Ways to internationalized higher education institution Singapore and Hong Kong

• In Event: Examining internationalization and regionalization in higher education

Proposal

This research focuses on exploring how universities in Hong Kong and Singapore effectively cope with challenges associated with internationalization of higher education (HE). Specifically, what governmental policies and administrative measures help higher education institutions (HEIs) gain international recognition in these two places?

These two cities are predominately populated by Chinese ethnicity, which is 91.6% of Hong Kong (The Census and Statistics Department, 2022) and approximately 74.1% of the Singaporean population (Department of Statistics Singapore, 2022). The predominance of Chinese ethnicity residing in these two cities presumably forms a society strongly influenced by Chinese culture, particularly Confucian doctrines. Marginson (2010) categorizes China, Hong Kong, and Singapore as Confucian education zones where this Confucian model's distinctive features and dynamism differ remarkably from those of HEIs in the rest of the world. From this perspective, the philosophic and cultural differences between Chinese and Western societies explain that the Western model of internationalization might not be the one-fit-all solution for Confucian model universities. Simultaneously, this study also critically evaluates this theoretical framework by demonstrating the different policies and strategies to internationalization of HE adopted by these two state cities, as opposed to the author’s generalized claim.

The second theoretical framework underpinning this study is the complexity theory (Larsen-freeman, 1997), a transdisciplinary theory used to deal with changes and examine the dynamics of complex systems. Through the lens of complexity theory, the internationalization process can be regarded as a complex system encompassing different components that are constantly changing, interconnected, interdependent, nonlinear, and open to the external environment. Knight (2004) claims that an approach is not stagnated but rather changes during different developmental stages. Incorporating this theoretical framework can help us better understand the dynamic and interrelated relationships between different sub-components (funding, policies, resources, actions, context) and why certain approaches to internationalization are adopted. Based on this theory, this study argues that a fixed culture-specific viewpoint to generalize the internationalization processes of all the countries that fall into a particular cultural category might not be appropriate and could potentially lead to fallacious assumptions.

This study will contribute to an enhanced understanding of the internationalization of HE in the Confucian-influenced area by moving away beyond the hegemonic account of the Westernized education perspective and investigating how HEIs successfully internationalize in a non-Western context.

Additionally, both cities initiated the internationalization process in their high education system in the early stage due to their shared colonial legacy of being ex-British colonies. By comparing these two cities, it can shed light on how the divergences in governmental policies and interpretations of internationalization can lead to different developmental paths, despite a similar historical context.

More importantly, the majority of HEIs in these two cities enjoy high international recognition and both cities are vying to be an education hub in the Asian region (Sharma, 2011, Ka-ho, 2017). Through thorough comparison and contrast of various policies adopted by these two cities, it can achieve a better understanding of the internationalization processes under the Confucian-influenced context. This study is an attempt to address the scarcity of research that unearth successful strategies to internationalize HEIs from an Asian perspective, especially focusing on comparing Hong Kong and Singapore where world-class universities are located.

Analyzing from the complexity theory perspective offers us a conceptual lens to see how various factors, including local circumstances, nuanced interpretations of international practices, disparate values in governance, and their ultimate visions of growing themselves into regional education hubs, influence each of its internationalization processes and HE system. This paper thus argues the necessity to move away from an oversimplified and fixed perspective to viewing internationalization of HE within a country or an economy because of their common Confucian values and neglect those interrelated, interdependent, and interconnected factors.

Author

• Rui Dong CHEN, Ontario Institute for Studies in Education (OISE), University of Toronto