Transcript OISE/UT CIDEC seminar, 23 November 2011 ‘‘ Nation states, educational traditions, and the global patterning of higher education Simon Marginson Centre for the Study of Higher.

OISE/UT CIDEC seminar, 23 November 2011
‘‘
Nation states, educational
traditions, and the global
patterning of higher education
Simon Marginson
Centre for the Study of Higher Education
University of Melbourne
Coverage
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Common worldwide aspirations, differing pathways
Post-Confucian Model of higher education system
Caveats and limits of the Post-Confucian Model
Confucian Model or Post-Confucian Model?
How well does the notion of a Post-Confucian Model
hold across all systems in the group?
6. Traditions and modernity
7. Comparing three different systems/ pathways in
higher education
8. Conclusions 1 & 2
1. There is a common world aspiration to
form Global Research Universities, with
established capacity and recognition
GRUs have research capacity that enable globally significant
performance in the sciences and social sciences—this is the
signature aspect of the GRU (or ‘World-Class University’) that
enables it to position itself in worldwide knowledge circuits.
At the same time the GRU is embedded in local and national
contexts, as well as global circuits
Conditions of the Global
Research University
• Drive: Within the institution, and perhaps the nation-state,
there must be strong desires for prestige and eminence in the
form of the ‘World-Class’ GRU
• Economic capacity: wealth that is sufficient to finance GRU on
a sustainable basis from a combination of public and private
sources
• Nation-state policies, programs and regulations, including
investment, that are favourable to (and not unfavourable to)
the evolution of the GRU
• Human resources and physical capacity that support the
necessary research, teaching, communications and
institutional leadership and organization
• Global connective capacity especially in knowledge and
people flows
• Internal governance and organizational culture that sustains
openness and continually improving performance, and
allocates resources on a merit basis
• Institutional autonomy sufficient to enable strategic decisionmaking and initiatives taken close to the action
• Academic freedom sufficient to enable creative initiative, free
collaboration and direct global connectedness
• Time: A build-up of achievement and status, especially in
research. Impossible to become a sustainable WCU as GRU
overnight – perhaps 12-15 years is minimum
There’s more than one pathway
to the Global Research University
Up to now American norms of higher education system
building, plus Anglo-American New Public Management, have
dominated thinking of the WCU/ Global Research University.
Yet the WCU concept emerged from outside the Western
institutions, principally in the first instance from China—and it
is being pursued by a range of higher education systems with
political and cultural underpinnings different to those of the
Anglo-American nations. These systems do not and will not
adopt same approaches as the USA/UK/Canada/Australia
And there’s more than one modernity
‘For 300 years, all of humanity has certainly become
more closely linked to one another through
colonialism, unequal trade and technological
development, yet a common path hardly exists
between the colonizer and the colonized, between
Africa and the US, or between China and the major
powers.’
- Wang Hui (2009), The End of the Revolution: China and the limits of modernity,
Verso, London, p. 85
A key source of variation between
pathways is the nature of the state
• United States – first modern tradition of mass higher
education and research university, partial role of federal
government in research and student market, industry
biomedicine, self-sustaining civil society that grounds the
university in localities and also fosters Ivy League private
sector with independent resources
• Westminster systems in the UK, Australia, New Zealand finance sector-dominated polity and Treasury-driven
government, more recent mass orientation, market equity
model, state shapes outcomes, civil society, marginal private
sectors, international education exports
• Post-Confucian systems in East Asia and Singapore - Japan
first and others emerged more recently, enrolments tend to
universal, household as well as state investment, accelerated
research, state supervision and in some areas control
• European social market/democracies – a range here! All have
common global ambitions, mixed funding is emerging, state
more obvious than in liberal English speaking polities, some
like Finland give primacy to citizenship equity, some like
Switzerland and Holland veer towards Westminster model,
others work in the middle ground, e.g. Germany
• Gulf States and Saudi Arabia – top-down education zones
financed by oil revenue, buy-in international research
capacity, local nesting of higher education to follow?
(Don’t hold your breath… )
There might be other pathways to the WCU/GRU. They
tend to be not so much national, as regional or subregional, reflecting historical overlaps and clustered
cultures. All of these pathways are waiting for more
detailed research and comparison, e.g.
• The ‘Bonapartist Model’ traditional to France and Italy
• The Latin American regional variant (some suggest a
‘Bolivarian Model’ is now gaining traction)
• The emerging Southern African road
• Emerging approaches in South Asian higher education
• Emerging approaches to the GRU in Central Asia
• etc etc
2. The Post-Confucian Model
Programs for developing ‘World-Class’
Universities in East Asia include—
• China: Project 211 (1995), designed to create 100 leading
national universities and key disciplinary concentrations;
• China: Project 985 (1998), Tsinghua and Beida, then the C9
and the rest—creating a layer of top global universities
• Japan: Top 30 Program (2002)
• Japan: Global Centres of Excellence (2007)
• Korea: Brain 21 program (1999)
• Korea: World-Class Universities Program (2008)
• Taiwan China: Development Plan for Uni. Research Excellence
• Singapore: Singapore National University and Nanyung
University of Technology receive strong government support
Dynamics of the Post-Confucian
systems: Main elements
• Comprehensive and centralizing nation-states in the
Sinic tradition (different to the limited liberal state)
• Deeply rooted educational practices in the family
• Institutionalized neo-Confucian forms, including the
examination, and extra tutoring outside school
• Rapid growth of scientific research
• Internationalization, which takes bi-cultural forms. It
maintains selective openness, benchmarking and
borrowing alongside national forms and agenda
• Growing role of system/nation at world level
The East Asian state, 3RD Century BCE
Achievement of the Ch’in
‘The single most important factor that shaped and molded
the social-political structure of traditional China was the
establishment of a centralized bureaucratic state in the hands
of its first emperor, Shi Huang Ti of Ch’in. Under the Ch’in
empire, which grew from the collapse of the feudal substates
through war, political unity was achieved for the first time in
Chinese history.’
- Ambrose Y.C. King, ‘State Confucianism and its transformation’, in Tu We-Ming (ed.) (1996),
Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity: Moral education and economic culture in Japan
and the four mini-dragons, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, p. 229
ROOF TILE
HAN DYNASTY, CHINA
Politics is always in command
‘The development of the political sphere in the Chinese world
and its pre-eminence over all the other (military, religious,
economic) is one of its most characteristic marks …’
‘… because of the pre-eminence of the political function – the
organization of living space and society – economic activities
could not attain in China, any more than religious or military
activities, the same degree of autonomy or specificity as in
other civilizations… This is certainly one of the constants and
one of the great original aspects of the Chinese world, one
that distinguishes it from all others.’
- Jacques Gernet (1982), A History of Chinese Civilization, 2nd Edition, Transl. J.R. Foster and
Charles Hartman, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, pp. 28-29
Centrality of the state in East Asia
‘In the East Asian cultural context, government leadership is
deemed indispensable for a smooth functioning of the
domestic market economy and vital for enhancing national
comparative advantage in international competition. The
central government is expected to have a holistic vision of the
well-being of the nation and a long-term plan to help people
maintain an adequate livelihood so they can attain their
aspirations of human flourishing. Strong government with
moral authority, a sort of ritualized symbolic power fully
accepted by the overwhelming majority, is acclaimed as a
blessing.’
- Tu Wei-Ming (ed.) (1996), ‘Introduction’, in Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity:
Moral education and economic culture in Japan and the four mini-dragons, Harvard
University Press, Cambridge, MA, p. 7
Hence the state is not seen
as an ‘unnecessary evil’, or
even as a ‘necessary evil’
‘… government leadership in a market economy is not only
necessary but also desirable. The doctrine that government
is an unnecessary evil and the market, in itself, can provide
an invisible hand for ordering society is antithetical to
modern experience... A government that is responsive to
public needs, responsive for the welfare of the people, and
accountable to society at large is vitally important for the
creation and maintenance of order.’
- Tu Wei-Ming, The Confucian World, Colorado College, 1999, p. 2
e.g. the expansion policy in China
The government initiated and has dominated the entire
process of the expansion. The expansion policy was
announced in 25 June 1999 and was quickly and broadly
supported. ‘Without a strong normative foundation, it is hard
to imagine that such a policy could be smoothly implemented
within four months of it being initially announced… the
foremost normative factor was probably the high value
attached to education in Chinese society.’
- Qiang Zha, Understanding China’s move to mass education from a policy
perspective, in Ruth Hayhoe, Jun Li, Jong Lin and Qiang Zha (2011), Portraits of
Chinese Universities, pp. 36-37 & p. 43
18-22 year old rate of participation (%)
in tertiary education, China, 1990-2008
(Qiang Zha in Hayhoe et al., 2011, p. 27)
Gross enrolment rate in tertiary
education, 1999 and 2009
(UNESCO data)
Core values in education
‘A
defining characteristic of East Asian thought is the widely
accepted proposition that human beings are perfectible
through self-effort in ordinary daily existence.’
- Tu Wei-Ming (1985). Confucian Thought: Selfhood as creative transformation, State
University of New York Press, Albany, p. 19
‘One of China’s most deep-rooted normative values is the belief
in higher education and learning as a major instrument for
achieving the highest good for both individuals and society.’
- Jun Li, ‘Equity, institutional change and civil society – the student experience in
China’s move to mass higher education’, in Hayhoe, et al. (2011), p. 60
Neo-Confucianism, Song Dynasty
Longstanding university hierarchy
Ezra Vogel ‘identifies four cultural patterns in his analysis of
Confucian society: the role of a meritocratic elite, the
examination ladder, the importance of the group and echoes
of self-cultivation or self-improvement. All these cultural
patterns are closely linked to highly stratified higher education
systems. Indeed, the Chinese higher education system has
long engaged in a systematic hierarchical ranking, with the
institutions being ranked by prestige, level of administration
and concomitant resources.’
- Qiang Zha, Is there an emerging Chinese model of the university? In
Hayhoe, et al. (2011), p. 463
Extra learning (‘shadow schooling’)
• Nowhere else in the world is extra schooling and private
tuition pursued at this level of intensity. Korea is the
extreme case but the feature is common to all PostConfucian systems. The workloads of school students are
very heavy, a principal reason why learning achievement is
high relative to other systems (e.g. the OECD PISA results)
• Extra learning is almost universal in middle class families.
Even some very poor families spend a high proportion of
household income on tuition fees in formal education plus
extra learning. Many families spend as much on all forms of
education as American families spend on housing
Post-Confucian performance in schooling
(OECD PISA 2009, mean student scores, Confucian heritage education systems in red)
Reading
Mathematics
Science
Shanghai China 556
Shanghai China 600
Shanghai China 575
Korea 539
Singapore 562
Finland 554
Finland 536
Hong Kong 555
Hong Kong 549
Hong Kong 533
Korea 546
Singapore 542
Singapore 526
Taiwan China 543
Japan 539
Canada 524
Finland 541
Korea 538
New Zealand 521
Liechtenstein 536
New Zealand 532
Japan 520
Switzerland 534
Canada 529
Australia 515
Japan 529
Estonia 528
Netherlands 508
Canada 527
Australia 527
UK equal 25th 424
UK 28th 492
UK 16th 514
USA equal 15th 500
USA equal 31st 487
USA 23rd 502
Research papers 1995 and 2007
(US National Science Board)
Research in Asia and Pacific 1995 & 2007
(US National Science Board)
Share of world research papers 2007
(US National Science Board)
Canada
4%
India
2%
Korea
2%
China
8%
Japan
7%
other
17%
USA
28%
UK
6%
European Union
minus UK
26%
Research growth at the National
University of Singapore
(Mukherjee and Wong, 2011, using Thomson Reuters data)
Engineering
Medicine
Business
Management
papers
cites per
paper
papers
cites per
paper
papers
cites per
paper
1981-83
111
1.45
186
3.16
8
0.13
1991-93
586
2.54
747
6.24
45
3.69
2001-03
2823
5.66
1808
11.33
148
8.41
Number of science papers per year,
1995-2007
Jiao Tong top 500 universities
in China, 2005 and 2011
2005
2011
China mainland
8
23
Hong Kong SAR
5
5
Taiwan China
5
7
18
35
Total
Post-Confucian systems in Jiao Tong
top 200 and 500 universities
Gross National
Income per head
(2010)
US $s PPP
Research
universities in Jiao
Tong top 200
(2011)
Research
universities in
Jiao Tong top 500
(2011)
Japan
34,780
9
23
South Korea
29,010
1
11
Singapore
55,380
1
2
China mainland
7570
1
23
Hong Kong SAR
47,130
0
5
c. $35,000, exact
data not available
1
7
Taiwan China
Internationalization strategies
‘… what truly distinguishes the East Asian universities from
the rest of the world is the marked emphasis on
internationalization. [for example] Both Shanghai Jiao Tong
University (China) and Pohang University of Science and
Technology (the Republic of Korea) made a strategic decision
to rely principally on Chinese or Korean academics trained in
the best universities in North America or Europe and, to a
large extent, to recruit highly qualified foreign faculty.
Significantly increasing the percentage of course taught in
English is an integral part of this strategy, as well.’
- Jamil Salmi, ‘The road to academic excellence: Lessons of experience, in Philip G. Altbach
and Jamil Salmi (eds.) (2011), The Road to Academic Excellence: The making of world-class
research universities, World Bank, Washington, p. 326
Shanghai Jiao Tong University
‘To maintain and strengthen its rapid development, SJTU
realizes that it must review the university’s performance in a
global dimension; that is, all aspects of university
performance in SJTU—such as faculty quality, research
excellence, and talent cultivation—should be evaluated and
compared by international standards. This benchmarking
approach organizes the overall goal of the university into
specific performance indicators and, ultimately, enables the
university to define its current position, to have clear goals
and direction for future development, and to design measures
accordingly.’
- Qing Hui Wang, Qi Wang and Nian Cai Liu, Building world-class universities in China:
Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in Altbach and Salmi (2011), p. 43
Global context of emerging
East Asia/ China
Between 1995 and 2008, US share of worldwide high
technology exports dropped from 21 to 14 per cent,
China’s share rose from 6 to 20 per cent
- US National Science Board, Globalization of Science
and Engineering Research (2010)
China will have much the largest
economy in the world by 2030—
and economic power matters
Shares of world GDP, 2030
(Maddison 2007 for OECD)
Li Na at
the 2011
French
Open
Always national as well as global
3. Caveats and limits of the
Post-Confucian Model
• Retarded global connectivity?
• Future state disillusionment with higher
education?
• Social equity
• Quality problems in research?
• Institutional autonomy
• Academic freedom
Social
equity
Research quality issues
World share of research papers/ highly cited papers, 2008
(USA National Science Board)
China
United States
Share of world science
papers
5.9%
28.9%
Share of top 1% most
highly cited papers
2.5%
51.6%
The state outside the university
‘‘… few governance organizations or departments coordinate
and organize the detailed tactics in Chinese higher education
institutions. The relevant governmental department only
proposes that universities implement the planning, and in
reality, offers little guidance and requirements on how to
implement such planning …’
- Qing Hui Wang, Qi Wang and Nian Cai Liu, Building world-class universities in
China: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in Altbach and Salmi (2011), pp. 42-43
The state inside the university
‘Despite being the formal leader of the institution, the
university president shares the authority to appoint members
of the senior academic and administrative team with a
Communist Party secretary who, in many cases, is also the
chair of the university board. This structure is not a problem
when the two leaders see eye to eye, but it has the potential
to undermine the ability of the university president to lead
and manage the institution in a truly autonomous fashion.’
- Jamil Salmi, ‘The road to academic excellence: Lessons of experience, in Philip G.
Altbach and Jamil Salmi (eds.) (2011), The Road to Academic Excellence: The
making of world-class research universities, World Bank, Washington, pp. 338-339
On a short string
‘The president is usually appointed by the government or is
elected by the academic community and subsequently
approved by authorities. The appointment system might
prevent the university from selecting the most suitable
leaders for its development.’
- Qing Hui Wang, Qi Wang and Nian Cai Liu, Building world-class universities in
China: Shanghai Jiao Tong University, in Altbach and Salmi (2011), pp. 42-43
Academic freedoms
‘Under stable institutional circumstances, direct interference of
states in education and scientific research is limited to those
fields that are directly related to sensitive political and social
problems, so that a certain degree of autonomy can be
guaranteed at universities and in the scientific research
system—especially for research in the natural sciences and
technology. But the relationship between state and the
educational and scientific research system is not always stable.
In some historical periods, the state and its dominant ideology
have fully controlled the direction of education and scientific
research, exposing the weak position of the cultural
autonomy…’
- Wang Hui (2009), The End of the Revolution: China and the limits of
modernity, Verso, London, pp. 144-145
‘The term “academic freedom”, which is used to denote a kind of
freedom particularly appropriate to the university in the Western
context … is not a good fit for China. On the one hand, Chinese scholars
enjoy a greater degree of “intellectual authority” than is common in the
West, due to the history of the civil service examinations and the close
links contemporary universities have with major state projects. On the
other hand, there is a strong tradition of “intellectual freedom” in
China, which is rooted in an epistemology quite different from that of
European rationalism. It requires that knowledge be demonstrated first
and foremost through action for the public good, also that knowledge
be seen as holistic and inter-connected, rather than organized into
narrowly defined separate disciplines. Chinese scholars find it difficult
to limit their criticisms to theoretical debates, but feel called upon to
demonstrate them in action, and many have paid a high price for this.’
- Ruth Hayhoe, Introduction and Acknowledgements. In Ruth Hayhoe, Jun Li, Jing Lin and Qiang Zha
(2011). Portraits of 21st Century Chinese Universities: In the move to mass higher education, p. 17. Hong
Kong: Springer/Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong
‘Once one can excel in terms of productivity and meet the State’s
criteria for producing valuable and useful knowledge, one may enjoy
a high level of intellectual authority. This type of intellectual
authority is not identical with academic freedom in the Western
context, but in some ways it provides even more flexibility and
greater power than does academic freedom. There is certainly some
overlap between these two concepts, yet clearly a different
emphasis. Westerners focus on restrictions to freedom of choice,
whereas Chinese scholars looking at the same situation focus on the
responsibility of the person in authority to use their power wisely in
the collective interest.’
- Qiang Zha, Is there an emerging Chinese model of the university? In Ruth Hayhoe,
Jun Li, Jing Lin and Qiang Zha (2011). Portraits of 21st Century Chinese Universities: In
the move to mass higher education, p. 464. Hong Kong: Springer/Comparative
Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong
Rao Yi
4. How well does the notion of a
Post-Confucian Model hold
across all systems in the group?
CHINA
HONG
KONG
TAIWAN
JAPAN
KOREA SINGAPORE
VIET
NAM
Economic growth
platform
getting
there
Y
Y
in the
past
Y
Y
not yet
Comprehensive/
effective state
Y
partly
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y/N
Rapid funding
growth
Y
in the
past
Y
in the
past
Y
Y
not yet
Rapid growth of
participation
Y
belate
d
Y
in the
past
Y
Y
not yet
Confucian home
ethic in learning
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Investment in
shadow school
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Social selection
by examinations
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
partly
Y
Accelerated
research growth
Y
Y
Y
in the
past
Y
Y
N
Effective internationalization
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
Y
N
5. Confucian or Post-Confucian Model?
Economy
Culture
Politics
6. Traditions and modernity
‘An investigation of traditions in modernity is
essential for our appreciation of modernization as a
highly differentiated cultural phenomena rather than
as a homogenous integral process of Westernization.’
- Tu Wei-Ming, ‘Beyond the Enlightenment mentality’, in Tucker and Berthrong
(eds.), Confucianism and Ecology, Harvard UP, Cambridge MA, p. 10.
Tradition continues in China
‘While their development has been strongly influenced by
Japanese, German, French, American and Soviet university
models at different periods, the heritage of cultural values
associated with China’s civil service examination system, and
with the independent academies or shuyuan that flourished
between the 9th and the 19th centuries, have continued to
shape contemporary universities.’
- Ruth Hayhoe, ‘Introduction and acknowledgements’, in Ruth Hayhoe, Jun Li, Jing Lin and
Qiang Zha (2011), Portraits of 21st Century Chinese Universities: In the move to mass higher
education, Springer/Comparative Education Research Centre, The University of Hong Kong,
Hong Kong, pp. 1-2
‘The modern West may have prompted East Asia to modernize
in the initial stages, but as the process gathered momentum, a
variety of indigenous resources were mobilized. The structures
that emerged, therefore, appear significantly different from
those in Western Europe and North America.’
- Tu Wei-Ming (ed.) (1996), ‘Introduction’, Confucian Traditions in East Asian Modernity: Moral education
and economic culture in Japan and the four mini-dragon, Harvard University Press, Cambridge, MA, p. 10
Post-Confucian education is an EastWest hybrid combining two elements
• Western modernization and mass system building
• Confucian tradition in education, in the family and
institutionalized forms . . . within the framework of
comprehensive Sinic nation states with an
overwhelming drive to ‘catch-up’ to the West
THE OUTCOME: accelerated modernization in higher
education and research, with Chinese (or Korean or
Japanese or Singaporean etc) characteristics
7. Comparing three systems/ pathways
United States
Westminster
Post-Confucian
(UK, Australia, New Zealand)
(East Asia and Singapore)
Nation-state
Limited liberal state,
separate from
economy and civil
order. Federal
Limited liberal state,
separate from
economy and civil
order. Unitary
Comprehensive East
Asian state, politics
commands economy,
top graduates to state
Educational
culture
Meritocratic and
competitive.
Education common
road to wealth/status
within advancing
prosperity
Socially egalitarian.
Education as state
guaranteed road to
social opportunity
that is open to all
Confucian commitment
to self-cultivation.
Education as filial duty
and social status via
exam competition
Comparing three systems/ pathways 2
United States
Westminster
Post-Confucian
(UK, Australia, New Zealand)
(East Asia and Singapore)
State role in
higher
education
Frames hierarchical
market and steps
back. Autonomous
university leaders
Supervises market
competition, shapes
outcomes indirectly.
Managed autonomy
Supervises, expands,
shapes and drives the
sector. Even more
managed autonomy
Financing of
higher
education
State funds
research, students
loans, teaching
subsidies in decline.
Tuition varies
high/low. Poor drop
out. Waste
State funds research,
student aid, teaching
subsidies in decline.
High tuition with
income contingent
loans. Austerity
State funded research
and infrastructure,
merit aid. Household
funds part tuition/
private classes. Even the
poor. Resources grow
Comparing three systems/ pathways 3
United States
Dynamics of
research
Large-scale federal
funding programs.
Some philanthropy
and industry money,
especially in biotech.
Core is peer run basic
science, but growing
entrepreneurship and
commercialization in
last 30 years. Industry
can compromise
academic freedom
Westminster
Post-Confucian
(UK, Australia, New Zealand)
(East Asia and Singapore)
More stringently
funded by unitary
state. Peer culture
survives but basic work
sliding. Policy focuses
on applied and
wannabe commercial
work, and on
concentration and
efficiency, in lieu of
private sector drivers.
Industry weaker
presence than in US.
Unitary state direction.
Part household funding
and focus on WCUs
enable accelerated state
funding of R&D, much
direct to industry. Strong
applied emphasis (some
focus on strategic basic
in Korea and Japan),
peer control can be
compromised by topdown state intervention
Comparing three systems/ pathways 4
United States
Westminster
Post-Confucian
(UK, Australia, New Zealand)
(East Asia and Singapore)
Hierarchy
and social
selection
Steep hierarchy. Race
to top universities (=
lifelong success),
mediated by SAAT.
Limited mobility from
community colleges
More moderate
hierarchy but elite
matters. End of
school selection,
some plural routes
to middle level
Steep hierarchy. Race to
top universities (=
lifelong success) . PostConfucian one chance
universal competition
based on examinations
Politics of
WCU/
building
GRUs
Entrenched hierarchy
of Ivy League and state
flagships is
unquestioned. Global
pride and power
Ambivalence about
elite unis (= social
ambivalence about
status). Ceilings on
public/private funds
Support for remake of
top institutions in
C9/985 group (target of
all families), as unis.
New global agenda
AMERICAN REVOLUTION NOT
FRENCH REVOLUTION
FRENCH REVOLUTION LEFT ITS
MARK: WEAKENED STATUS
COMMANDING ROLE OF POLITICS
(CCP) MEDIATES SOCIAL HIERARCHY
8. Conclusions 1 . . . East/West
relations in higher education
• The United States will no longer be the unchallengeable
hegemonic power, in higher education and elsewhere. This
fact will not be well received in some quarters, but will be less
problematic in higher education and research, than in the
economy and in military-strategic affairs
• It will not be uni-polar or bi-polar, it will be multi-polar world
• We can expect a more outward focused China in future
• Other East Asian nations and systems will play global roles
• Western educators will need to forget the idea they enjoy
cultural superiority—though if Martin Jacques is right, we will
also experience the (competing) notion of Han superiority!
• In future higher education and its global activity will no longer
function necessarily (in the longer run, not even primarily) in
Western interests. This will be a shock to the system. . .
• We are now in a shared world environment. We will change.
In future English-speaking and Western higher education
systems (and societies) will be no more immune from Asia
than Asia was immune from the imperial West in 1850-2000
Conclusions 2 . . . or call them
‘hypotheses for future testing’!
• The evolution of higher education is not just locally nested,
nationally-driven and globally over-determined, but also
patterned in (cultural and political) world regions
• Modernity in higher education (and elsewhere) is articulated
by traditions in complex and variant ways
• Factors differentiating nations and world regions in higher
education include the character of nation-state and political
culture, educational culture in the family, relations between
higher education/society/state
• As well as English-speaking system modernization in higher
education (‘Saxon’), and variant modernizations in Western
Europe (‘Roman’ etc), Post-Confucian modernization is a
strong form. Other modernizations are possible
• In future ‘global systems’ of higher education and research
will be increasingly affected by the interplay between these
different modernizations in and through the sector—and the
underlying mix of practices of state, society, freedoms etc.
• In the (slow) progress to world society—higher education has
a potentially pivotal role but it is not guaranteed—we need
conceptual bridges and common understandings of practices
such as public good, academic freedom and human rights
A more plural world
‘… we’re not talking about shifting from to a
Western model to the East Asian model; we’re
talking about shifting from a singular model to a
pluralistic model, and the pluralistic model could
share some basic value orientations.’
- Tu Wei-ming (1999), The Confucian World, Colorado College, p. 5
Reasons for optimism?
‘There is a sense of immanent transcendence in Chinese thought
and a high tolerance of paradox. . . the Chinese higher education
tradition has transcended time and moved from stage to stage,
driven mainly by the internal dynamics generated from constant
tensions. Indeed, compared to other civilizations, Chinese
civilization is marked by its long historical continuity, but
continuity and change often went hand-in-hand in Chinese
history. It is this aspect of the Chinese model of the university
that may have a significant impact on the world community. This
spirit of pluralism and tolerance may enable Chinese universities
to contribute in a significant way to global cultural dialogue.’
- Qiang Zha, Is there an emerging Chinese model of the university? In Ruth Hayhoe, Jun Li, Jing
Lin and Qiang Zha (2011). Portraits of 21st Century Chinese Universities: In the move to mass
higher education, p. 467. Hong Kong: Springer/Comparative Education Research Centre, The
University of Hong Kong
http://www.cshe.unimelb.edu.au/people/staff_pages/Marginson/Marginson.html
Cambridge UP,
Cambridge, May 2010
Edward Elgar, Cheltenham,
September 2011
Springer, Dordrecht,
September 2011
Routledge, New York,
August 2011