Educators Survey State of Higher Learning in Asia
A desire to produce well-rounded graduates, an influx of Chinese students, heartburn over university rankings: Such universal topics were among the subjects of discussion at the three-day annual meeting of the Asia-Pacific Association for International Education in Seoul, South Korea, which ended March 20. Several university presidents and vice chancellors from Asia lamented an overemphasis in higher education on graduates’ employability. There is too great a focus, they said, on imparting a narrow set of skills rather than on educating students broadly. Are modern universities, asked Inwon Choue, president of Kyung Hee University, in Seoul, “begetting academic excellence without soul?”...
