This edited volume provides a framework for understanding academic public good and offers case studies and perspectives as in depth examples of the ways in which colleges and universities engage with the community to produce social benefits. Focusing on the Asia Pacific region, the authors discuss examples of engagement that produce consciousness, partnerships, and services that are broadly available to the public and enhance the progress of society. The authors argue that, unlike an individual degree, these are public benefits that should be focused upon and featured more readily so that the breadth of university benefits come to be better understood.

Christopher S. Collins is Assistant Professor of Higher Education at Azusa Pacific University, USA, and Associate Director of the Asia Pacific Higher Education Research Partnership at the East-West Center in Honolulu, Hawaii. His research focuses on the function of higher education in society and its role in social and economic progress.