Jisun Jung

The University of Hong Kong | HKU · Division of Policy Administration & Social Science Education

This study explores Korean academics’ changes in research productivity by career stage. Career stage in this study is defined as a specific cohort based on one’s length of job experience, with those in the same stage sharing similar interests, values, needs, and tasks; it is categorized into fledglings, maturing academics, established academics, an...

This study examined job satisfaction and job stress across 19 higher education systems. We classified the 19 countries according to their job satisfaction and job stress and applied regression analysis to test whether new public management has impacts on either or both job satisfaction and job stress. According to this study, strong market driven c...

This study explores higher education research in Asia. Drawing on scientometrics, the mapping of science and social network analysis, this paper examines the publications of 38 specialised journals on higher education over the past three decades. The findings indicate a growing number of higher education research publications but the proportion of...

This study examines the procedures, criteria, and decision-making in doctoral admissions at China's leading research universities. A content analysis was performed on doctoral admissions texts (N = 312) from 264 faculties of C9 League universities, representing China's elite research-intensive universities. The results show that the admissions proc...

This study explores how master’s students perceive their research experiences and interpret the concept of research. Master’s education has been regarded as a steppingstone for doctoral study for several decades in many higher education systems; however, the meaning of ‘master’ has transformed academically and socially. Accordingly, the research re...

Shenzhen City in Southeast China has developed from a small fishing village into a modern metropolis since China adopted an open-door policy in 1978. In accordance with its national plan and strategy, China has been striving to develop its international Guangdong–Hong Kong–Macau Greater Bay Area (GBA). Owing to its rapidly developing economy, indus...

Research on the career trajectories of doctoral recipients often assumes that all PhD students begin in roughly the same starting position. Consequently, the impact of pre-programme experiences remains understudied. This qualitative study draws on 59 interviews with PhD students studying in mainland China and Hong Kong to explore the influence of l...

The recent technological revolution, often referred to as the Fourth Industrial Revolution or the Second Machine Age, has brought significant changes in both the knowledge production process and its outputs. These changes have raised the question of whether a doctoral degree will retain its unique value as a knowledge creator in the future. In addi...

In recent decades, universities in East Asia have made efforts to integrate into scientific and academic global communities. These efforts have mainly been driven by national governments that increasingly perceive universities’ significant role in national innovation systems. Policymakers in East Asia have focused on building higher education capac...

Short-term international mobility has become popular among academics who are seeking new scholarly experiences abroad for a limited period. Short-term international mobility refers to staying abroad for a few days, weeks or months for scholarly work, although there is no specific definition of ‘short’. In this chapter, I describe my experience of a...

In recognition of the forty-year anniversary of Higher Education Research & Development, this article reviews the research on higher education and the world of work in the journal, including how ‘work’ has been defined, prioritised, integrated, and predicted in the field of higher education research. Based on an analysis of published articles from...

This chapter introduces the foundational volume in Springer’s Changing Academy Series, previewing the results of the Academic Profession in the Knowledge-Based Society [APIKS] global survey of 22 higher education systems. It begins by introducing the twin concepts of the knowledge society and the knowledge economy and provides a quick overview of t...

This chapter begins by revisiting the knowledge society and knowledge economy concepts introduced in the first section of this volume and outlines the key findings of case studies from a comparative perspective. The findings are presented in terms of the scale of research and innovation systems and coordination between stakeholders, including gover...

This chapter argues for the importance of a comparative perspective on the academic profession, as higher education globally assumes an increasingly central role in the knowledge society and economy. We begin with an overview of the surge in empirical research on the academic profession over the past three decades and culminate with an introduction...

Inequality is a long-standing issue in education and societies around the world. In societies where inequality is pervasive, social stratification of people into groups based on their economic and social status exists, although it is often invisible. While educational inequality and social stratification are global issues, some countries have bette...

This study explored factors that influence academics to collaborate in research with their doctoral students. It focused on Hong Kong academics, using data from the Academic Profession in Knowledge Society survey conducted in 2017–2018. The study found that academics’ research collaboration with doctoral students is influenced by several factors, i...

This study explores the career concerns that confront mainland Chinese Master’s students in Hong Kong, and identifies their needs for career support. Forty mainland Chinese students from a wide range of Master’s programmes participated in semi-structured interviews, after which the qualitative data were subjected to phenomenological analysis. The r...

Amongst all jurisdictions, the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region of China has been one of the most effective in limiting cases of COVID-19, despite being one of the first places to be affected by the pandemic in early 2020. In the months since the first case was confirmed, COVID-19 has affected all aspects of Hong Kong society, including the...

This book explores the complex, multi-faceted relationships between national research and innovation systems and higher education. The transition towards knowledge societies/economies is repositioning the role of the university and transforming the academic profession. The volume provides a foundational introduction to the concepts of knowledge soc...

This special issue aims to address the topics on expanding master’s education and its current challenges in East Asia, focusing on China, Hong Kong, Japan, South Korea, and Taiwan. The special issue describes the historical backgrounds and key characteristics of master’s education and identifies new demands for master’s education in terms of employ...

en This study explores student motivation to pursue a master's degree. It also explores how motivation differs based on the students' background, such as his or her study mode or place of origin. Qualitative data were collected through seventy semi‐structured interviews of master's students in various programmes in Hong Kong. The results of this st...

This study aims to examine how master’s students’ profiles have changed over the past two decades in Hong Kong and how master’s programmes have diversified in terms of degree types and learning aims, and programme focuses used to achieve these aims. Using a case study approach, this study performed a document analysis of institutional statistics an...

Despite the massive expansion of postgraduate education in many countries, few studies have been performed to examine the association between graduates possessing a master’s degree and their labour market outcomes. We therefore used panel survey data from the 2011 to 2013 Graduates Occupational Mobility Survey to analyse the effects of master’s deg...

In this chapter, the authors argue for the (re)birthing of the academy in ways that would support academic women in their responsibilities for the care of others. They explore how the two institutions of the university and motherhood have been constructed without reference to women/mothers. They then fast forward to the present where women and moth...

For more than a century, whether or not the research-teaching nexus exists has remained an intensely debated issue in the global academy at both the conceptual and empirical levels. Situating teaching styles within the context of teaching, conceptualizing research agendas as a dimension of research, and using academic self-efficacy as a mediator, t...

Although many studies have discussed the internationalisation of higher education in China, few have addressed internationalisation in the context of Chinese higher vocational education (HVE). This research examines the historical evolution of internationalisation in Chinese HVE, analyses the current internationalisation strategies deployed by HVE...

The aim of this study is to explore whether local and non-local doctoral students in Hong Kong perceive their competency, supervisory style and institutional environment differently, and how these perceptions influence their stress levels. Two research questions are identified: Are there differences in the perceived competency and learning experien...

This study assesses how four types of mobility, which are analysed simultaneously, are associated with the current research output quality and visibility of academics working in the city-based higher education systems of Hong Kong and Macau. Transnational educational mobility is associated with the academics’ educational path, whilst intrasectoral...

The aim of this study is to explore the various factors involved in pursuing a master’s degree for university graduates in South Korea. After reviewing theoretical frameworks, including human and social capital theories, an analytical model was constructed to examine the different academic and economic factors involved in pursuing a master’s degree...

Recent discourse about the fourth industrial revolution has revealed several issues in Korea, suggesting the need for fundamental changes in the industrial structure and higher education systems, which can prepare Korea for potential periods of technological unemployment. For example, labour expenses in Korea are predicted to be rapidly reduced if...

This study explores how master's students perceive their learning experiences and build their identities as postgraduate learners. It also investigates how these students’ perceptions affect their aspirations regarding academic careers. By applying the Community of Practice (CoP) framework, this study focuses on three dimensions of master's student...

Recent developments in higher education have placed greater emphasis on performance and accountability and raised concerns about increasing levels of stress among academics. Stress not only influences academic productivity but may also affect institutional commitment, which is key to guaranteeing academics’ organisational stability, identity and pe...

This research pioneered the investigation of the role of doctoral students' thinking styles in their program satisfaction and perceived intellectual competence. Participants were 285 STEM (science, technology, engineering, mathematics) students in Hong Kong. Results showed that students' thinking styles as measured by the Thinking Styles Inventory-...

This study focuses on doctoral students’ professionalisation as future academics across academic disciplines, using a Hong Kong research-oriented university as a case study. Doctoral students acquire the norms, knowledge/skills, and values required for the academic profession through their learning experiences. The study aims to explore how doctora...

This article explores how the past mobilities of academics affect their current research output (and its multidisciplinarity). Five types of mobility are used simultaneously in the analysis. Field mobility and transnational educational mobility are associated with academics' educational path, whereas transnational job mobility, intra‐sectoral job m...

Purpose This study explores the development and challenges of doctoral education in Korea. In particular, it focuses on the differences between overseas and domestic doctorates in terms of training, supply and demand in the academic workforce, their academic entry-level jobs and employment status. Design/methodology/approach This study applied d...

The aim of this study is to explore the learning experiences of students enrolled on a Doctorate in Education programme in Hong Kong. The main questions are as follows. How do EdD students position themselves as doctoral candidates? How do EdD students experience their education in terms of scholarly expertise and scholarly identity? How do EdD stu...

Higher education research in Asia is undergoing significant changes, but limited yet in terms of research community, active researchers, research themes and methodologies. This chapter introduces the book Researching Higher Education in Asia: History, Development and Future, which aims to explore the evolution of higher education research as a fiel...

The book demonstrates the rapid evolution of higher education research in most Asian countries, particularly in East Asia, in terms of both the number of researchers and publications and the diversity of research themes and methodologies. However, higher education research in some countries in Asia is comparatively underdeveloped, underlying an ine...

This chapter explores the development of higher education research in South Korea (Korea, henceforth) from international and national perspectives. It first presents a brief historical background of higher education research in Korea in terms of academic programs, related associations, and specialized journals. The chapter points out the limited in...

This book discusses higher education research as a field of study in Asia. It traces the evolution of research in the field of higher education in several Asian countries, and shares ideas about the evolving higher education research communities in Asia. It also identifies common and dissimilar challenges across national communities, providing rese...

With an increasing number of international students in South Korea, the issue of retaining these students and reducing their dropout rates has become important. This study explores the multilevel factors that affect the institutional dropout rate among international students in Korea. The research questions are as follows: (a) to what extent do int...

This book aims to explore the following issues in Hong Kong’s academic profession. How has the profile of the academic profession in Hong Kong changed? Has academic freedom become more or less important, and how has it weathered challenges to its vitality? Has research condition been improved or declined during last two decades? How has the change...

This chapter describes academics’ perception on teaching and discusses the institutional reward system of teaching in the Hong Kong context. First, it examines the academics’ perception regarding whether the value of teaching has gained or lost its importance during the last decade and whether teaching and research are compatible. Second, it discus...

The academic profession has experienced significant changes over the past 20 years. The transition from elite to mass higher education, the prevalence of knowledge economics, the introduction of technology allowing hyper-connectivity, and the growth of international academic mobility have precipitated a global convergence of university management p...

This study aims to identify historic external influences on Korean higher education in relation to traditional values and to provide an overview of contemporary major Western influences. Based on a critical review of the literature, the study explores how traditional values and practices have interacted with recent external influences in Korean hig...

The aim of this study is to explore work experiences and knowledge transfer among Korean academics in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM). In particular, the study addresses the ways in which academics from different generations develop their work experiences and how these experiences influence their knowledge tran...

New preferential policies in China promise to increase the number of rural students entering top-tier universities, where there is a wider path to a higher social status. While a substantial body of literature has investigated rural students’ trajectories to university, there is a dearth of systematic empirical studies on the academic success of ru...

This article analyzes higher education research published in international higher education journals by researchers from China, Hong Kong, Japan, and Malaysia from 1980 to 2013. It does so based on publication counts, and co-authorship and cross-citation mapping, examining these countries’ publication patterns in terms of thematic approach and comm...

This study aims to explore internship experiences and their influence on job performance among university graduates in Korea. The research questions are as follows: 1) To what extent do university students engage in different types of internships in Korea? 2) How do internship experiences differ by academic fields and institutional types? 3) Does i...

This study focused on doctoral training and inbreeding status among Korean academics in relation to their perceptions, activities, performance, and job satisfaction. Faculty training patterns were classified into three categories—foreign PhDs, PhDs from a home university in Korea, and PhDs from other domestic universities. Inbreeding status was bas...

Obtaining a tertiary degree no longer guarantees entry to the best occupational positions in today’s labour market. Success is no longer about ‘more’ education, but about ‘better’ education for university graduates. This study aims to understand whether university prestige in Korea accounts for occupational outcomes in both monetary and non-monetar...

This special issue offers a broad discussion on the subject of changing graduate employment and work and the role played by higher education in this respect. It addresses global discourses but focuses on developments and discourses in Asia. Drawing from original research and shared ideas, this discussion attempts to answer the following questions:...

This study aims to explore the development of higher education research in South Korea based on historical and scientometric perspectives. After the evolution of the country's higher education research community is presented, articles focusing on higher education from 1995 to 2012 are analysed. In total, 145 articles in international journals and 1...

Studies of higher education by scholars based in Asia have been growing in volume, following worldwide trends. To a large extent, this growth has been driven by East Asian countries, but little is known about the characteristics of the contribution of these countries. This study analyses their overall and specific contribution. The paper concludes...

Studies of higher education by scholars based in Asia have been growing in volume, following worldwide trends. To a large extent, this growth has been driven by East Asian countries, but little is known about the characteristics of the contribution of these countries. This study analyses their overall and specific contribution. The paper concludes...

Gender issues in the academy vary from their previous backgrounds and experiences to current teaching and research activities, as well as policy agendas. The purpose of this study is to examine the differences of research scholarship between male and female academics, and to analyze these differences in terms of academic rank and academic disciplin...

In the prestige economy of higher education, research productivity is highly prized. Previous research indicates, however, a gender gap with respect to research output. This gap is often explained by reference to familial status and responsibilities. In this article, we examine the research productivity gender gap from an international perspective...

This chapter explores the development of mass higher education in Hong Kong and discusses at policy agendas forpost-massified higher education. Hong Kong has experienced the rapid expansion of higher education during last three decades and the government has developed several policy strategies to respond the increasing demands. For example, in addi...

The purpose of this study is to explore the impact of administrative staff's job competency on their job satisfaction in a Korean research university. We conceptualized job satisfaction into three subcomponents: satisfaction in the job field, in the workplace, and with the actual task. In the regression analysis, we included demographics, inner mot...

This study aims to compare congeniality and research productivity across higher education systems and examine the impact of congeniality on research productivity. Most of the literature has grouped influential factors into two broad categories: Individual-level characteristics and institutional features. This study covers both levels. It conceptual...

This study analyzes higher education research in Asia since the 1980s, based on internationally indexed publication data, focusing on research approaches and themes. The analysis is based on scientometrics, science visualization, and social network analysis measures and methods. We find an increase in the number of higher education publications in...

Research about higher education and universities in Asia has been growing in volume, but it represents no more than 7% of all publications in international, peer-reviewed, core higher education journals. Its community is emergent internationally but dominated by ‘one time only’ publications. Higher education research in Asia is mostly concentrated...

This chapter begins by distinguishing between biographical generations which are defined by year of birth/age and status generations which divide academics along the lines of seniority or career stage, e.g., “senior academics” or “professors” vs. “junior staff.” It then examines the extent to which views about, and actual involvement in, internatio...

To what extent has globalization of knowledge and the world’s economy over the past decade reshaped the academic profession into a more internationalized one? This chapter compares the responses of faculty in ten nations to similar items on an international survey in 1992 and 2007 as well analyzing differences in the 2007 responses of faculty at di...

This chapter discusses how teaching and research activities differ across academics’ career stages. Specifically, we focus on differences in their preference for teaching and research, budgeting time, teaching methods used, research approach, and research productivity. For this chapter, we analyzed a sample of 900 academics in the Korean Changing A...

This study examines international research collaboration among Chinese and Korean academics. International research collaboration among academics, which is generally measured by co-authored publications, is an important part of the internationalization of higher education, not only at an individual level but also at institutional and national level...

University league tables and policies aimed at world-class standing are adopted in promoting excellence in universities both at a national and an institutional level. With a focus on the research productivity of academics, the connection between research productivity and university policies such as personnel policy and funding allocation has been r...

China’s Hong Kong has the highest concentration of world-class universities, which makes it an interesting case place for examining the main issue in this volume. While the Hong Kong government has no specific policy aimed at establishing world-class universities, all universities are public with the lone exception of one recently established priva...

This study examines the research productivity of Hong Kong academics. Specifically, it explores the individual and institutional factors that contribute to their productivity while also comparing determinants across academic disciplines. We have conducted OLS regression analysis using the international survey data from "The Changing Academics Profe...

China’s Hong Kong has the highest concentration of world-class universities, which makes it an interesting case place for examining the main issue in this volume. While the Hong Kong government has no specific policy aimed at establishing world-class universities, all universities are public with the lone exception of one recently established priva...