Not much has been written about the private education sector in Singapore despite the fact that the sector houses about 300 private education institutions (PEIs) and enrolls about 150,000 students. Private Education in Singapore: Contemporary Issues and Challenges is an exciting book that aims to fill a gap in the literature. In the book, the author offers an extensive discussion on (i) the key elements of the sector — types and features of the PEIs, (ii) the regulatory framework for private education, (iii) students' aspiration and the impact of the ASPIRE report on PEIs, and (iv) the provision of external degree programme through transnational partnership. The book also tackles the hotly debated discussion in relation to academic quality and standard of PEI courses. The author identifies the reasons — some of them have more characteristics of a myth — and suggests a number of ways to overcome the issues and challenges.

Competition to provide education is tense, attributed to the ease to access and process information. Technological development has also landed a terrible blow to the employment situation, which forces higher education institutions to review what and how their students learn. Yet, the desire to retain and grow the number of students and gain commercially can sometimes cloud judgment of educational leaders. They need to know that poorly made decisions hurt the businesses and students. In this book, Sam Choon-Yin explores how technological development has the potential to transform higher education. However, the same technology also has the potential to disrupt the education sector. The author provides a critical outlook on the prevailing practices of the higher education institutions. By drawing our attention to the various challenges, the author shows how teaching and learning can be effectively carried out in the digital age to serve the needs of students and hiring companies, and ultimately the institutions of higher learning. Understanding the issues and challenges means better design of and delivery of the curriculum. At a deeper level, the book raises a complex question of “what makes an education institution different” as they aim to define themselves by fulfilling students’ desire. Understanding these issues forms the basis of power for higher education institutions to remain competitive and relevant in the age of digitization.

This handbook provides a frame of reference for the global challenges facing higher education leadership today. Focusing on recommendations and directions for the future rather than simply a recap of measures taken during the COVID-19 pandemic, the contributors also delve into contexts such as the climate crisis, issues of diversity, equity and inclusion, digitalisation, funding and marketisation, the war in Ukraine and China-Taiwan and Hong Kong tensions. They collate a systematic, global view of higher education systems during the pandemic and beyond, and explore possibilities for the future, providing recommendations for "the new normal". With contributions from across six continents, the book will be of interest to students and scholars of higher education and governance, university leaders, government and accreditation bodies, and anyone else interested in reflecting on the past few years in higher education and the road ahead. Jürgen Rudolph is Director of Research and Learning Innovation at Kaplan Singapore. Joseph Crawford is Senior Lecturer in Management, Office of the Deputy Vice Chancellor (Education), University of Tasmania, Australia. Sam Choon Yin is Dean (Academic Partnerships), Kaplan Singapore. Shannon Tan is Research Executive at Kaplan Singapore.

Comparing High-Performing Education Systems provides original insights into the educational structures, ideologies, policies, and practices in Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong. Taking as its basis their global reputation and consistently strong performance in formal assessments, the author provides an in-depth analysis and comparison of these three education systems that draws on cutting-edge research. Chapters explore the dominant cultural and educational norms in Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong to give a wider picture of these high-performing education systems. The performance of students in international large-scale assessments such as Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA), Trends in International Mathematics and Science Study (TIMSS), and Progress in International Reading Literacy Study (PIRLS) is considered, alongside an exploration of attitudes to schooling, tutoring, and assessment. The book shows how Singapore, Shanghai, and Hong Kong exemplify an East Asian Educational Model (EAEM). Such a model – is rooted in and shaped by Confucian habitus: unconscious and ingrained worldviews, dispositions, and habits that reflect the standards of appropriateness in a Confucian Heritage Culture; aspires high performance: a balance between academic excellence and holistic development; and utilises educational harmonisation: the art of bringing together different and contradictory means and ends to achieve desired educational outcomes. Informative and thought-provoking, this book is a useful reference for policymakers, researchers, educators, and general readers on high-performing education systems, school reforms in East Asia, Confucian influences on education, and cross-cultural policy learning and transfer.

Comprehensive and authoritative, this Handbook provides a nuanced description and analysis of educational systems, practices, and policies in Asian countries and explains and interprets these practices from cultural, social, historical, and economic perspectives. Using a culture-based framework, the volume is organized in five sections, each devoted to educational practices in one civilization in Asia: Sinic, Japanese, Islamic, Buddhist, and Hindu. Culture and culture identities essentially are civilization identities; the major differences among civilizations are rooted in their different cultures. This framework offers a novel approach to capturing the essence of the diverse educational systems and practices in Asia. Uniquely combining description and interpretation of educational practices in Asia, this Handbook is a must-have resource for education researchers and graduate students in international and comparative education, globalization and education, multicultural education, sociocultural foundations of education, and Asian studies, and for educational administrators and education policy makers.

This open access edited volume is a comparative effort to discern the short-term educational impact of the covid-19 pandemic on students, teachers and systems in Brazil, Chile, Finland, Japan, Mexico, Norway, Portugal, Russia, Singapore, Spain, South Africa, the United Kingdom and the United States. One of the first academic comparative studies of the educational impact of the pandemic, the book explains how the interruption of in person instruction and the variable efficacy of alternative forms of education caused learning loss and disengagement with learning, especially for disadvantaged students. Other direct and indirect impacts of the pandemic diminished the ability of families to support children and youth in their education. For students, as well as for teachers and school staff, these included the economic shocks experienced by families, in some cases leading to food insecurity and in many more causing stress and anxiety and impacting mental health. Opportunity to learn was also diminished by the shocks and trauma experienced by those with a close relative infected by the virus, and by the constrains on learning resulting from students having to learn at home, where the demands of schoolwork had to be negotiated with other family necessities, often sharing limited space. Furthermore, the prolonged stress caused by the uncertainty over the resolution of the pandemic and resulting from the knowledge that anyone could be infected and potentially lose their lives, created a traumatic context for many that undermined the necessary focus and dedication to schoolwork. These individual effects were reinforced by community effects, particularly for students and teachers living in communities where the multifaceted negative impacts resulting from the pandemic were pervasive. This is an open access book.

With his many years of overseas experiences as an international student, educator and scholar, Teofilo C Daquila has conducted his research on the internationalisation of higher education (IHE), as it has become an important policy issue and research topic for governments and universities around the world. He aims to determine the extent of internationalisation of higher education in the Asia-Pacific region particularly in Australia, Singapore and Japan in terms of its determinants and impacts using a multi- and inter-disciplinary framework of analysis, through historical, political, geographical, economic, social, and cultural dimensions.Daquila examines three leading universities in the world as case studies to determine their internationalisation experiences and the extent of their competitiveness. These are the University of Melbourne, the National University of Singapore, and Kyoto University. He uses four indicators of competitiveness: governance and structure, demand conditions, factor conditions, and internationalisation strategies (using the following indicators of IHE: expansion, broadening/diversification, deepening and facilitation).This book is highly recommended for anyone interested in the internationalisation of higher education, its determinants and multiple perspectives, the competitiveness and internationalisation experiences and strategies of universities.