This chapter aims to review and analyze the functions, modes, requirements, and related issues of developing a regional education hub in the Asia-Pacific region. Taking Hong Kong as an emerging case, it examines the relationship between education hub development and higher education development as well as the strategic functions of an education hub to the future development of Hong Kong. The development of an education hub was found closely linked to the demands for higher education in the Asia-Pacific region as well as the internal dynamic of higher education and societal developments in Hong Kong. The mode of education hub development in Hong Kong should put more emphasis on world-class soft power building instead of marketization for generating financial incomes. The requirements for successful education hub development include the huge demands for provision and internationalization of higher education in the region, the strengths of the higher education sector, the policies and measures for attracting and supporting international students and education service providers, and the leadership and support of key government bureaus or central agencies. The discussion and analysis in this chapter will contribute to the related literature, policy development, and initiative implementation in areas of education hub and higher education internationalization not only in Hong Kong but also in other parts of the world.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.]

Hong Kong has signaled its intention to develop itself as a regional education hub for a decade. However, the policy is being criticized because Hong Kong has neither diversified its student population ethnically and culturally nor expanded its share in the global higher education market. This chapter explores the significance of the education hub concept in the development of higher education in Hong Kong. It begins with a brief examination of the existing approach to the concept of education hub and internationalization of higher education. It then looks into the main initiatives made by the Hong Kong government to implement its education hub strategy. This is followed by a critical examination of the effects of the hub strategy with a focus on the tensions between Hong Kong and mainland China. It also explores the special status of Hong Kong’s higher education sector in China under the “one country, two systems” constitutional framework. The chapter concludes by arguing that a capitalist and instrumentalist interpretation of internationalization of higher education is not a sufficient condition to underpin an effective education hub notion. Instead, it sees cosmopolitanism as a better ideological rationale for the development of internationalization of higher education in the city.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.]

Given the strong worldwide trend of internationalisation of higher education, what implications can be drawn from the ongoing progress for research development, policy improvement and practical innovation in higher education? Based on international literature, this chapter will review and discuss the complicated nature of higher education internationalisation and propose a conceptualization matrix to capture its major characteristics. A typology of higher education development will also be proposed to illustrate how internationalisation is related to the future directions and scenarios of higher education development in Hong Kong and beyond. It is hoped that both the development typology and conceptualization matrix can help policy makers, educators, researchers, social leaders and change agents to understand the related issues of internationalisation of higher education in a wider context. Taking Hong Kong as a case in the fast-developing Asia-Pacific region, this chapter will also introduce the key features of the book composed of three parts with ten chapters which provide comprehensive studies with quantitative and qualitative empirical evidence and diverse perspectives to analyse and review the key issues and challenges in different aspects of the internationalisation of higher education. It aims to draw implications and recommendations for future developments in both Hong Kong and international communities.
[Copyright © 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Singapore.]

Purpose – This paper aims to review and analyze the functions, strategies and related issues of developing a regional education hub in the trends of education development in China as well as the Asian Pacific region. Design/methodology/approach – Taking Hong Kong as an emerging case, it examines through literature and international comparison the relationship between education hub development and higher education development as well as the strategic functions of an education hub to the future development of Hong Kong. Findings – The development of an education hub was found closely linked to the demand for higher education in the Asian Pacific region as well as the internal dynamic of higher education and society in Hong Kong. The mode of education hub development in Hong Kong should be driven by soft-power building instead of industrialization. The requirements for successful implementation include the huge demands for higher education in the region, the strengths of the higher education sector, the supporting policies and measures for international students and education service providers, and the leadership and support of central agencies. Originality/value – This paper provides a new typology of higher education developments and a new mode of education hub development to analyze the strategic functions and requirements of developing education hub in the context of Asia-Pacific Region. The discussion and analysis in this paper will contribute to the related literature, policy development and initiative implementation in the areas of education hub and higher education not only in Hong Kong but also other parts of the world.
[Copyright © 2011 Emerald Group Publishing Limited.]

Since 2004, the Hong Kong government has sought to build a regional education hub and develop an education industry. However, the rationales and intentions behind this move and the implications these have for the nurturing of local human capital and economic capacity are not always clear. This article seeks to contextualize Hong Kong's economic development within the global economy. Various related official policy documents are examined to decipher the role of the Hong Kong government and to ascertain how the development of a regional education hub and an education industry features in its plans. It is analysed that up till 2009, the goal of attracting foreign and Mainland human resources and talent, as a way to facilitate the inflow of human capital into Hong Kong, has overridden the goal of a viable and self-sustaining education industry. The article questions whether such a policy orientation is in the best interests of Hong Kong and whether developing Hong Kong into an education hub should be mainly seen as being a way of upgrading and revitalizing local higher education in order to better serve the local economy, which is under pressure to transform into a knowledge-based economy and to develop new growth poles.
[Copyright of Routledge. Full article may be available at the publisher's website:
http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/02188791.2011.594418]