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.]

Hong Kong has long been using high stakes examinations in the education system. High stakes tests are product-oriented which is less helpful for learning. In recent years in particular, Hong Kong would like to make a change to its examination system. The government sees that school-based assessment (SBA) can bring about many educational benefits. It can help reduce examination pressure and helps improve teaching and learning. Subsequently, a much wider use of SBA has recently been added to the assessment system as one important aspect of the assessment reform. The new initiatives have been received by the education sector in different ways. A study was thus conducted to understand how teachers responded to the new initiatives. About a hundred secondary school teachers were invited to complete a questionnaire. Analysis of the quantitative data revealed that teachers generally felt that SBA was beneficial to teaching and learning. However, the qualitative data showed that teachers perceived a lot of difficulties associated with SBA. To make SBA in Hong Kong a success, a lot of issues will need to be addressed. These will be reported and discussed during the presentation.

“Soft” policy has newly emerged as a policy implementation concept in relation to governance. Carried with a character of non-binding, it is designed for multilevel systems of governance where there is relative autonomy at different levels of collective decision-making. Originally “soft” policy was used in the field of international law or international relations and has recently been used in relation to European Union Policy. In the field of education, “soft” policy has gained attention since the adoption of different scales of education reforms in various countries that involved the governance and coordination among multilevel systems during the past decade. In real practice, “soft” methods or measures were used to assist implementation at various levels, particularly in the real contexts. According to Ahonen’s typology of soft policy-making methods (2001), the present study will explore how “soft” policy has been realized in the recent large-scale curriculum reform in Hong Kong. In particular, the study will explore how school teachers perceive these “soft” methods or measures in their school contexts. Implications will be drawn from these real cases of “soft” policy implementation as well.

The spread of quality assurance (QA) regimes in higher education has been an explosive phenomenon over the last 25 years. By one estimate, for example, half of all the countries in the world have adopted QA systems or QA regulatory agencies to oversee their higher education sector. Typically, this phenomenon is explained as a process of policy diffusion, the advent of marketization, the spread of neoliberalism, massification and, concomitantly, the emergence of a 'global market' for higher education, prompting governments to respond by validating standards, quality, and introducing certification and compliance regimes. In this paper I question the utility of these explanatory frameworks, specifically looking at the case of Hong Kong in order to explore the role coercive institutional isomorphism plays in policy adoption and the implications of this for regulatory performativity.
[Copyright © Elsevier BV].

The acceleration of e-Learning around the world has driven the major cities/regions in the Asia–Pacific region such as Singapore, Hong Kong, Taiwan, and Beijing to plan and implement official policies on e-Learning for enhancing the quality of school education. This article aims to review experiences and then draw lessons of these four major Asian cities/regions in the development of e-Learning policies on the dimensions of infrastructure, curriculum integration, students learning, teacher professional development, as well as leadership and capacity building. It is identified that each of the four major Asian cities/regions has its own area of emphasis in the planning of future e-Learning policies, with Singapore focusing on scaling up good practices of e-Learning among teacher community; Hong Kong focusing on creating digital classrooms supported by wireless networking for student-centered learning; Taiwan focusing on cultivating students with 21st century skills through daily subject teaching; and Beijing focusing on providing digital resources and e-textbooks geared to school curricula. Five implications with regard to e-Learning policies are further made in order to provide a point of references for other cities/regions to develop future e-Learning policies for school education in the 21st century.
[Copyright © Springer].

Malaysia’s agenda for establishing itself as an education hub is driven by the need to build its capacity in human capital, knowledge, and innovation, as well as strengthening education as a trade sector for revenue generation. Malaysia’s current profile is that of a student hub based on the exponential growth of the international student body, particularly in the private sector, during the past decade. This chapter explains that while the country’s commitment and progress is much lauded, there are still several critical issues that need to be addressed for Malaysia to stand firm on its status as an education hub. These include the diversification of the current international student demography, graduate employability, skilled workforce development, and brain drain. Malaysia’s future rests on its ability to integrate the various components of education hub to ensure that there is added value gained from its diverse and important cross-border education activities.
[Copyright © 2014 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht.]