Abstract
The volume on sustainability of tertiary education provides a systemic and synthesized overview of the recent scholarly developments across different Asian tertiary education systems under the UN 2030 Agenda and its Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The unique structures of Asian tertiary education, culturally distinct nature of their operations, and diverse level of sustainability commitments, make regional universities one of the most important centers of the global sustainability-related efforts. Despite the complexity of the Asia’s tertiary education systems and tensions inherent to international geopolitics and social-economic-environmental developments, the Asian tertiary institutions prioritize their mandate for universal implementation of the SDGs targets. Their efforts to achieve sustainable transformation require collaborations, while facing global-local tensions and keeping their strategic vision on the future development. Approaching sustainability as a West-born concept and an extrinsic political doctrine, the Asian tertiary sectors address the SDGs-related challenges by adopting Western sustainability through binding it with the notion of human-nature relationships, cultural roots, traditions, and histories of the place in order for sustainability to start making sense, to manifest itself, and to be fully accepted.
Access this chapter
Tax calculation will be finalised at checkout
Purchases are for personal use only
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Asian Development Bank (ADB). (2011). Higher education across Asia: An overview of issues and strategies. ADB. http://hdl.handle.net/11540/932.
Balitskaya, I., & Jain, N. (2022). Transforming tertiary education environments for sustainable development of the Sakhalin region in Russia. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_9.
Bhandari, R., & Lefébure, A. (Eds.). (2015). Asia: The next higher education superpower? Global education research reports. Institute of International Education.
Brehm, W., & Kitamura, Y. (2022). Memory in the Mekong: Regional identity, schools, and politics in Southeast Asia. Teachers College Press.
Brunner, J., & Tillett, A. (2006). The world bank/The international bank for reconstruction and development report no 68926. Higher education in Central Asia: The challenges of modernization. Case studies from Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, The Kyrgyz Republic and Uzbekistan. World Bank Group. https://documents1.worldbank.org/curated/en/266211468235483571/pdf/689260ESW0P0850rnization00200700eng.pdf.
Chang, J. (2022). Sustainable tertiary educational collaboration: Korea’s shared experiences and the challenges. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_2.
Erşen, E. (2014). Rise of new centres of power in Eurasia: Implications for Turkish foreign policy. Journal of Eurasian Studies, 5(2), 184–191. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.euras.2014.05.003.
Friedman, E., & Gostin, L. (2016). The United Nations sustainable development goals: Achieving the vision of global health. Georgetown Public Policy Review, 21(1). https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/70375673.pdf.
Gao, F., & Liu, H. (2022). The empowering potential of higher education for underprivileged ethnic minorities’ sustainable development in Hong Kong: Educational policies for access and equity. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_8.
Government of India, Ministry of Human Resource Development, Department of Higher Education. (2020). All India Survey on Higher Education (AISHE) report 2019–2020. Government of India. https://www.education.gov.in/sites/upload_files/mhrd/files/statistics-new/aishe_eng.pdf.
Ho, O. (2022). Laozi for Higher Education on Sustainability: Its principles, logic, and holistic relevance. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_5.
Institute of International Education (IIE) U.S. Department of State. (n.d). Asia’s stake in 21st-century higher education. https://www.iie.org/Learn/Blog/2015/08/2015-August-Asias-Transformation-And-The-Role-Of-International-Higher-Education.
Jia, N., & Park, J. (2022). Institutional brand construct and university sustainability. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_10.
Lee, S., Ma, S., & Lee, N. (2022). Delivering programs on Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) and UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in Mainland China and the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region: An assessment of the Hong Kong Institute of Education for Sustainable Development. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_4.
Li, A. (2022). Nurturing a good neighbour: A review of Sino-Kazakhstani higher education cooperation. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_3.
Liu, J. (2021). Japan. Sustainability and climate action in the higher education system. In T. McCowan, W. Leal, & L. Brandli (Eds.), Universities facing climate change and sustainability (pp. 83–91). Global University Leaders Council.
Liu, J., Kitamura, Y., & Savelyeva, T. (2022). Building an ‘ecosystem’ for transforming higher education teaching and learning for sustainability. Asia Pacific Education Review. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-022-09794-1.
McCowan, T., Leal, W., & Brandli, L. (Eds.). (2021). Universities facing climate change and sustainability. Global University Leaders Council.
Ministry of Education of the People's Republic of China (MoE). (2021). Chinese university college graduates to exceed 9 million in 2021. http://english.www.gov.cn/statecouncil/ministries/202012/01/content_WS5fc63051c6d0f72576941058.html.
Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD). (2019). Education at a glance: Russian federation. https://www.oecd.org/education/education-at-a-glance/EAG2019_CN_RUS.pdf.
Park, J., & Savelyeva, T. (2022). An interpretive analysis of the 2030 sustainable development goals in Hong Kong public universities. Asia Pacific Education Review. http://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-022-09777-2.
Parr, A., Binagwaho, A., Stirling, A., Davies, A., Mbow, C., Hessen, D., Bonciani, H., Salmi, J., Brown, M., Ramakrishna, S., Serrano, S., Schmelkes, S., Tong, S., & McCowan, T. (2022). Knowledge-driven actions: Transforming higher education for global sustainability. Independent expert group on the universities and the 2030 agenda. UNESCO.
Pecheritsa, E. (2022). Formative assessment for lifelong learning, effective teaching, and sustainable development in Russia. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_13.
Savelyeva, T. (2016). Vernadsky meets Yulgok: A non-western dialog on sustainability. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 49(5), 501–520. https://doi.org/10.1080/00131857.2016.1138851.
Savelyeva, T. (2018a). Stepping up the challenge: Fostering sustainability consciousness of Hong Kong students with new senior secondary liberal studies curriculum. In K. Kennedy & J. Lee (Eds.), The changing role of schools in Asian societies. International handbook on schools and schooling in Asia (pp. 740–756). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315694382-69/stepping-challenge-tamara-savelyeva?context=ubx&refId=b73a08f1-b538-4c54-8b37-7826f7e97e8f.
Savelyeva, T. (2018b). Sustainable schooling in the Asia-Pacific region: An imperative of hope. In K. Kennedy & J. Lee (Eds.), The changing role of schools in Asian societies. International handbook on schools and schooling in Asia (pp. 683–685). Taylor & Francis. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315694382-64/sustainable-schooling-asia-pacific-region-tamara-savelyeva.
Savelyeva, T. (2019). Problematisations and issues: Alternative traditions on sustainable development. In T. Savelyeva, S. Lee, & H. Banack (Eds.), SDG 3 good health and wellbeing: Re-calibrating the SDG agenda (pp. 7–10). Emerald. https://doi.org/10.4324/9781315694382-64/sustainable-schooling-asia-pacific-region-tamara-savelyeva.
Savelyeva, T. (2022a). In times of uncertainty: Advancing university sustainability model in Hong Kong. In W. Leal (Ed.), Handbook of sustainability science in the future. Springer. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-68074-9_122-1.
Savelyeva, T. (2022b). The influence of education and family systems on the sustainability values of Hong Kong university students. Asia Pacific Education Review. https://doi.org/10.1007/s12564-022-09786-1.
Savelyeva, T. (2022c). Liberal Studies reform and sustainability consciousness in Hong Kong tertiary education. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_7.
Savelyeva, T. (2022d). Conclusion—Towards a general framework of sustainable tertiary education. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_14.
Savelyeva, T., & Douglas, W. (2017a). Global consciousness and pillars of sustainable development: A study on self-perceptions of the first-year university students. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 18(2), 218–241. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-04-2016-0063.
Savelyeva, T., & Rickards, S. (2017b). Education for sustainability in higher education: The Asia-Pacific region. Editorial to a special issue on sustainability education in the Asia-Pacific region. International Journal of Sustainability in Higher Education, 18(2): 166–170. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJSHE-10-2016-0193.
Savelyeva, T., & Park, J. (2019). Critical examination of the Hong Kong liberal studies policy and curriculum. [香港のリベラル・スタディーズの見直し政策とその批判的検]. Research Journal of the Curriculum Center for Teachers, 18. [教員養成カリキュラム開発研究センター 研究年報』第18巻] Tokyo Gakugei University. https://u-gakugei.repo.nii.ac.jp.
Savelyeva, T., & Park, J. (2022). Blockchain technology and sustainable education. The British Journal of Educational Technology, 53(6): 1591–1604. https://doi.org/10.1111/bjet.13273.
Sikorskaia, G., & Savelyeva, T. (2022). Vocational cum pedagogical tertiary education and sustainable development in Russia. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_11.
Sustainable Development Solutions Network (SDSN). (2020). Accelerating education for the SDGs in universities: A guide for universities, colleges, and tertiary and higher education institutions. SDSN.
Szmigiera, M. (2021). Number of universities worldwide in 2020 by country. https://www.statista.com/statistics/918403/number-of-universities-worldwide-by-country/.
Subbetto, A., & Shamakhov, V. (2020). Noospheric vocation of the greater Eurasia in the XXI century. Eurasian Integration: Economics, Law, Politics, 14(4), 17–28. https://doi.org/10.22394/2073-2929-2020-4-17-28.
United Nations (UN). (2000). United Nations millennium declaration fifty-fifth session agenda item 60 (b) A/RES/55 resolution adopted by the general assembly [without reference to a main committee (A/55/L.2)]. https://www.un.org/en/development/desa/population/migration/generalassembly/docs/globalcompact/A_RES_55_2.pdf.
United Nations (UN). (2015). Transforming our world: The 2030 agenda for sustainable development A/RES/70/1. United Nations.
United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO). (2014). UNESCO education strategy 2014–2021. UNESCO. https://unesdoc.unesco.org/ark:/48223/pf0000231288.
Williams, J. H., Brehm, W., & Kitamura, Y. (2021). Measuring what matters? Mapping higher education internationalization in the Asia-Pacific. International Journal of Comparative Education and Development, 23(2), 65–80. https://doi.org/10.1108/IJCED-10-2020-0071.s
Wu, S., & Sorrell, D. (2022). Elite to mass to universal: The historical development, internationalization and sustainability of tertiary education in Hong Kong. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_6.
Zhang, L., Sorrell, D., Adams, P., & Adamson, B. (2022). Creating a sustainable college performance evaluation in China. In T. Savelyeva & Gao, F. (Eds.), Sustainable tertiary education in Asia: Policies, practices, and developments. Springer. http://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_12.
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Corresponding author
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2022 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd.
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Savelyeva, T. (2022). An Introduction to the Sustainability of Tertiary Education in Asia: Collaborations, Transformations, Global–Local Tensions, and Future Developments. In: Savelyeva, T., Fang, G. (eds) Sustainable Tertiary Education in Asia. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_1
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-5104-6_1
Published:
Publisher Name: Springer, Singapore
Print ISBN: 978-981-19-5102-2
Online ISBN: 978-981-19-5104-6
eBook Packages: EducationEducation (R0)