PrefaceThese are exciting times for higher education in Asia. Not only are Asian universities making marked improvement in quality, they are also challenging the global dominance of the more recognized institutions in the West. Asian institutions are also attracting more international students from the region. Indeed, 2009 could be the watershed year for the region, as there was a significant increase in the number of Asian universities ranked in the top 200 of the QS World University Rankings. QS WorldClass SHOWCASE serves to present top Asian universities and document Asia's progress each year.
This inaugural 2010 edition of SHOWCASE offers a range of insightful
and professionally written articles that present the importance of Asian
university education to the advancement of society in Asia in particular
and the world at large. It features six main articles on the views of leading
luminaries, six special contributions by regional thought leaders and
country updates on higher education developments in China, Hong Kong,
India, Japan, Malaysia, Singapore, Taiwan and Thailand by guest writers
whom we have invited to share their perspectives.
In our Main Features, leading figures in government and global higher
education confirm the rise of Asian universities. No longer are they seen as
also-rans in the academic world, either in teaching or research.
Dato’ Sri Najib Razak, the Malaysian Prime Minister, stresses the importance
of internationally competitive universities to Asia as a whole. Malaysia, the
host of this year’s QS WorldClass globalization seminar, has set out to be an
education hub for the region and is still investing in its universities to that
end.
Professor Richard Levin, the President of Yale University, casts a dispassionate
eye over the progress made by the leading Asian universities and finds
plenty to celebrate. He predicts that several will be vying for places at the
top of the world rankings within two decades.
Professor Choon Fong Shih, the President of the King Abdullah University
of Science and Technology, in Saudi Arabia – the world’s wealthiest new
foundation – agrees. He guided the National University of Singapore into
the upper reaches of the rankings and believes that economic downturn in
the West offers Asian universities the chance to make further progress.
Elsewhere, SHOWCASE charts the efforts that are being made all over Asia
to accelerate the rise of the continent’s universities. The C9 initiative in China, analysed by Professor Zhou Zhong of Tsinghua University in Beijing,
is perhaps the best known. But Japan has its Global 30, Malaysia its Apex
programme and Thailand its Quality Framework for Higher Education,
for example. SHOWCASE covers all of them, as well as the advances
made in countries where universities are flourishing without such formal
initiatives.
Advertorial pages that provide information on individual institutions
complement the editorial content of SHOWCASE. They consist of
their presidents’ profiles, institutions’ profiles or both. These may be
supplemented by their advertisements.
Each president’s profile may comprise a short summary of his personal
philosophy in the academic context, a brief biographical background,
including career path and major personal achievements, his personal
motivation to succeed in achieving such high office and to take success
yet further, his personal vision and ambition for increasing his institution’s
global recognition and improving its world ranking, and his wider vision
for the future of Asian higher education in the global academic scheme of
things.
The institution’s profile may include: its existing claims for global recognition,
e.g. Nobel laureates; original research that has led to globally accepted
scientific or other advances; specialist institutes; professors with a high
global profile and respect in their specialty; global industrial collaboration;
strong position in general or specialist world rankings; and high position in
national or regional rankings. It may also articulate the university’s forward
strategy for internationalization (e.g. recruitment of international academic
staff and students), investment in enhanced research facilities, creation of
institutional and academic partnerships, hosting of major international
conferences (such as QS-APPLE), growth of courses taught in English or
other foreign languages, and research projects organised in collaboration
with international partners. It could also describe the major features of the
institution’s physical infrastructure and the services that it provides to staff
and students, both local and international.
Under SHOWCASE’s spotlight, Asian universities can be expected to grow
further in future. SHOWCASE will also grow as an annual publication of
significance. What are required are its creative development, the continuing
contribution of knowledgeable writers and the sustained support of
our partners and advertisers. We look forward to a bigger and yet better
SHOWCASE next year! |
