Introduction

This introduction presents an overview of the key concepts discussed in the subsequent chapters of this book. The book introduces the history of the Korean education system of the last 40 years that experienced rapid economic growth and point out that the government's education policy contributed in bringing about economic growth and equality. It also introduces Hong Kong's history of education system since the mid-19th century when Hong Kong became a British colony. The book focuses on the last three decades to describe the development of Cooperative Work-integrated education (CWIE) in Thailand, which saw the active involvement of Suranaree University of Technology (SUT) as well as active support of the Thai Government. It describes Singapore's education system and policies since 1965's independence from Malaysia in three phases: a phase of building literacy, a phase of raising the level to the global standard, and a phase of developing creative and innovative minds.