The quest for regional education hub status and transnational higher education : challenges for managing human capital in Asia

Attempting to transform the university sector to become globally competitive, many Asian governments have made serious efforts to benchmark against leading universities in Europe, North America and Australia to enhance their global competitiveness. Realizing the importance of higher education and the potential of the education market not only for generating additional national income but also for asserting “soft power” in the highly competitive world, the governments of Malaysia, Hong Kong and Singapore have put serious effort in a quest for regional education hub status, while China has tried to engage overseas partners to diversify transnational higher education (TNHE) programmes catering to citizens’ pressing demand for education. This article critically examines what major strategies these Asian societies have adopted to enhance their national competitiveness in an increasingly globalizing world. More importantly, a close examination of recent developments of regional education hubs in Asia in general and the rise of transnational higher education in particular would provide a wider policy context for the discussions in this special issue on “Managing Human Capital in Asian Cities: Challenges for Educational Governance”. Starting with these general considerations, this article focuses on a few major societies in East Asia by critically examining major strategies that these Asian governments have adopted in the quest to become regional education hubs and the expansion of transnational higher education. The second part of the article briefly reviews the major arguments of the articles in this special issue, while the final part will critically examine major policy implications of implementing such policies and strategies in educational development in Asia.