Mobility, formation and development of the academic profession in science, technology, engineering and mathematics in East and South East Asia

• Published in: Comparative education Vol. 52; no. 1; pp. 44 - 61
• Main Authors: Yonezawa, Akiyoshi, Horta, Hugo, Osawa, Aki
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Oxford Routledge 02.01.2016; Routledge Journals, Taylor & Francis; Taylor & Francis Ltd
• Subjects: academic mobility; Academic profession; Asia; Cambodia; China; College Faculty; Comparative Analysis; Comparative Education; East Asia; Educational systems; Engineering; Engineers; Foreign Countries; Foreign Students; Global Approach; globalisation; Globalization; Graduate Study; Higher Education; Hong Kong; Identity; International Cooperation; Japan; Korea; Malaysia; Mathematics; Mobile communication systems; Open Universities; School faculty; Singapore; Southeast Asia; STEM Education; Student Mobility; Surveys; Taiwan; Transnationalism; Vietnam; South Korea; Vietnam; Singapore; Cambodia; Hong Kong; Asia; China; Japan; Taiwan; Malaysia; East Asia; Southeast Asia
• ISSN: 0305-0068; 1360-0486
• DOI: 10.1080/03050068.2015.1125617

The academic profession contributes to shaping the capacity and identity of higher education systems. In East and Southeast Asia, there is a need for further discussion on the regional identity characteristics of the academic profession to account for its multiple origins and national and international dimensions. Data from two large-scale comparative surveys and secondary sources are used to investigate the role of international mobility in the formation and development of East and Southeast Asian academics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Based on Kim and Locke's [2010. "Transnational Academic Mobility and the Academic Profession." In Higher Education and Society: A Research Report. London: CHERI, Open University] framework, patterns of academic mobility are examined in relation to the formation and development of higher education systems. The analysis shows mixed trends in the international flow of academics and the formation of the region's academic profession in relation to more or less independent or colonial historical backgrounds. Recent globalisation and regionalisation initiatives seem likely to transform the heterogeneous identities of the region's academic profession.