The Impact of Politial Culture on Higher Education Reform: Three Case Studies

Abstract

This chapter explores the impact of a country's political culture on higher education reform through three research-based case studies: the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia; the Socialist Republic of Vietnam; and Australia. Saudi Arabia is a resource-rich monarchy dominated by arguably the most traditional and restrictive political culture in the world. Its plan for Higher Education Reform ("Aafaq") is designed to position its university system as 'world class' in order to support its overt desire to be a strong and integrated participant in the global economy. Significant tension exists, however, between the cognitive, behavioural and organisational requirements necessary to meet the expressed academic vision of 'world class', and the cognitive, behavioural and organisational constraints imposed by cultural and religious norms and traditions. Vietnam is a densely-populated resource-poor country governed by the Communist Party of Vietnam, the only legal political party in the country. Vietnam relies heavily on international financial and intellectual support to enact its Higher Education Reform Agenda (HERA) which seeks to provide the skil1ed and innovative workforce necessary for the future economic development of the country. In line with socialist philosophy, however, the Vietnamese government is also seeking to maximise access and participation to higher education for all citizens, and has a stated aim of increasing university enrolments by 300% by 2020. The tension between the quality agenda for higher education reform and the quantity agenda of socialist culture is creating major issues for the Vietnamese university sector.