Higher Education: Post Globalization Challenges
-
K V Prabhakara
SBRR Mahajana First Grade College
Jayalakshmipuram
Mysore -570 012
Significance of higher education
As we progressively move towards a borderless world, the votaries of globalization
believe that education, especially higher education has already become a prominent service
crossing borders. Higher education today, is increasingly being seen as a commercial product
to be bought and sold like any other commodity. Its commercialization has now reached the
global market place. Today, with education emerging as one of the world’s most vibrant and
growing businesses, countries of the world have put educational services on the agenda of the
WTO. Education is one among the twelve agreements of the General Agreement on Trades
in Service (GATS). In broad terms, the proposals are being designed to make it easier to
private universities to expand across borders and for students to move more freely overseas to
choose their university. Given this background, the future educational scenario for all the
players in the academic world would drastically change.
Higher education as we have today is the outcome of long socio-cultural process of
evolution. Broadly it revolves around.

Development and perfection of the individual

Pursuit and dissemination of knowledge

Preservation and progress of society
Higher Education in India
India has a great heritage as far as higher education is concerned. It has passed through
three traditions. They are: ancient and medieval Sanskrit and Buddhist traditions, Medieval
Arabic & Persian traditions & the recent modern traditions (where British influence plays a
dominant role).
Some vital statistics
Table – 1
Year
Universities
Colleges
Teachers
Students
1900
5
191
?
23009
1947
18
591
15,000
2,28,804
2004
307
14609
4.62 lakh
94,63,821
2010
427
16,885
4.57 lakh
99.54 lakh
Table – 2
Country
Age Group
Percentage
India
17 - 23
6%
Brazil
17 -23
12%
UK
17 -23
52%
USA
17 - 23
81%
Canada
17-23
100%
(For developing countries the average percentage is 40)
India has one college for 11,000 students and one University for 4.7 lakhs of persons
Weakness and Worries – 2Ws of our Higher Education System
Weakness

Mass education without quality concern

Dependence on government for resources

Urban concentration of institutions

Political interference

Linkage of degrees with job market

Centralised control(Universities)
2

Non- connectivity of university colleges

Tutor centered problems
Worries

Reduction in government grants

Entry of foreign universities

Increased Public expectation for quality

Perform well under NAAC

Paying teachers by result

Devalued degrees by vocational Training

Replacement of teaching by learning
Present Scenario
We have witnessed the emergence of Indian Institutes of Technology, Indian Institutes of
Management with inspirations and support from foreign universities and institutions. For
instance, the Indian Institutes of Technology were consciously patterned after the
Massachusetts Institute of Technology in the US and have received substantial overseas help.
In addition to receiving donor supports, they had the benefit of guest faculty from outside of
India and were able to send Indian faculty for training abroad. Even the Indian institutes of
management had the similar advantage of international links. The Indian Institute of
Management, Ahmedabad for example had strong support from Harvard Business School and
still maintains the same.
Unfortunately, India has not been successful in attracting foreign students despite the wide
availability of English medium courses and the country’s rich cultural, historical and
ecological resources. Perhaps, the lower perceived quality and marketability of qualification
from Indian universities is responsible for this. The international agencies have not
3
recognized India as a major destination for higher education. For instance, the directory of
study abroad programs for the year 2000-2001 published by the Institute of International
Education (IIE), which lists the educational programs that could be pursued in other
countries, has just 21 programs for American students in India.
Globalization : WTO & GATS
Globalization can be considered as removal of barriers to free trade and the closer
integration of national economics (Stiglitz, 2002). Broadly, globalization would mean
integration of economies and societies-through cross country flow of information, ideas,
technology, goods, services, capital, finance and people (Rangarajan, 2003). Globalization in
education refers to integrating an international dimension into Teaching, learning and service
functions (Maske 2004).
WTO: The World Trade Organization
WTO is the legal and institutional foundation of international trading system. Until the end
of 1994, there was no multilateral or international organization that dealt with trade issues
between countries. Until then, almost for 50yrs, the international trading system functioned
under General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT). However GATT was never a
institution like IMF or world Bank. The eight rounds of multilateral trade negotiations during
1986-1993 between trading countries-what is famously called Uruguay Round of negotiations
finally resulted in the formation of WTO on JAN 1, 1995. This multilateral agreement was
pertaining to trade in goods, TRIPS, TRIMS and importantly GATS-i.e. General Agreement
on Trade in services. Thus WTO subsumed the GATT.
4
The GATS: General Agreement on Trade in Services
One of the major results of Uruguay Round was the creation of a General Agreement on
Trade in Services. GATS provide an international as well as a multilaterally accepted legal
frame work for the promotion of trade on services. The objective of GATS is to establish a
multilateral frame work for services similar to trade in goods involving reduction in tariff and
non-tariff barriers to trade covering 161 services activities where multilateral agreement
covers 12 specified services including educational services. Article 1.3 defines “services” to
include “any service in any sector except services supplied in the exercise of government
authority;” and “a service supplied in the exercise of government authority” means “any
service which is supplied neither on a commercial basis, nor in competition with one or more
service suppliers.”
GATS consists of the following main elements
1. A set of general concepts, principles and rules that apply to all measures affecting
trade in services
2. Specific commitments that apply only to service sectors and subsectors listed in a
members schedule
3. An understanding that periodic negotiations will be undertaken to progressively
liberalize trade in services; and
4. A set of attachments, protocols and annexes that set out sector specific disciplines and
ministerial decisions that relate to the implementation of the agreement
Basic Principles of GATS
GATS has formulated rules of trade under nine different categories to avoid friction while
trading in education. These rules relate to coverage, most favoured nations treatment, national
5
treatment, market access, progressive liberalization etc. The crux of the rules is that all those
who participate in the export and import of educational services are to be treated at par inter
se without any discrimination.
Most Favoured Nations (MFN) treatment
MFN treatment means equal opportunities to all WTO members. A country will
accord another member country treatment no less favourable than that it accords to
any other country Eg: Srilanka would treat an Indian institution set up there on par
with an US based institution.
National Treatment
It means equal treatment for domestic as well as foreign institutes. This means the
foreign institute shall be treated as one belonging to the host country itself.
Market Access
A member will grant full market access in a given sector and mode of supply when it
does not maintain in that sector and mode any of the types of measures listed in
Article XVI on market access.(Six type of market access restrictions are in principle
prohibited for sectors a country choosen to schedule. Eg. Number of service suppliers
allowed, value of transaction or assets, etc.)
Transparency
It requires all members to establish enquiry points to provide on request, specific
information concerning any laws, regulations and administrative practices affecting
services covered by the agreement.
6
Domestic Regulation
It stipulates that a member country should regulate services reasonably, objectively
and impartially. The domestic regulations with respect to qualification, technical
standards licensing etc. should not be such as to put unnecessary barriers to trade in
higher education services.
Specific Commitments
Specific commitments on national treatment and market access apply only to service
sectors listed by members, subject to whatever qualifications, conditions and
limitations are maintained.
Additional Commitments
Members have the option of making additional commitments by listing actions to be
taken that do not fall under national treatment or market access.
The general procedure of commitment under GATS is that countries submit their
schedule under five sub-sectors of education and four modes of supply.
Trade in education: Hard facts and general apprehensions
The sudden interest in education, especially higher education as a commodity, making it
part of trade negotiations worldwide are prompted by the fact that trade in higher education is
a million dollar business. The demand for higher education on one side is growing, while, on
the other side, trans-border education is increasing. The new players in the trans-border
education consist of private or for-profit higher foreign university campuses, IT academies,
twinning arrangements with other universities, corporate universities, virtual universities,
7
open universities, e-universities and so on. The following development has further
contributed to the increasing significance of education sector:

The capacity of the public sector in different countries has not kept up with the
increase in demand for higher education

There is only a limited understanding of the nature and implications of this growth,
since education is distinct from many other traded goods and services in ways that
influence trading relationships

Education services are currently the subject of global negotiations about
liberalizing the trade under WTO

Education cannot be shipped like goods, but is profoundly affected by transfer
across national borders, since it has a strong cultural component, often associated
with the location and specific history of its supplier

It is to a large degree supplied by public authorities on the ground that education
generates major social as well as individual benefits, and there are concerns that
public provision could be put at a risk if the sector were to be subject to WTO
disciplines

There is a lack of an international system of accrediting and assuring the quality of
higher education institutions
There are other barriers for students studying abroad including students visas, problems
with funding and dealing with various student-related work permit matters.
Challenges for India
The General Agreement on Trade in Services plus other regional trade agreements are
testimony to the increased emphasis on trade and the market economy in this era of
8
globalization. GATS is the first legal trade agreement that focuses exclusively on trade in
services – as opposed to trade in products. It is administered by the WTO, which has
presently a membership of 153 countries. The purpose of GATS is to progressively and
systematically promote freer trade in services by removing many of the existing barriers.
Worldwide, the proposals have become very controversial. Some of the issues and concerns
emerging from education being a part of GATS, having implications for countries like India
are:
1. Commoditisation of Education Education is a public good in almost all countries of the
world and therefore, negotiations relating to education services under GATS is considered
to be a dangerous mode. There is a risk of “trade creep” where education policy issues are
likely to be increasingly framed in terms of trade and economic benefits. It is being
argued that when a “public good” is treated as a “market commodity” there will be
several tensions having political, moral, economic, social and cultural repercussions.
2. Funding Many governments have limited budget capacity to allocate funds to meet the
escalating costs of higher education. The same holds good for India too. Advocates of
trade in education services may say that international trade in education would provide
alternate funding sources. But the difficulty could be that even the meager public
spending on education might be seen as an unfair subsidy. Therefore, there are fears that
international trade in education benefit some countries, such as those with a well
developed capacity for exports and disadvantage others in terms of funding or access.
3. Regulation of cross-border providers Globalization of education services would
necessitate the development of a regulatory framework to deal with the diversity of
providers and the new cross border delivery modes. There would be the need for spelling
out policies on licensing, regulating and monitoring both for-profit and non-profit foreign
9
providers in order to ensure that national policy objectives are met. There is also the need
for ensuring that the domestic regulatory frameworks are compatible with a larger
international framework.
4. Recognition and transferability of credits With the new types of educational providers,
new delivery modes, new levels of student mobility and new opportunities for credit in
higher education, there would be further confusion regarding the recognition of
qualifications and transfer of academic credits. If one country does not recognize the
degree awarded by another country, the free flow of educational services would be
adversely affected.
5. Quality assurance and accreditations Quality assurance and accreditation of cross border
education programs and providers place a significant role in increased transnational
education activities. With the globalization of education services, the national quality
assurance schemes would be challenged resulting in the need for globally accepted
accreditation standards.
6. Hybridization of culture Education is a process through which cultural assimilation takes
place. Globalization of education is likely to result in a new hybridization and a fusion of
cultures, eventually resulting in a cultural convergence.
7. Mobility of professionals and students GATS would necessitate the mobility of
professionals to meet the high demand for skilled workers and also students seeking
admissions abroad. This would call for simplification of the Visa formalities and
immigration and emigration policies.
10
Making the Most of Globalization
Globalization is already here. What should we do now? There are some strategic areas
which need to be looked upon for bringing tangible benefits out of globalization. This calls
for policy reforms at the Government level, working out partnerships and tie-ups, industry
collaboration, Innovation in program development and delivery etc. Globalization will make
education interactive self-actualizing discovery, enjoyable and rewarding. But that needs
meaningful and responsible strategies supported by pragmatic education policies. Above all it
depends upon the collective will and sense of judgment of enlightened citizens of this
Country.
Reference: Books, Journals and Articles
1. Stiglitz Joseph (2002) Globalization and its discontents: Penguin Books-England
2. Sharma, Chandra Bhushan “Globalising Education in an unequal world” Indian Journal of
open learning vol. 10, No. 3
3. Caston, Geoffrey. The management of International
Co-operation in universities: Paris,
UNESCO, 1996
4. World Bank, Higher Education in developing countries: Perils and Promises, Washington
DC: The World Bank 2000
5. WTO Council for Trade in Services, Background note by the secretariat on education
services, Sept 1998
6. Power, KB. WTO, GATS, AND HE: An Indian Perspective, Amity Foundation for
Higher Learning, New Delhi.
7. C.K. Renukarya, K M Veeraiah: Globalization: Dimensions and Impact.
8. Indian Economy in the WTO Era: The Challenges Ahead (Souvenir) Department of
Commerce, S.B.R.R. Mahajana First Grade College
9. Higher Education in India: Emerging Challenges- Lingaraj college, Belgaum
10. Thatte, Lina(1997). The Differential Impacts of Front-end Recurrent
11. Patel S (2004) Higher Education at the cross roads: Economic & Political weekly
12. Dhir Ram Chandra (2004) “Globalization of Higher Education in India” University News
11
13. World Bank, 1994, Higher Education: the Lessons of Experience, Washington DC.
14. Government of India Education Report: 2002-03
15. MHRD Annual Report 2003-04
16. University Hand Book 2003
17. Prabhuling G Dandin: Higher Education in India: Emerging Challenges (SWOT
Analysis)
18. X Lourdes Xavier Wilson, Indian Higher Education: Challenges Ahead
19. Dr. (Smt) P S Guddadanaveri, Higher Education a Historical Perspective
20. Understanding GATS with Reference to higher Education in India
21. M.S. Moodithaya, Higher Education in the Post WTO Era: The Challenges Ahead
22. Jandhyala Tilak, Quality Higher Education and Development
23. Lukose Vallatharai, TQM Movement for higher Education
24. B.R. Ananthan, Business Education: The Role of Teachers
25. Strategy for Development of Higher Education Government of AndraPradesh (Virtual
Library)
26. Yashwant Dongre, Commerce Education – 2010
27. S. Bisaliah, Higher Education at cross Roads
28. Venkatesh Athreya, The NCMP & Higher Education
29. Faculty Development Program, ICFAI, Hyderabad
30. P Jagadish Gandhi, Globalised Indian Economy, Contemporary Issues and Perspectives
31. K.Chidananda Gowda, Computer, Commerce and Competent India During Globalization
32. K V Prabhakara, Higher Education in the Context of Globalization
33. http://wiki.answers.com
34. http://www.education.nic.in/higedu.asp
********
12