The Search for New Governance of Higher Education in Asia

The present volume sets out in the wider context of globalization to critically examine how selected countries / societies in Asia have responded to the growing pressures of globalization for improving university performance in the global market place. In order to enhance the global competitiveness of their higher education systems, many governments in Asia have started comprehensive reforms and adopted new governance measures to enhance their universities. Incorporation and corporatization have been identified as important strategies to restructure and re-engineer university governance around the world. Contributors in this volume critically examine how the quest for world-class university status (as a global movement) has affected the way their universities are governed. Despite the popularity of management reforms and restructuring exercises in line with neoliberalism and managerialism worldwide, whether and how these reforms have actually transformed the heart of the public sector is still subject to debate. This book offers critical reflections on the governance change taking place in the Asian university systems and examines how far the restructuring of higher education governance through incorporation, privatization, and corporatization has really transformed the values and practices of those who work in the higher education sector.