Global Impact on College Entrance Examination Reforms in East Asia

This paper discusses the influence and relation between college examination reforms in East Asian countries and the globalization of education. The focus of this study is on China, South Korea, Taiwan, and Japan. We do so because these countries are often grouped together, as they typically value examinations and knowledge-based education owing to their shared Confucianism background. The research findings identify that individual countries develop their own methods within their particular social background but share many common features, as revealed in the examination reform process. The driving factor for globalization in university entrance examinations is indeed the new type of competency practices in the Programme for International Student Assessment (PISA). The promotion of new PISA-type competencies into the framework of education reform can cause convergent and divergent movements. The former convergent movement concerns the content of the examination, while the latter divergence applies to the admission process.