Book Review: Higher Education in East Asia: Neoliberalism and the Professoriate

Abstract

Reviews the book, Higher education in East Asia: neoliberalism and the professoriate edited by Gregory S. Poole and Ya-chen Chen (2009). The genesis of the book was a Council of Anthropology and Education session at the America Anthropological Association annual meeting in late 2006. The focus is on the lived experiences of academics in East Asia, the 'professoriate'—with their experiences tracked via series of narratives based on ethnographic research. Countries covered are Japan, PRC, Taiwan and Hong Kong. The book finishes with a concluding chapter that attempts comparison between the UK and East Asia. This approach makes for an engaging tale and consistent with such an approach the reader feels an immediate connection with these staff of some higher education institutions in East Asia. The key strength of this book, then, is that it provides a fascinating picture of higher education in East Asia. The book is dominated by the Japan experience (five chapters out of nine), which makes for a skewed presentation of the professoriate in East Asia. The book none-the-less provides valuable insights for readers who are interested in the higher education scene in a part of the world not much written about. (PsycInfo Database Record (c) 2022 APA, all rights reserved)