Education is a very important sector that is the target of all the power groups (multinational companies these days) because such control will enable them to establish control on the total economy of a country. This is so because education is a process by which knowledge gets transferred to a person or a group. Beside mental development education provides social security for the poor. If education can be controlled, the relevant pedagogy may also be tailored in such a manner that the poor people may be exploited. Therefore sovereignty related to education is a must for a nation. My question is “should a developing country allow universities from the developed countries to establish branches in their territory?” Because if it is allowed then this may put higher education at risk which in turn would jeopardize the industrial development of the developing country. Also should the multinational/foreign companies be allowed to launch control on the national education policy from outside even in the name of consultancy?
This is a very interesting question. However, you already seem to know the answer and you are negative about the idea of foreign direct investment (FDI) in the education sector.
Positive effects could be that the quality of education increaes and students would not go abroad to attend high class universities and prevent a brain drain. Moreover, private foreign owned universities represent employment opportunities for young educated workforce.
My experience of foreign universities opening branches in India suggests that it is induced less by the motive of knowledge/ skill improvement and more by making money and providing easy certificates to those who can afford to pay for the so called state of the art and up to date education.
I would like to correct Axel Mangelsdorf that knowingly or unknowingly he is not supporting foreign direct investment in education sector of developing countries but easy foreign direct earning of super-normal profits in the name of quality education.
I don't thinks so because those countries have their own ways of educational policy which considers their own political, economical, social, cultural and religion philosophy of thoughts so to change their own nations they have to follow the reality on their own sphere so that it can get acceptance by the society rather than from the outer shell. On the other hand development and welfare of life has to comes from internal
Patriotism raises his head - this time against the flow of knowledge and education. In order to answer the commenters of this post - one needs to carry out a fees vs learning analysis for Indian and foreign universities. And then on top of that analyse the fees vs employment opportunities for both Indian and Foreign universities.
Amazing question. Of course, unfortunately, it depends. My quick thoughts... I think it could depend on the motivations of the outside universities, the strength of the host country universities, the nature of the agreements between the outside universities and host country institutions. Students could gain better access to a bigger body of information. It could slow the flow of students seeking educational opportunities outside the country. It could provide work opportunities for scholars in the host country. And/or it could siphon off financial resources from the country. It could stifle the development of host country educational opportunities for students and faculty. It could slow the development of home-grown technologies/policies. Perhaps the best approach to examining this question is to consider how the effects of free trade/investment on the education sector are likely to differ from theeffects felt by other sectors.
Introducing an institution into a country is apt to engender an atmosphere of us versus them. Better approach is to "add on" to an existing institution in a cooperative environment. It can be done. See millerbillr.com on how we did it in Armenia. This book may also be downloaded from researchgate.net
I don't think that allowing Universities from developed countries should be viewed with so much of negativism. Education is a universal need, if we do not allow free flow of knowledge between countries,I think we would be denying ourselves to opportunity to learn from the experiences of others. However, some controls and checks are needed to ensure that these institutions do not act just as a profit centers only, but impart quality education and follow the local rules and regulations too. This is true for higher education, because that is where the developing countries lack the most. Globalization is a phenomenon there to stay, so if we keep ourselves out of the knowledge centers, we would be denying our youth the opportunity to get the best of education available. Partnerships between existing institutions of higher learning of developed and developing countries is one way to do this.
People are more mobile now and so is knowledge. I think having these universities in our countries will benefit not only our students but also our teachers. Why do our teachers and students go abroad for further education or training?
There is little need for students to study abroad. The result is usually a brain drain as less than 30 percent of foreign students given scholarships for study in the U.S. have returned to their home country according to data shared with me by the U.S. Embassy in Armenia. To the contrary, most of the students graduating from the Agribusiness Teaching Center in Armenia make an outstanding contribution to their country of origin. See Agribusiness Teaching Center (ATC) data in millerbillr.com
The ATC model should work for any curriculum as it is integrated into an existing institution of the home country. .
Education, like the tide, lifts all boats. Else, it is not education, but is likely meant to indoctrinate rather than inform. Freedom of access to Information must be the hallmark of development
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