Cooperation and competition in tango : transnationalization of higher education and the emergence of regulatory regionalism in Asia

Confronted with a growing pressure for internationalization, together with the strong urge for enhancing the global status in the highly competitive knowledge-based economy, many Asian governments have adopted different strategies to make their higher education (HE) more competitive through the quest for becoming a regional education hub and the transnationalization of HE in order to assert their regional/global influences. Unquestionably, the rise of transnational higher education (TNHE) and the quest for regional education hub status among Asian countries has suggested more competition. However, we have also observed more regional cooperation emerging through various kinds of bilateral and multilateral collaborations among Asian states with attempts to strengthen the regional influences in coping with the growing challenges from their counterparts in Europe and North America. One of the major trends of changing university governance is the emergence of regulatory regionalism, which is reflected by the striking features of recent developments in regional governance that transcend territorial spaces of nation states. This chapter sets out against this policy context to examine major policies introduced and strategies employed by governments in selected Asian societies – Singapore and Malaysia – in expanding TNHE programs and actively involving regional collaborations. More specifically, this chapter also reviews major developments of deepening regional cooperation among Asian countries/societies to assert their regional influences in the globalizing world