How Universities Narrate Themselves: A comparative analysis of top Asian universities

How Universities Narrate Themselves!

A comparative analysis of top Asian universities!

MARIHE'–'Systems'in'Transition'III'

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PEI!Min!2014-12-23!

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!Contents

Introduction ------------------------------------------------------------------------------ 2

1. The University of Tokyo, Japan ---------------------------------------------------- 3

2. Peking University, China ------------------------------------------------------------ 3

3. Seoul National University, South Korea ------------------------------------------ 4

4. National University of Singapore -------------------------------------------------- 4

5. University of Malaya, Malaysia ---------------------------------------------------- 5

6. Vietnam National University, Hanoi ----------------------------------------------- 6

Findings from analysis and comparison ----------------------------------------------- 7

Conclusion --------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 8

Reference ---------------------------------------------------------------------------------- 9

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Introduction

According to Oxford English Dictionary, “a narrative (or story) is any report of connected events, presented in a sequence of written or spoken words, and/or in a sequence of (moving) pictures”. (Oxford English Dictionary). In terms of self-narrative of universities, the message is an introductory text that gives basic information of the higher education institution, sometimes including mission and vision. Emerging from the field of qualitative research in the early 20th century (Riessman, 1993), Narrative Analysis uses field texts, such as stories, autobiography, journals, field notes, letters, conversations, interviews, family stories, photos (and other artifacts), and life experience, as the units of analysis to research and understand the way people create meaning in their lives as narratives. (D. Jean Clandinin and F. Michael Connelly, 2000)

As the first impression to the outside world, university’s self-narrative demonstrates what the HEI values, and what it takes pride in. Sometimes, the mission and vision are involved in such message. By analyzing narratives of the best universities (ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, 2014) from selected Asian nations, the author aims to compare how different universities see and present themselves. Being the best in their countries, the following universities serve as miniatures of their higher education systems, and the narratives are indicators of the short term and long term goals of their nations in the field of higher learning.

Representing the most influential countries in the far East, six universities are selected, among which three are the examples of East Asian countries and the other three represent Southeast Asian nations:

21 The University of Tokyo, Japan; 118 Peking University, China;

120 Seoul National University, South Korea; 117 National University of Singapore;

375 University of Malaya, Malaysia; and 500+ Vietnam National University, Hanoi.

The number in front is their positions in 2014 Shanghai Ranking. (ShanghaiRanking Consultancy, 2014) As showed, the number 1 higher education institution in their own nation, universities from selected East Asian countries occupy better positions in the ranking than those from Southeast Asia.

The narrative texts are collected from their official websites. All of the selected universities have “Message from President”, or “Welcome Message” under “about XX University” on the main page that offers basic information. Universities from East Asia like China, Japan, and South Korea even have a specific concise narrative apart from the President’s words, while Southeast Asian universities seem to have no such separate section. Both messages are considered as narrative for analysis.

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1. The University of Tokyo, Japan

Viewed as the top university in the Asian countries, The University of Tokyo offers a succinct self-narrative:

“The University of Tokyo, also known as "Todai" was established in 1877 as the first national university in Japan. As a leading research university, Todai offers courses in essentially all academic disciplines at both undergraduate and graduate levels and conducts research across the full spectrum of academic activity. The university aims to provide its students with a rich and varied academic environment that ensures opportunities for both intellectual development and the acquisition of professional knowledge and skills.” (The University of Tokyo)

In the first place, this summary passage emphasizes the status of The University of Tokyo as the first national university and its leading role in the field of research. Phrases like “all academic disciplines”, “the full spectrum of academic activity”, and “varied academic environment” indicate its comprehensiveness. The last sentence shows that this research emphasized HEI also attaches great importance to the vocational education that is popular nowadays around the world.

2. Peking University, China (PKU)

As the top institution in higher learning in mainland China, Peking University provides a much more concise English self-narration compared to its Chinese version.

“Peking University is a comprehensive and national key university. The campus, known as "Yan Yuan"�the garden of Yan), is situated at Haidian District in the western suburb of Beijing, with a total area of 2,743,532 square metres (or 274 hectares). It stands near to the Yuanmingyuan Garden and the Summer Palace.

Peking University is proud of its outstanding faculty, including 53 members of the Chinese Academy of Sciences (CAS), 7 members of the Chinese Academy of Engineering (CAE), and 14 members of the Third World Academy of Sciences (TWAS).

The university has effectively combined research on important scientific subjects with the training of personnel with a high level of specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's socialist modernization. It strives not only for improvements in teaching and research work, but also for the promotion of interaction and mutual promotion among various disciplines.

Thus Peking University has become a center for teaching and research and a university of a new type, embracing diverse branches of learning such as basic and applied sciences, social sciences and the humanities, and sciences of medicine, management, and education. Its aim is to rank among the world's best universities in the future.” (Peking University)

Being “a comprehensive and national key university” is its self-identification. The description of the campus in the first paragraph indicates PKU is proud of its location and campus size. The list of the institutions that some of its faculty belong to demonstrates

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PKU values heavily on the academy. As China is a socialist country, the narrative of PKU connects with the demand of the nation’s modernization. “Interaction and mutual promotion among various disciplines” are mentioned, and in the end, to rank among the best HEIs in the world is declared as its goal.

3. Seoul National University, South Korea

This narrative is found under “the SNU Spirit” of the overview of the university.

“Seoul National University honors the ideals of liberal education and aims to teach students a lifelong love of learning that will form the basis for continuous personal growth.

At the same time it is committed to preparing students to work and live in an increasingly competitive global environment. As South Korea's first national university, Seoul National University has a tradition of standing up for democracy and peace on the Korean peninsula.

Graduates have long served as public servants in key positions of the Korean government. In teaching, research, and public service, Seoul National University continues to set the standard of excellence.” (Kyung, 2005)

As the foremost paragraph emphasizes, SNU places utmost importance to the personal development of its student and pursues the “ideals of liberal education”. Similar to The University of Tokyo, SNU is also the first national university and today equips its students with vocational knowledge and skills. It mentions Korean peninsula instead of a larger region. From the last paragraph, one may conclude that producing key public servants in the government is considered to be an honor in South Korea.

4. National University of Singapore (NUS)

Like other Southeast Asian universities, National University of Singapore narrates itself through a welcome message from the current president:

“We began over a century ago as a modest medical school with 23 students, to serve a very powerful purpose: to be the place of higher learning for talented men and women in Singapore who would serve community, nation and society. From a fledgling college, NUS has developed into an institution considered by many to be among the best in the world. Our transformative education and high impact research are aimed at making a distinctive and positive impact on society. We hope you will be inspired by the many fascinating facets that make NUS a leading global university centred in Asia, and a community that will influence the future.” (Chuan)

Citing the original purpose of the university when it first established, the president discloses its mission and function: to serve the community, nation and society, which is always referred to as the third mission of HEIs. As for the two traditional missions of a university, “transformative” is used to characterized its teaching and “high impact” is

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employed to described its research. But all this is to serve a higher goal: to make a difference to the society, to the nation, and even to the whole world.

On the website, mission and vision are clearly stated in a separate page:

Vision: to be “A leading global university centred in Asia, influencing the future” (National University of Singapore, 2014);

Mission: “To transform the way people think and do things through education, research and service”. (National University of Singapore, 2014)

Located in a small country, NUS is determined to build itself as a global university and influence the big world and aims to closely link its three missions — teaching, research, and social service. From the narration, one is very likely to get the impression that this university is small in size yet big in heart, with transformative education, high impact research and globally orientation.

5. University of Malaya, Malaysia (UM)

The narrative of University of Malaya is stored in the president’s welcome message, which, by comparison, is longer and more informative. The following message is an abstract version:

“…welcome to the University of Malaya (UM), the foremost and premier Research University (RU) in Malaysia. It is a multidisciplinary RU that has more than 27,000 students and 1700 academic staff with 17 faculties and research centres which covers the whole spectrum of learning from the Arts, Sciences and Humanities. The university's beginning at the Kuala Lumpur campus dates back to 1957 and thus far has a huge alumni of over 100,000, among them renowned and illustrious personalities and leaders in various fields.

We are the first choice of Malaysia's top students and our international student population comes from more than 80 different countries. Our beautiful 750-acres campus lies within the heart of Kuala Lumpur city and this strategic location is truly an advantage for our international academic staff and visitors. The University of Malaya, being a comprehensive, research-intensive university, confers degrees in a large variety of academic programmes at the Bachelor's, Master's and PhD levels. The university also offers joint PhD degrees with international partner universities such as the University of Sydney, University of Melbourne, University of Nottingham, Imperial College London, and the Consortium of Presidents of Universities (CPU) in France.

As with any reputable university, our strength lies in the creativity, talent and dynamism of its people. Our researchers are in collaborative partnerships with more than 100 international institutions working on diverse topics from HIV-Aids, infectious diseases, biodiversity, nanotechnology to law, intellectual property, culture, religion, gender studies and poverty eradication studies…

The University of Malaya has been, and remains, at the forefront of landmark scientific and medical discoveries as is evidenced by the numerous awards that have been won both locally and internationally…

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Entrepreneurship is strongly promoted in the university where innovative schemes managed by the Centre for Technology Transfer and Commercialization are available that make it easy for staff or students to set up companies, especially if they have new innovative business ideas or patents with commercial value…”(Jalaludin)

The data and statistics in the first paragraph demonstrate the long history and huge campus size that the University of Malaya is highly proud of. In particular, UM takes pride in its location — Kuala Lumpur city, offering “advantage for our international academic staff and visitors” (Jalaludin). Throughout the text, words such as “international partners” and “partnership” frequently appear, indicating UM’s strong internationalization oriented.

6. Vietnam National University, Hanoi (VNU)

Again, this university’s narration is embedded in the president’s message:

“With more than 100 years of history and development, being one of the key pillars of Vietnamese intelligence, and at the same time being aware of responsibilities toward global issues, VNU has affirmed its position as a comprehensive multi-disciplinary training and research center of excellence based on international standards. With modern of comprehensive higher education management, VNU has been striving to establish itself as a leader in Vietnam and in the region based on the philosophy “Excellent through Knowledge” and by promoting six core values: high quality, creativity, pioneer, integration, responsibility to society and sustainable development aiming to provide high quality human resources to meet the development needs of the society, making important contributions to the progress of Vietnam as well as of the region and the word over.

VNU has created an impressive cultural community, a harmonious academic environment in which lecturers, scientists and students are working together in an open and friendly manner.

VNU always treasures and widens its cooperation with other universities, colleges, institutes, agencies, localities and business sectors throughout the country and all over the world. Additionally, VNU promotes its traditions, dedication, creativity, dynamism and high responsibility of all faculty and staff members, undergraduate and graduate students and formal students as well. This is considered a breakthrough for VNU to quickly integrate, develop to achieve the international standards and to realize its noble mission assigned by the Vietnamese Government and the society.” (Nhạ)

From this narration, VNU views itself as the “key pillar of Vietnamese intelligence” (Nhạ), and identifies itself as “comprehensive multi-disciplinary training and research centre” (Nhạ). VNU announces to become the leader in Vietnam and in the Southeast Asian region. Similar to Peking University’s narrative, VNU also presents a statement as to meet the needs of the society and “realize its noble mission assigned by the Vietnamese Government”. (Nhạ) To create “a harmonious academic environment” among lecturers, scientists, and students are favored.

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Findings from analysis and comparison

All three selected East Asian universities, namely the University of Tokyo, Peking University, and Seoul National University have comparatively shorter narration, while universities from the Southeast Asian nations (Singapore, Malaya, and Vietnam) use president’s welcome message to narrate themselves, and the text tend to be less concise.

Of the three main missions (teaching, research, and social function) of HEIs, research is mentioned most commonly in university’s self-narration, for all six universities emphasize their research ability in the following sentences:

“leading research university” (University of Tokyo) “a center for teaching and research” (PKU)

“In teaching, research, and public service, Seoul National University continues to set the standard of excellence.” (SNU)

“high impact research” (NUS) “comprehensive, research-intensive university” (UM)

“research center of excellence” (VNU)

As for teaching, Four out of six universities (University of Tokyo, PKU, UM, and VNU) claim to be “interdisciplinary” or “multidisciplinary” university in the message. For the third mission, only National University of Singapore emphasizes specifically its goals to make a difference its society and to create a community that influence the future.

Half of these HEIs (University of Tokyo, PKU, and UM) begin their narration with the description of the history, location, and campus size, showing a common value in this aspect.

Located in neighboring countries, University of Tokyo and Seoul National University share similarities in their self-narration: both emphasize the fact that they are the first national university in their country, and both attach great importance to preparing students with professional skills in the job market.

Both from socialist countries, Peking University and Vietnam National University coincide in their narration in terms of serving the social need:

“The university has effectively combined research on important scientific subjects with the training of personnel with a high level of specialized knowledge and professional skill as demanded by the country's socialist modernization.” (PKU)

“This is considered a breakthrough for VNU to quickly integrate, develop to achieve the international standards and to realize its noble mission assigned by the Vietnamese Government and the society.” (VNU)

National University of Singapore and University of Malaya manifest strong character of internationalism. As the narrative shows, NUS has strong global vision, and

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UM has close cooperation and partnership with elite universities around the world. On the other hand, Seoul National University and Vietnam National University strive to make greater contribution to their own region, namely the Korean peninsula and Vietnam. In China, the long-term goal for PKU is to become one of the best universities in the world.

Conclusion

To sum up, the self-narration of a university is a self-introduction to the outside would. Ranging from 100 to 1,000 words in length, the message is the most condensed text version that a HEI employs to impress the readers and potential stakeholders. Every word they use shows what aspects the university values most and is proud of, and every sentence is its self-identification. More often than not, this narrative reveals the mission and vision of the institution of higher learning.

Choosing the best universities that represent East Asia and Southeast Asia, the author aims to find what the higher education systems value most in different Asian countries, and then try to find some similarities and differences.

As a result, all of them use “research” as a key word, demonstrating their value in this traditional mission of a university. In terms of teaching, four of them mention the cooperation between different disciplines. But the third mission --- to serve the society --- is not so commonly emphasized. As the best university in their national ranking, they all embrace a long history and many of them boost their long history, desired location, and large campus. Similar social backgrounds are also shown in their narration, as PKU and VNU share similar sentences on socialist modernization, while University of Tokyo and SNU have common aspiration as to provide vocational education. When it comes to internationalism or regionalism, the six diverge. NUS and UM focus on globalization and international partnership, but SNU and VNU choose to strengthen and develop their leading role in their own areas.

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Reference

Chuan Chorh Tan. office of the president. retrieved: 22-12-2014�source: National University of Singapore: http://president.nus.edu.sg/

D. Jean Clandinin and F. Michael Connelly. (2000). Narrative Inquiry: Experience and Story in Qualitative Research . San Francisco: Jossey-Bass Publishers.

Jalaludin Amin Bin Mohd. Welcome Message. retrieved: 20-12-2014, source: University of Malaya: http://www.um.edu.my/about-um/welcome-message

Kyung Eun MIN. (2005). The SNU Spirit. retrieved: 23-12-2014, source: Seoul National University: http://www.useoul.edu/spirit

National University of Singapore. (24-12-2014). Mission, Vision & Strategy. retrieved: 24-12-2014, source: National University of Singapore: http://www.nus.edu.sg/about-nus/overview/vision-mission-strategy

Nhạ Xuân Phùng. . Message from the President. retrieved: 23-12-2014, source: Vietnam National University, Hanoi.: http://vnu.edu.vn/eng/?C2229

Oxford English Dictionary. narrative. retrieved: 18-12-2014, source: Oxford English Dictionary: http://www.oed.com/view/Entry/125146?rskey=xQqopU&result=1#eid

Peking University.. General Infomation. retrieved: 23-12-2014, source: Peking University: http://english.pku.edu.cn/AboutPKU/GeneralInformation/

Riessman K. C. (1993). Narrative Analysi. Newbury Park: Sage Publications.

ShanghaiRanking Consultancy. (2014). Academic Ranking of World Universities retrieved: 18-12-2014, source: Academic Ranking of World Universities: http://www.shanghairanking.com/ARWU2014.html

The University of Tokyo. About The University of Tokyo. retrieved: 21-12-2014, source: The University of Tokyo: http://www.u-tokyo.ac.jp/en/about/index.html