In the World Library of Educationalists series, international experts compile career-long collections of what they judge to be their finest pieces – extracts from books, key articles, salient research findings, major theoretical and practical contributions – so the world can read them in a single manageable volume. Readers will be able to follow the themes and strands and see how their work contributes to the development of the field.
For more than three decades, Gerard A. Postiglione has witnessed first-hand the globalization of education and society in Hong Kong, China and the wider Asian region. He is a pioneer among Western scholars in the field and his fluency in Chinese has resulted in innovative primary research and fieldwork. He has brought sociological, policy, and comparative perspectives to important educational issues in Asia. His research emphasizes the diversity and complexity of the region, from studies of education and the academic profession during Hong Kong’s retrocession, to reform of ethnic minority education and the rise of world class universities in the Chinese mainland, as well as the complexity of mass higher education in an increasingly dynamic Asia. He is one of the researchers most sought-after by international organizations concerned with educational reform in Asia and by major media outlets to inform the public on issues of globalization and higher education.
Gerard was honoured by the Comparative and International Education Society with a Lifetime Contribution Award and Best Book Award for his contribution to the field. In 2016 he was inducted as a Fellow of the American Educational Research Association. This selection of 12 of his most representative papers and chapters documents his scholarship in comparative higher education in Asia.