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The Challenge of Building World Class Universities in The Asian Region
The Challenge of Building World Class Universities in The Asian Region
John Niland [A past Vice-Chancellor and President of Univ New South Wales ) This is an edited extract from a public lecture delivered at the National University of Singapore on the 25th June, 1998. To me, these are the most exciting, stimulating and challenging times for universities, although I know some say gloomily that universities are under pressure as never before. This certainly is a common view I have heard during the past year in Australia and on visits to Canada, Germany and the United Kingdom. In the United States, on the other hand, research-intensive universities are riding the crest of rising support. And in The Peoples Republic of China the Government not only recognises the importance of Chinas university system overall, but is committed to promoting quite strategically a group of Chinese universities into the world-class league. My conviction, the passion which inspires my colleagues and me at the University of New South Wales, is that despite current economic difficulties we have an historic opportunity in the Asian region:
To develop universities which are unsurpassed in any part of the world; To use the ever-expanding frontiers of knowledge and the astonishing advances in technology to create the highest quality of research and teaching; and To serve our students and our national, regional and global communities at the leading edge.
of the next generation. Mobility in reputations, as much as with staff and students, helps keep the flame alive!
One thing is certain the title of world-class wont come at a discount price, and without world-class funding the goal of reaching, and preserving, that high standard will be rhetoric alone.
Mutual recognition of each members programs for degree progression requirements; Fully-integrated academic programs in pilot areas, possibly leading to joint-badged degrees; Extensive staff exchanges for areas such as student administration, facilities management and financial services; Open access to each members courseware, and internet program delivery as well as intellectual property alliances; and Informed benchmarking across an array of performance areas.
as a commodity. Research institutes, think tanks and consulting firms are all new competitors to universities in this knowledge economy. Our traditional universities already have virtual features with information technology networks, distance delivery, internet and e-mail access, websites and computerised research facilities. Even for a traditional university, methods of communication, administrative processes, managing campus facilities and the actual process of research, teaching and learning can all be made virtual to some extent. What we are working through is to arrive at the right balance between the physical and the virtual presence. The virtual attributes, managed carefully, can breathe life into strategic alliances, can help bring institutions otherwise isolated beyond the critical mass to compete in the larger league. Comparative classes in politics and law can be taught jointly by universities in different countries. Students can even be linked to scientific expeditions occurring far from the university campus and be involved in the collection and analysis of data as it happens. The possibilities are endless. So it really all depends on how it is done on the nature of the strategic choices exercised. And this brings me to the central point, which is that there are choices to be made, and strategies to be set, and while it once took centuries to build reputation as a university of renown, the timeline on this has been collapsed.
The greatly increased international movement of students in both international enrolment study abroad programs. The training of educators to work effectively in a multi-cultural framework. Employment contracts for new academic staff requiring offshore as well as onshore deployment as the need arises. The marketing of education services on an international scale, and university budgets becoming more and more locked into this. Joint degrees and double badging of testamurs between like-minded institutions. The adaptation of the teaching/learning framework to an international context. Graduates regularly taking their university qualifications beyond national borders, as professional labour markets become truly internationalised.