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crisis because the group’s founder, fearing bankruptcy, had
moved the institution to the control of a non-profit founda-
tion.

ASEAN
Few humanities takers

ITH CANNONS ON CAMPUS, ITS OWN Qing-
dynasty wall and the first Dutch fort in Taiwan
Wnearby, National Cheng Kung University seems an
appealing place for a budding historian. However, after a
first round of applications, no students had accepted places
in the history department for next year. It is a shock for the
university, ranked third in Taiwan.
In much of East Asia, universities face a demographic
crisis. In Japan the population of 18-year-olds has been President Claudia Pardo (left): academic background
declining since the 1990s. In Taiwan, the undergraduate
population has dipped by more than a quarter in the past assume office on October 1, replacing her mentor, Andres
decade. Experts in South Korea talk of an “enrolment cliff”, Manuel Lopez Obrador, whose six years in power saw nu-
as 3.6 million students in 2010 fell to 3 million last year. merous attacks on academics.
This has hit humanities and social-sciences departments The strong mandate for the member of Lopez Obrador’s
hard. Faced with a more uncertain economic environment left-wing Morena party could give her the legitimacy to
than their parents, students want to study subjects that will establish her own policies away from the influence of the
lead to well-paid jobs. These are mostly in science, technol- outgoing president, says Cath Andrews, a history profes-
ogy, engineering and mathematics (STEM). Private univer- sor at the Center for Research and Teaching in Economics
sities, which educate most students in Japan, South Korea (Cide) in Mexico City.
and Taiwan, often depend on tuition fees, and therefore Lopez Obrador oversaw a series of cuts to institutions’
most need to adapt to students’ wishes to stay afloat. In budgets — particularly those he perceived as opposing his
South Korea, 18 private universities have closed for good regime — and passed a science law that sought to shape
since 2000. research spending around his government’s priorities.
What’s to be done? Universities have managed to in- “Until now, she (Dr. Sheinbaum) has been extremely care-
crease foreign student numbers, but not enough to offset ful not to antagonise Lopez Obrador, nor suggest she will
demographic decline. But efforts to increase the rate of uni- be anything but the continuation of his project,” says Dr.
versity-going among locals could still bear fruit. In Japan, Andrews, adding that this “makes it very difficult to accu-
the growth in female students has meant that the university rately predict what she is going to do on all fronts, higher
population increased slightly over a decade. education included”.
In Singapore, the number of students continues to rise, Pardo’s background as an academic (she is also the
even as the traditional university-age population is falling, daughter of academics) has, however, raised hopes that
through policies which encourage older student cohorts to she might be more sympathetic.
enroll. Singapore’s government, while fond of STEM sub- Not everyone is convinced. Alma Maldonado, a research-
jects, also stresses the importance of social sciences and er at the Center for Research and Advanced Studies of the
the humanities for policymaking. The number of students National Polytechnic Institute, says she has seen little sign
in these faculties is growing. that Dr. Sheinbaum might treat universities differently,
pointing out that she is known as “the copy” and has em-
MEXICO braced all of President Lopez Obrador’s reforms, including
Woman president hope recent proposed changes to the judiciary.
But Dr. Sheinbaum’s education adviser, Rosaura Ruiz,
A CLIMATE SCIENTIST HAS BECOME THE first an Unam professor, recently signalled a potential departure
female leader of Mexico after winning a record- from the past when she said in an interview that “nothing
breaking majority on the back of promises to trans- has been decided” on Mexico’s controversial science law
form the country into a “scientific and innovation power”. passed in tumultuous fashion in 2023, and since the subject
But questions remain over how far she will break from the of a legal challenge.
populist policies of her predecessor.
Claudia Sheinbaum Pardo, a former professor at the (Excerpted and adapted from Times Higher Education and
National Autonomous University of Mexico (Unam), will The Economist)

AUGUST 2024 EDUCATIONWORLD 61