Higher education in early-stage developmental states: lessons for beginners

Abstract

The Southeast Asian developmental states of the past century have shown a strong linkage between higher education strategies and economic growth. With the goal of drawing lessons from which those countries that are presently pursuing the tenets of the developmental state can learn, this paper attempts to set out the common characteristics of higher education in early-stage developmental states. Drawing on literature from the heydays of the Southeast Asian developmental states, the paper identifies strong state control, central admission process, emphasis on technology transfer, diversity of institutions, priority for natural sciences, large scale expansion, and other non-economic goals as the basic attributes of higher education at the early early-stage of their development.