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Session Submission Summary

Master’s education in east Asia: access, learning, and employment

Tue, April 16, 10:00 to 11:30am, Hyatt Regency, Floor: Pacific Concourse (Level -1), Pacific L

Group Submission Type: Formal Panel Session

Proposal

Objectives and main questions addressed by the panel

This panel aims to address the issues of expanding master’s education and its current challenges in East Asia, focusing on Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, China and Taiwan. Although the massification of higher education at the undergraduate level has been discussed in many Asian countries for the past three decades, the expansion of postgraduate education has rarely been studied. It is not easy to obtain precise figures on programmes and students in master’s programmes since they are very diverse across countries and institutions. It is also challenging to define and generalise the aims of master’s education and ascertain the knowledge and skills a student will have upon completion of the programme. In addition, most studies in master’s level have been conducted in USA, UK, and Australia contexts and there is little known in Asian context. Considering the scale of rapid expansion on master’s education in Asian countries, it is worthwhile to address historical development of master’s education in advanced Asian higher education systems and its contribution to their higher education and current challenges including access, quality of learning experiences, internationalization and employment issues of graduates.

The panel begins by describing the key changes in the higher education environment in relation to master’s education locally, regionally, and globally, and highlights how master’s education has been developed in each of case countries in East Asia. In addition, the panel aims to explore the key issues of master’s education in selected higher education systems such as changes of student demographics (i.e. increasing number of part-time students and international students), diversity of master’s degrees types (research oriented, vocation oriented, and on-line degree), learning experiences and employability, career path of graduates, and policy strategies for quality improvement in selected Asian countries. The objectives of this panel are as follows:

• To compare the historical backgrounds and key characteristics of master’s education in selected East Asian countries
• To identify current figures of master’s education including different types of master’s degrees, programmes, and the number of institutions and enrolled students
• To identify recent students’ profile in master’s education and their new demands for master’s education in terms of their employability and academic aspiration
• To explore major government policies and their impacts in regard to master’s education
• To address the major issues of current master’s education including admission and access, and internationalization

Theoretical and conceptual framework

Each presentation in this panel is based on different theoretical and conceptual frameworks. First, the panel discusses access and admission issues of master’s education based on human, social, and cultural capital theory. One of the most well-known theories in pursing higher education is the human capital theory, which show that students choose to study further to accumulate their capital and gain extra credentials for the labour market (Becker, 1962). In addition, Perna (2004)’s recent work included cultural and social capital concept to explain the access to master’s degree. For example, the amount of cultural capital possessed by an individual such as language, cultural activities and preferences influences on educational choice for further study. Individuals also make a choice for further study to expand their social connections and resources since this network can be improved through postgraduate studies (Dumais, 2002; Perna, 2006).

Second, credential theory (Collins, 1979) is applied to discuss employability and labour outcomes of graduates from master’s programmes. In particular, when large number of students attain bachelor’s degree, the signalling value of first degree is weakened and the advantage of master’s degree becomes strong since the additional education acts as a proxy for abilities and talents and employers use that education as a tool to evaluate potential of employees (Bills, 2003). This panel discusses whether master’s degree actually increases employability and labour outcomes of graduates in massified higher education contexts.

Third, to discuss learning experiences of master’s students and their academic aspirations to pursue further degree (i.e. doctoral degree) and become academics, this panel introduces academic identity theory (Taylor, 1989; Clegg, 2008). Master’s programmes in many higher education systems are still regarded as a stepping stone for the doctoral degree and they aim to develop research capacity through the whole degree programmes. This panel describes how master’s students develop their academic identity and what motivates them to pursue the doctoral degree.

Significance and impacts

The panel makes a theoretical contribution to the discipline by building on the nature of master’s education. Based on a critical literature review and empirical data from different country cases, this panel aims to define what the master’s education is for in East Asian higher education and to explain how this concept is different in a master’s programme than in any other higher education level. Practically speaking, the research findings can provide implications for redesigning programmes to better meet the expectations of current master’s degree students by considering the diversity of current students’ academic, cultural and professional backgrounds

Contribution to the field of comparative/international education and to the conference theme

The panel t is particularly meaningful since it applies a comparative perspective. Considering the different histories of postgraduate education, higher education policies and structures of master’s education, this project utilises the comparative examination of the expansion of master’s education in terms of types of degrees, types of programmes, numbers of students and policy strategies in Hong Kong, South Korea, China, Taiwan and Japan. This comparative study identifies the contribution of master’s education in their own higher education systems in terms of the labour market, industrial development, academic enterprise, and knowledge system in macro-level. It also identifies students’ profile changes, their new demands and expectations for learning experience in micro-level.

The theme of coming CIES is the ‘education for sustainability’, and this panel is also considerable related with sustainability issue in higher education. Master’s education is rapidly changing, with an increasing number of students (including part-time and non-traditional learners), diversified programmes and modes of delivery. Some scholars believe that the master’s degree will continue to dominate post-baccalaureate education; others suggest that these degrees will be replaced by shorter term, more specialized and less expensive non-degree experiences. Current master’s degree programmes in many countries are expanding too fast relying on self-funded programmes and they are used as a tool to generate institutional revenues. Thus, the panel contributes to exploring the way to make the sustainable postgraduate system in master’s level.

Sub Unit

Individual Presentations