Klara’s Universe

In an increasingly globalised world, which has seen the recent surge of various regional associations across the globe, new issues of identity and integration arise as a necessity for states and individuals to define themselves on the global stage. On the other hand, the role of education in helping define identities is but too well known to educationalists and not only. It is therefore not surprising that recently there is, an “increasingly globally structure agenda for education”. (Dale and Petterson, 2002) As the main engines for developing human resources and promoting ideologies, universities are being the educational institutions most exposed to such phenomena as “globalisation” and “regionalisation”. The recent increase in programmes offered in English in universities across the globe is one such trend clearly connected to increased human mobility and regional integration.

It is therefore highly relevant to look into the provision of higher education in English and try to establish a correlation between the existence of such educational arrangements and the students’ perspective on issues like regional integration and identity. English is recognised by many as the lingua franca of the contemporary world. However there are many who challenge its legitimacy and are rather reluctant to consider it as such. The students’ opinion on the problem of establishing a common language is also an interesting topic for analysis in this regard.

In international relations integration can be observed at various levels, from national integration to globalisation. Asian integration is an example of regional integration, similar to other worldwide initiatives, the most famous and successful of which is European integration. The phenomenon is far from being new. Integration has existed historically as a constant component of human society and historically has reached its highest potential in the context of multinational empires and colonisation. Asia has an ancient tradition of empires and countries such as China and India are until today highly heterogeneous states where different ethnicities, languages and religions coexist. Most Asian countries experienced colonisation at some point in history and their links to different European countries, their culture and language can still be observed throughout Asia today.

Arguably the most culturally and religiously diverse continent, Asia faces its greatest difficulties in terms of cultural integration. On the global stage, steps have been taking towards including higher education among trade agreements such as GATS (General Agreement on Trade in Services). As previously seen, some of the regional associations have also taken certain steps towards approaching the area of higher education, but they are yet to concretely materialise into generally accepted norms.