Rethinking international education through the concept of capabilities: a bridge to development in Asia’s emergent knowledge societies

here has been a tremendous growth in student mobility in higher education in the last two decades as universities in the West respond to globalisation, economic growth and capacity building strategies of Asian countries. According to the Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development’s (OECD) 2013 report “Education at a Glance”1, the total number of foreign students enrolled in tertiary education in 2011 was 4.3 million with the United States receiving 16.6% of the total number, followed by the United Kingdom (13.0%), Australia (6.6%), Germany (6.4%), France (6.3) other OECD countries (35.6%) and non OECD countries (15.5%). Asian students account for 53% of all students studying abroad worldwide with the largest numbers of international students from China, India and Korea. 2 At the same time, the Asian region has begun to make its presence as countries like Singapore, Hong Kong (as part of China), Malaysia offer international education to neighbouring countries including Thailand, Vietnam and Taiwan.3