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J. Jung et al. (eds.), Researching Higher Education in Asia, Higher Education in
Asia: Quality, Excellence and Governance, DOI 10.1007/978-981-10-4989-7_8
Chapter 8
Higher Education Research in Hong Kong:
Context, Trends, and Vision
William Yat Wai Lo and Felix Sai Kit Ng
Abstract With the processes of inter- and intranationalization, higher education in
Hong Kong has been rapidly expanding in an effort to develop the city into a regional
education hub. This chapter explores the trends and developments of higher educa-
tion research (HER) in Hong Kong in the context of inter- and intranationalization.
By drawing on the data from the Scopus database, this chapter analyzes a selection
of journal chapters on higher education published in Hong Kong over the past three
decades. Findings show that a significant growth and some new outputs have been
seen in the field during the study period. In addition, local researchers have com-
plied with the rule by forming more transnational and intranational research teams
and by conducting more nonlocal studies. Interestingly, many of them have not
abandoned local collaboration and studies, but they further developed their roots.
These findings reveal that some internal signs of cosmopolitanization have been
recorded in the field.
Introduction
The development of higher education in Hong Kong can be observed in a dual trend,
in which higher education in the territory has responded to the phenomenon of glo-
balization and its associated changes, and it has faced many local challenges espe-
cially during the period of the transfer of sovereignty. Specifically, on one hand,
higher education in Hong Kong has been substantially influenced by international
competition caused by the profound effects of globalization, as evident in many
This chapter was mainly revised and adapted from the authors’ previously published article, Lo,
W.Y.W. and Ng, F.S.K. (2015) Trends and developments of higher education research in Hong
Kong: In pursuit of a cosmopolitan vision, Higher Education Policy 28(4): 517–534.
W.Y.W. Lo (*)
Department of International Education and Lifelong Learning, The Education University of
Hong Kong, Hong Kong, China
e-mail: [email protected]
F.S.K. Ng
Department of Social Sciences, Humboldt-Universität zu Berlin, Berlin, Germany