Highlighted Session
Context for the discussion
In an increasingly competitive and technologically dependent world—one that is also the most educated and socio-economically developed in human history—old challenges facing higher education systems persist, while new ones emerge. In some countries, the massification of higher education is just beginning or has yet to start. In others, massification processes are well underway, while still others are navigating the relatively unexplored terrain of post-massified higher education systems. Throughout this process, lessons have been learned, but many issues continue to puzzle academics, researchers, and policymakers.
In some cases, solutions have been successfully implemented. In others, solutions are known but the associated costs—financial, cultural, and social—have prevented their implementation. For some issues, no feasible solutions have been found. Higher education is a complex system embedded in multiple social and economic realities. It is perceived by governments, organizations, and individuals as central to the social and economic competitiveness of nations. However, it is also a system facing increased criticism, stemming from overblown or mismatched expectations, ideological differences, and concerns about costs and accountability (which can be both a problem and a solution).
It can be argued that these challenges are part of the evolving role of higher education in broader societal development. Higher education systems are a mirror of the societies in which they are located; they influence these societies and are influenced by them. At this juncture, reflection is necessary, and several questions need to be raised: What role should we expect higher education to play in the future? What opportunities and threats is the sector expected to face? How can it develop to cope with new challenges related to technological innovations, demographic trends, financial capabilities, and interests? Should a new model of universities emerge, and if so, what is required of such a model? What can it bring to ensure multiple sustainabilities? What should be the characteristics of the university of the future, and what should be preserved or changed?
These questions and others will be debated by Professors Simon Marginson and Ka-Ho Mok (see bios below), in a highlighted session moderated by Professor Jung Cheol Shin (Seoul National University). Through dialogue, important insights will be raised that will contribute to the overall reflection of the conference participants in questions that are of key relevance to the current and future development of higher education.
Professor Ka Ho Mok
Professor Ka Ho Mok is the Provost and Vice-President (Academic & Research) and concurrently Dean of Graduate School and Chair Professor of Comparative Policy of The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong. Professor Mok has successfully established academic, research and administrative expertise not only in Hong Kong but also in Mainland China and the United Kingdom. Before joining The Hang Seng University of Hong Kong, he was the Vice President and Lam Man Tsan Chair Professor of Comparative Policy at Lingnan University. Prior to that, Professor Mok has held leadership positions at various universities, including Vice President (Research and Development) and Dean of the Faculty of Liberal Arts and Social Sciences at The Education University of Hong Kong; Associate Dean of the Faculty of Social Sciences at The University of Hong Kong; and Chair Professor and Founding Director of the Centre of East Asian Studies at the University of Bristol, United Kingdom.
Professor Mok has an extensive background in sociology, political science, social policy and social development. He has made significant contributions to the fields of comparative education policy, comparative development and policy studies, with numerous publications. He has been recognised as the “Top Leader in Social Sciences and Humanities” by the international academic research portal, Research.com; the “Top Leader of Comparative and International Education Research” by the World Council of Comparative Education Societies; and one of the “Top 2% Scientists” by Stanford University. He was named by the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China as Changjiang Chair Professor to recognise his achievements in comparative education and Asian studies research. Most recently, Professor Mok has taken up the role of Deputy Director of the Centre for Global Higher Education based in the University of Oxford, UK. According to ScholarGPS, an international platform highlighting research achievements, Professor Mok is named as a world-leading scholar in the field of higher education research. He is rated 7th globally and 1st among his Asian peers in terms of his publications / citations in higher education research.
Professor Simon Marginson
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Simon Marginson is Professor of Higher Education at the University of Bristol and Professor of Higher Education (emeritus) at the University of Oxford and Joint Editor-in-Chief of Higher Education. He is also an Honorary Professor at Tsinghua University, Professorial Associate of the University of Melbourne, a Fellow of the British Academy, the Academy of Social Sciences in UK and of the Society for Research into Higher Education, and a member of Academia Europaea. He formerly worked at Monash and Melbourne universities in Australia and at UCL Institute of Education in London, and from 2015-2024 was Director of the ESRC/RE Centre for Global Higher Education (CGHE). In 2014 Simon was the Clark Kerr Lecturer on Higher Education at the University of California, Berkeley, and received the Research Achievement Award at the US Association for the Study of Higher Education. In 2017 he received an honorary doctorate in Social Sciences at Lingnan University in Hong Kong. He has advisory functions at Tsinghua University, Peking University, Shanghai Jiao Tong University (the Academic Ranking of World Universities), the University of Tokyo, Lingnan University in Hong Kong, the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM), and the National University of Chile. Simon’s research is focused primarily on global, international and comparative higher education, global science, higher education in East Asia, and the contributions of higher education to the common good. His scholarship is widely published and cited (Google h-index 89). Recent books include Changing Higher Education in East Asia, edited with Xin Xu (Bloomsbury, 2022), and Assessing the contributions of higher education, edited with Brendan Cantwell, Daria Platonova and Anna Smolentseva (Edward Elgar, 2023). He has five books currently in preparation for publication, starting with Brexit, EU students and UK higher education: Broken bridges, authored by Vassiliki Papatsiba and Simon Marginson (Bloomsbury, August 2025).
