Internationalization in the Asian Pacific: The Case of Handong Global University Facing New Challenges in a Global, Digital, and Unequal World

Abstract

As Korean, Japanese, and Australian universities see declining birthrates and a tapering off of the percentage of national age cohorts heading to universities, increased enrollments of international students are being pursued. As demographic changes force these universities to attract students from abroad, the globalization trend is also an incentive to modify their educational paradigms to prepare students to become global citizens. This paradigm shift is needed given that peace and prosperity depend on increasing the capacity of people to think and work on a global and intercultural basis. Furthermore, with digital advances in information and communication technologies (ICT), student learning will be integrated through ICT confluence to bring about innovations in products, services, contents, and processes. Thus, the educational environment is changing fast and the challenges are mounting for higher educational institutions, especially for Christian universities.

Notes

Hallyu, a Korean word for “the Korean Wave,” refers to an increase in the popularity of Korean culture such as Korean TV dramas, Korean pop music videos on YouTube (K-pop), and Korean martial arts (tae kwon do), among other cultural exports. The Korean Wave is not confined only to East and Southeast Asia but has spread to other regions of the world, especially among teenagers and young adults in Latin America, India, the Middle East, and many parts of Africa.

In addition, some international students have violated visa requirements to become illegal residents. Several universities have subsequently been banned by the government authority from enrolling international students because they lacked the basic level of preparation to admit foreign students.

As the life cycles of products produced by businesses have become shorter, businesses have had to shorten their innovation cycles (see Gates, 1999). In the same way, as the knowledge life cycle becomes shorter, higher educational institutions need to quicken the knowledge production cycle (see Christensen & Eyring, 2011).

This phrase was coined after the “Miracle on the Rhine” which was used to represent the great economic comeback of postwar Germany. In Korea, it denotes the period immediately following the 1960s massive investment in industrial and technological development that led to increased exports.

UNAI, which was formally launched in November 2010 at the initiative of UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, has now more than 1,200 member universities.