Dao of Managing Higher Education in Asia

The following sections are included:

• Dedication
• Contents
• Preface
• Acknowledgements
• About the Author

This chapter examines the dominance of Western research methodologies and suggests that they may not fully address research studies on Eastern cultures. It begins with a broad overview of the influences of Western philosophies and how Western education researchers approach social situations. Its differences with Chinese philosophies were highlighted with the concept of dao and Confucianism. More than just an epistemological discussion, the author argues that some Western researchers’ bias towards Asian researchers may be due to their failure or lack of experience in making the connections with Asian social systems. It attempts to provide some plausible explanations of the prevalence of bias by peer reviewers of Western journals.

This chapter explores the complexities of multiple paradigms and overlapping influences in university leadership today. The perceptions of the key issues and challenges facing higher education leaders in their work are discussed. The study found that many challenges centred around the need for strategic leadership, flexibility, autonomy, managing and motivating staff, responding to competing tensions and maintaining institutional quality. The author also comes up with some proposals for university leaders to deal with the challenges they face.

This chapter examines the prevalence of private commercial schools in Singapore, many of which may not have met the regulatory requirements if strict monitoring actions were to be applied to them. The majority of private commercial schools in Singapore are small and have no proper facilities such as libraries, student recreation facilities and computer labs. While over 600 schools have been deregistered since 2009, either voluntarily or involuntarily, following the introduction of the Council for Private Education Act in 2009, over 300 schools are still operating. Of these 300 schools, only less than one-fifth can be considered to have proper facilities. The first part of this paper explores the possible reasons why some private commercial schools are still in operation despite not meeting the recommended regulatory guidelines. It suggests stricter actions could be taken by the Council for Private Education to ensure that private commercial schools contribute to the improvement of the overall education landscape in Singapore and makes recommendations where the Council could increase its vigilance on these schools. It also recommends a framework relating to the monitoring and review of the current audit process of private commercial schools. The second part of the paper explores the failure of private commercial schools to deliver quality education to their students and the reasons students are still choosing the private education route as an option for their studies. Contrary to popular assumptions, private commercial schools in Singapore pose no significant competition to public schools. Teachers at private commercial schools do not receive as much training and development as those in public schools. Profit seems to be the main driver for these commercial schools.

This chapter explores the key issues and challenges facing private university leaders today. Universities are reculturing their operational processes, academic content and interactions with stakeholders. Many challenges centre around the need for university leaders to reculture the institutions and the redesigning of the teaching profession. It recommends a framework for university leaders to deal with the challenges they face. Only through reculturing, will private universities be able to maintain sustainability of its workforce and student population. The article has both theoretical and practical significance for private university leaders to follow.

This chapter aims to explore the differences in the feedback scores of lecturers evaluated by diploma and degree students in a private university in Malaysia. Currently, all students evaluate lecturers teaching at both the diploma and degree levels using the same set of questionnaires. As the entry requirements for the two classes of students are different, the feedback results do not fully reflect the teaching efficiency of the lecturers. An upward reweighting of the feedback scores of Diploma level lecturers to ensure more parity in the teacher evaluation process was proposed. The University’s human resource policies need to be fine-tuned to take into consideration the differences between the two classes of students. The current system of not revealing the various component scores of the feedback process to the lecturers is counter-productive as lecturers do not know which aspects of their teaching need to be improved and which aspects are appreciated by students. For the feedback process to be effective, lecturers need to receive timely and substantive information about their performance.

This chapter uses the metaphor of University Remodelling as a framework for analysing students’ choice of a private university and repositioning the university through rebranding of its professors. Remodelling the university involves reconstructing competencies and strengths of the institution. These elements are critical to the growth of the university. Managing growth requires understanding of the factors influencing students’ choice of a university, institutional commitment towards improving these factors, and rebranding the university to differentiate itself from its competitors. The creation of a strong university brand is a strategic issue that requires close collaboration between university administrators and academicians, and should not be left to the marketing department alone.

This chapter examines the impact of attendance on student achievement. An analysis of students taking a Statistics course in the third semester of 2015 was carried out to investigate the relationship between class attendance and their final exam grades. Students’ achievements were affected by absenteeism from class. The study showed that students who missed classes regularly performed poorly in their final exam. There is a strong correlation between absenteeism rate and failure rate. Students who recorded more than 20% absentee rate in class failed their final exam. This chapter also suggests that we look at Reframing as a technique to reduce the non-attendance and to improve students’ achievements.

This research study was originally conducted in 2009 and some of the literature reviews have since been updated. The author has also injected new discussions and viewpoints to make this chapter more relevant. It examined leadership qualities among private school principals in Singapore. Findings from the study indicate that effective principals are able to establish trust, create structures that promote principal–teacher communication and maintain a high level of moral values. Specifically, it presents the findings from the case of ten private schools in Singapore. The author presents an overview of the study and a discussion of emergent themes and questions related to the roles of the principals and the relations between school and the community. The results from our study indicate that financial goals rank above all other goals set by the private school principals. The emphasis on maximising financial gain is a cause of concern as many school principals have lost their intellectual integrity as well as their academic values in their pursuit of financial gain.