Jason Tan completed his Masters in Education in education and national development at the University of Hong Kong and his doctoral studies in comparative education at the State University of New York at Buffalo. He is currently associate professor in policy and leadership studies at the National Institute of Education in Singapore. Jason is an executive editor of Asia Pacific Journal of Education and a consulting editor of Globalisation, Societies and Education. His most recent publications include Globalization and Marketization of Education: A Comparative Analysis of Hong Kong and Singapore and Going to School in East Asia.

Professor Morshidi is Director of the National Higher Education Research Institute (IPPTN), Malaysia and the Deputy Director-General, Department of Higher Education (Public Sector), Ministry of Higher Education, Malaysia. He specialises in higher education policy research and has collaborated with the OECD/IMHE, the World Bank, UNESCO, the ADB and International Institute for Educational Planning, Paris. Since 2008, he has embarked on a capacity building programme in Cambodia, Lao PDR, and Vietnam.

Shoko Yamada ([email protected]) is associate professor of comparative education and policy studies in education at the Graduate School of International Development, Nagoya University, Japan.  She has done extensive research in the areas of: global discourse on educational development, relationship between aid and national education policies, and social process of value formation on education and skills development.

Kinglun Ngok, currently, Professor and Director of the Institute for Social Policy and Social Security, School of Government, Sun Yat-sen University, China. He got his Bachelor (1987) and MPhil (1990) from Renmin University of China, and PhD degree (1999) from City University of Hong Kong. His research areas include social policy and social development, labor policy and law, education policy and management in China. His articles appear in Social Policy & Administration, International Labor and Working Class History, International Review of Administrative Sciences, Asia Pacific Education Review, International Journal of Educational Management, Policy Futures in Education, Education and Society, Problems of Post-Communism, and China Review. His recent publication is Social Policy in China (with Chan, C. K and Philips, D), Bristol: Policy Press, 2008).

Dan Banik is an Associate Professor and Research Director at the University of Oslo's Centre for Development and Environment (SUM). Prof. Banik's research interests include development theory, democracy, human rights, famine, civil service reform and media in developing countries. He has conducted research in India, Bangladesh, Malawi, Uganda, Ethiopia, South Africa and Mexico and heads the Academic Network on Legal Empowerment of the Poor (ANLEP).

Xiulan Zhang obtained her Ph.D degree in social welfare from the University of California at Berkeley, the USA. She is a Professor and Dean of the School of Social Development and Public Policy, Beijing Normal University, where she teaches public organizational theories, public finance, social problems and social policy in China, as well as research methods. Currently she is the national lead expert in social assistance; is a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, and a member of the Academic Advisory Committee of the National Aging Association; is the vice-president of China Association of Social Welfare and the vice-president of the National Social Policy Association in China. She is on the Expert Committee of the State Council Urban Resident Health Insurance Evaluation Commission, China, and the Disaster Reduction Expert Council of China.
Dr. Zhang is on the Editorial Board of the Journal of Effective Development and on the editorial board of several journals in social policy and public administration in China. She is a board member of the Institute of Development Studies at Sussex University, UK, and is on the Global Agenda Council on Employment and Social Protection, the Global Economic Forum.

Anthony Welch, is Professor of Education, University of Sydney. A policy specialist, he has consulted to state, national, and international agencies, governments, and US institutions and foundations. Project experience includes East and SE Asia, particularly in higher education.  His work is translated into numerous languages, and he has been Visiting Professor in the USA, UK, Germany, France, Japan, and Hong Kong (China). A Fulbright New Century Scholar (2007-8), his most recent books are The Professoriate: Profile of a Profession (2005), Education, Change and Society (2007), ASEAN Industries and the Challenge from China (2011), and Higher Education in Southeast Asia. Changing Balance, Blurring Borders. (2011). Professor Welch also directs the national project, The Chinese Knowledge Diaspora.

Rupert Maclean is currently Chair Professor of International Education, UNESCO Chair in TVET and Lifelong Learning, and Director of the Centre for Lifelong Learning Research and Development, The Hong Kong Institute of Education.  He is concurrently  a Senior Research Fellow, Department of Education, University of Oxford; an Adjunct Professor of Education at both RMIT University, Melbourne, and at East China Normal University, Shanghai. Before joining the HKIEd in July 2009, he worked for UNESCO  for almost two decades, with senior posts in Rangoon, Bangkok, Paris and Bonn.

Yuegen Xiong is professor in the Department of Sociology at Peking University, China. He is the author of Needs, Reciprocity and Shared Function: Policy and Practice of Elderly Care in Urban China (Shanghai Renmin Press, 2008) and Social Policy: Theories and Analytical Approaches (Renmin University Press, 2009). He earned his doctorate degree from the Chinese University of Hong Kong in 1998. He was the British Academy KC Wong Visiting Fellow at the University of Oxford during November, 2002- September, 2003, the Fellow at the Hanse Institute for Advanced Studies (HWK), Delmonhorst, Germany during December, 2003- February, 2004 and the visiting scholar at the University of Tokyo in October, 2005.  In the past years, he has published extensively in the field of social policy, comparative welfare regimes, social work, NGOs and civil society.  He is the co-managing editor of China Journal of Social Work and Editorial Member of Asian Social Work and Policy Review.