Higher Education, Research and Knowledge in the Asia Pacific Region

1. 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 vmeek@une.edu.au 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. 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. Contents Chapter 1: Introduction V. Lynn Meek and Charas Suwanwela Chapter 2: Modernisation, Development Strategies and Knowledge Production in the Asia Pacific Region William K. Cummings Chapter 3: Research Policy and the Changing Role of the State in the Asia Pacific Region Grant Harman Chapter 4: The Changing Landscape of Higher Education Research Policy in Australia V. Lynn Meek Chapter 5: Policy Debate on Research in Universities in China Wei Yu Chapter 6: Between the Public and Private: Indian Academics in Transition Karuna Chanana

5. Contents Cont. Chapter 7: Development and Impact of State policies on Higher Education Research in Indonesia Jajah Koswara and Muhammad Kamil Tadjudin Chapter 8: National Research Policy and Higher Education Reforms in Japan Akira Arimoto Chapter 9: Acknowledging Indigenous Knowledge Systems in Higher Education in the Pacific Island Region Konai Helu Thaman Chapter 10: Higher Education Research in the Philippines: Policies, Practices and Problems Rose Marie Salazar-Clemena Chapter 11: Higher Education Reform in Thailand Charas Suwanwela Chapter 12: Research Management in the Post-industrial era: Trends and Issues for Further Investigation V. Lynn Meek

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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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. 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