SHAPING THE FUTURE HOW CHANGING DEMOGRAPHICS CAN POWER HUMAN DEVELOPMENT

BOX 3.5:
Benchmarking universities globally
Higher education increasingly became a global
market in the 1990s, and universities are now
subject to global rankings. The best known are
the Shanghai Jiaotong University and the Times
Higher Education rankings, which apply criteria
involving teaching, research, knowledge transfer
and international outlook. While there are many
critiques of these rankings, they appear set to
stay, underlining that universities in Asia-Pacific
will have to compete to attract the best students
and best-qualified faculty from across the world.
The poor performance of universities in South and
South-east Asia is not surprising. Higher education
institutions in Asia-Pacific as a whole, including the
famed Indian Institutes of Technology, have primarily
been teaching centres. Only recently have some
begun to focus more on research. Most universities
in the region do not have separate categories of
teaching and research staff. Attempts to improve
higher education have been characterized by overregulation,
which has proved counterproductive,
particularly in terms of innovation.
The 2014-2015 Times Higher Education rankings
showed that the United States dominates in the
best higher education institutions, with 74 institutions
in the top 200. The United Kingdom ranks
second with 29, Germany third with 12 and the
Netherlands fourth with 11. North America and
Europe together account for 167 universities in the
top 200. Though almost half of the world’s higher
education students are located in Asia-Pacific, the
region is struggling to gain high rankings. Only a
few countries in the region have universities in the
top 200 category: Australia with 8; Japan with 5;
the Republic of Korea with 4; Hong Kong, China
(SAR) with 4; China with 3; Singapore with 2 and
New Zealand with 1.
Poor quality in higher education propels many
young people to study elsewhere. Students from
Asia comprise a significant proportion of the total
international student body in North America,
Europe and Oceania. Some universities from
developed countries, including Australia, Canada,
the United Kingdom and the United States, are
increasingly establishing foreign branch campuses
in Asian developing countries. The aim is to provide
access to Asian students who otherwise may not
be able to afford an overseas study experience.
Sources: Welch 2011.
urgent investment, this situation may worsen,
as the middle class expands from 525 million in
2009 to 3.2 billion in 2030. 29 With many able
to pay for education, they may increasingly look
to private institutions, as is already happening.
Another driver of demand will be the need to
boost productivity, given ageing populations.
These issues will require transformational change
in tertiary education at a pace and scale never
seen before (Box 3.5).
Beyond access, there are issues of affordability,
quality and accountability in higher
education. Expansion has been uneven and
inconsistently regulated, boosting accessibility,
but not necessarily excellence or equity. The
quality of learning, teaching, research and innovation
have not kept pace in general, even as
some Asia-Pacific countries top global higher
education rankings. In many Asia-Pacific countries,
rapid expansion of enrolment in combination
with budget constraints has resulted in an
increase in student-faculty ratios and erosion of
the quality of library and laboratory facilities.
Consequently, the quality of higher education
has declined. 30
YOUTH ILLITERACY REMAINS
AN OBSTACLE
The global number of illiterate young people
declined from 139 million in 1999 to 126 million
in 2012, but youth illiteracy is quite widespread
in the region (Table 3.9). Around 175 million
young people in low- and lower-middle-income
countries—around a quarter of the youth population—cannot
read all or part of a sentence,
implying they are functionally illiterate. 31 Among
illiterate youth, young women comprise 61
percent (Table 3.15).
Literacy rates for youth aged 15 to 24 have
improved everywhere; globally, the rate increased
from 87 percent to 90 percent in the last decade.
The future of
the region depends
on eliminating
youth illiteracy and
associated gender
disparities
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