Asia is, at present, undergoing a major transformation in the education industry. From the decline in higher education enrollment rates in the late 1990s, it is very important in this current decade that there is a growing penetration of international universities in Asia. According to a study by the British Council, in 2012 there is a growing number of international students in higher education institutions in Malaysia, China, India, Indonesia and the rest of Southeast Asia. This trend, according to British Council analysts, is a clear indication of a major shift in the balance of global students from West to East.
The influence of Transnational Education (TNE) in the growth of online degree programs in Asia is very significant in the number of universities that are embracing online and distance learning today. This is also evidenced by numerous publications, surveys and reports of major research firms from around the world. To gain better insights into how online programs are proliferating at many Asian higher education institutions (HEIs) today, it is practical that we examine some of the remarkable events that have occurred in the higher education market in Asia over the past decades.
Pre-internet period
During the early 2000s, Internet penetration in many Asian countries was significantly low. Even today, developing countries, particularly in Southeast Asia, still lag behind other countries in terms of developing ICT infrastructures. According to a 2012 article by Pearson Asia Pacific, in Cambodia the Internet penetration rate was only 0.5% while in Indonesia it was only 10.5%. Based on a blog article published by The Australian, in 2011, Internet penetration in China and India was 40% and 10%, respectively. Thus, the growth of online programs in these regions is constrained by poor internet access. This technological circumstance has also left many countries in Asia becoming dependent on text-based teaching programs and traditional face-to-face classroom meetings for years.
Post-internet and the rise of open universities
The rapid rise in mobile technology and the Internet observed from 2005 to 2011 has created new educational markets across Asia. With the funding of national governments and private foundations, new universities, virtual universities and learning centers have spread like mushrooms throughout the Asian region. Online and distance learning (ODL) providers have become particularly dominant in South Korea, Hong Kong, Japan, Malaysia and Singapore, countries that have seen great advances in Internet technology. Many analysts considered these improvements in Internet technology a “quantum leap” for many ODL providers.
In Malaysia, about 85,000 students took online degree courses in 2011. South Korea boosted online class enrollment to more than 112,000 students in the same year. In 2010, about 1.64 million people in China were enrolled in various online courses offered through online media.
Open Universities, in particular, has pioneered distance learning programs in Asia. Among the major open universities that initially offered online degree programs were Asia Electronic University (Malaysia), Korea National Open University (South Korea), Indira Gandhi Open University (India), and Central Radio and Television University (China).
The mobile student boom
According to the 2012 Study on Global Higher Education conducted by the British Council, in 2010, more international students enrolled in UK degrees abroad than international students at home (or in the UK). This was quite the opposite of the situation during 1985-2008 when more than 50% of Asian students were studying abroad especially in North America and Western Europe. In Malaysia, about 58,000 international students were counted studying on campus and online degree programs in 2010. On the other hand, China reported the enrollment of 71,700 international students in the same year.
The rise of MOOCs and global alliances
New ways of learning online courses has led to an exponential growth in enrollment in many higher education institutions in Asia. The growth in the number of TNE students taking online courses has been significant in Southeast Asian countries beginning in 2011. A TNE, as defined by the British Council, is “the delivery or conduct of education through distance learning, twinning programmes, branch campuses and franchising arrangements.” National education enrollment rates in India, China and Indonesia are expected to grow significantly until 2020, and this will account for 7.1 million, 5.1 million and 2.3 million students in the respective countries.
What will drive this explosive growth in online course enrollment is the growing number of Western institutions engaging with Asian universities for concessions, joint or dual degrees, and e-learning or distance learning, including Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs). As for this, the online degree programs offered by these Asian universities will continue to be popular until 2020, according to the analysts.