The academic profession contributes to shaping the capacity and identity of higher education systems. In East and Southeast Asia, there is a need for further discussion on the regional identity characteristics of the academic profession to account for its multiple origins and national and international dimensions. Data from two large-scale comparative surveys and secondary sources are used to investigate the role of international mobility in the formation and development of East and Southeast Asian academics in science, technology, engineering and mathematics fields. Based on Kim and Locke's [2010. "Transnational Academic Mobility and the Academic Profession." In "Higher Education and Society: A Research Report". London: CHERI, Open University] framework, patterns of academic mobility are examined in relation to the formation and development of higher education systems. The analysis shows mixed trends in the international flow of academics and the formation of the region's academic profession in relation to more or less independent or colonial historical backgrounds. Recent globalisation and regionalisation initiatives seem likely to transform the heterogeneous identities of the region's academic profession.