Please note venue changed to Oksenberg Conference Room

The University of Tokyo, the National University of Singapore, and numerous other Asian higher education institutions appear in the annual worldwide rankings of top universities.

Education, so closely linked to economics, is an increasingly global competition in the digital information age. Many Asian policymakers are now pushing for higher education reform—and not merely as a matter of academic prestige. They believe strong, innovative higher education systems will pave the way for their countries’ future economic and political strength.

Looking comparatively at situations across Asia and in the United States, the Stanford Kyoto Trans-Asian Dialogue considered possible solutions to the challenges of reforming higher education today. This annual event, the fourth since Shorenstein APARC established the Dialogue series in 2009, took place September 6 and 7 in Kyoto. It concluded with a public symposium and reception at the Kyoto International Community House.

In an interview before the event, Gi-Wook Shin, director of Shorenstein APARC, spoke about the mission and history of the Stanford Kyoto Trans-Asian Dialogue, and about the significance of this year’s theme.

From where did the idea for the Dialogue originate, and what makes Kyoto an ideal location for the event?

The Dialogue is dedicated to establishing ongoing policy-oriented conversations between the countries of the Asia-Pacific region. For several years, my Shorenstein APARC colleagues and I envisioned having an annual forum in Asia where scholars and practitioners from the United States and Asia could come together. The Stanford Kyoto Trans-Asian Dialogue, established in 2009, represents that vision.

Forums on Asia-Pacific regional issues have historically taken place in the United States, but seldom actually in Asia. The Dialogue is about engaging and learning from multiple perspectives—it is not a one-way conversation. Each year, we identify an issue of major significance to the entire Asia-Pacific region, including such themes as: energy and the environment; regional political structures; and demographic change.

Kyoto, the home of the Stanford Japan Center (SJC), offers the perfect setting. Stanford and Kyoto have enjoyed a close relationship since SJC was founded in 1989, and Kyoto is both a beautiful and an international city.

Who are some of the experts who will be participating this year, and why will the issue of reforming higher education become increasingly important in the coming decades?

One of the Stanford Kyoto Trans-Asian Dialogue’s strongest features is the participation of both academics and practitioners in the conversation. We exchange views with one another, but we also seek to make a positive policy impact in our respective countries.

This year, we have several top-level academic administrators involved in the Dialogue, including current or former university presidents, vice presidents, and provosts. We also have officials who are involved in government-level higher education reform. These are some of the key people who are helping to shape the future of higher education in the United States and Asia.

Reforming higher education has become a major issue in many countries in Asia, especially Singapore, Hong Kong, South Korea, and Japan. This is related in part to global economic competition, and also to academic prestige. These countries often look to American colleges for a model, but there are many lessons to be found within Asia itself. The Asia-Pacific region abounds with higher education institutions, from those that are only a few decades old to those that are a century or older.

How does the Dialogue help Shorenstein APARC stay connected with its friends and alumni in Asia? 

Former visiting scholars and fellows to Shorenstein APARC take part each year in the Stanford Kyoto Trans-Asian Dialogue. Some of our donors even attend. We are fortunate to have a large network of alumni and friends throughout Asia, including scholars, researchers, government officials, business executives, non-profit leaders, lawyers, and journalists.

We conclude each Dialogue with a public symposium and reception at the Kyoto International Community House, which a number of our Corporate Affiliates Program alumni always attend. This year, in conjunction with the Dialogue, we are also holding a reception in Tokyo. We are looking forward to reconnecting with a large number of our Shorenstein APARC friends and alumni living in Japan.  

The annual Stanford Kyoto Trans-Asian Dialogue is made possible through the generosity of the City of Kyoto, the Freeman Spogli Institute for International Studies at Stanford University, and Yumi and Yasunori Kaneko.

From Shanghai to São Paulo, people around the world are living longer than ever, challenging long-held ideas about retirement and well-established national retirement systems. Stanford health economists Karen Eggleston and Victor R. Fuchs offer an innovative view of the global aging phenomenon in an article published recently in the Journal of Economic Perspectives.

Drawing on a century of demographic data from 17 countries, Eggleston and Fuchs show that the share of increases in life expectancy realized after age 65 was only about 20 percent at the beginning of the 20th century but close to 80 percent by the dawn of the 21st century. Expected lifetime labor force participation as a percent of life expectancy is now declining. Eggleston and Fuchs share four interrelated responses to the economic and social challenges posed by this “new demographic transition:”

• Increase the retirement age.
• Encourage savings.
• Strengthen education.
• Emphasize healthy lifestyles early to ensure productivity in old age.

Eggleston is director of the Asia Health Policy Program at the Shorenstein Asia-Pacific Research Center. Fuchs is Henry J. Kaiser, Jr., Professor Emeritus, in Stanford’s Department of Economics and Department of Health Research and Policy, and a senior fellow at FSI and SIEPR.

Of the four policy responses the article proposes, is one especially critical?

Fuchs: The most important solution in terms of its potential impact would be people changing their attitudes toward retirement. This would mean people postponing retirement and saving more during their working years. If you work five years longer, for example, you would have greater savings and a shorter period of time when you would need the money.

Eggleston: We tend to think of the solutions as being interrelated. To address this longstanding and inevitable global demographic transition, organizations and policy structures need to support changes in individual behavior. In the case of the retirement age in the United States and European countries, policymakers need to change the many incentives that encourage people to retire younger.

What do you most hope policymakers will take away from the article?

Fuchs: We hope they will recognize the absolute need for individuals and organizations to plan for later retirement.

What are the special challenges faced by China and India, the world’s largest populations?

Eggleston: Longer lives in China and India contribute to improved human development, yet population aging also brings special challenges. China’s population is aging more rapidly than India’s and both countries need to invest more in the education and health of their young people, especially in poor rural areas.

In India, nutrition and education will help to reap a one-time boost to economic growth if the large cohorts of the working age population can be productively employed, while building a foundation for sustained improvement of living standards. China’s youth need to be as productive as possible to support the elderly while continuing to improve the national living standard.

The coming decade will be crucial in China, as the country transitions into a new economic phase and expands its fledging social protection system. The goal should be to ameliorate disparities and protect the vulnerable, while maintaining a financially sustainable and culturally appropriate balance of government and family responsibility for old-age support.

Stanford’s Korean Studies Program (KSP) has recently been awarded with a major gift from Hana Financial Group and a grant from the Korea Foundation, which will provide a major boost to Stanford’s already strong K-12 outreach education offerings. KSP will collaborate closely with the Stanford Program on International and Cross-Cultural Education (SPICE) on its outreach activities.

Hana Financial Group has provided $600,000 for the next five years in support of an annual Hana-Stanford Conference on Korea for U.S. Secondary School Teachers. The first conference took place this summer, from July 23 to 25, at Stanford. It brought together secondary school educators from across the United States and a cadre of Korean teachers from Hana Academy Seoul for intensive and lively sessions on a wide assortment of Korean studies-related topics ranging from U.S.-Korea relations to history, and religion to popular culture. In addition to scholarly lectures, the teachers took part in curriculum workshops and received numerous classroom resources developed by SPICE.

The Korea Foundation has awarded a three-year grant of $609,527 to support the new K-12 Education on Korea in the United States curriculum development project. Gary Mukai, director of SPICE, noted, “The coverage of Korea in U.S. high school curriculum is often limited to the Korean War.” To help address the identified need to broaden the coverage of Korea, KSP will work with SPICE to develop three high school-level curriculum units and Stanford’s first distance-learning course on Korea for high school students. The curriculum units will examine the experience of Korean Americans in U.S. history; various aspects of traditional and modern Korean culture; and the development of South Korea’s economy. The distance-learning course, called the Sejong Korean Scholars Program (SKSP), will be offered in 2013.

The SKSP will annually select 25 exceptional high school sophomores, juniors, and seniors (from public and private schools) from throughout the United States to engage in an intensive study of Korea. The SKSP will provide students with a broad overview of Korean history, literature, religion, art, politics, and economics—with a special focus on the U.S.–Korean relationship. Top scholars, leading diplomats, and other professionals will provide lectures to students as well as engage them in dialogue. These lectures and discussions will be woven into a broader curriculum that provides students with reading materials and assignments. The SKSP will encourage these students to become future leaders in the U.S.–Korean relationship and lifelong learners of Korea.

“We’re grateful to receive these two major sources of funding for Korean studies outreach education, and look forward to working with SPICE to establish Korea as a subject taught regularly in classrooms throughout the United States,” said Gi-Wook Shin, director of KSP.