Policy-Making, Planning and Change in Tertiary Education

Abstract

Almost all countries undertake educational planning in some form. Educational planning is said to be "the application of rational systemic analysis to the process of educational development with the aim of making education more effective and efficient in responding to the needs of its students and society" (Forojalla, 1993, p, 39). Planning is thus closely linked to policy development and implemen- tation, for the aims of planning are to inform decisions on appropriate goals and the approaches used to realise them. Given that growth has been a feature of world-wide development in education and a key challenge for education planning and policy, this article examines the developments and perspectives that are shaping educational planning and policy making with regard to educa- tional expansion, particularly in relation to the experiences with tertiary educa- tion in three countries in the Asia-Pacific region: Japan, Republic of Korea and Australia. While perspectives and considerations of planning, policy making and change cover all levels and sectors of education, there are good reasons for focusing in greater detail on planning and policy for tertiary education. First, tertiary education enrolments as well as participation rates are growing throughout the region, even in countries that had experienced substantial growth at this level prior to the 1990s. Second, high levels of participation in tertiary education mean that the directions followed and decisions taken at this level have influence on policy and practice at lower levels and affect provision and policy measures for adults as well. Indeed, the boundaries in programs and teaching are blurring across stages of learning, and thus make less appropriate and less meaningful strong distinctions in policy and planning across stages of learning.