Korean Educational Development Institute(KEDI)

21st Century Trend Analysis in Global Education Reform (Ⅲ): The Innovation of Higher Education in the Global Age

Globalization is a strong power to impact on the world’s economics and society as well as higher education. In the field of higher education, institutions are on a race of internationalization as a strategy of competitiveness in the era of globalization. The aim of this study was to examine the trends of higher education reform and compare the best practices of successful institutions in developed countries in order to suggest the implications of Korean higher education reform.

Firstly, we analyzed the future environment and its implications for higher education in terms of political, economic, social, and technological disciplines. In addition to this environmental analysis procedure, based on the review of the OECD research including 'Higher Education to 2030, Volume 2. Globalization', we designed a framework for analysis. The framework consists of five different topics: internationalization(focusing on crossing-border), research and development, quality assurance, regionalism, and privatization. This frame also adopted the macroscopic (government level) and microscopic (university level) view point.

Considering their regions and levels of higher education, we selected four countries for case study among countries, which showed higher ranking in IMD national competitiveness evaluation and Global Competitiveness Index (GCI). They are United states, Australia, Finland, and Singapore. Based on the analysis framework, we explored their background of higher education and compared their policies of governmental and institutional levels. We also conducted focus group interview and had an workshop with academic and field experts of higher education. We utilized the T.A.I.D.A techniques to produce the vision, current status, strategies, and tasks in workshop with experts. This process guided us to identify the new directions and tasks of higher education.