Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education Deane Neubauer Co-Director, Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership Asian University Leadership Program April 5, 2016 Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education

Differing notions of “sustainability” “Don’t fall backward” “Continue making forward progress” “Continuous improvement” Continue “fit for purpose” Keep the system intact without making significant changes in inputs, outputs, or the “costs” of processes. “Compared with what?” Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education

Keep System Intact without Making Significant Changes What this means depends on a host of social/environmental factors such as demography, economic changes, ability to respond to globalization challenges, etc. What this means shifts both subtly and massively with both internal and external social changes, e.g. level of political and social stability; economic climate; technology etc. Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education

Don’t Fall Backward What this means depends on the notion or a measurement at any given time…for example if the current system has significant inequalities, and one goes “forward” in some sensible way without “improving” on those inequalities, is this sustainability? Interesting examples: China, India, Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education

Continue Forward Progress This notion assumes that the “direction” of a higher education system can be measured and characterized such that the idea of “progress” has discrete empirical correlates And, that the system is within a change process such as an effective strategic plan that both indicates direction and provides for suitable measurement And, that such a plan is sufficiently flexible to deal with external variables that impress upon the institution and/or system Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education

Continuous Improvement The conventional watch word in higher education accreditation and quality assurance is “making continuous quality improvement” The issue of sustainability raises this question of (a) whether institutions and systems have such a commitment, (b) how such efforts should be conceptualized and operationalized, and (c) how they should be measured. All of these elements then have to be linked into some relationship between institutional inputs and outputs. Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education

Continue Fit for Purpose One aspect of massification in Asia, e.g. Taiwan, China, Korea, Japan, is the “transformation of HEIs” to new missions as systems struggle to “match” capacity with societal needs… One instance is the process of 211 and 985 institutions in China; Centers for Excellence in Japan; Brain 2020 in Korea and other state investment activities Another in the conversion of full-HEIs into technical institutions (China) In any and all such instances, capacity has to be “relinked” to purpose to ensure fit Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education

Compared with What? Or whom? What do you want to be when you “grow up”? What is the “system” designed to produce? World class institutions that can challenge the top of the rankings? HEI outputs that maximize social and economic values? Specialized institutions that can “match up with economic development needs” and innovation? Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education

What It Adds Up To! Sustainability requires more than mere rhetorical commitment It can occur within HEI systems only where there is clarity of purpose, systematical identified levels of support, matching of goals with capabilities And, some mechanisms of effective “futuring” to gain insights into changing environments of all kind, combined with a process that feeds these elements back into the system. Challenges for Sustainability in Asian Higher Education