Reflexivity in the Transformation of Higher Education: Comparing Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan

The objective of this paper is to compare the transformation of higher educations in Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The higher education systems in these societies were established and transformed from homologous Japanese Imperial Universities, and developed toward various higher education systems intermediated by policies under international and domestic contexts. Using second hand data, the results show the common characteristics of these cases from state-led national elitism to market-led massification by means of privatization and commercialization. However, some differences exist in their finances resources, enrolment rates, policies for tuition fees and mostly important, job rewards for those who obtain higher education degrees, comparing to high school ones. The rise of reflexivity further suggests that the right of access to higher education has been changed from institutional limited opportunities, to the actors who decide when, why, and how to accept higher education. The facts imply that the states have to adjust and re-define their roles in higher education, and diverse programs and learning methods will be provided for multiple students in the future.