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however, is not fixed and unidirectional. In fact, negotiations between actors, the
ongoing evolution of Asian regionalism, and the funding directed to regionalization
of higher education in Asia may reshape the path, within boundaries, of regionaliza-
tion of higher education in Asia.
To broadly illustrate this path dependency, multilateral and eventually regional
(and bi/tri-lateral) trade agreements managed to set up global and regional markets
for goods and services. At the multilateral level, the World Trade Organization’s
1995 General Agreement on Tariff and Trade (GATT) and General Agreement on
Trade in Services (GATS) essentially set the pace of economic liberalization at the
global stage. While the former institutionalized economic globalization and set the
global rules of trade, the latter reconstituted higher education as a commodity sub-
ject to the rules of trade at the global level. Prior to GATT and GATs, APEC’s estab-
lishment in 1989, with its initial member economies being close US allies in the
Asia and Pacific region, advocated for open regionalism based on the principles and
rules of what we now know as GATT and GATS. ASEAN, with all its founding
member countries being APEC member economies, followed through with its
ASEAN Free Trade Area and ASEAN Framework Agreement on Services in 1992
and 1995, respectively. The end of the Cold War in 1991 facilitated APEC and
ASEAN membership to include former socialist countries in the late 1990s expand-
ing economic regionalism and formed the foundation for regionalization of higher
education in Asia. Although Asian regionalism and regionalization of higher educa-
tion reinforced global developments, Asia’s historical development (at national and
regional levels), unique governance structure, diversity, and relevant actors negoti-
ated and facilitated a localized hybrid of economic globalization and regionalization
of higher education in Asia.
Similarly, Europe’s Bologna Process, which led to the establishment of the
European Higher Education Area in 2010, serves as a catalyst for regionalization of
higher education across regions, including Asia, regionalization of higher education
in Asia is dependent on the maturity and characteristics of Asian regionalism, its
governance structure (e.g., ASEAN Way), Asian higher education diversity, and the
region’s key higher education actors including non-Asian actors providing funding,
technical assistance, and capacity building support to the regionalization of higher
education project.
This path dependency holds for both Asian regionalism research and regionaliza-
tion of higher education research in Asia. As observed earlier in this chapter, Asian
regionalism research focused on the evolving characteristic, definitions, and actors
in Asian regionalism, an initial focus on economic regionalism (1990–2001) which
eventually shifted to political regionalism especially since the 2000s. Although
regionalization of higher education research in Asia can be said to have started in
the early 2000s, its evolution from simple to complex interdisciplinary themes
clearly mirrors (but at a faster pace) Asian regionalism research developments. It
has evolved from higher education issues within Asia as a geographic boundary, to
issues to regionalization of higher education in Asia, and eventually to the pro-
cesses, power asymmetries, and policy borrowing, transfer, and mobility within
regionalization of higher education in Asia.
R.Y. Chao Jr.