Reading the water
Prof Tan delivering the keynote address at the Georgetown University Fall Faculty Convocation
To chart the course and navigate the currents of higher education, a university must be able to "read the water. NUS President Professor Tan Chorh Chuan shared his insights on negotiating the eddies of global education at the Georgetown University Fall Faculty Convocation in the US on 14 October.
As keynote speaker at the significant annual ceremony where Georgetown University faculty members were recognised for their achievements, Prof Tan's address on "The aims of education: Some perspectives from Asia touched on trends happening around the world the internationalisation of higher education; mismatches between the skills employers want and what graduates possess; changing nature of jobs due to technology; and the "sharing economy that involves online learning.
Prof Tan identified three major "currents in Asia, which comprises a very heterogenous mix of countries, with economies and higher education systems at very different stages of development.
First, higher education in Asia is massifying at an unprecedented pace and scale.
The British Council estimates that by 2020, China and India together would have 65 million students in tertiary education compared with 20 million in the US. "This is a challenge but it does open exciting new opportunities for Asia to innovate and to partner others, to raise the impact of its higher education sector, Prof Tan noted.
Second, a major priority in many Asian countries is to develop world-class universities.
A key reason is that many Asian nations see the world-class university as a necessary driver of more knowledge- and innovation-based economic growth. This desire has prompted substantially more public funding for selected universities in countries such as China, Japan and Korea.
In addition, Asian universities have been actively learning and adapting from the best of US models, principally in university governance; recruitment, promotion and tenure practices; alumni cultivation; and fundraising, Prof Tan pointed out.
Third is a growing interest in liberal arts education in several parts of Asia. Though a nascent trend, he expects this to grow over time.
For instance, NUS and Yale University jointly set up Yale-NUS College, the only liberal arts college in Singapore, as both were keen to innovate to develop a liberal arts education programme which might serve as a distinctive model for the future.
Prof Tan observed that although much of the focus of higher education in Asia has been largely utilitarian with some parts influenced by Confucian traditions, there is growing appreciation that universities need to foster more critical thinking and creativity given the changing nature of work and society in a complex world.
"Each of us has the opportunity to read and interpret ‘the water', to define the purposes that are enduring and the areas where innovation and reimagination are vital. Within this diversity of thinking and experimentation, we will find ideas, inspiration and partnerships that will enable each of our institutions and global higher education as a whole, to grow stronger, and to keep creating distinctive value well into the future, Prof Tan concluded.
