specifically, they have invited foreign universities to set up their campuses to offer academic programs or to establish private institutions…

The economic transition in China since the late 1970s has led not only to drastic social transformations but also to rapid advancements in science and technology, as well as the revolution in information and communications technology. In order to enhance the global competence of the Chinese population in coping with the challenges of the…

China and Vietnam have experienced drastic social, economic and political changes, especially when these two socialist regimes have started economic reforms in the last few decades. In order to create more opportunities for higher education with limited national resources, both Chinese and Vietnamese governments have adopted strategies along the…

It is against such a wider socio-economic background that the private/"minban" higher education providers have paid for much of the sector expansion, leading to revolutionary changes and imparting a growing "privateness" to China's higher education system. The adoption of pro-competition policy instruments along the lines of…

Purpose: The principal goal of the article is to examine how Singapore, one of the East Asian tiger economies, has attempted to diversify its higher education system by developing "transnational education" in the island state. Design/methodology/approach: With particular reference to the most recent education reforms and changing higher…

This paper attempts to analyse how governments in Malaysia and Thailand have adopted indirect policy instruments along the lines of "corporatisation" and "privatisation" to reform higher education governance. By focusing on a few key issues related to changing state and education relationships and new regulatory arrangements…