You’re cordially invited to the next CERC seminar scheduled for Thursday 14 April 2016 in room 202 of Runme Shaw Building. The seminar is entitled “Cultural Challenges Facing East Asian Higher Education” presented by Prof. Yang Rui.

Please also be informed that CERC Annual General Meeting (AGM) will be held before the seminar from 12.30-13:00 to report on the activities of the Centre, and solicit ideas for its future development. Participants in the AGM will get a CIES bag for free.

Cultural Challenges Facing East Asian Higher Education

Speaker: Yang Rui

Chair: Mark Bray

Over recent decades, East Asia has made impressive progress in the scale and content of higher education. The achievement is especially remarkable when compared with other non-Western regions. A Western-style modern higher education system has been well established throughout the region. With a third of the global total investment in Research and Development, research in East Asia has also been growing rapidly.

While the achievement has been widely acknowledged, assessment of its future development is open to question. Some analysts suggest that East Asian universities are leaping ahead to challenge Western supremacy. Others feel that they will soon reach a ‘glass ceiling’. Questions remain about the true potential of East Asia’s universities and whether they can truly break the Western hegemony.

Based on the author’s intimate knowledge of East Asian societies and his longstanding professional observations, this presentation will assess the future development of East Asian higher education with recognition of the implications of its cultural roots.

YANG Rui is Professor and Associate Dean in the Faculty of Education at The University of Hong Kong. With over two and a half decades of academic career in China, Australia and Hong Kong, he has established his reputation among scholars in English and Chinese languages in the fields of comparative and international education and Chinese higher education. Bridging the theoretical thrust of comparative education and the applied nature of international education, his research interests include education policy, sociology, comparative and cross-cultural studies in education, international higher education, educational development in Chinese societies, and international politics in educational research.

Time: 13:00-14:15

Date: Thursday 14 April 2016

Venue: Runme Shaw 202