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Higher Education, Research and Knowledge in the Asia Pacific Region
V. Lynn Meek
Director
Centre for Higher Education Management and Policy
University of New England,
Armidale NSW 2351, Australia
A presentation by the UNESCO Scientific Committee for Asia and the Pacific
Breakfast Panel, World Bank ABCDE Conference
Tokyo Japan 29-30 May 2006
2 2
Outline
• Introduce publication• Outline general themes and issues
addressed by the committee• Look at some pacific issues of each
participating country• Outline few main items on future
research agenda
4 4
Contents
Chapter 1: IntroductionV. Lynn Meek and Charas SuwanwelaChapter 2: Modernisation, Development Strategies and Knowledge
Production in the Asia Pacific RegionWilliam K. CummingsChapter 3: Research Policy and the Changing Role of the State in the
Asia Pacific RegionGrant HarmanChapter 4: The Changing Landscape of Higher Education Research
Policy in AustraliaV. Lynn Meek Chapter 5: Policy Debate on Research in Universities in ChinaWei YuChapter 6: Between the Public and Private: Indian Academics in
TransitionKaruna Chanana
5 5
Contents Cont.
Chapter 7: Development and Impact of State policies on Higher Education Research in Indonesia
Jajah Koswara and Muhammad Kamil TadjudinChapter 8: National Research Policy and Higher Education Reforms
in JapanAkira ArimotoChapter 9: Acknowledging Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Higher
Education in the Pacific Island RegionKonai Helu ThamanChapter 10: Higher Education Research in the Philippines: Policies,
Practices and ProblemsRose Marie Salazar-ClemenaChapter 11: Higher Education Reform in ThailandCharas SuwanwelaChapter 12: Research Management in the Post-industrial era: Trends
and Issues for Further InvestigationV. Lynn Meek
6 6
General Themes and Issues
• In a globalized world, appropriate role of the State
• Impact of new private providers on quality
• Impact of increased marketization and privatization on governance and management
• Role of university in knowledge based societies and economies
7 7
General Themes and Issues
• GATS
• What sort of enabling environment should governments provide in order to better stimulate higher education institutions’ and systems’ knowledge contribution?
8 8
Research and Research Universities
• Knowledge utilization is nothing new in Asia Pacific - for centuries, it has been central to the development strategies of the region
• EG Japan apt at incorporating Western knowledge/science while maintaining Eastern traditions
• Region more of a knowledge production powerhouse than commonly assumed: China, India, Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Singapore, etc.
9 9
General Trends
• Increased emphasis on research commercialization
• Increased emphasis on research priority setting
• Increased emphasis on research quality• Increased emphasis on concentration
and selectivity in funding• Increased emphasis on research
management at all Levels
10 10
Country Trends: Australia
• Research funded on basis of outputs
• Research concentrated in a few universities
• Research increasingly defined in terms of economic and commercial relevance
• RQF - further concentrate research funding through assessment of quality and impact
11 11
Country Trends: China
• Rapid expansion - largest higher education system in the world
• Rapid growth in research funding - 50% state; 50% private
• Creation of ‘world class’ universities• 60 research intensive universities
enrolling 80% of postgraduate students
• Problem of graduate unemployment
12 12
Country Trends: India
• Also large, complex system of higher education
• Two peak bodies: University Grants Commission and Council for Scientific and Industrial Research
• Specialized research institutions: Academy for Medical Sciences; Indian Statistical Institute; Indian Institutes of Technology
• Indian scientist working abroad returning
13 13
Country Trends: Indonesia
• Problems being overcome:- disparity in research capacity across
universities and fields- Poor research management- Unpredictable funding- Lack of research culture- Low level quality- Lack of national research umbrella
organization- Poor integration of research and graduate
student education- Limited collaboration with industry
14 14
Country Trends: Indonesia continued
• Overcoming challenges- Greater autonomy for universities- Introduction of quality enhancement
schemes: eg University Research for Graduate Education - graduate education capacity building
- Better integration of research with community service
- Improving research incentives and building research culture
15 15
Country Trends: Japan
• Clear recognition of higher education contribution to knowledge based society & economy
• Incorporation of national universities - ie more freedom to set policies and directions at institutional level
• Setting of national research priorities
16 16
Country Trends: the Pacific Islands & Indigenous
Knowledge• Indigenous knowledge systems:
‘specific systems of values, knowledge, understandings and practices, developed and accumulated over millennia, by a group of people in a particular region, … unique to that group or region’
17 17
Country Trends: PI & Indigenous Knowledge Cont.
• Indigenous knowledge peculiar to the culture that owns it
• Past superiority of Western knowledge being questioned
• Incorporation of indigenous knowledge into formal education systems
• Increasing interest in indigenous knowledge, eg traditional medicine and sustainable agriculture
• Find better ways of integrating indigenous ways of knowing with Western Scientific knowledge
18 18
Future Research Agenda
• Increasing importance of the knowledge based economy - balance with other social and cultural values
• Managerialism & marketisation of higher education
• Appropriate levels of public financial support and support of the public good aspect of higher education
• Diversification of higher education functions in knowledge-based society
• Importance of local culture and history