No longer need you assume that the overseas education you want has to be in the USA, Europe or Australasia, for the universities of Asia are internationalising fast and providing programmes geared to regional demand. Tony Martin profiles four Asian countries blazing the trail in international postgraduate provision.
Statisticians monitoring the movements of international students drink a lot of coffee. They have to. They need to stay constantly vigilant for the next global phenomenon to change a dearth to a glut, or a glut to a dearth – sometimes almost overnight. Iraqis, Iranians and Libyans once topped the lists of international students in UK and US institutions because of the massive rise in oil prices in the seventies. Then came Saddam Hussein, the Ayatollahs’ revolution and Colonel Gaddafi – and the flow abruptly ceased.
‘The fast-evolving phenomenon is that more and more of your counterparts are ‘voting with their feet’ by travelling to other Asian countries for their graduate studies.’
The Asian economic boom of the eighties quickly enabled thousands of Malaysian, Singaporean and Hong Kong students to get the kind of university education their own countries were not yet able to offer, so they shot to the top of the statistical tables. Yet when British Prime Minister of the day, Margaret Thatcher, hiked the UK universities' overseas student fee, Malaysia's PM, Dr Mahathir, said “No dice, Mrs T” (or words to that effect) and promptly cancelled the public funding of Malaysian students at British universities. Their numbers were promptly decimated.
International reaction to the tragic events in Tiananmen Square in 1989 triggered a fast drop in departing Asian students and, just when numbers were building up again nicely, the 1997 Asian economic crash and currency devaluations brought them tumbling down again. In the last few years, the vast growth in private and government wealth of the PRC led to a quadrupling of Chinese mainland students studying in the UK and Australia. But as I write, reports are trickling in that visa restrictions and other factors have caused a significant reversal of that rapid upward trend.
What does this mean to you as an Asian graduate, potentially embarking upon an expensive and important masters or PhD programme in a foreign country? For one thing, it shows that you are somewhat vulnerable to political and economic events that you cannot control. Not that you are at special risk to your personal safety by going overseas, but that your source of funding – or the value of the money in your own pocket – may not be as secure as you would wish.
More constructively, however, it means you should look at the major statistical changes of what is happening to international student mobility on your own doorstep. The fast-evolving phenomenon is that more and more of your counterparts are ‘voting with their feet’ by travelling to other Asian countries for their graduate studies. No longer need you assume that the advanced education you want has to be in the USA, Europe or Australasia for the universities of Asia are internationalising fast and providing programmes geared to regional demand.
Japan, Singapore, Malaysia and South Korea have all reported major increases in the numbers of foreign students coming to their universities. Last year (2003), the Japanese government’s target of 100,000 foreign students was met for the first time. This is the same number as Australia’s much feted success in attracting international students to its exotic shores. Numbers have almost tripled in a decade. Of these 100,000, 27% are following graduate courses. Little Singapore already boasts 60,000 international students and is now targeting 100,000. (Not bad for a country with just three universities – more of that elsewhere.)
Malaysia estimates that it now has 36,000 incoming students, many of whom are enrolled on masters and PhD programs in its public universities. Students from China, Indonesia, India and Thailand make up the highest numbers. Rapidly emerging from the shadow of its local political difficulties, South Korea has shot from just 1,989 overseas students in 1992 to 12,314 in 2003, over half of whom were studying engineering or a science subject. China itself has become a major host country for foreign students. According to one report, no less than 35,000 South Koreans are studying there, the largest group of foreign students in the PRC and a number that has doubled in just four years.
These mushrooming numbers should keep the statisticians brewing their coffee. Now let's look at the reasons for them and how you can take advantage of the new opportunities they represent. Much has to do with language – the speaking of a foreign language, that is.
Take Japan for example. Until recently, the prime source of foreign students at Japanese universities has been Japanese language schools located in major Japanese cities. Students visit the country to learn the language, they get to know and enjoy local culture and society, make friends, and progress smoothly to a university degree course taught in Japanese. However through a combination of government reform and market pressure, Japan's universities have now introduced many academic programs taught in the English language, which means that you do not need to learn Japanese to earn a Japanese university masters or PhD.
Professor George Harada is in charge of international matters at Hiroshima University of Economics and a director of JAFSA, the Japan Association of Foreign Student Administrators. He believes: “Major public and private universities in Japan have reacted quite quickly, and most of them quite positively, to ideas and strategies presented by the government on educational reform in the last few years. Many universities – both public and private – are ready to accept more international students by increasing degree courses and programs offered in English”.
Prof Harada’s beliefs are based on a recent survey of such programs by the Japan Association of Student Services (JASSO, formerly AIEJ). (See table) This shows that the public universities in particular have stepped up the number of masters and PhD programs taught in English. Altogether, sixty-five have been introduced since the year 2000, mainly in the sciences and engineering but with a greater recent trend towards business and social sciences.
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Despite their reputation for conservatism, the public universities have progressed more strongly in this area than their private counterparts. Prof. Harada continues: “Compared to public universities, there were less university degree programs offered in English (in private universities). As a result, most of the international students that preferred to study major subjects in English attended public universities.
“However, in terms of overall numbers of international students being accepted, private universities have shown a much larger increase than public universities. The major reason is that most of the public universities have accepted international students on the graduate level, while private universities have accepted large numbers of international students on the undergraduate level. In general, the graduate programs have less in-take capacity than undergraduate programs.”
Another indicator that many Japanese universities are ready to accept more international students is their increase in participation in study abroad fairs held outside Japan to recruit students eligible for their programs. Some of the major universities are also setting up overseas offices, especially in the nearby Asian region, to make application and testing more readily available for students in those countries where there are many applicants.
Not only in Japan but throughout the region, universities are shedding their inward-looking culture and are internationalising, a key aspect of which is the much wider use of English – the world's "lingua franca" – in teaching both domestic and foreign students. University leaders, who may have paid lipservice to internationalisation in the past, are now laying down clear policies and strategies for bringing their institutions into the global frame.
One of these is President of Korea University, Dr Yoon-Dae Euh. Determined to change the perception of his university from that of a ‘frog in a well’, the word ‘Minjok’ (national) has been dropped from its title and Korea University has embarked upon a ‘Global KU Project’ to stamp the word ‘international’ on to its image.
Speaking to a recent conference on the theme of “Global Competitiveness of Korean Universities”, Dr Euh pointed out: “The US has poured 80% of its R&D budgets into universities since the late 1950’s. The growth engine of the US is its university system. Contrarily, Japan fell down as it was negligent of the significance of investing in universities. However, Japan kick started it back up with investments into the university system 5 years ago. By setting aside 50 trillion won for development of universities, Japan already has a renewed look on their university system.”
Turning rhetoric into action, Korea University has started to put serious emphasis on classes taught in foreign languages. The proportion of courses taught in English will rise to more than 30% in 2005 and students must take at least 5 courses taught in English to be able to graduate. Also, it will be mandatory for Korean students majoring in a foreign language to go to the respective country to learn the language.
Dae-Hyun Lee, a student in the Department of Human Studies, says “There have been drastic changes on campus compared to the days of 'Minjok Korea University' where demonstrations against an American fast food chain restaurant took place with chants of “Go away, American capitalists!”. He added, “I don’t know how our seniors would feel about this, however, the majority of students is welcoming such changes and is taking them very positively.”
Korea University is establishing an “International Summer Campus,” where a large number of students from inside and outside Korea will participate. Around 30 professors from Yale, Stanford and Michigan University in the U.S. and the same number from Korean Universities will be lecturing in English. Already 135 universities from 26 countries have made exchange programs with Korea University and it now has a plan to combine with universities in the U.S., England, Australia, China, Japan, Canada, Germany and elsewhere to set up a “Global Campus.”
“Globalisation, Competition, Freedom” is Dr. Euh’s maxim for the university. He says,“KU's Global Project is totally different from the exchange programs that simply bring foreign professors and students.” He adds, "We are applying a new paradigm as a way to enable students to achieve an international perception and to experience foreign cultures quickly."
Korea University is not the only institution in Korea to make this type of move to internationalisation. Seoul National, Sogang University, Yonsei, Pohang, Hanku, Ewha Women’s, Sung Kyun Kwan are some of the many that are introducing similar activity and whose forward thinking administrators and academics are travelling extensively to worldwide conferences and exhibitions to generate new linkages and recruit students.
Heading south to tropical Malaysia and Singapore, these two neighbouring countries are vying with each other and with Thailand to be the education hub of South East Asia and in doing so are creating many new opportunities for the region's graduates to acquire masters and PhD qualifications.While Singapore may be seen as the faster mover of the two, and ahead in sophistication, Malaysia is astutely capitalising on its intrinsic assets and education tradition. There are currently 11 public and 14 private universities in Malaysia plus nearly 700 private colleges. Despite the strong pressure from government to take pride in the national language, Bahasa Melayu, postgraduate programs are taught predominantly in English, and Arabic is also widely used. Of Malaysia’s 36,000 foreign students, 4,000 are estimated to be studying at postgraduate level.
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The strong private higher education sector has been developed predominantly in partnership with overseas institutions so is already a global entity. Moves to internationalise the public universities reflect those of Korea. Professor Dato’ Dzulkifli Abdul Universiti Sains Malaysia, Vice-Chancellor of one of Malaysia’s leading institutions, presenting on the theme ‘Venturing into the International Arena: An Agenda for Transformation’, announced that “USM would undergo a comprehensive transformation that would encompass administration, students, research, and even attitudes and work ethics. The rationale behind the transformation is to develop USM into a university that would be held in high esteem internationally.”
"Of Malaysia's 36,000 foreign students, 4,000 are estimated to be studying at postgraduate level."
Korea University’s ‘frog in a well’ analogy was also reflected in his speech. Challenging students to play their role in this paradigm shift, Dato' Dzulkifli asked them, “Will you have the courage to transform by freeing yourselves – just as the pupa emerges from its cocoon – from the constraints that have trapped your minds?”, urging them to open their minds and, among other things, to include foreign students in their activities.
At another top public university, Universiti Kebangsaan Malaysia, about 800 of the 8,500 postgraduate students are from foreign countries, mainly the Middle East and neighbouring Southeast Asia. The number of international students has been increasing and the university envisages a continual upward trend. UKM already claims to have the highest number of international postgraduate students of any Malaysian university.
But why do these foreigners choose to come to Malaysia to pursue their postgraduate studies and what do they hope to achieve? UKM Deputy Vice-Chancellor, Professor Datuk Ikram M. Said attributes it to “Malaysia's cosmopolitan nature, lower fees, efficient staff and positive reports from those who have studied here.”
Malaysia's Muslim tradition is an important factor in attracting students from the Middle East and from other Muslim countries. The fact that international students can submit their theses in English, Malay or Arabic is a major plus point. Rofiqal Islam al Zaw Win feels very comfortable to be amongst Muslim brethren, "Halal food is not a problem and there are many mosques nearby," he says.
Singapore has long been noted for its capacity to innovate and for successful implementation of sound long-term economic and social policies, negating the disadvantage of a tiny population and turning its geographic and demographic resources to maximum advantage. It is currently achieving this yet again in the sector of international education and, in the process, expanding still further the regional advanced study options for Asia's ambitious graduates.
With just two long-established universities of its own and a new one now growing fast, its provision seems quite limited compared with that of countries of similar population, e.g. New Zealand with eight and Hong Kong with seven. However, instead of opting for the obvious and building new indigenous universities, former Prime Minister, Mr Lee Kuan Yew’s irrepressible vision came in to play. Top overseas institutions were invited to set up branch campuses and programme partnerships with Singapore's universities in key areas of specialisation.
Simultaneously, Singapore’s private education sector forged partnerships with overseas universities to deliver their degree programs ‘offshore’. This brought globalisation of higher education to Singapore at a stroke and laid the foundations for the influx of students from the region, at the same time broadening Singapore students' horizon and experience, and hence their employability.
Singapore was the first South East Asian country to create a government-sponsored body to promote international education in its institutions. Singapore Education is running recruitment exhibitions of its own in key Asian countries and participating extensively in World MBA Tour/World Grad School Tourin 2004. Beginning on the following page of Top Grad School Guide, in full cooperation with Singapore Education, is an extensive feature on masters and PhD study in Singapore.
The Western world tends to view the Asian economic miracle as a flimsy thing that comes and goes and may or may not last in the long term. The quiet resolve of Asian governments and institutions to deepen and extend their knowledge through globalisation is leading to a solid educational infrastructure upon which the future of their economies will be based. For you as a graduate, this presents excellent opportunities to lay your own foundations of knowledge and success for yourself, your family – and for future generations.