Governance for Building Homegrown Universities with Global Aspirations: Lessons Derived from Asian Universities

Developing a sustainable knowledge-based economy has emerged as a priority to many economies that are currently thriving on the trade of non-renewable resources (Brown, Lauder, Ashton, 2010). In order to enable this transition, education and innovation are seen as the building blocks for creating this knowledge-based economy. Keeping this in mind, governments around the world are seeking to develop renowned universities that not only provide world-class education to their youth, but also act as an epicenter for innovation and entrepreneurship (Brown, Lauder, Ashton, 2010). While in the past, research surrounding the topic of world class universities generally focused on the experiences of the Western education system found in countries like the United States (US) and the United Kingdom (UK), a new area of focus has been the emerging universities in Asia. As these Non-western Universities rapidly make their way to the top of international rankings, there is an underlying interest in studying and researching their success factors, so as to encourage other emerging universities to replicate and build their own reputation and brand. This thesis will study the experiences of three world-class Asian universities: the Korean Advanced Institute for Science and Technology (KAIST), the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology (HKUST), and the National University of Singapore (NUS), in order to draw recommendations for Hamad Bin Khalifa University (HBKU): one such aspiring university in the Gulf. The research infers that although there are commonalities between the three Asian universities, their unique strengths and historical context have significantly contributed to their success. It is evident from this research that for a university to be successful, it should have a clearly defined sense of purpose, include key stakeholders in its decision making processes and allow for financial independence by relying on the endowment and fundraising model. The thesis concludes by recommending that the above mentioned indicators of success be applied in the context of Qatar. In doing so, it seeks to encourage greater financial and academic independence for a national university like HBKU, and in turn allow it to pursue the goal of becoming a world-class university.