3Yet, despite the rapid growth and concomitant challenges of higher education in
Asia, related research in this field in Asia has a relatively short history, and the par-
ticipation of its higher education community, especially in the international research
arena, is limited (Jung and Horta 2013 ). Knowledge about the evolution of higher
education research in Asia is scarce, and its current status remains to a very large
extent unknown. Many questions remain unanswered: who is doing such research,
what topics are being researched, and how do researchers collaborate with one
another? Is higher education research being undertaken by higher education
researchers or by researchers in related fields, do they have a stable and sustainable
national academic community for their research, and do they collaborate with col-
leagues in other countries? If these communities exist at national and international
level, what is it that characterises and defines them the best, and what are the future
plans for development?
Higher Education as a Field of Study
When one describes higher education research, one frequently encounters the ques-
tion of whether higher education is a mature and independent academic discipline.
The answer is often ‘no’ or ‘not really’, as there is insufficient evidence to define
higher education research as a ‘discipline’, which generally addresses a highly
abstract phenomenon and remains exclusive to a large a number of people with
interest in the subject (Piierce 1991 ). May ( 1997 ) has described higher education
research as enjoying only ‘part-time involvement’ from scholars who hold and
apply theoretical perspectives from other disciplines. Instead of using the word ‘dis-
cipline’, scholars often describe higher education as a ‘field’. For example, Tight
( 2004 ) stated that the work of higher education departments or centres might be
called a ‘field of study’ or ‘practice’ rather than a discipline, while Altbach et al.
( 2006 ) described higher education research as an emerging ‘field’. The term ‘field’
is a geographical metaphor used to describe, categorise and classify knowledge and
skills (Burke 2000 ). Fields are constructed over time with ‘accumulated knowledge,
paradigms and academic capitals, recognised by academics or other social groups’
(Chen and Hu 2012 , p. 656). As a field of study, higher education research is repre-
sented by academic degree programmes at the postgraduate level, and there are
higher education institutes and centres, and specialized journals (Altbach et al.
2006 ). Nonetheless, the term ‘academic field’ is still used ‘loosely’ and ‘customar-
ily’ (Chen and Hu 2012 ).
In reality, the boundaries of this field are recognised by ‘a group of people oper-
ating as a community who identify with it and work within it’ (Chen and Hu 2012 ,
p. 664). Tight ( 2012 , p. 209) described communities of practice in higher education
as ‘groups or networks which help guide, regulate and make meaning of our lives,
both in work and outside’. The importance of academic departments in creating and
maintaining disciplinary communities makes them the building blocks from which
a discipline is created (Pierce 1991 ). Tight ( 2004 ) applied Wenger’s ( 2000 ) definition
1 Introduction: Higher Education Research as a Field of Study in Asia