RIHE Open Seminar

Master’s Education in East Asia
and COVID 19 Impacts
Research Institute for Higher Education, Hiroshima University
November 18, 2020
■ DateWednesday, 18 November 2020, 14:00-16:00 (JST)■ Venue
Online seminar via Zoom (with simultaneous English-Japanese interpretation)■ Abstract
This seminar aims to address the issues of expending master’s education and its current challenges inEast Asia, focusing on Hong Kong, China, Taiwan, South Korea, and Japan. All presentations are
based on a special issue on Higher Education Policy (online first). Although the massification ofhigher education at the undergraduate level has been discussed in many Asian countries for the past
three decades, the expansion of postgraduate education has rarely been studied. Therefore, it isworthwhile to address the historical development of master’s education in advanced Asian highereducation systems and its contribution to their higher education and current challenges, including
access, employment, career path of graduates, quality of learning experiences, and internationalization
issues. Moreover, the impacts of COVID 19 on graduate education will be discussed based on thecontext of East Asian countries.
■ Program
14:00-14:05

Opening Remark
Shinichi Kobayashi (Director of RIHE)

14:05-14:20

Master’s Education in Hong Kong: Access and Programme DiversityJisun Jung

14:20-14:35

Master’s Education in STEM Fields in China: Does Gender Matter?
Jiale Yang & Wenqin Shen

14:35-14:50

Massified Master’s education in Taiwan: A Credential Game?
Jason Cheng-Cheng Yang & Sheng-Ju Chan

14:50-15:05

The Effects of a Master’s Degree on Wage and Job Satisfaction in Massified
Higher Education: The Case of South Korea
Soo Jeung Lee, Seungjung Kim and Jisun Jung

15:05-15:20

The Influence of Internationalization Policy on Master’s Education in Japan: A
Comparison of ‘‘Super Global’’ and Mass-Market Universities
Sae Shimauchi and Yangson Kim

15:20-16:00

Discussion1

Abstracts for each presentation
Master’s Education in Hong Kong: Access and Programme Diversity
Jisun Jung
Abstract
This study aims to examine how master’s students’ profiles have changed over the past two
decades in Hong Kong and how master’s programmes have diversified in terms of degree
types and learning aims, and programme focuses used to achieve these aims. Using a casestudy approach, this study performed a document analysis of institutional statistics anduniversity-published materials. In addition, a keyword analysis of the learning aims of 102
programmes was conducted. The results showed that the profiles of master’s students’ havechanged, with an increasing number of female students, nonlocal students and full-timestudents, and in shorter work experience. Master’s programmes within the case institution
were diversified based on a market-oriented approach; for instance, many spinoff programmes
targeting students with different backgrounds were opened. On the other hand, the learningaims, and the programmes focuses employed to achieve these aims, were found to be rather
standardised across degree types, with emphasis placed on the integration between theory andpractice and on professional development. The research findings have implications forunderstanding the changing nature of master’s education in terms of student backgrounds andthe focal points of teaching and learning.
doi.org/10.1057/s41307-020-00202-0

Master’s Education in STEM Fields in China: Does Gender Matter?
Jiale Yang & Wenqin Shen
Abstract
This study aims to reveal gender and gender-matching effects in STEM master’s education in
China by using the data of a nationwide survey. Research findings indicated the gendermatching between master’s students and their advisors played an important role during
students’ socialization. Female students were more satisfied with advisors of the same genderin mathematics and civil engineering. Female students supervised by a male advisor reported
less research productivity compared with those supervised by the same gender in mathematics.
In terms of gender effects, female respondents participated in fewer research projects and lesslikely to pursue a doctorate after graduation. There was no significant gender difference inacademic publication. Moreover, the socialization among female students showed different
patterns across STEM subfields. The paper also highlights the policy implication to recruitand retain female faculty members as role models in STEM fields.
doi.org/10.1057/s41307-020-00203-z

Massified Master’s education in Taiwan: A Credential Game?
Jason Cheng-Cheng Yang & Sheng-Ju Chan
Abstract
Master’s education in Taiwan has been significantly transformed since the 1990s in efforts tocope with the knowledge-based economy and the growing demand for greater innovation. Insuch a context, this study aims to identify how the expansion process of master’s education in2

Taiwan has impacted the labor market and employment opportunities through the lenses ofcredentialism and signaling theory for the past two decades. Adopting a longitudinal analysis,
this study employed authoritative databases from 1995 to 2018, analyzing the impacts ofmassification. Our empirical findings confirm that credential inflation is not obvious, while
the signalling effect for a master’s degree remains stable, though slightly declining after 2010.
However, pursuing higher credentials (i.e. a master’s or even doctoral degree) is inevitable, as
youth must maintain their market value through higher credentials. Furthermore, themassified master’s education sector brings serious challenges to educational equality andsocial mobility among different social groups. Disadvantaged students are the most vulnerable
group in pursuit of this higher positional good at the societal level.
(Accepted)

The Effects of a Master’s Degree on Wage and Job Satisfaction in Massified HigherEducation: The Case of South Korea
Soo Jeung Lee, Seungjung Kim and Jisun Jung
Abstract
Despite the massive expansion of postgraduate education in many countries, few studies havebeen performed to examine the association between graduates possessing a master’s degree
and their labour market outcomes. We therefore used panel survey data from the 2011 to 2013
Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey to analyse the effects of master’s degrees on wage
levels and job satisfaction in South Korea, which has experienced a rapid expansion ofpostgraduate education. We found that master’s degrees are, overall, associated negatively
with wage levels, but positively with job satisfaction. These effects, however, differed bydiscipline, with a master’s degree in a hard discipline being significantly associated withhigher job satisfaction, but a master’s degree in a soft discipline being significantly associatedwith lower wages. We interpreted these results in light of the economic and social contexts ofhigher education and the labour market for graduates in Korea. Our results have policy
implications at the national and institutional levels in terms of qualification frameworks,curricula, employability and institutional support for career development, with consideration
for differences between disciplines.
doi.org/10.1057/s41307-020-00200-2

The Influence of Internationalization Policy on Master’s Education in Japan: AComparison of ‘‘Super Global’’ and Mass-Market Universities
Sae Shimauchi and Yangson Kim
Abstract
This study explores the dynamics of master’s education in Japan resulting from various
internationalization policies through a comparison of master’s degree programs offered byJapan’s ‘‘Super Global Universities (SGUs)’’ and the country’s mass-market universities.
Using case studies and interviews, the impact of internationalization policy and other external
factors on the ecology of master’s programs is examined, and the way in which the master’sprograms in these two different types of universities have reacted is analyzed. Although acommon pattern of increases in the number of international students enrolled in these master’sprograms was observed, responses to the internationalization policies and external
environmental changes were found to be diverse. Based on the study’s findings, specific,
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targeted policies rather than broad generic policies aimed at promoting the internationalizationof master’s education in Japan are needed. The recruitment of qualified students and a balanceof Japanese and international students in master’s education is seen as a key to effectively
implementing internationalization.
doi.org/10.1057/s41307-020-00204-y

Speakers’ profile
Jisun Jung
Dr. Jisun Jung is an assistant professor in the Faculty of Education at the Universityof Hong Kong since 2015. She obtained her PhD in Education at Seoul National
University, South Korea in 2011 and worked as a post-doctoral fellow and lecturer at
the University of Hong Kong. Her current research focuses on academic profession,
doctoral education, and master’s education and employment. She is a co-editor ofHigher Education Research & Development.

Jiale Yang
She is a Ph.D. candidate in the Institute of Education at Tsinghua University. She
obtained a bachelor’s degree of economics in 2015 and a master’s degree of economics
and management of education in 2018. Her research interest includes economics ofeducation, educational policy and graduate education. She has participated in several
national research projects and published plenty of peer-reviewed papers in Chineseand English journals.

Wenqin Shen
Shen Wenqin is Associate Professor of Higher Education at the Graduate School ofEducation, Peking University. He is a Visiting Scholar in the Department ofEducational Policy Studies at UW-Madison in 2013 and 2014. His research concerns
research training system and doctoral education, history of higher education andinternationalization of higher education.

Jason Cheng-Cheng Yang
Jason Cheng-Cheng Yang is Professor of Graduate Institute of Educational
Administration and Policy Development at National Chiayi University in Taiwan. He
is currently serve as CEO of International Master Program of Teaching Profession at
National Chiayi University. He is current Secretary-General of Chinese Taipei
Comparative Education Society and Deputy Secretary-General of Taiwan Higher
Education Society since 2019. His research expertise is higher education andInternational Comparative Education. His researches cover issues of higher education
relate to governance and autonomy of university, internationalization of higher
education and teacher education, international mobility of students, outcomes ofhigher education expansion, and employment of university graduates.
4Sheng-Ju Chan
Dr. Sheng-Ju Chan, Professor of Graduate Institute of Education at National Chung
Cheng University, Taiwan and serves as Director for Quality Assurance Office ofHigher Education Evaluation & Accreditation Council of Taiwan (HEEACT) since2019. He is the President of Chinese Taipei Comparative Education Society and severs
as executive member of the World Council of Comparative Education Societies(WCCES). His areas of special interest are higher education policy, comparativeeducation and higher education management. He has published widely in higher
education and international development education. Specialising in education in East
Asia, Professor Chan is the associate editor of the International Journal of Educational
Development published by Elsevier and he is also the co-editor of a book series, Higher
Education in Asia, supported by Springer.

Soo Jeung Lee
Dr. Soo Jeung Lee is an assistant professor in the department of Education, SejongUniversity. She was awarded a research fellowship of the Alexander von Humboldt
Foundation in 2014, and joined INCHER-Kassel during 2015-2017. She studied
Higher Education area and got a Ph.D. degree at Seoul National University in 2014,
Feb. Her research interests are university and labor market, university/researchevaluation, knowledge transfer, and changing academic profession. She has publishedin international journals like Higher Education, Studies in Higher Education, Journalof technology transfer and Scientometrics.

SeungJung Kim
Dr. SeungJung Kim is an senior researcher in Korean Council for University
Education. She studied Doctoral Education and Higher Education area and got a Ph.D.
degree at Seoul National University in 2017, Feb. Her research interests are doctoral
education, university administration and organization. Her recent work includes
improvement of Lecturers Act and part time lecturers’ working conditions andresearch.

Sae Shimauchi
Dr. Sae Shimauchi is an Associate Professor at Tokyo Metropolitan University,International Center. She completed her Ph.D. at Waseda University and previously
worked as postdoctoral research fellow for Japan Society for the Promotion of Scienceand an Assistant Professor at The Institute of Asia-Pacific Studies, Waseda University.
Her research interests lie in the area of internationalization of higher education,sociolinguistics, international studies and global sociology, ranging from theory topractices. Her recent work includes Paradigm Shift on International Student Mobility
in East Asia (Toshindo, 2016) and “English-medium Instruction in theInternationalization of Higher Education in Japan: Rationales and Issues”(Educational Studies in Japan, 2018).

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