2 41also an area that is strongly committed by the Singapore government, which tends
to take a proactive role in forging international collaborations for higher education
institutions. Nevertheless, it is not known if those institutions in Singapore can
directly compete with top universities overseas to get enough world-class research-
ers and students out from Asia. Being top in Asia should not be enough for Singapore
to develop as a genuinely global education hub in Asia in face of keen competition
in the emerging global market of higher education. There are also some unresolved
issues facing Singapore’s higher education system in the coming years: How to
promote innovation and entrepreneurial spirit in higher education institutions,
which are still bounded by the heavy presence of the state? How to solve the
dilemma between strong state intervention in higher education and the core aca-
demic values of academic freedom and institutional autonomy? How to rectify the
existing ethnic disparities in higher education institutions, particularly in universi-
ties? These questions can be included in the future research agenda for higher edu-
cation studies in Singapore.
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13 Researching Higher Education in “Asia’s Global Education Hub”: Major Themes...