This article throws light upon the top five implications of liberalizing educational services in India. The implications are: 1. Equity vs. Growth 2. Academic Standards 3. The New Neo-colonialism 4. Increased Competition 5. Increasing Student Mobility.
Liberalizing Educational Services # 1.
Equity vs. Growth:
Certain benefits and costs are associated with export promotion and import liberalization in education services.
For example, exports via consumption abroad could help generate resources, create employment, expand facilities and raise standards in education sector.
Exports via outflows of manpower could generate foreign exchange.
Exports in general may also raise the cost of education services to the detriment of the disadvantaged sections. Imports of education services via commercial presence can help augment resources for investment and expansion of facilities in the education sector. So, trade in service in education has its bearings upon equity and growth aspects.
Liberalizing Educational Services # 2.
The challenge is maintenance of academic standards uniformly all over the country vis-a-vis other countries. Developed countries do have their regulatory mechanisms to ensure better standards in education. But in our country, there seems dearth of such systematic mechanisms to check and determine the standards of foreign based universities/institutions operating in Indian soil.
Therefore, the task is to find out universities of spectacular track records and to encourage them to make entry into the market of India. In the emerging globalization era, open universities or distance education have a say in equalizing educational opportunities on democratic lines through a better and sound management system along with use of the most sophisticated technology including information technology and communication engineering.
If uniform global standards fall flat on these institutions providing education through national accrediting arrangements, degree recognition and similar measures, quality control becomes impossible.
Liberalizing Educational Services # 3.
The New Neo-Colonialism:
Under WTO regime, multinational corporations, big companies, media and even a few major universities have proved themselves as new-colonialists seeking to dominate the world for commercial gains. The result is the loss of indigenous intellectual cultural values and autonomy by those who are less developed.
The neo-colonialists regimes provide a variety of products and array of services in education in the world market. These include academic programmes of all kinds, offered as “twinning” arrangements with local universities on business enterprises, branch campuses offering degrees and certificates from abroad, IT-based academic degrees, corporate training programmes etc.
Simultaneously, there are a number of unknown, low- profile institutions and companies who offer products of completely unknown quality and relevance. Profit-generation is their sole aim. Foreign providers brush aside the local conditions, traditions and learning styles of the needy country.
The institutions of higher learning fall an easy prey to the motive of the international players. Academic institutions turn into parasites upon the high and powerful service providers in the domain of education.
In contrast to the developed and industrialized countries, India and China could attract, relatively high number of students from countries like Kenya, Nepal, Sudan, Bangladesh, Africa, Ghana, Guatemala, Mauritius, Ethiopia.
The reasons are not far to trace. India and China provide the students of above nations a relatively better quality of education at a very low cost as compared to their own country. Therefore, through the consumption abroad mode or student’s studying abroad has gone up by 50% in the decade 1990 to 2000.
It is expected to rise 52% more in between 2001 to 2010 AD-the first decade of 21st century. So, there is rise of student mobility in different years. The following table shows the trend.
Therefore, the rapidly growing demand and commercialization of education has boosted up international trade and cross border investment activities in educational services. The estimated global market in TES is over US $ 30 billion which is likely to balloon in future.
This is triggered by technological advances, rising worldwide demand of education services and mounting evidence of strong economy-wide returns flowing from investments in human capital in a globalized world economy.
India has been a prime destination of business in education because of its soft regulatory mechanism with liberal attitude in the context of long term gains to be achieved in future. To shield its interest India has floated a better safeguard policy.
The MHRD has given a directive in September 2003 to bring all the foreign educational institutions operating in India within the assessment and accreditation process of NAAC. (National Assessment and Accreditation Council).
Liberalizing Educational Services # 4.
When a country liberalizes its economy in allowing free flow of trade in education service on her own land, there is felt a necessity to revitalize and restructure its institutions of education to compete and come to a better and advantageous position. We develop a fear psychosis that competition from rich and developed nations will push our system to backward.
These countries will be able to carve out a niche in Indian soil to generate profit at any costs and mesmerize our youths in accepting degrees or diplomas from their degree mills. Thus, public- supported education will starve of money as a lot of affluent and meritorious students will leave for entering into the birth of foreign providers of education.
Our system of education including other less-developed nation’s need to be very cautious and to work out a sophisticated monetary and regulatory mechanism to stem the tide of unbridled advancement of foreign providers of education services.
The system of the less developed countries needs to be readjusted to meet the challenges. It needs to be more competitive to provide low-cost, high-quality of comparable degree to all without any segregations and differences. The countries are required to hammer out plans to strike a balance between the domestic priorities and foreign demands.
Liberalizing Educational Services # 5.
Increasing Student Mobility:
In the wake of emerging global trade in education service, a bulk of student community migrates to another country or countries having well-knitted system of higher education with a promise of job opportunities to acquire degree and certificate. About 66000 Indian students had enrolled for different courses in the United States of America in the year 2001-02 (UNESCO report).
The majority of students around 75% are choosing USA, UK, France, Germany, Australia and Japan as their favorite destinations because of their good quality based education service, better job facilities, good infrastructure etc.
These countries attract the global attention because of their strong and vibrant policy of internationalization of higher education. Majority of students come from the non-OECD countries, Asian as well as African countries.
NAAC (National Assessment and Accreditation Council) has resolved that accreditation should be made mandatory for all foreign universities operating in India and the quality profile on infrastructure, learning process, fee structure and faculty profile etc. be brought to the notice of the public.
Regarding cross-border operation of the higher education institutions including universities (export from India), MHRD has issued guidelines on entering MOUs for cross border operations. It has identified the committee for promotion of Indian Education Abroad (COPIEA) as a nodal agency to lay down specific guidelines for registration of Foreign Service providers.
Consequent upon the issuance of guidelines, a significant number of institutions and universities are set to open their campuses abroad and offer a need-based technology-driven courses or programmes in many third world countries.
The quality assurance would serve the purpose of setting up the standards of our exports to the international audience. These are the indicative of the trend in a nation becoming both a provider and a recipient of cross border education as a part of the globalisation process.