發展教育樞紐:香港的機遇與挑戰 (Lecture 6)

The lecture 6 of General Education and Public Affairs Certificate Course (通識及公共事務證書課程) was held on 23 October 2010. The summary was shown as follow.

第六課 (23 October 2010)
發展教育樞紐:香港的機遇與挑戰
莫家豪教授主講.

Prof. Ka-Ho Mok (Associate Vice President, Dean & Chair Professor, Faculty of Arts & Sciences, The Hong Kong Institute of Education) is this lecture speaker and his topic was “The Rise of Transnational Higher Education in Asia: Challenges and Opportunities for Hong Kong”.


Prof. Mok introduced the recent trend for transnational higher education in Asia in the beginning. He mentioned the concept of higher education was changed from public goods to private goods (WTO). He also stated the importance of education was focused on Knowledge-based Society, Globalization and Technology.

Compared Hong Kong to London / New York, we are missing cultural facilities and cluster of higher education institute (for attracting international talent).

Prof. Mok explained an education hub had the following characteristics:
i) Concentration of leading educational institutions
ii) High-quality international faculty
iii) Large numbers of overseas students
iv) Cutting-edge frontline research
v) Excellent infrastructure
vi) Substantial revenues from student fees and other sources
vii) Able to contribute to society’s business environment

The following diagram shows the high increase of transnational higher education in East Asia and the Pacific.

The trend is increasing private sector in running higher education.

The expansion of the number of international students worldwide is a strong motivator for Asian countries to develop transnational higher education.

The comparison of the transnational higher education policy in Asia is shown as follows.

Significant new initiatives in East & Southeast Asia:
· Singapore → Global Schoolhouse
· Malaysia → Kuala Lumpur Education City
· Hong Kong → Regional Education Hub
· South Korea → Incheon Free Economic Zone

Significant new initiatives in the Middle East:
· United Arab Emirates → Dubai International Academic City
· Qatar → Qatar Education City
· Bahrain → Bahrain Higher Education City

The campuses of top universities in Asia

Case study of Singapore & Malaysia
Singapore is market-accelerationist state. (but Hong Kong is market-facilitator state)
Singapore aims for increasing national capability but Malaysia aims for economic and for local need first. Malaysia education positioning was middle class to attract Middle-East students (Because of religion convenience).

The limitations of Malaysia and Singapore in transnational higher education development are stated below.
Malaysia: An over-ambitious strategic planning?
Singapore: Overshadowed by issue of academic freedom and openness of society?

The current situation of Hong Kong is that it has very few overseas universities with branches in Hong Kong; moreover, 92% of students came from mainland China in 2007-2008.

The other places in Asia student are very few.

Then Prof. Mok mentioned the advantages and major obstacles for Hong Kong as an education hub.

Advantages:
· Highly-ranked universities
· Geographical position
· Excellent infrastructure
· Multicultural and multilingual society
· Strong commitment from the Central Government, and the Pearl River Delta provincial authorities.

Major Obstacles:
· Lack of visibility of Hong Kong international education
· No strategic positioning
· Need for government and universities to devise a viable business plan
· Lack of coordination across Hong Kong tertiary institutions
· Need for action
· Need for the educational infrastructure for international students

Finally, Prof. Mok added that we needed to use the closer relations between the mainland, Taiwan and Hong Kong for Great China multidiscipline study to attract international students.

Reference:
Profile Details of MOK, Ka Ho Joshua 莫家豪
https://oraas0.ied.edu.hk/rich/web/people_details.jsp?pid=112774