5in higher education research? Which country, institution or discipline are they from?
Teichler ( 1996 ) categorised higher education researchers by their backgrounds,
dividing them into five categories: (1) department-based occasional researchers, (2)
continuous discipline-based scholars, (3) scholars based in higher education
research institutes, (4) applied higher education researchers and research units and
(5) occasional research practitioners. Furthermore, Teichler ( 1996 ) described the
changing trends in higher education research. While past research on higher educa-
tion tended to focus on individual countries, there is now increased interest in com-
parative perspectives, including research from supranational organisations
(UNESCO, OECD and World Bank, among others).
Higher Education Research in Asia
To describe the growth of higher education in the Asian region, Marginson ( 2011 )
quoted Times Higher Education ( 2010 ) as stating that ‘higher education systems in
North America and Western Europe are watching the emerging Asian systems with
a mix of excitement and apprehension’. The Asia-Pacific region has the fastest
growing higher education market internationally, based on rapid economic growth
(Shin and Harman 2009 ). According to UNESCO’s annual statistics, enrolment in
tertiary education in East Asia and the Pacific was approximately 47 million in
2007, over three times that of 1991 at 14 million. The growth rate in South and West
Asia is also surprising, with 20 million students currently enrolled. Higher educa-
tion in Asia has undergone enormous change and development in the past few
decades. In particular, massification is not a simple issue of enhanced access; this
change in scale is of great importance because it has transformed the entire land-
scape of higher education, affecting governance, financing, quality, curricula, facul-
ties and student demographics (Shin and Harman 2009 ). In defining the major
challenges of higher education in Asia-Pacific for the twenty-first century, Shin and
Harman ( 2009 ) list massification, privatisation, accountability and governance,
internationalisation and the global ranking of universities. Postiglione ( 2011 ), in
pointing to the effects of the global recession on higher education in East and
Southeast Asia, noted that during this period it is particularly important for the
region to continue to reform governance and administration, access and equity,
internal and external efficiency and regional collaboration.
The development of higher education itself has been accompanied by an increase
in academic interest within the community, stimulating the creation of a common
identity (Teichler 1996 ). In particular, we must recognise the importance of not only
the national but also the international academic community. Arimoto ( 2000 ) pro-
posed that it is time for domestic networks to reach out to the worldwide network of
research on higher education. In this light, what is in store for higher education
research in Asia? Despite these emerging issues, one cannot help but ask how many
academics are involved in this research field and how active its research community
currently is. Asia has a number of research institutes specialised in higher education,
1 Introduction: Higher Education Research as a Field of Study in Asia