Effects of economic and political climates on current higher education - Essay Example

Effects of economic and political climates on current higher education affiliation Effects of Economic and Political Climates on Current Higher Education Introduction Higher education is regarded as a significant service granted by the state to enable its citizens get the opportunities of advancing their socio-economic standards. The forces of technological advancement, Exponential growth, demographic changes, financial support decrease and increasing levels of competition work together to exert pressure on the institutions of higher learning (McLendon et al. 2007, pp.645–675). The most significant creation in the second millennium is the university. University has been a quiet catalyst that makes a decisive decision in the society since its modest beginnings. The institution provides the information and knowledge to develop actions of politics and policies in government at the same time informing public tastes and understanding. It acts as the key to the overall public life success and course through the training of professionals and creation of ideologies. However, in every success there is always a challenge that accompanies it. Institutions of higher education including universities will be faced with challenges of sustaining the most important value in the society, adapting to the roles that are new and modified (Solt 2008, pp.48–60). Historical perspective of higher education With its humble beginnings, the university is considered among the few institutions of learning that have managed to span a whole millennium. It is seen to be the most durable and distinctive in terms of membership, nature, autonomy and responsibility making it unique. Most universities had little impact until the nineteenth century. The main reason for this institution was to transmit as well as conserving the skills and knowledge that were posed by the church and by which most of the institutions of higher learning were founded and accredited. Effects of economic and political climates on current higher education Various factors of politics, economy and regulatory developments do have an impact on institutions of higher learning. Most issues are above the control of the national higher education community and the individual institutions. In response to these changes, institution budgeters must respond accordingly to the anticipatory changes in political and economic conditions that may have an effect on the amount of revenue that is available. In addition, of equal importance, they must put into consideration the pressures that are being exerted by the external forces on the institution of higher learning before its survival is put on jeopardy. Economic climate Institutions dealing with higher education are stable partly due to the mission and role that they have in the society and the way they are operated their activities and management. Despite this, the current financial issues in various ways are affecting the institutions of higher learning (Solt 2008, pp.48–60). Economic changes have significantly affected the higher institutions of learning since the beginning of 1990’s. In respect to this, changes seen in the national government support for higher education have been accompanying the turmoil of the economy. Today, the institutions of higher learning are no longer enjoying the high ranking that they used to on the societal agendas, local, state and national talks. Resources that were previously directed to higher education are captured by other sectors of the government. Higher education is not a priority in most governments and instead focus has been shifted to issues of security, healthcare and the general social service programs (Rhoades & Sporn 2002, pp.355–390). In the modern environment, institutions of higher education must defend themselves against continuous criticisms from different sides. In the past years, it was easy for individuals to highlight the value of a college education economically or highlight the discoveries that were growing out of instructions based researches. Such arguments no longer change the direction of the nation that has lost focus on the ability to pay (Kam & Palmer 2008, pp. 70). As institutions of higher education were coming out of economic depression, several institutions are still experiencing increases in the cost in some of the areas considered critical. At the same time, there is a depression of several sources of revenue with no evidence suggesting that there are hopes of things turning around in the coming days. To make matters worse, even the most prestigious institutions have noted to suspend their education programs, eliminate certain positions in their institutions or take measures and resort to other measures considered to be of cost- cutting that have huge effects on the delivery of the programs. Such climate in institutions of higher learning needs a careful and thorough examination of factors considered as external (Brand & Xie 2010, pp.273–302). A number of forces were seen to have undergone collision simultaneously producing creating concerns in several institutions about the liquidity of the investments that were done by the institutions. The changing states of these liquidity owned by the institutions had several factors in its roots. Several institutions of higher learning experienced changes that were unexpected in their investments liquidity. The distributions from the available investments were down compared to the budget and the expectations of the institutions (Keep & Mayhew 2004, pp.298–314). The economic crisis experience globally and nationally remains highly fluid and the impact it creates in the institutions of education and higher learning is more likely to require several quarters to help in appreciating it fully. What started as a humble credit and liquidity crisis evolved as institutions of finance were struggling to cover liabilities that were existing. In the light to the environment, that covers both credit and debit, several universities actively engaged in reassigning their current structures of the debt portfolios they have currently. Several institutions that had planned to use tax-exempt bonds to borrow have decided to pull back because of the long-term debt issues that can be created from the increased rates of interests (Acemoglu & Robinson 2006, pp.115–131). Since institutions of higher education are the largest discretionary items in any governments budgets, the funding of the higher education by the government tends to increase when the revenues of the country and the economy is good and consequently drop when the country plunges into recession. Funding of these institutions may be less as it appears even during economic boom times once the state takes into account the rising enrollment and inflation. When countries plunged into economic recess in 1990s, several states decided to cut down appropriations that were meant for higher education despite the growth in enrollment. Consequently, the dollar student in a public institution lowers by twelve percent in 2004 fiscal year than what they were a decade ago. With low funds from the government due to declining capital dollars, institutions are having huge constraints in renovation, maintaining classrooms and research buildings as well as infrastructure due to the huge enrollment that they find had to accommodate. Decline in state funding has a long-term effect to the institution of higher learning. New faculties’ will be needed over the next decade to replace the huge numbers of lectures who will be retiring to teach the ever-growing number of students in learning institutions. During the recession, institutions opted to eliminate several positions in the faculties; nevertheless, new faculties will need. In such an environment, several institutions, both private and public, will end up seeking the services of ineligible lectures for tenure that will run with lower salaries. Another issue that is likely to affect institutions of higher learning is the reallocations of programs. The bug question is whether the higher education institutions are going to respond by shifting their program resources towards the fields that are promising students of jobs that are paying highly in the midst of an environment that is more driven by market (Daniere 1972, pp.58–70). Political climate The institutions of higher education have several things to keep them busy at night with the political wing often provides the impetus. Recently, political wings have initiated several initiatives focusing on issues surrounding institutions of higher education. Such aspects include costs and affordability of colleges, the size of the institution of higher education endowment, the endowment of spending done annually, any unfair competition that is experience between public and private institutions of higher learning and protection against any identify theft (Vassallo 2003, pp.169–173). Political climate plays a huge role in dictating the funding and the output of the higher education institutions. One large initiative was that the United Kingdom should be working hard to ensure it would maintain leadership in producing the highest proportion of students who will be graduating from colleges in the world in subsequent years. To supporting this objective, the political wing has provided initiatives that are going to help increase attainment in higher education and outcomes of students. The government is also working hard to ensure these institutions including colleges and universities are encouraged to keeping affordable tuition fee (Mok 2000, 637–660). As the political wing in the country, shifts due to changes in leadership from one party to the other, different approaches are likely going to receive favor whereas others will be falling by the wayside. The education department has been putting pressure continuously on the institutions of higher learning to justify the reason for increased tuition that exceeds the reasonable amount. Without any doubt, the increased in the amount of tuition fee realized in the higher education institutions has been due to a decrease in the appropriations that these institutions have been receiving from the central government. In addition, the costs in public institutions have been seen to be increasing because of the growth in enrollment. With the institutions going through a decrease in the amount of endowed income, much of these has been due to the market meltdown of the subprime mortgage, has been putting more pressure on the institutions to increase their tuition charges. This situation leads to the establishment of a legitimate question of how much endowment is needed for the higher education for it to be regarded as being enough. Several stakeholders I education department has urged the institutions of higher education to look on ways through which they can increase their spending on the amount received from endowments rather than increasing tuition charges. Despite the fact that effective planning and management of cost can steadily accommodate the prices that are ever increasing, most budgets in various institutions cannot cope with the fluctuations being realized over short periods. Furthermore, havoc can be created in the budget that is well managed in cases of the exceptional increase in cost in any category (Slaughter 2001, pp.389–412). The environments that institutions of higher learning operate in tremendously do vary from one country to the other within the United Kingdom. Some of the institutions solely rely upon the central office system to supervise all then the learning institutions. In other countries, individual campuses stand and operate itself, as a single entity and does is not included in any system. Concisely, others have the courtesy of combining both systems to operate their institutions of higher learning. Regardless of the model of the organization that the institution uses, it must ensure that the decision makers understand the issues that are facing the institution. Campus officials and campuses must leverage on the opportunities of directly interacting with the executives and the legislators as well as with staffs from other agencies dealing with education so that they can influence higher education. This can take place even when the system is being used in the country of the agency responsible for coordinating advocates for their behalf. Opportunities regarded as normal for interaction do occur at a semi- regular basis. This can take place in cases of review of capital project hearings and legislative budget hearings. Even though such interactions are regarded as being important, they do carry less significance overall than the informal means of contact that takes place from time to time. The informal talks and exchanges that do occur between the country’s decision makers and the representatives of the campuses during events do provide a great opportunity through which information can be shared and specific decisions that are going to bring maximum advantage to the institutions are advocated for. It is known that politics has great effect on the institutions of higher learning both directly and indirectly. These institutions depend on legislators for their growth through passage of bills that will ultimately favor their growth. When the government feels that the institutions have to grow because of the large Influx of students every year, more money will be channeled to the institutions so that they can expand to accommodate the huge number of students. However, this is not the case. Despite the growing number of students, the government has decreased the funds meant for these institutions due to the financial meltdown (Jong-A-Pin 2009, pp.15–29). Conclusion Education is regarded as vital in the modern world. Countries whose citizens are educated are capable of putting nearly everything in practical. Education is a resource that can make and mold future leaders who will be spearheading the country into global economic success. Therefore, the government must look in ways through which it can successfully invest in education despite the economic problems. In addition, the institutions of higher learning can invest on and stop depending solely on the government through many ways. This can be done so that they avoid such stagnation due to low funding from the government in times of economic crisis. The political wing must also take conscious decisions when passing key bills that are going to affect higher education either directly or indirectly. Finally, to come up with critical decision on how higher education can be run, cooperation from both the legislators and economist must come together to provide the needed steps to help institutions of higher education from plunging down. Part two- Reflection on Digital Behaviors Technology has really played a great role in our lives based on the kind of inventions that tend to ease both physical and brain work. According to my survey, every technological invention has its advantages and disadvantages though the advantages tend to outweigh the disadvantages. Technology has made mathematical calculation easy in the sense that one can get accurate answers without going through the tedious process that involves a lot of brainwork. Calculating minor simple mathematical equations have become a big problem to me due to the regular use of mathematical calculators. Speeding up the process of making process of more technological advancements is one thing that I find weird about technology. In the contemporary world, people use technology to improve on technology. In my research, I realized that he Homo sapiens took close to 9 years to invent a spear while it took only 30 years to come up with a light bulb after the presentation of the idea. Today, invention has become the order of the day as some are realized even in one month after presentation of the idea. I usually order a magazine named popular mechanics on a monthly basis. The magazine content is full of recent technological advancement stories and suggestions about technological improvements. First , an improved concord version, a 600 minutes car plugin with a full charge and cloaked tank. In terms of my future social and workforce experience, the technology will be used increasingly in working places and soon it is becoming one of the hottest topics concerning the world of business. Several businesses both large and small are on the verge of incorporating the new and latest technologies to help in their daily operations. This is evidenced through what is trending in the business world. Today, most business publications do have sections of technology and department of information system is becoming an important part of an organization. What the information technology tries to do is to the appeal since it is made in a way that both the people and the organization will benefit from it through knowledge, efficiency and profitability (Webber 2006, pp. 9–20). With the current market trends in development of technology and the entire world moving in the same direction, I am obliged to keep myself at par with these changes. Technology is changing rapidly, and my ability to adapt to these changes will dictate my position and my contribution in the future social and working force. My understanding of the global market changes puts me under pressure to change with the world. I know that the future world will be different, the extent at which technology would have changed our lives will be great and man will need every aspect of technology to run nearly everything. The scope of technology that the society will need to adopt will be very will be fast compared to the one being in use presently. Regardless of the complexity of its system the incorporation of information system and technology in its components are certain. Therefore, individuals must work hard to keep pace with changes in technology at various working places. It is believed that the new technology is going to have a great positive impact in the country’s economy. Investors will be drawn in a country where technology is in use so that they can save many resources. In the process, the investment brings benefits to the country. Despite this positive approach, negative impacts and setbacks come with new technology. Every new technology in business comes to help in making work easier and quicker. For it to be operational, many workers will have to be retrenched because technology replaces a huge number of the working population in several companies and businesses. The future working force will be forced to be equipped with modern technological skills so that they can be able to fit in lost working places. Without these technological skills, an individual will not be able to fit in the society and working environment. The society will be living in times of great development, and everything will be close to automation. Therefore, economically, the introduction of modern technology is going to have either negative or positive contribution (Norris & Phillips 2003, pp.224–240). The future world is going to connected closer compared to the modern global world. The future world will be a world where everything is going to be transformed into digital. All institutions that are private civil and public will soon be dependent with the information systems, and this will make them more vulnerable in case of any cybercrime attack and even their employees. The future devices will be lighter and more capable this will encourage mobility greatly. The world is moving from using personal computers to the use of mobile phones, blackberries. What the world is in need is to have the information to be available to them on their devices instantly. The new world is expected to bring positive impact in the lives of the people. The society provides positive teachings experiences that can be used to prepare students in our university to provide them with a working life that I integrated with technology that will be needed badly in the coming years. With the development in technology, a new technology will be in use. Radio frequency identification is regarded the latest technology on earth that will be used as a communication chip and it will be integrated into any item that can be worn, stored or transported for the purposes of being tracked. Technology is so far changing how individuals in the society are thinking and experiencing. So far, people are experiencing technology that is personally being worn through incorporating fashion with functionality. With the connection of the world into a single and a small globe, a lot of information is being shared and passed from one place to the other. This makes it easy for cybercrime and stealing of information to take place so easily. The major risks that come with the development of technology accompanying the virtual and digital world that is being faced by majority of institutions is the information assets thefts and the disruption of online information that is intentional. Nearly a huge number of companies across the business sectors are describing the risks that are being posed by cybercrime attacks. These effects are going to have great implications in several huge companies when their information is likely to leak outside their company due to cyber-attacks. Cyber-attacks are becoming a great concern and an issue of great significance that is likely to have a major strategic implication to the company’s growth as internal secrets that are not to be leaked outside. Many institutions of higher learning are preparing themselves to train students on how they should be ready to embrace such changes that are expected to storm the business world. My university is spending a lot if resources to boost research in technological issues as well as incorporating aspects of technology to other courses to make the students be aware of the major changes that are expected to be introduced in terms of technology in the coming years. It is a great idea since the students get exposed and get to know the technological development that are taking place in the world of business o that they can be ready to face the market and not see it for the first time in case they meet the technology in the place of work. The idea of learning on how the new technologies will be influencing and how to adapt by them occurs either formally or through informal means. Formally, the institution fixes the information as part of the regular learning, and this must be learned by every student to create an expertise. Informally it can be learned through news agencies including social Medias. Toda, informal means are the main source of information that students get updated on issues that deals with technology and technological development and how it is going to affect every working environment in the business world. Is digital literacy a fundamental part of modern Higher Education? Despite a growing tendency in the public for the term literacy, in the context of everyday life the term is taken to stand for an individual ability to read and write print contexts. Adults are considered nonfunctional if they are not literate in this sense and thus cannot function as an autonomous social being. Literacy education has for long been concerned with the act of developing skills of individuals in reading and writing that helps in participation of activities that are social this is considered to be part of general individual cognition and development of culture (Lankshear & Knobel 2008, pp. 6). Literacy has been linked with the development of new technology in education system that has been marked by shifts in terminologies. Recently, the literature and education has all converged to digital literacy. Today’s population is normally referred as the digital natives because they are wholly engaged in things that are digital. The population needs interaction and digital culture to feel accepted in the society. In order for the young children to be literate in the media rich environment of modern times, they need to develop values, knowledge and critical; thinking as well as communication and information skills that relates with the digital age. As several things are shifting to the digital world the idea of incorporating the digital literacy as part of the higher education programs will be of significance value in educating the population of the trend that are taking place in the current world (Aviram & Eshet-Alkalai 2006, pp.1–11). Incorporation of literacy in digital things will help the students of higher education have and develop a more expansive and interesting concept of learning. The world is changing about technology at a faster rate. If the institutions of higher learning are not willing to incorporate digital learning into their system then they are going to be left out of the competition. They produce graduates that cannot cope with the pressures of the technological changes. Therefore, the institutions of higher learning must take the idea of digital learning into consideration and adopt it into their system. References Acemoglu, D. & Robinson, J. a, 2006. Economic Backwardness in Political Perspective. American Political Science Review, 100, pp.115–131. Aviram, A. & Eshet-Alkalai, Y., 2006. Towards a Theory of Digital Literacy : Three Scenarios for the Next Steps. Europen Journal of Open, Distance and E-learning, 1, pp.1–11. Brand, J.E. & Xie, Y., 2010. Who Benefits Most from College?: Evidence for Negative Selection in Heterogeneous Economic Returns to Higher Education. American Sociological Review, 75, pp.273–302. Daniere, A., 1972. The Economics of Higher Education. The ANNALS of the American Academy of Political and Social Science, 404, pp.58–70. Jong-A-Pin, R., 2009. On the measurement of political instability and its impact on economic growth. 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