Will Asia be the new higher education superpower?

The looming troubles in the west due to the political atmosphere is effecting Western countries in many ways. Anti-immigration rhetoric, fake news treated as reality, mainstream media giving platforms for dangerous voices as well as the empowerment of racism via free publicity are creating problems across the globe.

Immigration seems to be the common theme across the world, certainly among the covered topics of discussion in the top study destinations in the world – the US and the UK. Any changes in the policies of immigration do effect higher education. In the UK, the department of education is facing serious consequences from immigration laws that seems to exhibit hostility towards international students. Additionally, the unprecedented increase of tuition fees in UK universities is deterring international students. Nevertheless, post Brexit changes remain uncertain.

In the US, Donald Trump is making extremely questionable changes and the picks for the new cabinet are causing several serious concerns. Therefore, uncertainty still dominates.

Past powers?

The United States and the United Kingdom are the biggest destinations attracting international students from all over the world. According to MigrationPolicy.org and the Institute of International Education, the US houses a little more than one million international students in 2016, mostly from China, India, Saudi Arabia and South Korea. The US is also the third most popular destination among Malaysians.

In the UK, the latest reports documented the flow of international students for the academic year of 2014-2015 by the UK Council for International Student Affairs. There are nearly 500,000 non-UK students in that period. The numbers from this year aren’t made public yet.

Of course, there are other destinations in Europe and North America but they aren’t as popular due to the quality of higher education and the value of such qualification in the employment market.

We did a survey recently to ask Malaysians what they think about studying in the US. We found that Malaysians are concerned about safety issues would consider alternatives closer to home like New Zealand, Singapore, China, India, Hong Kong, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. Malaysians have also considered Canada, and few EU countries.

Read the findings

This shift, while remains unclear, requires an in-depth study and careful analysis because there are patterns that would suggest a significant change in favour of higher education destinations in Asia.

Asia

The growth of the Asian economy has turned the tables against western superpowers and countries like China and India are strong competitors on the world economic stage. In fact, China alone holds US$1.157 trillion of the US’s national debt which represents 30% of the Treasury bill, according to The Balance and CNN.

Why that figure is important? Simply put, China holds American money, which translates to power that could impact US economy in massive way. Technically, China has a grip on large chunk of US interests.

The growth in economy gives way to research, technology developments, new business, larger market that demands colossal expertise. Asian nations won’t continue to depend on the west in developing and improving their situation. Thus, they will call upon their expertise of Asian origins in the west, pay them well, and allow them to be productive, which is what has happened in India’s own Silicon Valley.

This growth and change would directly impact higher education and create important study destinations in Asia, which is already happening.

Chinese universities are beginning to compete with US and UK universities. The Institute of International Education reported that China houses nearly 400,000 international students as of 2015. Chinese higher learning institutions are attracting students from South Korea, the United States, Thailand, India, Russia, Pakistan and even Japan.

India, on the other hand, has no significant effect on the competition with only 42,420 international students reported in 2015-2016. However, the small nation of Singapore – which has a population of 5.4 million citizens, is becoming increasingly attractive for international students.

Earlier in 2015, the Institute for International Education published a report that is part of the Global Education Research Reports series in collaboration with AIFS Foundation titled “Asia: The Next Higher Education Superpower”. The report examines the local and global trends that drive higher education policies in Asia and the impact these policies have on the local and regional knowledge economy.

The following are quotes from contributors to the report:

"The centre of gravity in higher education is perceptibly shifting to Asia where more than half of the world's population is found. This thought-provoking book raises new questions about interconnectedness and interdependence in higher education with the Asian factor fully in focus."

- Anne Pakir, Associate Professor, National University of Singapore

"The rise of Asia has been a big theme of the global university rankings in recent years, with data showing some outstanding progress by a number of key universities backed by exceptionally generous funding and strong political will. But questions still remain about the true potential of Asia's universities and whether they can truly break the Western hegemony—so this book comes at a very important time."

- Phil Baty, Editor, Times Higher Education World University Rankings

"With Asia's rising influence in the global economy this is a timely collection on Asian higher education and its future promise. Given the rich traditions of Taxila and Nalanda in ancient India, Yuelu and other shuyuan, as well as China's fabled civil service examination system, it is not surprising to find the distinguished contributors to this volume opening up a wealth of interesting possibilities!"

- Ruth Hayhoe, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education, University of Toronto

"This is an outstanding collection of papers. They not only describe recent developments in Asian systems of higher education but also analyse the challenges that these pose for higher education everywhere. The rise of Asian universities, the papers show, is reconstituting the architecture of the global higher education, with far-reaching social, political, and economic consequences."

- Fazal Rizvi, Professor, University of Melbourne Graduate School of Education

Ranking of Asian universities

The QS World University Ranking is considered one of the most reliable sources that rank world universities based on 6 key factors: academic reputation (40%), employer reputation (10%), students-to-faculty ratio (20%), citation per faculty (20%), international faculty ratio (5%) and international students’ ratio (5%). It is considered a comprehensive method of assessment.

This year’s ranking had a number of Asian universities in the top 50 world universities: Hong Kong (3 universities), Japan (2 universities), China (3 universities), South Korea (2 universities), and Singapore (2 universities). Of course, there are more universities in the top 100.

In the top 50 under 50 universities, 19 Asian universities dominated the list. Universities from the UK and the US still dominate the top ranks, but Asian universities are slowly and steadily levelling the playing field.

The future

Overwhelming evidence point to one thing over and over, Asia. Science, technology, exploration, research, business, finance, education and more – China and few other Asian powers are raising to a point that pose a threat to the west and it is keeping western leaders on their toes every time the word China is uttered in any setting.

The future holds promising feats for Asian nations, but nothing is certain or set in stone.