Formulating International Higher Education Framework for Regional Cooperation and Integration in Asia
(Parallel Discussion 2)
January 17, 2008

Session III : Responses of Leading Universities in Asia for Globalization andRegionalization of Higher Education
Format & Editing: David Passarelli
Transcription: Kyoko Moriya/Opening Statement/Professor Kazuo KURODA/Waseda University
We shall begin, may I ask you to please take your seats.
I would like to begin with one or two announcements. First, I terribly regret to announce
that Professor Ma will not be joining us this afternoon. She has come done with the flu
and was not able to make the trip to Tokyo. She extends her sincerest apologies for not
being able to make it to this gathering. She noted that in her 20-year research career,
this is the first time she has had to cancel such a trip. However, she has submitted avery well made PowerPoint presentation which David Passarelli, one of graduate
students, will present.
Also, I had suggested a 20-minute break between the third and the fourth session, but
based on the suggestions I received, I would like to amalgamate both sessions in order toend the symposium a little earlier.
I would like to hand the microphone to Professor Sonoda, who will be moderating thisthird session.
Thank you.

/Session Moderator/Professor Shigeto SONODA/Waseda University
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
My name is Shigeto Sonoda and I have to confess that my specialty is not international
education, but comparative sociology. There are a few reasons for my presence here today,
notably because of my close relationship with Professor Kuroda, but in addition, because
I am the general secretary of the Global COE program. This is the first reason.
Secondly, I’ve been working as associate dean for the Centre for International Education
at Waseda University. I will, therefore, on the one had act as the moderator for thissession, and later I will have the opportunity to present Waseda Univesity’s work ininternational education, our stance on regionalization and the ‘Asianization’ ofinternational education here.

To begin this session, I would like to invite David Passarelli, in lieu of Professor Ma topresent Peking University’s efforts to internationalize its institution.

/Professor Wan-hua MA/Peking University/Presentation: Leading University’s Role in Regional Cooperation andIntegration/Delivered in absentia by David Passarelli
Thank you, Professor Sonoda.
We are all aware of the time constraints, so I have prepared a summary of Professor
Ma’s presentation. I will apologize in advance for any errors I may commit in delivering
this summary.
Professor Ma’s first slides discuss the leading university’s role in regional cooperation
integration. Regional corporation and integration are terms that have been used
extensively in political science and economics. Traditionally, countries create alliances
based on needs, ranging from economic development to security concerns. Professor Ma
suggests that out of economic globalization, a new situation has arisen which willfurther set the scene for regionalization. This presentation will focus on the role ofleading universities in the process of regionalization.
Since the 1970s, various forms of economic cross-regional and regional organizations
begin to appear; such as the EU, ASEAN, NAFTA and APEC. Though primarily
economic in focus, these organizations have a lasting impact on higher education.
A good example of regional organizations exerting influence over higher education
systems can be found in the EU and the continuing development of the Bologna process.
In Asia, Professor Ma suggests that there is no such a political framework to provide
support for the integration higher education systems, taking as an example, the EU.
Rather, in the field of higher education in East Asia, especially in China, researchers
seldom talk about regional cooperation, but talk instead of internationalization andglobalization, or sometimes localization.
Though internationalization has been defined in many ways, for this presentation,internationalization is considered as a proactive effort on the part of universities toembrace their universal nature by opening their curriculum, research, classrooms, andnetworks to the world. Professor Ma suggests that internationalization or‘Englishnization’ is very fundamental to the leading Chinese universities. For example,
all of the students have to take English level 6 examination in order for them to secure
employment after their graduation in China.
Economic globalization has exerted a great influence over higher education. In the GATS,
for example, higher education is viewed as a service sector within an economy. Higher
education is also considered to be a very important service industry to many developed
countries, such as Australia, Britain, Canada and the United States; with thousands ofChinese students having brought millions of dollars to these countries. Statistics showthat just in mainland China, in 2007, roughly 68,000 students went to the United States,
versus the 8000 or so that went to Japan and the 7,000 who went to South Korea.
Where there is concern of an overwhelming Americanization of higher education, someinstitutions have begun using the term localization to preserve diversity; Simon
Marginson employs the term Glocalization to describe this phenomenon.
Looking at the higher education scene, we can observe many policy changes; such as theBrains South Korea for the 21st century; in Japan the legalization of public universities
in 2003, as well as the establishment of COE programs; and in China the 211 and 985
projects. These are considered country projects to promote the growth of leading
universities in East Asia and to further differentiate the internal system of higher
education.
In the field of higher education, the ‘flagship university,’ the ‘world-class university’ andthe emerging ‘global research universities’ are used to describe new developmental
trends amongst leading universities throughout the world.
Like regional economic organizations, leading universities are also organized together.
In East Asia, for example, the four university presidents of Tokyo University, Seoul
National University, Peking University and Vietnam National University, Hanoi, meet
annually to discuss issues of common concern. Also, there are regional or international
university associations, such as the AC21, APRU, Universities 21 and the Association of
East Asia Research Universities, Eurasia-Pacific, and so on. These organizations provide
cooperative frameworks for institutional cooperation regionally and/or internationally.
Leading universities are also trying to internationalize their campuses by strengthening
English teaching, reforming their curriculum and adding new teaching or research
programs. At Peking University, Professor Ma tells us that in only the past 5 years, 270
international meetings and conferences were held. These ranged from the university
president’s forum, to the symposium for culture study and environmental protection.
With regard to joint programs, there’s been a move to multiply these between leading
universities. At Peking University, there is the Yale joint undergraduate program,
Cornell joint undergraduate program and Stanford joint undergraduate program.
Professor Ma further notes that developing multilateral collaborative projects amongleading universities is yet another facet of international collaboration. At Peking
University, many research projects are established through a joint effort with
universities in other countries; similarly, Waseda University, the National University ofSingapore and Hong Kong University all set-up joint research projects. Some arebilateral or regionally based and some are multilateral with global reach.
In many cases these leading universities subsequently becomes bridges between local
communities and the global community, promoting mutual understanding, social change
and economic development. Interestingly, Professor Ma notes that traditionally Chinese
universities, especially leading universities, seldom cooperate with local governments or
pay attention to local communities. However the situation is changing and universities
are using their know-how to solve local issues.

Leading universities are indeed globally focused. Peking University, for example, hasmore than 200 exchange agreements signed and distributed as follows:
In Asia, there are 57 institutions; in Europe, 69 institutions; in North America, 44
institutions; in South America, 6 institutions; in Africa, 4 institutions; and in Oceania, 8
institutions. The cooperation, it is noted, extends well beyond the region.
In Mainland China in 2005, there were 1000 joint or cooperative programs in the
country: Chinese-Foreign Cooperation in Running Schools (CFCRS). Besides, Taiwan
and Hong Kong, the US, Australia, Canada, Japan, Singapore, England, France,
Germany and South Korea are listed at the top. Dominance in inter-university
cooperation is still being evidenced from North America, pointing to a lack of cooperationin Asia. In 2007, there was a survey at Peking University asking students if they were
given an opportunity to go abroad for another degree, where would they want to go, theUnited States, England and Australia remained the first choice. As for the reasons why
students consistently chose these destinations, language seems to be the key. This
research may well highlight the challenge China will face vis-a-vis English language
instruction, elsewhere.
Professor Ma also highlights the fact that the process of regional cooperation is in fact
not equal for all, and Asia boasts many examples of unequal access to the regionalization
process.
With regard to the mutual recognition of degrees, thus far only Sri Lanka and Mongolia
have signed agreements of mutual recognition. Professor Ma believes this could be apoint of departure for further regional integration of higher education.
The dominance of the global markets and the shrinking of appropriations from public
sources for higher education create a heated competition between leading universities
for human and financial resources worldwide. While leading universities compete or cooperate regionally or worldwide in developing transnational or cross-border programs,
leading universities in less developed countries are certainly in a disadvantaged position,
because of their lack of resources.
Professor Ma concludes by stating that she not only recognizes the need for further
integration of higher education and regional cooperation, but also is willing to be an
active participant in any such endeavor.
Thank you.

/Session Moderator/Professor Shigeto SONODA/Waseda University
Thank you David, for your presentation.
Next, I’d like to ask Professor Kim Ki-Seok of Seoul National University to give his
presentation.

/Professor Ki-Seok KIM/Seoul National University/Presentation: The Making of World-class Research Universities andRenewal of Asian Values of Higher Education in Korea: SNU
Hello everybody and good afternoon.
I am really grateful for being able to attend such a great international event. Thank you
Professor Kuroda and your excellent staff. I assume this is the beginning of ourrelationship as colleagues, right? Not the end I hope.
I’d like to introduce one small case, that of Seoul National University, where I have beenworking for more than 20 years. This is one of the leading flagship universities in Korea.
I would like to talk about my university’s response to the so-called pressures ofglobalization and regionalization. Let me begin with a brief introduction to higher
education in Korea.
The two are very unique phenomena that I would like to share with you. First is basedon a term I coined many years ago, meaning a simultaneous transition from elite tomass and to universal access, in secondary and tertiary education. Simultaneously,means it happened in a very short time. In America, universalization of secondary
education took place, and half a century later, tertiary education became universalized.
In Korea, however, it happened at almost the same time.
The second phenomenon is based on another term I invented, TEFA: Tertiary Education
For All [Koreans]. I mean tertiary education in one form or another; almost everyone in
Korea can now access higher education. These two things are unique to Korea, being
very difficult to find in other countries.
There are three competing types of universities. Japan’s Tokyo University is an Imperial
university, following the Humboltian model of the University of Berlin. This is one verystrong model. The emergence of another model in Korea is observed right after Korean
independence: the American model. People like me, who got their PhDs in the UnitedStates, propagate this model. For people who ascribe to this model, ‘university’ means
the American research university, quite different from the Japanese Imperial
universities. This is not all; there is yet another model which is invisible, but stillworking: the indigenous intellectual tradition, which has survived for more than 2000
years. These are three competing interpretations of the ‘university.’
These institutions are highly stratified, from top-class institutions to diploma millschools. And every university wants to achieve Seoul National University’s rank. Like in
America, once in the twenties or thirties almost every university wanted to be a Harvard
University. The same phenomenon is taking place in Korea.
There are many universities, but there is no system. I mean, in some countries you havethe leading universities that are clearly distinguished from mid-class universities andthen community colleges; this is a system. In Korea, no such system exists.

So, how does Seoul National University try to cope with globalization? This is a term I
made up myself, ‘self-strengthening initiative’, meaning even if we never have theopportunity to speak about it, every faculty member just assumes: “Let’s make thisschool a good one.” Good meaning, excellence in research. This is what I call a selfstrengthening initiative within our school.
The key word or element of this self-strengthening initiative is the expressed goal ofbuilding a world-class university. This word is borrowed from Altbach, who distinguishedfive elements that make up a world-class university. Seoul National University, KAIST
and POSTECH are already referred to as leading universities in science and technology.
We then have other leading universities in terms of reputation; that is, Seoul National
University, Korea University and Yonsei University. The interesting thing is to find arivalry between Korea University and Yonsei University – something like thecompetition between Keio University and Waseda University.
Seoul National University’s strategy to becoming a world-class university rests onbuilding a solid doctoral program. I got a doctoral degree from the United States,
because in the 1970s there was no internationally standardized doctoral program offered
there. Now, it’s a homemade doctoral program, and students are instead sent overseas as
post-doctoral students. We send these students abroad so that they may develop a sense
for a globalized world, not to be small-minded.
The second thing I would like to mention is research confidence. That is the mostimportant criteria for our initiative. The strategy is a benchmarking method. For
example, benchmarking one particular American university, monitor what is happening
there, and then try to copy them and from time to time evaluate how well we’ve done.
This is our benchmarking method. Luckily we have some money to fund the ‘Brain
Korea 21’ program – similar to the Japanese Center of Excellence or Chinese 211 wehave some money what is called ‘Brain Korea 21’, like…Japanese ‘Center of Excellence’or Chinese 211 and 985. I don’t know why theses programs appeared at the same time inall three countries.
We have made some progress. We have increased the numbers of papers produced, forexample. SCI is talked about almost as if it were a disease, but there is no other way toknow where we are going. As a quantitative measurement, the number papers thatappear in SCI-recognized academic journals is one measurement of achievement.
However, the most important criteria in the ‘self-strengthening’ initiative, is building
self-confidence. As the leader in 1995 of our ‘Brain Korea 21’ department, I oversaw ourdepartment host its first international conference. At this conference, we had graduate
students coming to us saying: “Professor, I can do that. Give us a little time, gives achance and next time I will present my paper.” Can you imagine that? Somehow, thisconference gave them the confidence to believe they could be internationally recognizedscholars, one day. We have to begin our work on the campus, with students.
And the quality of papers is good, too. For example, we send our students abroad fortheir PhDs and recruit them subsequently as contracted professors – not tenure
professors – so that the focus will be on research. We will provide travel expenses, life
expenses, to encourage them to learn something and bring that knowledge back. Thenwe encourage them to write good papers, which will get published. This is how wesupport our young generation.
Because of that, our ranking – and I’m sorry for bringing this issue up – has gone up.
People have begun considering ranking in the same way they consider the Olympics,
counting publications by country, like medals.
In 2005, our overall ranking in the Times, was 93. The first year we got into the top 100
ranking, and the next year we made it to 63rd and in 2007 we made it to the 49th position.
These are significant increases. Look at this, this is a statistic for the 2004 rank by SCI
papers: Harvard is first at 9,000 papers, Tokyo University has 7,000 published papers
and SNU, only 3,000. But look more closely at how they arrive at this number of papers
and a different picture emerges. For example, for every billion Korean Won, SNU
produced 1.15 papers – take a number of costs into consideration. Now look at Havard,
their ratio is 1.45; Tokyo University is 1.56; and UCLA is at 0.56. Looking at thesefigures, we can say that SNU is competitive internationally. There is need to takerunning costs into consideration. This kind of index allows us to conduct good selfevaluations. Then, we can check our progress, from time to time.
How have we may such big improvements? One reason is that secondary education isgood. Secondly, the undergraduate program at SNU is of tremendous quality.
My major recommendation can be summarized as follows: we have the key in mentordisciple relationships. You don’t find this in the Western research university - this is
Asian values. When you take a look at the history of our universities, you never look at
this tradition; and this is only one, there are also Chinese traditions, Muslim traditions
and so on. All description descriptions of universities leave out this tradition. Look at
China: Confucius is the origin of Asian higher learning and values. The intellectual
tradition stretches back to the 16th century with thinkers like Confucius, Manchu and
ChuHsi. The same thing happening in Korea: a revival of ChuHsi’s Neo-Confucianism in
the 16th century, with thinkers such as Taegye, Hangang, Misu and Sungho. Look at this,from this scholar, from this higher learning, the Korean Catholic Church began; without
any contact through foreign missionaries.
Globalization remains the issue; how can we keep going? I see two distinct challenges.
There exists a financial challenge, but also the challenge of regionalization and within
that, how to free ourselves from the definition of the world-class university. The conceptof a world-class university is still rooted in a Western perspective. How do we resolve theconflicts between the three or four competing ideas of the university? How do we become
independent from the deepening dependence on Western conceptualizations of theuniversity - especially the language problem? And my final question is how can we
respond to globalization without becoming victims of Neo-colonialism in the 21st century.
This does not mean Neo-colonialism strictly imposed by the West. If we talk about
regionalization, there is significant potential for power disparities to exist here, too.
Thank you very much.

/Session Moderator/Professor Shigeto SONODA/Waseda University
Thank you Professor Kim Ki-Seok.
Well, I would now like to ask Mrs. Nguyen Thuy-Anh from Vietnam National University,
Hanoi, to give her presentation. I would like to add that she is currently pursuing her
PhD with us here at Waseda University.

/Mrs. Thuy-Anh NGUYEN/Waseda University/Presentation: Internationalization of Higher Education in Vietnam: The
Case Study of Vietnam National University, Hanoi
Thank you, Professor Sonoda.
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen, it is my great honor to be here at thisinternational symposium. I first of all would like to thank Waseda University andespecially Professor Kuroda for offering me such a privileged opportunity to be here as apresenter today.
My presentation today is about the internationalization process of one of the two biggest
national universities in Vietnam, that is the Vietnam National University Hanoi. I’d liketo give you general picture of the internationalization process at VNU through thefigures and information and I’d especially like to point out the Asian dimensions of thisprocess.
Just a brief history about Vietnam National University Hanoi, as you can see here.
Vietnam National University, Hanoi is now 100 years old – its history dating back to1906 with its Chinese precursor, the University of Indochina. VNU now has ten training
and teaching member institutions and some other research institutes, research centersand service units. In its development process, international cooperation and integrationis perceived by VNU as one of the top priorities, in order to achieve international
standards, as well as to improve the quality of faculty and students and also tocontribute to establishing the image and prestige of the university system as a whole inVietnam.
And, up until now, Vietnam National University Hanoi has been establishing close
relationships and cooperating with more than 100 institutions and organizations all over
the world. Since 2001, it has signed about 150 memoranda of understanding andmemoranda of agreement with foreign organizations, among which more than 50% of
MOUs are being signed between Vietnam National University Hanoi and Asianuniversities and organizations.

As you can see from this graph here, the number of countries signing MOUs with VNU
between Asia and other part of the world are equal. Japan and Korea are the two Asian
countries which have the biggest number of MOUs being signed with VNU.
Through this cooperation and privileged relationships with foreign organizations,
Vietnam National University Hanoi has organized joint seminars, workshops andconferences with the other institutions. 12 major joint projects with combined funding of$20,000,000 have been implemented and this is a good chance for the faculty and thestudents to upgrade their quality and to build up the university facilities andinfrastructure. Also, VNU is now an active member of a number of regional andinternational organizations and associations.
One of the very important categories of internationalization is student mobility. In thepast few years, the opportunities for VNU students to study abroad have become
increasingly available thanks to the bilateral agreements at the governmental level andalso agreements between VNU and other foreign organizations and universities. Also,
there are some VNU students who apply to study abroad by themselves and on theirown budgets. And so yearly, hundreds of VNU students are sent abroad for short or longterm study.
For the College of Social Sciences and Humanity, and the College of Science, most of thestudents sent abroad go to study in Asian countries. And most of these students study inJapan, Korea, Singapore, China, or some other Asian countries. But why do most
students choose Asian countries for their study abroad programs? I think one of theanswers is that the governments of these Asian countries offer scholarships for thesestudents and if they are offered scholarships why wouldn’t they go abroad to study. One
more reason could be the fields of the study. Because as you can see here, the students
from the College of Social Sciences and Humanity, study for example, Chinese studies,
Korean studies, and Japanese studies so they choose these Asian countries as hostcountries. But compared to the figures for students who received a scholarship from theVietnamese government and the students who go abroad to study on their own budgets,you can see that most of these students still choose Anglo-Saxon countries, I mean,
English speaking countries. But once again, I think the reason why they choose to study
in English speaking countries is not only because of the advantages in language
instruction or the prestige of these universities, but also because they haven’t recognized
the prestige and quality of Asian universities. For example, before I came here, I didn’tknow of Waseda University, Keio University or any other Japanese university. I’m sorry
to say, but, this is the same for many Vietnamese students.
With regards to foreign students, VNU now is not only sending students abroad, but also
becoming a host university for foreign students. Each year, VNU receives about 500
foreign students for short and long term courses or research projects. And you can see
from the graphs here: for the College of Social Sciences and Humanities, as well as theCollege of Foreign Languages, nearly 90% of the students are from China. However, in
the College of Science, all of the students are from Laos and Cambodia. Before 2003,
there were also some Mongolian students.
So, we notice that students from the less developed countries come to VNU to study
natural sciences. But only students from the more developed countries, like China andother Asian countries, come to study Vietnamese language and culture. I think this isthe due to the government policies in these Asian countries; they want to better
understand Vietnam.
And VNU sends not only students abroad, but faculty as well. This is one of the mostimportant policies VNU has implemented to upgrade the qualifications of the teaching
staff. Some of the member institutions in VNU now have implemented policies toencourage its faculty to publish their research results internationally. They use financial
schemes to encourage the faculty; for example, by paying them a certain amount ofmoney per article. However, the number of foreign faculty members is still very low
except for the joint venture programs where foreign professors come to teach.
International education programs are, I can say, one of the most important strategies
VNU is using to internationalize. Over the past few years, the number of joint educationand joint training programs has increased dramatically due to some rationales here, as
you can see. Many foreign institutions call for collaboration with VNU. And, VNU now
has to be more selective in signing MOUs and in implementing joint programs withforeign institutions. They have to be more selective in choosing the qualified andprestigious institutions. And they are going to issue a guiding instruction for themember institutions to choose only among the at least top 500 universities in the world
to corporate.
You can see the number of the joint training programs here. Since 1998, I havecalculated that there are about 34 joint training programs, which have been established.
But, only 9 out of the 34 programs are jointly operated between VNU and Asian
institutions - mostly, Malaysia and China. The field of study in half of the joint programswith China is Chinese traditional medicine; the other is Chinese language. You can seethat the fields of study are mostly economics and business administration. As for thegraduate level, 9 out of 20 are MBA courses. So, they are very popular fields of study.
The students in the joint programs can access the digital libraries in partner institutions.
The College of Technology and Carnegie Melon University in the USA are going to carryout a joint training course using video tutorials, beginning January 2008. The College ofTechnology will be the degree-offering institution and the Carnegie Melon University
will just sign the certificate and deliver the program through the Internet.
VNU’s internationalization strategy is the utmost priority in its development process. It
has just established a project called 16 + 23. Here, 16 means 16 fields, and 23 means 23
sub-fields for doctoral programs and 23 sub-fields in the masters programs. The purpose
for setting up this project is to meet the international standards in these 16 and 23 fields
and sub-fields by the year 2010. By 2010, VNU wants to meet the level of advanced
universities in Southeast Asia and later in Asia and the world over.
Other strategies have also been set up. VNU has made international training programs
and student and staff exchange a priority. They focus on upgrading academic staff
qualifications, cooperating in the key areas of science and technology. Especially, theywant to utilize sponsor resources and attract more scholarships internally andexternally for the staff and students to study abroad. They want to build up thecooperation between VNU and other institutions from all over the world; universities
here in ASEAN and in East Asia are specifically mentioned in the strategy.

In conclusion, although I have pointed out the Asian dimensions of theinternationalization process VNU has embarked upon, I should say that VNU is still
more influenced by Anglo-Saxon and European countries. The Asian dimension is not yet
clear enough in VNU’s internationalization process and strategy. I think there are bothobjective and subjective reasons for this. The objective reason is that some Asian
countries, like Japan and Korea, are still reluctant to export education abroad. They
don’t set up campuses or joint programs in other countries. Meanwhile, institutions like
VNU perceive joint education programs to be a very good way for them to meetinternational standards more quickly. This is because they can learn from the material,
experience, skills, technology transfer, and curriculum from foreign countries. Also, as
other professors have mentioned, I think we need more effective corporation initiatives
among Asian countries so that the Asian students will be more aware of the prestige of
Asian universities.
Thank you very much for your attention.

/Professor Shigeto SONODA/Waseda University/Presentation: Waseda University’s Global Strategy: Rediscovery of“Asian” nexus and its historical development
Good afternoon, ladies and gentlemen.
Before beginning, I have to say that I have two personal biases underlying thispresentation. One is that, when I was a student, I tried to enroll in this university on
two occasions and was not accepted. In the end, I graduated from Tokyo University. I
have now been working for 15 years for another university, but I’ve been watching
Waseda University from the outside for a long time. So my presentation contains many
expectations of Waseda University. This is the first bias.
The second is that I’ve never been to an English speaking university to get a degree;
unlike Professor Kim Ki-Seok, for example. My major is sociology, and almost all of the
Asian scholars of sociology go to English speaking countries or they go to French andGerman universities. But very few of them go to Asian universities. Actually, I was
educated in China in 1987. It is very common to find foreign sociologists applying
Western frameworks to sociological studies in their home countries. It was so common
that I came to despise the practice. So, this mentality may have some impact on mypresentation. But, I’ll try to be as neutral as possible.
I’d like to divide my presentation in three parts. The first is an introduction of Waseda
University, because I am in charge of introducing the host of this symposium. Secondly,
I’d like to introduce the characteristics of our global network. And finally, the main partof my presentation is going to introduce the historical development of our global strategy.
I’d like to put emphasis on the Asian shift in Waseda University’s global strategy. I will
use some cases and historical explanations to explain why Waseda University has beenpushing to more and more ‘Asianized.’As you may know, Waseda University was founded in 1882 and I’m happy to announce
that we just celebrated our 125th anniversary last year. I must add that Waseda is a very
prestigious private university and the second largest university in Japan next to Tokyo
University: in terms of the number of students; the number of campuses, 8 as of now;and in terms of full-time faculty members, currently numbering 1,800. In addition,
Waseda boasts 13 undergraduate schools and 17 graduate schools. And our alumni arerecruited by some of the finest companies in the world. Thus far, Waseda University has
produced 7 prime ministers, including the current prime minister, Yasuo Fukuda.
Also, our undergraduate School for International Liberal Studies has its own very
interesting global strategy. As I mentioned before, Waseda is home to 17 graduate
schools and those which include English programs are listed here: the Graduate Schoolof Global Information and Telecommunication Studies, the Graduate School ofInformation, Production and Systems and my own school, the Graduate School of AsiaPacific Studies. There are also 5 professional schools, as well as an English MBA
program.
I’m also very happy to say that Waseda has been chosen for four Global COE programs,
awarded by the Japanese government. Our graduate school is among the recipients ofthis distinguished grant.
Now, I’d like to explain the characteristics of Waseda’s global network. As of August 2007,
we had 473 agreements, not only in terms of university-to-university agreements, but interms of other exchange agreements, as well. These agreements cover as many as 75
countries. But if you look at the number of exchange students, we find that more than
80% of the international students here are from Asia, which is not unique in Japanese
universities. But if we look at the destinations Waseda students choose for study abroad
programs, we can see that many Japanese students still go to North America for theireducation. But if you look at Asia as a percentage of the whole, you can say that it
represents only 11.4%. But, as I explain later, we have more and more mutual exchanges
with Asian countries.
I think it is really wise for a university to establish several overseas bases. Waseda has
one liaison office in Korea University and one office in Peking University. One offunctions of these offices is to recruit these students from these countries to Waseda.
Some Asian universities, like Peking University, Fudan University and Korea University,
enjoy a very special relationship with us, in terms of having a double degree program.
And, of course, National Taiwan University, National University of Singapore and theAustralian National University are also very important regional partners.
As I said, Waseda offers several double degree programs. In the case of Peking
University, our graduate school started a joint doctoral program in 2002, and it
continues to operate today. Since 2002, our university has been pushing to increase thenumber of double degree programs, with Peking University, Nanyang Technological
University, National Taiwan University, only to mention a few. As of next year, we’ll
start a double degree program with Columbia University in the United States, andNational Taiwan University in Taiwan at the MA level.
As I mentioned, the establishment of SILS or the School of International Liberal Studies,
was revolutionary breakthrough for the internationalization of education in Japan. Thisschool, even though I am not a faculty member there, but according to theiradvertisements, they are putting a lot of emphasis on a liberal arts education, in English.
They are nurturing a global perspective and vision. They recruit a lot of students outsideof Japan, boasting many nationalities and ethnicities in their program. Veryinterestingly, in order to foster a global perspective, there is one obligation imposed on
every member: SILS students have to participate in a one-year study abroad program.
After the establishment of SILS, the number of Waseda students who go abroad
dramatically increased. Its mission is to help Waseda University become a world-classuniversity.
As I mentioned, I am a faculty member of GSAPS and I am happy to say that this is thefirst graduate school that offered courses in English. Actually, this graduate school offers
both MA courses and Phd courses. In our MA program, we have 250 registered students,
2/3 of them being from outside of Japan. As for the Phd students, we have alreadyaccepted 150 students and more than half of them are from outside of Japan. So many
international students have come to GSAPS, which has become a driving engine for the‘Asianization’ of education at Waseda University.
Very interestingly, if you look at the historical trend of the number of applicants and thenumber of newly enrolled students, you can see that despite high numbers of applicants,
not everyone is enrolled, because of quality concerns. Last year, the percentage of those
newly enrolled students in the Phd program that were from outside of Japan,
represented more than half the total – this is a something GSAPS prizes. In addition toa formal education system, Waseda University is very unique insofar as it involves a‘third sector’; that is, it invites private companies to set up a consortium with Waseda
University. An example of this is the digital campus consortium (ACC). So, there are anumber of engines at Waseda that promote mutual exchange amongst Asian universities.
And finally, I’d like to explain why Waseda has been pushing to internationalize or“Asianize” its education. Again, one of the unique characteristics of Waseda University isthat it accepted so many students from China, dating back to the Qing dynasty. If you
look at the statistics in the 1920s, it said that around one quarter of those students wereinternational students, mainly from China. In 1963, we encouraged our International
Division to accept 100 students from the U.S. annually. And as I mentioned, in 1998, theGraduate School of Asian-Pacific studies was established. It is at this point that I believe
Waseda University began its process of Asianization in a very clear way. And as I
mentioned, SILS was established in 2001; double degree programs started in 2005. So,
you can clearly see that within this decade, Waseda placed a very strong emphasis on
international education or cooperation with Asian countries.
This is very significant, especially when we consider the chronological change in thenumber of exchange students at Waseda. Right now we have more than 2500 foreign
students studying at Waseda. And, to be frank, I was very shocked to hear President
Shirai announce that he would like to increase this number to 8,000. I don’t knowwhether it’s feasible, but anyway, we are pushing forward in this direction. Also, thenumber of students studying outside of Japan, as I mentioned, has been increasing. As
whole however, Japanese students are still reluctant to go abroad, being moredomestically orientated. So we have to increase our efforts to motivate them to study
abroad.
If we look at the chronological administrative reforms, we can see that we have been
making an effort to internationalize for the past 40 years. Furthermore, if you look atthe administrative chart, you will notice that there are three sections in Waseda
University that deal with international affairs. The International Office is in charge ofplanning global strategy, management of overseas offices and management of the global
network. But on the other hand, the Student Exchange Office, which belongs to theInternational Affairs division, has been developing exchange programs with otheruniversities. So, these two offices are at the core of our global strategy. As I said, I am
the associate dean of Center for International Education, but this center is more of an
education center, trying to educate international students through a very strong
collaboration with other school, like the School of Political Science, the School of
Economics, and so on.
There are three or four pillars to Waseda’s global strategy. The first is that it is trying to
attract international students by offering a lot of scholarships and through thedevelopment of various education programs, while fostering international networks. The
second pillar is making multicultural experiences routine, which is more of a domestic
focus. As I mentioned, if we don’t make any effort, Japanese students are too cowardly or
too naïve to travel outside of the country. So we have to change the atmosphere andencourage them to study Asian languages and English, so that they become accustomed
to speaking foreign languages. The third pillar is educating excellent young scholars.
The fourth pillar is networking with top global universities.
I believe that there are two basic reasons informing Waseda’s drive to internationalize.
The first is domestic reasons: Japan’s population pyramid is changing very dramatically.
we are changing the pyramid of population in Japan very dramatically. There is asmaller population of young people, which translates into fewer students. So, thedomestic market has been shrinking. But on the other hand, the Ministry of Education
has been trying to deregulate the policies for higher education, creating morecompetition amongst universities. So, competition has really become more severe. You
can easily understand how the Global COE grant is one of the very symbolic measurescompetition amongst universities. In fact, I was quite depressed when I wrote theproposal for the Global COE program. I had a chat with my children after my childasked me what I was doing. I said ‘Oh, I am writing a very important document which
determines future of Waseda.’ And he was really impressed, and said ‘Oh!! The future of
Waseda!”The second reason for internationalization is a foreign one: Japanese universities are
becoming more and more exposed to global competition in the education industry, as
many experts have already pointed out in this seminar. But more accurately, the second
reason can be ascribed to the rising Asian economies. And again, the unique aspect ofWaseda’s internationalization strategy is the push for the Asianization of education.
There are several reasons underpinning this strategy. The first, as Professor Kim
mentioned, is that Waseda has a very strong sense of rivalry with Keio University, which
undertook dramatic reforms in the early 1990s. Since then, the leaders of Waseda haveshared a “catch-up” mentality, which is fuelling this rivalry with Keio University. In
order to catch-up or surpass Keio, they needed to innovate, as well. Yukichi Fukuzawa,
founder of Keio University, advocated that Japan should look outside of Asia, seeking
collaborative partnerships with Western countries. The leaders saw in Waseda’s motto“Bridging the gap between East and West”, a means to create the ‘Asian Nexus.’
In fact, Waseda is famous amongst those born in the ‘new China’, post-revolution,
because they were seen as the educators of many important actors in this period ofChinese history. Waseda saw this as one source of revitalization, taking advantage ofexisting social capital.
Waseda’s ‘revitalization’ is being carried out in no small part due to the strong
leadership by former President Okushima and current President Shirai. GSAPS wasestablished under the strong leadership of President Okushima, who recognized theimportance of cooperation with Asian universities. So on the one hand, he establishedkind a graduate school and on the other, an organization for Asian studies. He tried torecruit many Asian specialists.
In my opinion, both presidents seem to have a two-step theory for global strategy. I had achance to talk with Fukushima-sensei once, and he said that it’s impossible to competewith American universities directly. According to his explanations, we need somecooperation among Asian universities, and only then can we compete with other U.S.
universities. So, if his observations are correct, then Waseda seems to have a very clear
idea about a two-step theory; that is, they want to be a leading university in Asia, then,they will become a leading university in the global community.
Finally, I would like to highlight that concepts come from the top, but networks are very
decentralized. For example, today’s meeting can be considered a kind of network, but I
don’t know whether this meeting has a direct impact on Waseda’s global strategy.
Whenever we put this kind of global strategy forward, we need some kind of coordination
between administration and education. And, I would like to add one thing. Internally at
Waseda, we are trying to create a new scheme for cooperation among Asian universities
through internationalization policies. But, interestingly, if we look at the school level, weare competing with each other to get one step ahead. Competition within Waseda has
been stimulating our internationalization process. Competition amongst schools andgraduate schools is a foundation of Waseda’s global strategy.
Lastly, I would like to mention the importance of the global college scheme. It is a very
symbolic scheme, insofar is it explains the necessity of coordination between
administration, schools and international offices. Waseda administers a number ofdouble-degree programs with other Asian universities. But these networks, as I
mentioned, are de-centralized by nature. So, the international affairs division invented
the global college scheme. But, in order to realize the full potential of this scheme wewill need further cooperation with other schools in Asia.
Thank you very much.

/Session Moderator/Professor Shigeto SONODA/Waseda University
I would like to turn to the question and answer period. As Professor Kuroda mentioned,
Professor Ma can’t be with us today, so unfortunately we have nobody to answer
questions related to her PowerPoint presentation.

/Comment # 1/Mr. Suzuki/Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA)
Hello, I work for JICA. My name is Suzuki.
Thank you very much for the excellent presentations. Since this morning, we have beentalking about overseas networks, student exchanges and so on. However, I would like toknow if you have any case research demonstrating improvements in this domain.

/Comment # 2/Professor Tereso S. Tullao, Jr.
/De La Salle University
I have nothing against internationalization, but I just want to point out that in any
activity you have to measure the benefits, as well as the cost.
I just want to extend the implications of internationalization game, as it isoperationalized in many of our universities. This has three parts: poor countries, private
universities and the priorities of developing countries.
The implications of this gaming, insofar as ranking and the number of memorandum of
understanding (MOUs) that you have established with other universities is concerned, ismeaningless without funds and resources. And therefore, the poor countries will always
be at a disadvantage in terms of ranking. And worse, private universities in thesedeveloping countries do not receive subsides or assistance from the private sector. So,
they are doubly disadvantaged; they are already coming from poor countries and they
don’t get any subsides. So they will not appear in those rankings of universities.
The third implication is, given the huge amount of resources spent oninternationalization and the SCI ranking system, this may not be the most optimal useof resources for a developing country. What is a better use: publishing in technical orscientific journals that are accepted for SCI or addressing the concerns of thesedeveloping countries.
Thank you very much.

/Comment # 3/Professor Anthony R. Welch/University of Sydney
My question is for Nguyen Thuy Anh.
The question has two parts, if I may. The main question I have is about issues around
Viet Kieu, the overseas Vietnamese. Firstly, do you know what proportion of students at

VNU may in fact be overseas Vietnamese? Because, one factor that we have found insome of our research is that, in some cases, younger people who have left the country
may come back to complete the language training in some Asian countries.
Given the significance of the Vietnamese diaspora, which is now quite large in many
countries, I wonder whether that is part of VNU’s internationalization and what
proportion it may be.
The other part of Viet Kieu issue is your understanding of government and institutional
attempts to use the experience and knowledge of overseas Vietnamese for national
development purposes. We know that they are investing strongly in Vietnam. But, there
are also ideas, experience and knowledge that can be used by overseas Vietnamese. And,the other part of the question was: I’d be interested in your assessment of the role andsignificance of the branch campus in Vietnam, particularly RMIT in Ho Chi-minh cityand now in Hanoi. How would you assess its role and significance?

/Comment # 4/Mr. Andrey Uroda/University of Hong Kong
I really appreciate the comment we just heard, about disparities. I would both agree anddisagree with this comment. My disagreement stems from my experience of second tieruniversities, where you often find very interesting shortcuts for ‘internationalization.’
There are some very successful cases.
I would like to also comment on the really big differences between four of theuniversities we talked about today. And perhaps the biggest lies in the targets which areset; who sets them; and who fulfils them. From this point of you, I really like Professor
Kim’s framework for analyzing productivity; where we measure how beneficial are thefinancial inputs. Perhaps the time has come to evaluate all universities that consider
internationalization seriously from this point of view.
Of course it’s not a good idea to comment on a presentation without the presenter. But
there are many indicators showing that at Peking University, the cost might betremendous, but achievements - as many insiders say – are not so great and not very
comprehensive. Moreover, there is internal competition between departments. There aredifferent rationales informing change here, and there is a political drive behind this.
So, China wants to get a couple of universities in the top and they will always try to dothat. Well, in other countries that are ‘freer,’ like Korea and Japan, there areuniversities with a very rich cultural background, and they have found a way toemphasize this background and capitalize on it better. In my opinion, these are thedifferences.
So, on one side we might find China and Vietnam, with their pro-political goals. On theother side, we can find institutions like Waseda and Seoul National University, whichare more comprehensive in the nature. But, I also think that there are similarities
between all four: a strong leadership and tradition of governance.
Thank you for attention.

/Comment # 5/Audience member
I have three quick questions for Professor Sonoda.
I found this ‘Asianization’ concept very interesting. Because, many of the Japanese
universities are really thrive for internationalization; most often understood as Westerninternationalization. So, my first question is: when you try to promote student exchange,
particularly from Asian nations or other foreign countries, what is the common languageof the instruction? Is it still English or are you trying to promote those foreign students
to acquire Japanese proficiency?
As for my second question, many universities also to promote studying abroad for their
Japanese students, not only to English speaking universities, but to Asian universities,
as well. But we know that language is a hurdle that exists in Asia. So, do you offer any
assistance for Japanese students who will undertake studies in Asia?
Finally, my third question is one that likely cannot be answered. One of the motives forJapanese universities to internationalize along Western models is to be recognizedinternationally. And often this means being recognized by the international university
ranking systems, whether you like it or not. So, have you had any discussions within
Waseda as to how pursuing this Asianization policy or the Asian Nexus model may or
may not impact Waseda University’s position in international rankings?
Thank you.

/Comment # 6/Mrs. Miho Funamori/Division for International Relations, University of Tokyo
Thank you very much for the exciting presentations; they were very informative.
My name is Miho Funamori from the University of Tokyo, Todai for short. I’m work forthe division for international relations, in charge of drafting the international strategy
for our university.

Many people ask me what Todai’s international strategy is. Please don’t ask me because
it is a 5-year long process to draft and if I draft it too fast, I will be laid off. So, I want totake my time with it.
Let’s consider the title of this panel for a moment: Responses of Leading Universities in
Asia for Globalization and regionalization of higher education. So who are the leading
universities in Asia? We have Seoul National University, VNU, Peking University andWaseda University, amongst others. One of the common features we find is that there
are many public universities. Earlier, there was some discussion that everybody waslooking at Harvard University as a model. The unique feature of the U.S. university
system is that there are many private universities. But in Asia, state universities andnational universities have the responsibility of safeguarding national interests.
So Asian universities, being predominantly public universities, I think we need toconsider their missions and responsibilities. Looking at the history, for instance, we
discover that their role has traditionally been upholding national interests, as well as
raising national and international competencies of a country. So in this respect, thenational government is actually making investments, so that the public universities will
one day become one of the top universities in the country. I think that is the historicalbackground.
So, how can they really improve the competitiveness? In terms of internationalization,
the quality of education needs to be raised and research quality needs to be raised, andso people are now beginning to talk about the SCI ranking. But on the other hand, in the
University of Tokyo for example, what kind of internationalization should be promoted?
Whenever we discuss this issue, we hear that the Western countries are providing
international standards. And so the debate becomes whether or not we should opt for
English language instruction. We need to remember, however, that the university’s
mission is not the Anglicization of the students or the institution.
Since some programs operate on the support of government subsidies – from national
taxes - the taxpayers should have a say as to how much support is given to foreign
students and how many we should accept. There is still a strong resistance to classes
being taught in English. And one reason is that Japanese students would find it rather
difficult to follow classes taught in English.
But on the other hand, it is necessary for the faculty to teach parts of the course in
English; for example, it may be more likely that the engineering department will give
their lessons in English. Converting some of the language into Japanese, for instance‘Photosynthesis’ - which we learn about at the primary school level – would be better
taught as an English term. So I think that translation between Japanese and English
would matters very much. However, a simple translation of all courses in English
wouldn’t satisfy all their needs. So, when considering the role the public university is toplay, I don’t think that teaching English is our only option. The question is, how do we
strike the best balance between the two? That is one of the discussions we are having at
the University of Tokyo.
At the University of Tokyo we have 26 departments, as well as 15 research institutes
and 11 research centers. How can we really promote the internationalization of all thesedepartments and institutes?

Some of these departments have begun looking to Asia, as opposed to the West, for clues
on how to proceed and internationalize. Personally, in terms of the literature, I thinkthat diversity of Asia should be better represented.
Thank you for your attention.

/Session Moderator/Professor Shigeto SONODA/Waseda University
Thank you all very much for your comments.
We have received a lot of questions from the floor, but I’m afraid I have to ask you all tolimit your answers to three minutes, please.

/Respondent # 1/Professor Ki-Seok KIM/Seoul National University
To begin, I would like to address the gentleman from JICA.
I don’t think that international cooperation is exclusively ascribed to academic exchange.
For example, our school has developed a plan to go to Africa and select one university,
like Kinshasa University in the Congo, to work together in the fight against poverty andAIDS.
So, the new role of our university is to support poor countries fighting against adversity;
against poverty, AIDS and so forth.
In response to the professor from the Philippines, I totally agree with you. We often
depend too much on the rankings and SCI grades. This is misleading, because the SCI
ranking is clearly rooted in a western interpretation of success. There is no room for poor
countries to maneuver. But, every university must be a world-class university. In ourcountry, only a couple of these universities meet this standard, but others are doing theirbest to improve the quality of education in their local areas.
I really enjoyed your comments about productivity. But still, we have to move on from
simply counting numbers. With regards to ranking, every index disadvantages Asianuniversities. So we have to produce a new kind of ranking system. SNU is poor
compared to Harvard, but if we look at productivity we are competitive.

I wish I could address all the interesting questions that were put forth, but I don’t think
I have time. Thank you all for your insights.

/Respondent # 2/Mrs. Thuy-Anh NGUYEN/Waseda University
Maybe I’ll have time to answer all three questions.
With regards to the number of overseas Vietnamese now studying in Vietnam, I’m reallysorry, because I don’ t have this data at the moment. But I do think that VNU itself,doesn’t have this kind of data. Right now, discussion of international cooperation andinternationalization is still a new issue for VNU. So, maybe the member institutions of
VNU will have this concrete data, but VNU as a whole doesn’t.
As for the second question about governmental and institutional policies aimed at
attracting students from overseas to come back to Vietnam in order to contribute to thecountry; yes, I think it is now one of the biggest issues we are facing. The Vietnamese
government and other institutions have a policy to send Vietnamese students abroad.
They give them a lot amount of money to support them in their studies. Some of them
don’t return to my country and this is a form of brain drain. So, we have to create better
policies to attract them back to Vietnam.
For those students who benefit from governmental scholarships, they have to sign acommitment to return, and if they don’t return, they have to restitute the money
received. When these students eventually return, they are in a good position to get goodjobs in high positions, relevant to their knowledge and expertise. For example, part of
my motivation to continue my doctoral studies here at Waseda is due to the goodconditions set out by my university and the promise of progress later on in my career.
And with regards to branch campuses and VNU’s partnerships, such as with RMIT andother French organizations, this is a very important aspect of Vietnam’s internalization
strategy. The hope is that such partnerships will improve the quality of staff andstudents. For example, some French universities deliver their programs in English andthe faculty from my college attends these lectures. Furthermore, they can assist these
professors during the course of the semester, allowing them to develop their teachingskills. For example, the College of Technology now has a joint venture with New South
Wales University in Australia. This joint program is framed as a 2 + 2 offering; so thestudents from the College of Technology will study for two years in our university andsubsequently transfer credits to New South Wales to complete the final two years of
their degree. VNU considers these types of programs a very good chance to be recognizedby foreign universities. And, as I mentioned before, VNU and its faculty can learn a lot
about managerial skills by participating in these joint programs.
Also students of VNU can access the library and lots of material when they take part insuch programs. And when enrolled in programs like the one offered by RMIT in Vietnam,

students have the opportunity to study a foreign curriculum without incurring theexpense of traveling abroad.
Thank you.

/Respondent # 3/Professor Shigeto SONODA/Waseda University
We only have a few minutes left and I would like to respond to the person from JICA,
first.
I am a sociologist so my view might be a bit biased, but I believe that throughcooperation new issues are discovered, as are the great seeds for research and a network
for research. There are many cases and examples of this. In the Asia-Pacific region,
research, education and cooperation are quite closely linked. I think there are quite afew scholars who share this view.
Now, before answering the three other questions about Waseda, I’d like to address thecomments made by the Todai representative. I government support, itself, is not a
problem. Let’s consider the case of the National University of Singapore for a moment.
They are a national university like Todai, but the definition of a ‘national university’ in
Singapore is not the same as the Japanese definition. The support the institution
receives and its operating mission are both very different. This is very important.
In Waseda’s case, the same words of caution apply. That is, with regards to the foreign
language issue, the international office may want to do one thing and the various schools,
another. There are different views espoused by different departments at Waseda. At theend of the day however, the school decides the admission policy at the end of the day.
I think how we go about establishing the school mission is very important - decisively
important. And when we decided to attract Asian students, it begged the question: whatshould we do different? Programs have been offered in Japanese for years, so there isnothing new there. And unless Japanese begins to be taught abroad, in many cases hereat Waseda, English will be introduced. In the case of Todai, a traditional Japaneseinstitution, this has been difficult.
So then, why do students come from abroad to study in Japan? This is an interestingquestion. There are many reasons we could think of : they tried to learn Japanese little
by little and they are thinking about the importance Japanese companies, they enjoy
animation and manga, and so on. There are in fact, a variety of opportunities thatinspire the motivation to come study in Japan. That is also why it is significant for us to
study with them. And lastly - I think this is going to be an issue in the next session - inAsia we have common assets, for example a budget. Without a budget, when we think
about the Asianization of education, what are we really thinking about? For example, inthis program we get money from the Ministry of Education, so we have lots ofrestrictions. But we have to go beyond restrictions and think about cooperation with therest of Asia. This is a somewhat contradictory situation. I think there are many
universities in Asia that are national universities, so I think we have a sharedexperience – a commonality. We don’t have any common assets but how can we begin
sharing our understanding.
This is not just an issue for Asian countries, but perhaps this is an issue that is common
to all of us gathered here.
I’d like to pass the baton to the professor Kuroda who is the specialist in this field as I
conclude my role as session moderator.
Thank you.