Knowledge as Crucial to Advancement Anywhere Around the World - Essay Example

Introduction Learning is a crucial aspect that is necessary for the evolution of the mankind. In an acknowledged era of the knowledge society one would expect to encounter a sense of urgency in assuring the free flow of higher education across national borders. Trade in educational services is based on five sub-sectors of education as categorized by the United Nations Provisional Central Product Classification (CPC) (UNESCO). These sub-sectors are: primary education, secondary education, higher education, adult education and other. Higher education covers post secondary technical and vocational education services as well as other higher education programmes leading to a university degree or equivalent. Higher education is increasingly seen as a commercial product to be bought and sold like any other commodity. Higher education commercialization has now reached the global marketplace. According to the American Heritage dictionary, the term "EDUCATION" is defined as the knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process (Answers.com). The World Trade Organization (WTO) is considering a series of proposals to include higher education as one of its concerns, ensuring that the import and export of higher education be subject to the complex rules and legal arrangements of the WTO protocols and free of most restrictions. The demand for higher education, on the one side, is growing, while on the other side, trans-border education is increasing. The capacity of the public sector has not kept up with this demand. This coupled with the recent developments of ICTs and the ensuing growth in online learning has resulted in the creation of this very lucrative market. Though higher education has a higher calling, it will not be able to compete successfully for necessary resources unless its rules comply with those established by the World Trade Organization (UNESCO). In this paper, the evolution of education as a service industry and the role and impact of the World Trade Organization including the General Agreements of Trade in services (GATS), in education which is a service industry are critically evaluated and discussed. Services can be provided by a machine, a person, or a combination of both and can be directed at either a person or a product ((ICMR), 2004). Let us take a quick look at the history and evolution of education to understand it from various perspectives. Going back to the world's ancient civilizations of Egypt, China, Mesopotamia and Indo-Harappan civilizations, it's amply clear that the knowledgeable and the wise ones of the society were looked up to "educate" others. Coming a little closer to out times, I'm sure we can talk of various philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Seneca, Archimedes etc, who are even today acknowledged as some of the world's greatest thinkers and to make a point were in demand to "educate." At that point there was, strictly speaking, no concept of standardization. Education, especially the primary education has spin offs and major economic, social and financial implications on the society. Some of the economists have gone to the extent of linking primary education with the growth of a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Economics of Higher Education, 2003). Furthermore, education plays a very critical role in not only shaping an individual's capabilities and competence but also has spin - offs on nations. On inspection of history, one can also fairly conclude that economic growth has happened around the seats of education. Also there was great social differentiation between the educated and the not educated (UNESCO). Massing of wealth by the educated and the depreciation of values, later on, has lead to many social revolts, which is a different story and line of pursuit. By the end of the 19th century, all nations globally had recognized and set up some systems of education essentially aiming at long term growth prospects for themselves (UNESCO). The burgeoning needs for education driven by governmental support, spurn the parental desire for educating their children leading to the public education systems brimming world over. As the demand for public education rapidly increased, the established systems were not in a position to keep in pace with the growing needs. This directly or indirectly in most cases led to the deterioration in the quality of services and deliveries almost bringing the situation back to square one but not right there. Education has come to a stage where it is being viewed as a need rather than a want (Knight, 2002). This expanded demand for public education systems, couple with demand for quality education, opened up a window of opportunity for the entrepreneurially oriented. The entrepreneurs envisioned that the creation of an effective model of delivery in high quality educational services coupled with adequate infrastructure, would meet at least some of the demand. Furthermore, the church made it a mission to propagate education especially in the under developed countries as a means to end mass exploitation of people. All these created an opportunity for establishing education as a service industry (K-DOG Inc., 2007). As the years passed, various systems have matured but delivered different qualities of education. This means that, students graduating from different schools did so with dramatically different competencies and capabilities. This led to tighter governmental controls and establishment of a system of local accreditation bodies (Services, 2005). This brought in certain amount of parity in deliveries locally. But, again at a national level, when different accreditation authorities exist, parity in quality, capability building and competence of the end product is still a challenge globally. What an undergraduate would know in the sophomore year in country A would be astonishingly different when compared to knowledge, capability and competence of a similar student in country B. In certain cases, disparities are known to exist between students being certified by different certifying bodies. So, standardization has become an important challenge for educationalists world over with certifying body trying to be one up and claiming better standards for their respective methods of approach into pedagogy. With the advent of globalization and sourcing of talent happening trans-nationally, there is an acute and imminent need for standardization of education between the various certifying and accreditation agencies. General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) is currently being negotiated under the auspices of the World Trade Organisation (WTO). The GATS is the first ever set of multilateral rules covering international trade in services. Previous international trade agreements covered trade in products, but never services. It was negotiated in the Uruguay Round and came into effect in 1995. GATS are administered by the World Trade Organisation (WTO) which is made up of 144 member countries (Czinkota, 2005). The World Trade Organization (WTO) is the only global international organisation dealing with the rules of trade between nations. GATS are designed to increase trade liberalisation internationally, and include 'education' as a service sector. Examples of perceived 'barriers' in the trade in higher education services might include visa restrictions, taxation that disadvantages foreign institutions and accreditation arrangements that privilege domestic institutions and qualifications. Some view GATS as a positive force, accelerating the influx of private and foreign providers of higher education into countries where domestic capacity is inadequate (UNESCO). Other take a more negative view, concerned that liberalisation may compromise important elements of quality assurance and permit private and foreign providers to monopolise the best students and most lucrative programmes. Many aspects of GATS are open to interpretation, and many nations have yet to fully engage in the process, at least in respect of the potential implications for education. The demand for higher education, especially professionally related courses and non-traditional delivery modes, is increasing in most countries. This is due to: the growth of the knowledge economy, movement to lifelong learning and changing demographics (Knight, 2002). While demand is growing, the capacity of the public sector to satisfy the demand is being challenged. This is due to budget limitations, the changing role of government, and increased emphasis on market economy and privatization (Economics of Higher Education, 2003). The Innovations in information and communication technologies are providing alternate and virtual ways to deliver higher education. Firstly, new types of providers such as corporate universities, for-profit institutions, media companies are emerging. This scenario is changing further by providers - public and private, new and traditional - delivering education services across national borders to meet the need in other countries (Specialists School and Academic Trust, 2007). Secondly, alternative types of cross border program delivery such as branch campuses, franchise and twinning arrangements are being developed. As a result, an exciting but rather complex, picture of higher education provision is emerging (Thorn, 2005). Trade in education is organized into five categories or sub-sectors of service. These categories are based on the United Nations Provisional Central Product Classification (CPC) 8 and are described in Table I. The three categories that are most relevant to this essay are 'higher', 'adult' and 'other' (UNESCO). The four modes of service described below apply to each of the categories. Table I Classification system for education services: Category of education service Category of education service Notes Primary Education (CPC 921) -pre-school and other primary education services -does not cover child-care services Secondary Education (CPC 922) -general higher secondary -technical and vocational secondary -also covers technical and vocational services for the disabled Higher Education (CPC 923) -post secondary technical and vocational education services -other higher education services leading to university degree or equivalent -types of education (i.e., business, liberal arts, science) are not specified -assumes that all post secondary training and education programs are covered Adult Education (CPC 924) -covers education for adults outside the regular education system Other Education (CPC 929) -covers all other education services not elsewhere classified -excludes education services related to recreation matters Source: http://www.obhe.ac.uk/products/reports/publicaccesspdf/March2002.pdf When GATS is fully implemented in letter and spirit across all the 144 member nations it will lead to: Student Mobility - Student mobility has at its core the focus on experiential learning and the ability to be immersed in a new environment. Compared to many other ways of becoming knowledgeable about an issue, few other approaches convey the same proximity and capacity to feel, touch, see and hear the subject matter. Particularly where culture and values are key components of the experience, the student mobility approach to internationalization is unique. However, for many, constraints of time and money have been and will continue to represent harsh obstacles to such mobility (UNESCO). Academic Mobility - This is something similar as the above discussed student mobility. The only variation is that instead of students, faculty members, researchers and program administrators are involved here. Highly sensitive sectors of the society are appealed through academic mobility. The range of activities can begin with a simple speech by an academic, but also continue with a lengthy course or program development which can last for years. Smaller countries may benefit the most from an open market approach (Knight, 2002). Program Mobility - Correspondence teaching is one interesting and helpful method through which higher education has reached to various parts of the globe for all these decades. . Such traditional program mobility by mail has been substantially enhanced by new capabilities which have made the future opportunities in distance learning particularly large. Graduate and undergraduate degrees are offered to students in more than 130 countries. As the firm grows, its instructional costs and services and its general and administrative expenses increase, yet both categories declined as a percentage of tuition to 42.5 % and 4.9% respectively in 2004. Institution Mobility - Institutions of higher education also have an international mobility of their own. There are several reasons why institution mobility is important and should increase. First, the institutional presence offers contextual learning to the student. The close connection between technology, experience and sensitivity to events is what sets the excellent pilot apart - yet those traits are mostly acquired by personal interaction (Knight, 2002). Conclusion Knowledge is crucial to advancement anywhere around the world. In spite of much support and good will, higher education remains a high privilege or entirely elusive for large portions of the global population. This fact is clear from the point that has been stated in the initial part of this essay that out of approximately 144 countries only four countries have chosen to promote commitments under the GATS for education. The key constraint to progress is not the availability of knowledge but its distribution, absorption and application. After all, higher education addresses the highest strata of thinking, fosters dramatic debates, and has the potential to affect social power. 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