This volume seeks to identify and explore the forces affecting higher education in the Asia Pacific region today. It includes a set of conceptually-rich organizing chapters followed by detailed country-specific studies that detail both the underlying dynamics of these forces and the manner in which they have affected specific countries. In this way, the chapters touch on the complex demographics of the region, how continued and continuous economic development impinges on higher education, and how neoliberalism has affected higher education across many dimensions. The volume also addresses the complex issues associated with cross border education and the daunting challenges of both national and cross-national quality assurance.

Christopher S. Collins is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at Azusa Pacific University, USA. His research interests include the role of higher education related to poverty reduction, knowledge extension, public good, and social rates of return. Molly N.N. Lee is an education consultant from Malaysia. She is the former Programme Specialist in Higher Education at The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization in Bangkok. Prior to joining UNESCO, she was Professor of Education at the Universiti Sains Malaysia, Malaysia. John N. Hawkins is Co-Director of the East West Center's Asian Pacific Higher Education Partnership and Professor Emeritus of Social Sciences and Comparative Education in the Graduate School of Education at the University of California, Los Angeles, USA. He has served as president of the Comparative and International Education Society, and editor of the Comparative Education Review. Deane E. Neubauer is Emeritus Professor of Political Science at the University of Hawaii, Manoa, USA, and Co-Director of the Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership (APHERP), a twenty-four member research group consisting of higher education institutions and other related entities interested in studying the dynamics of higher education in the Asia Pacific region.