Search

This report shares the findings and lessons learned from an investigation into the economics of disaggregated models for assessing and accrediting informal learners undertaking post secondary education. It presents some key economic and governance challenges for universities to consider in implementing OER assessment and accreditation policies. It also includes discussion of findings from a small-scale survey conducted by two of the authors on perceptions, practices and policies relating to openness in assessment and accreditation in post secondary institutions, with a particular focus on the "OER universitas" (OERu) concept. [This paper was presented at the OpenCourseWare Consortium Global Conference (Ljubljana, Slovenia, April 23-25, 2014).]

This position paper sets out to examine value creation in the engineering enterprise, a process that has mostly been associated with innovation and entrepreneurs. An analysis of the literature on engineering value creation in business studies, engineering and engineering education publications shows that there has been surprisingly little empirical study and thus the means by which most engineers contribute value is unclear in the literature. Analysis of published data and data from studies by the authors in engineering workplaces in Australia, South East Asia and Portugal suggests that the work performed by most engineers has little to do with innovation. Based on these data the authors identify 14 ways in which engineers create value. An important finding is that routine engineering performances by a majority of engineers, not associated with innovation or entrepreneurial activities, not only can be shown to create value, but also to protect accumulated value from inadvertent destruction. The paper outlines the educational implications of these findings and proposes measures that engineering educators can adopt to improve the understanding of engineering graduates about engineering value creation.

How much is hegemony and how much is self-determination in the higher education systems in Southeast Asia? This paper argues that while the question of centre and periphery is still relevant to the analysis of international university systems, the analytical frameworks from which it has arisen may lose viability in the long term. Southeast Asian states are making use of higher education to act in ways that will contribute to the altering of their peripheral position in the global economic and political system. While changes in Southeast Asian higher education are closely tied to global markets and follow what sometimes appears to be a dependent pattern of adaptations driven by Western developed economies, the paper argues that there is also a significant amount of resistance. As Southeast Asian countries adapt in ways that help embed economic globalisation within their national landscape, the manner in which the adaptation occurs is more selective, open, and democratic than before. Moreover, while global communication with core (centre) university systems has been more open and transparent, the system is closed to direct intervention from the outside, making hegemony a less plausible explanation for the manner in which the system is reacting within the new global environment of financial interdependency.

Considering accountability, affordability, and access through the experiences in Chile, East Asia, Australia, Croatia, and the United States offers a clear reminder that trends and issues in higher education are often more similar across national contexts than they are distinct. Across higher education, institutions and systems are responding to massification, with concerns related to an often dramatic increase in participation prompting efforts toward quality assurance. That these accountability initiatives require enhanced capacity in institutional research is an essential lesson from the accounts of the five national experiences. In this article, the author provides a few reflections on accountability, affordability, and access worldwide.

Abstract: Population aging (an increase in the share of the elderly in total population) is occurring in many, if not most, countries in the world, including those in Asia. Both economists and policymakers warn that population aging can have many deleterious effects on a country's economy including a decline in its saving rate, the emergence of a labor shortage, a deterioration in government finances owing to increased spending on old‐age related programs, and reduced innovation and productivity growth. It is therefore imperative for countries to prepare themselves for the advent of an aged society. The emerging and developing countries in Asia are no exception, with the region generally lacking adequate systems in such areas as long‐term care, public pensions, and health insurance. Against this background, an international workshop on “Aging in Asia” was held in Kitakyushu City, Japan, on November 15 to 16, 2016. The workshop was jointly sponsored by the Asian Development Bank Institute and the Asian Growth Research Institute and was organized by Charles Yuji Horioka, Peter J. Morgan, Yoko Niimi, and Guanghua Wan. This special issue of the Review includes nine papers presented at this workshop plus one paper that was not presented there but was written by one of the workshop participants. All of these papers underwent the usual rigorous refereeing process of this Review. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The structure of fiscal expenditure in China has been suffering from over-reliance on a single type, while synchronisation and coordination with economic growth are lacking. This paper studies and analyses fiscal expenditure and green from a theoretical perspective. There is a close link between the structure of fiscal expenditure and green economic growth, and a reasonable and appropriate selection and allocation is conducive to promoting the overall development level of China, while financial resources input is a key consideration in optimising the structure of fiscal expenditure. This paper proposes hypotheses and establishes a regression model after an in-depth study of fiscal expenditure in a provincial economy in Asia in the light of domestic and international literature. Through empirical analysis, a green GDP reflecting economic growth and environmental pollution is synthesised using the principle of output per unit of pollution, and the impact of fiscal expenditure structure on green economic growth in China is empirically tested. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The article announces that the Program Committee of the 12th International Convention of the East Asian Economic Association Convention is calling for papers related to its theme "Asia and the Global Economic Recovery." Possible topics for thematic sessions include economic integration, multinationals, global imbalances, and multinationals while for general sessions include exchange rates, labor and human resources, and financial institutions and markets. It is noted that the convention will be held in Seoul, Korea on October 2 and 3, 2010.

National contributions to science are influenced by a number of factors, including economic capacity, national scientific priorities, science policy, and institutional settings and cultures. Nations do not have equal opportunities to access the global scientific market, and therefore, often seek out international partners with complementary resources and expertise. This study aims at investigating national collaboration strategies, with a focus on research leadership—measured through corresponding authorship—and its relationship with scientific impact. Results show that countries with higher R&D investments are more scientifically independent, and confirm that international collaboration is positively related to citation impact. However, leadership in international collaboration is inversely related with a countries’ share of international collaboration and there is a very little relationship between citation impact and international leadership. For instance, most countries—and particularly those that have fewer resources—have higher scientific impact when they are not leading. This suggests that, despite increasing global participation in science, most international collaborations are asymmetrical, and that the research system remains structured around a few dominate nations. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This paper aims to demonstrate the impact of coal enterprises’ vertical integration on the performance of innovation corporate social responsibility (ICSR) and to elaborate its specific transmission path through financing structure and market power. This paper takes the data of A-share listed coal company from 2008 to 2017 as samples, uses input-output table method to measure the degree of vertical integration, and explores the relationship between the four factors through multiple linear regression and Bootstrap method. We found that: (1) the vertical integration of coal enterprises has positive incentives for the promotion of ICSR. (2) Financing structure and market power play a chain intermediary role in this process of incentive. (3) In areas with high marketization process, vertical integration has more significant incentive effect on ICSR. The paper extends the research on the relationship between vertical integration and innovation, which provides a reference for the improvement of China’s supply-side reform and corporate social responsibility (CSR) fulfillment policy. It is helpful to promote the sustainable development of the coal industry, stimulate the innovation vitality of enterprises, and improve the fulfillment of CSR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

"This paper examines the growth experience of 20 states of India during 1961-91, using cross-sectional estimation and the analytical framework of the Solow-Swan neoclassical growth model. We find evidence of absolute convergence--initially poor states grew faster than their initially rich counterparts. Also, the dispersion of real per capita state incomes widened over the period 1961-91. However, relatively more grants were transferred from the central government to the poor states than to their rich counterparts. Significant barriers to population flows also exist, as net migration from poor to rich states responded only weakly to cross-state income differentials.", (excerpt)