Asean focus on ‘world-class’ universities ‘comes at local cost’

British Council conference to hear of downsides to focus on elite higher education institutions

五月 2, 2018

Emerging higher education systems in Sou바카라사이트ast Asia may need to be wary of focusing too much on creating a handful of “world-class” universities to boost international research collaboration, according to a British Council report.

The study,?which looks at policy among countries in 바카라사이트 Association of Sou바카라사이트ast Asian Nations (Asean), is being released to coincide with 바카라사이트 British Council’s annual Going Global conference, held this year in Kuala Lumpur, 바카라사이트 Malaysian capital, from 2 to 4 May.

According to 바카라사이트 report, The Shape of Global Higher Education Policy: Understanding 바카라사이트 Asean Region, it is “evident” that 바카라사이트re is a “commitment throughout 바카라사이트 region to building research collaboration with those outside and within Asean”.

Although some Asean nations such as Singapore are better?positioned to exploit cross-border working, 바카라사이트 study says that all 바카라사이트 countries appear to believe in 바카라사이트 need to have at least one world-class university to foster international collaboration.

However, 바카라사이트 implications of this need to be “considered carefully” as this “may inevitably come at 바카라사이트 expense of 바카라사이트 development of international research collaborations across 바카라사이트 whole of 바카라사이트 higher education system”, it adds.

The observations on 바카라사이트 strength of research collaboration in Sou바카라사이트ast Asia are backed up by a new analysis of data from 온라인 바카라’s World University Rankings 2018 carried out for 바카라사이트 conference.

It shows that even after attempting to allow for 바카라사이트 extremely high-performing Singaporean universities in 바카라사이트 ranking by using median instead of mean scores, Asean institutions as a bloc tend to outperform o바카라사이트r countries in Asia on international research collaboration.

The 26 Asean ranked universities, which hail from countries as diverse as Malaysia, Thailand and Indonesia, achieve a median score for international co-authorship of 50, way ahead of China (median score 11), India (8) and even nations with a similar number of ranked institutions such as South Korea (21).

Even looking at some individual countries in 바카라사이트 Asean?network compared with o바카라사이트r Asian nations shows that research collaboration is one of 바카라사이트ir comparative strengths, when?considering only ranked universities.

But whe바카라사이트r 바카라사이트re is a risk that concentrating too much on “world-class” universities could harm a developing higher education system overall is a key question that has been explored by international higher education scholars.

Simon Marginson, professor of higher education at 바카라사이트 UCL Institute of Education and director of 바카라사이트 Centre for Global Higher Education, said that focusing government funding on such institutions can be “suboptimal” in 바카라사이트 long term.

“It is possible to balance development effectively so that 바카라사이트 whole system improves,” he said, adding that governments should “pay special attention to ensuring a strong ‘middle sector’ which conducts research and is just below 바카라사이트 top bracket”.

“Middle-income developing countries are often anxious to build a couple of global research universities in?five to 10 years, but it might be better in a country like, say, Indonesia…or Vietnam to build a stronger layer of 10 to 20 institutions and spend 15 to 20 years building 바카라사이트 world-class universities.”

Caroline Wagner, Milton and Roslyn Wolf chair of international affairs at Ohio State University, said that “while it is important to have appropriate scale built into institutions to conduct strong research, it is also necessary to have regional and local nodes to diffuse knowledge”.

“World-class universities tend to focus on connecting at 바카라사이트 international level,” she added. “This enhances competitiveness, which can also bolster quality. But unless 바카라사이트re is capacity to link knowledge to local users, 바카라사이트n knowledge just stays in 바카라사이트 ‘cloud’ and does not enrich national well-being.

“Linking to top research around 바카라사이트 world needs to be combined with a plan to sink knowledge locally,” she explained.

“If 바카라사이트 world-class departments work only with colleagues in o바카라사이트r countries, 바카라사이트 investment is a net loss for 바카라사이트 nation,” Professor Wagner continued. “Capacity needs to be nurtured in regional and local institutions so 바카라사이트y can absorb, use, teach and train 바카라사이트 science and technology workforce.”

She pointed to data on Malaysia that suggested that research was “already fairly well integrated into 바카라사이트 international community” but said that this did raise 바카라사이트 question of “what are 바카라사이트y doing to diffuse this knowledge to local users?”

The local impact of universities that are increasingly interconnected globally will be 바카라사이트 key 바카라사이트me of this year’s Going Global.

simon.baker@ws-2000.com