Lorraine Pe Symaco

Geographies of Social Exclusion: Education Access in the Philippines.

Despite the massive education sector of the country, the Philippines – being located in the Pacific Ring of Fire and the typhoon belt – is home to a number of natural instabilities that frequently disrupt the school calendar. Conflict areas in selected parts of the island of Mindanao and the remote geographic features of the country also pose problems in education access. Poverty incidence is reported to be high in such locations and access to basic services such as education is exceedingly low as compared to mainstream Manila. Given the geographies of social exclusion, particularly in education, as exemplified by such issues, this article will detail the problems in education access in the Philippines as illustrated through: (a) the remote geographic locations of some parts of the country; (b) the devastations brought to schooling by natural disasters; and (c) the ‘geography of conflict’ in Mindanao.

Development of Higher Education in Malaysia: Issues and Challenges

This chapter explores six decades of development of the higher education sector in Malaysia. The exploration begins by describing the context of higher education through a historical lens from the early establishments of universities in the First Malaysia Plan to the present. Furthermore, the changing roles and functions of universities across the decades were also examined to provide a more comprehensive understanding of the context. The chapter, then, focuses on the development of universities and higher education institutions in the public sector as well as the private sector, elaborating on the challenges and issues specific to each of these sectors. The last section of the chapter discusses selected issues of higher education in Malaysia, notably the changing state–university relationship, internationalisation of higher education services and the need for an inclusive higher education sector.

Education in the knowledge-based society: the case of the Philippines

There has been a sustained interest in the contribution of higher education in local, regional and national development in many countries. Along this line is the increasing internationalization and globalization of services to which the higher education sector is anticipated to respond through the updating and modernization of its offerings, changing of its formal structures and methods, policies regarding access, among others. The challenges of higher education in the global context anticipate the internationalization of this sector as a means that can provide an efficient response to and training for the evolving demands of modern society. This article reviews the programmes enacted by the Philippine government in response to the changing context of higher education with the move towards the knowledge-based society as central in policy. Issues relevant to the growing internationalism of education as seen through, among others, related human capital training, the role of research and development (R&D), and the increasing privatization of education as a result of the expansion of higher education will also be discussed.

Education and knowledge society in the Asia-Pacific

The role of education in development is highlighted all the more by the move towards a knowledge-based society, which emphasizes the need to reorganize the formation of human capital in line with the modernism associated with, among other things, science and technology and research innovations. The role of education in local, regional and national development has long been realized by various governments. The need to attune the education system to the ever changing needs of the global society has prompted policy reorganization in both developing and developed countries in order to ensure the formation of a human resource that can both function and adapt to this change (Symaco, 2013). The notion of a “Knowledge Society” captures the complexity and dynamism taking place in societies which has been in the discourse some time ago as evidenced through the works of Lane (1966); Drucker (1969) and Bell (1967, 1973), among others. The knowledge society is in fact, a learning society, broadly speaking – driven by originality and ingenuity. Stehr (1994, p. 6) also notes that “( . . . ) to label the now emerging form of society as a ‘knowledge’ society because the constitutive mechanism or the identity of modern society is increasingly driven by ‘knowledge’”. Education in knowledge societies therefore has to create these, or risk having people and their countries left behind. These knowledge societies emerge in response but not limited to, demand among social networks, and cross national and cultural boundaries in response to such demand with the aid of a wide range of technologies. Education systems in almost all instances should be structured in ways that are concordant to knowledge societies. From science and culture to sports and politics, ideas and capital are crossing borders and spanning the world. The globalization of business, the advances of information and communication technologies (ICT) and the acceleration of migration increasingly require greater ability to work on a global scale. As a result of this new connectivity, international and comparative education has to be moved from the margins to the mainstream. In this special issue, the increasing significance of international and comparative education as applied in the “knowledge society” will be presented as exemplified through issues and practices in education. This special issue intends to provide an international comparative analysis of education issues and a worldwide vision in the Asia-Pacific region based on knowledge, information, and learning. Yoko Tsuruta details the internationalization of higher education in Japan; Mohd Asri Mohd Noor and Michael Crossley focus on education innovation as exemplified through the clusters of excellence initiative in Malaysia; Esther Daniel looks at science teaching in selected Asia-Pacific countries and the relevance of ICT in science teaching and learning; Lorraine Symaco focuses on the role of higher education in the Philippines in line with the move towards the knowledgebased society as exemplified through various innovation indices; Anthony Welch considers a comparative examination of research and innovation in selected Southeast

Education Policies and Practices in Malaysia

This chapter provides an overview of education policies and practices in Malaysia. Over the decades, Malaysia has seen significant policy shifts underpinned by the forces of political and sociocultural demands. While some of these policies may be considered controversial, they portray the direction of development the country is heading. The chapter begins with a broad description of the nature of reforms that have taken place over the last five decades, and an overview of the policy development and implementation process in Malaysia. With the aim of providing historical background and outlining the development and implementation of educational policies in Malaysia, this chapter was divided into sections that specifically discuss each level of education in Malaysia from pre-primary to higher education. Each section delineates the important changes that the government has introduced in its quest to improve the education system of the nation. Some issues have also been highlighted to suggest for further improvement in the development and implementation of education policies in Malaysia.

The Educational Landscape of Malaysia

The term ‘landscape’ typically connotes a broad view of the lay of the land – its topography and changing contours of highlands and lowlands and changing vegetation. Etymologically, the suffix scape comes from the Old English word sceppan or scyppan, meaning shape. Thus, by derivation, the word landscape would refer to the shape of the land, and landscape artists, for instance, would seek to represent a view of the scenery seen and capture it with a ‘broad brush’. In contrast to portraits which offer a close-up view, landscapes offer the benefit of a view from afar, thus capturing the big picture. So, metaphorically, Malaysia’s educational landscape, likewise, paints a broad picture of the ‘topography’ of the education scene in the country, covering with a broad brush aspects of its history, the organization of the education system and major emergent themes. The main purpose of the chapter is then to provide the context against which subsequent chapters may be viewed.