Asia Pacific Education Review最新文献

University-industry collaboration (UIC) has emerged as a focal point in the contemporary global higher education landscape. Nevertheless, the underlying objectives for endorsing UIC often vary across national contexts despite a consensus on its collective benefits. This study endeavors to juxtapose the social imaginary surrounding UIC within three economically vigorous Asian countries: China, Japan, and Singapore through a multimodal discourse analysis. Findings reveal a consonant priority placed on the role of UIC as an innovation driver in all three contexts. However, whereas China has exhibited a pronounced tendency to harness industry sector dynamics to reform pedagogical frameworks within its higher educational institutions and promote economic development, Japan’s approach to UIC is more motivated by the intention to maintain international competitiveness and address societal challenges peculiar to the nation. Meanwhile, Singapore places research collaboration and internationalization at the heart of its UIC agenda and highlights them as the key factors driving its leadership in global cutting-edge technology. Practical implications for governments include placing equal emphasis on both education-focused and research-oriented UIC, fostering stronger R&D collaboration frameworks between universities and industries, designing policies that promote cross-sectoral trust-building, and aligning long-term goals with the more immediate needs of the industry.

This exploratory study utilized a conceptual framework for self-directed computer-assisted professional development (PD) to evaluate the implementation and outcomes of a six-month PD pilot program. The program was designed to enhance the English proficiency of Taiwanese bilingual school teachers through a computer-assisted learning platform. Using a narrative-based methodology, we constructed and analyzed vignettes from seven participating teachers using a conceptual framework that integrates motivation, self-management, platform readiness (ease of use), and self-monitoring. While self-directed computer-assisted PD offers promising opportunities for teacher development, this study reveals significant challenges, particularly in sustaining engagement and ensuring the platform aligns with teachers’ specific needs. Drawing on these insights, we offer several recommendations for schools to enhance the effectiveness of self-directed computer-assisted PD across diverse educational contexts based on the study’s conceptual model. These recommendations convey an overarching message: Self-directed PD should not be viewed as an isolated endeavor for teachers. Specifically, we underscore the importance of appointing a PD program administrator to facilitate the program model and guide teachers throughout the self-directed learning process.

Despite posing challenges for teachers and students in English-medium instruction (EMI) contexts, materials are a relatively under-researched area of EMI. Our preliminary study takes a humanistic perspective to examine the extent of English-language material use, and faculty and student perceptions of materials used for EMI in Japan and China. Data in this concurrent mixed-methods research came from two selected-response and one open-ended questionnaire question, as well as interactions during interviews and focus groups with teaching staff and students. Although a wide range of English-language materials are available, many of them are not suitable for use by EFL, ESL and Anglophone students. There is also a lack of breadth of cultural content and of cultural perspectives on content in English-language materials. Therefore, although EMI aims to internationalize curricula, materials, which are usually sourced from Anglophone contexts, may have the effect of Westernizing the curriculum in EMI contexts.

Scholars explain low levels of social engagement of disadvantaged students as self-isolation because they are endowed with lower levels of cultural and social capital. It renders a hopeless class reproduction conclusion, and it also reflects an implicit assumption that students engage academically and socially in parallel. To contribute both empirically and theoretically to student engagement research, we focus on rural students—a major disadvantaged student group in China—and whether they hold a student leadership role—a highly consequential social engagement activity in the Chinese setting. Utilizing a longitudinal survey, administrative records, and in-depth interviews of the 2014 freshmen cohort at an elite Chinese university, we find that rural students who progressed academically seemed to employ a sequential engagement strategy, “academics-first, social-second,” to catch up with urban students in holding a leadership role and have successfully coped with the challenges at both academic and social realms.

Rankings dominate higher education policy making, although little is known about the experiences of those involved in perpetuating rankings. This paper explores middle-level academic leaders’ sensemaking about university rankings and related policies in East Asia. Since university rankings have affected higher education policies and strategies more intensely in East Asia than in other regions of the world, our research aims to trace the process of meaning construction and reconstruction of the middle-level academic leaders directly involved with the rankings game. Qualitative data have been drawn from in-depth interviews with key informants across elite institutions in three East Asian countries (Mainland China, South Korea and Japan). Our findings show how even in the well performing countries (Mainland China and South Korea) the “ranking fever” has been replaced by the “ranking fatigue”. There is no running from rankings, but the paradox of not believing in them but engaging with them has created an affective response that is deeper than lack of trust towards the commercial system of ranking: it is a deeply rooted feeling of fatigue. This is leading the discussion on how to find an alternative to rankings and possibly forge a new path forward for East Asian universities, reshaping the geography of higher education in the region.

The integration of ICT in education in developing countries has become a significant focus in various ODA projects and educational research. With the increasing demand for teachers to incorporate ICT in their classrooms, the precise methods for effectively integrating ICT resources have not been thoroughly explored. Therefore, this research aimed to develop the most optimal instructional design principles that may systematically guide teachers in planning their lessons using ICT, specifically in the context of Bangladesh. By employing the design and development research method, this research developed an initial set of instructional design principles based on literature review and field research, then elaborated on the principles through three sets of internal validation tests and a usability test by conducting in-depth interviews to confirm the applicability of the principles in real classroom settings in Bangladesh. The final version of instructional design principles is composed of five components, ten principles, and 22 specific guidelines. Two distinct features of the principles are discussed for further research. In discussion, this research underscores the necessity of providing practical instructional design principles to guide teachers in effectively utilizing ICT, particularly within a resource-limited learning environment like Bangladesh.

The importance of improving schools, increasing teacher quality, and improving student learning has led to an increased focus on teachers’ professional learning and development (PLD). When organising PLD sessions in schools, it is crucial that they are well understood and that the needs of teachers are considered. This study aimed to examine teachers’ views vis-à-vis their professional growth in primary schools in Fiji. Specifically, it investigated the type of PLD organised in schools and the factors that need to be considered during planning. Semi-structured interviews, participant observation, and document records were used as data collection instruments. Twelve participants were purposefully selected from twelve different primary schools. The data were analysed thematically in 3 phases: identifying patterns, creating codes, and arranging codes into themes. The results suggest that teacher education on PLD is vital and that all those involved in the education system understand what PLD entails and consider the teacher’s needs when planning such sessions. The study also revealed that teachers participate in various forms of PLD that include school-based training organised on a regular basis and or when a teacher returns from workshops, and that information needs to be communicated to other teachers in school. Moreover, the study also revealed the critical role of change agents in facilitating PLD initiatives. However, to gain widespread acceptance, these change agents must demonstrate competence and earn the respect of their colleagues.

The present study aimed to investigate the relationship between foreign higher education and corruption in 14 home countries in the MENA region and 13 host countries from 2007 to 2021. Panel-estimated generalized least squares, robust least squares MM estimation, dynamic panel data estimation, and one-step difference generalized method of moments was used to overcome heterogeneity and endogeneity issues and increase robustness. The study adopted the positive grease-the-wheels theory of corruption and the greed or need (GONE) theory in which the need for corruption develops into greed for corruption, revealing a significant positive relationship between foreign higher education and corruption in the MENA countries. Meanwhile, the sand-in-the-wheel theory of corruption and anti-corruption mechanisms that encourage less greed per the GONE theory revealed a significant negative relationship between foreign higher education and corruption in origin countries after students returned to their home countries. The study findings support the idea that foreign knowledge is a blessing for MENA countries. Furthermore, there was a significant positive relationship between foreign higher education and corruption in the host countries because students adapted to the host country’s environment. The main conclusion was that governments should encourage students to study abroad in countries with less corruption, supporting the main hypothesis, which posited that ethics and values are adopted abroad and transferred to home countries. Furthermore, constitutional reform and economic development should be adopted to implement the anti-corruption system and control public spending on education.