Unit X: Emerging trends in education

Unit X: Emerging trends in education

Impact of globalization, liberalization and privatization on education - Life-long learning and on-line education.

Introduction

The higher education system in India has undergone massive expansion in the post-independence period, to fulfill the aim of giving quality education to masses . There was a national resolve to establish several universities, technical institutes, research institutions and professional and non-professional colleges across the country to disseminate knowledge that can reach the common man

What is LPG?

The economy of India had undergone significant policy shifts in the beginning of the 1990s. This

new model of economic reforms is commonly known as the LPG or Liberalisation, Privatisation and Globalisation model

Liberalization

Liberalization refers to relaxation of government restrictions in areas of economic policies. Thus, when government liberalizes trade.

 Though India is Economically Liberal, the Education System is not Liberal. The higher education system in India suffers from lack of autonomy and burden of affiliation. It is characterized by extreme rigidity and lack of flexibility. Our policy in terms of education is focused more on only expanding the system with no focus on for quality education.

Impact of Liberalization on Education

Positive Impact

·                     The Indian economy which is majorly fuelled by the service industry will get a boost with education sector becoming a large chunk of economic source.

·                     Hundreds of thousands of Indian students study abroad at an annual estimated cost of around US$ 1 billion and it can even stem the migration of thousands of students who left the country to study abroad. This will save India immense capital.

·                     Allowing corporate would ensure the development of better industry oriented graduates with specific skill sets.

·                     Increased in educated population implies rapid developments in technology and communications. It also implies the shift of society from industrialization based towards information based society.

·                     Liberalization offers students an option of studying close to home with the added benefits of a degree which will be valid worldwide. It also curbs brain drain which is also a nation's loss.

Negative Impact

·         Students and local institutions in developing countries are unregulated.

·         Uninformed or simply dubious institutions in developing countries may form partnerships with low-quality colleges and universities in India.

·         There is also the risk of fake institutes which are looking to stuff their pockets whenever the opportunity arises.

·         There may be unforeseen outcomes which come to light only after the outcome occurs.

·         Local institutes which have limited capital will not be able to survive, rendering many jobless.

·         Even the reputed institutions will face competition as their national certificates will be less valued as compared to the world recognised certificates.

Privatization

It refers to the transfer of assets or service functions from public to private ownership and lesser control of the government. It refers to expansion of private sector and reduction of public sector.

Privatization on Education

Privatization is management by private sector with total absence of government intervention. Such institutions generate their own funds through higher fees, user charges and full use of resources. Privatization of higher education has emerged in several forms and types in the recent decade in India.

1.      Self-financing courses within government institutions

2.      Private self financing institution

3.      Allowing expansion of self financing private institution that is commercial private higher education institutions.

Components of Privatization on Education

The major components of privatization of education include the following:

·            Establishment, in the private sector of institutions imparting education and skills viz., schools, colleges, polytechnics, research laboratories, professional colleges in agriculture, engineering, medicine, management etc.

·            Withdrawal of subsidies by introducing full costing in the individual and the institutional domain.

·            To grant the right to the management to start or stop courses in response to market signals and to persuade the users of the output of educational institutions to contribute towards the funding of education.

Impact of Privatization on Education System

Education is no longer viewed as a social service, it is considered a necessary economic input and as such investment in education is treated as a factor contributory to human resources development. In this effort towards human resource development, the private sector is also expected to play its part since it is a major beneficiary of the knowledge industry.

Positive impact

Privatization will enhance:

·               Decentralization of education institutions

·               Initiatives in educational reforms

·               Innovativeness in teaching and evaluation

·               Tailor made services and provision of wide choice of courses and subjects to students

·               Competition

·               Quality education and training

·               Shaping of the curriculum according to global, national and local needs

·               Availability and better maintenance of recourses transparency in all procedures

·               Fulfill the need of the country in liberation, privatization and globalization

·               Utility of human and physical resources in proper way

Negative impact

·   Will badly affect the poor

·   Undermine equity, diversity and openness

·   Does not address issues of equality, fairness and responsibility

·   Exorbitant fees will deprive many of availing education

·   Accountability problem will arise

·   Courses in humanities and social sciences will be sidelined due to no economic gain

·   Civic and democratic values may not get passes down

·   Apprehensions about job security and retrenchment of staff

·   Cost saving will lead cost cutting

·   Collected funds may be misused by the owners

·   Favoritism towards family members and friends

Privatization is essentially deregulation meaning thereby lesser control of the government. Private institutions generate their own funds through higher fees, uses charges and full use of resources. Need for privatization arose due to government’s inability to financially support higher education and provide efficient and effective education to its young population. While there are many advantages of privatization, at the same time there are many obvious fears which put privatization at a disadvantaged position.

Globalization

The term “Globalization” means integration of world economies through cross country free flow of information, ideas, technologies, goods, services, finance and people. Globalization is a process, which has affected many areas of human life, one of those being education. This means bringing the education system of different economies under common roof which requires unification of teaching curriculum, methodology and up gradation of knowledge and systems to attain the goals of life.

The Aim and the Importance of Global Education

 The main duty of a government in the field of education is to design the educational activities that have been developed according to strategic aims and to make policies suitable for the aims. Besides education is a major area of government expenditure and is a significant potential target for human resources. The local authorities of each country can state the local goal of education. Their aims can change according to the local needs and necessities and may show differences from each other. But the global education has many goals in common for every country. The aims and importance of global education can be sated as follows:

·                  Obtain skills of new cultures.

·                  Develop the ability of distinguishing intercultural differences.

·                  Aiding the people for criticizing events from global perspective.

·                  Explain how different cultures impact the activities of organizations.

·                  Help students realize how attitudes are shaped and how they influence the behaviours.

·                  Develop the language and harmony skills of the managers who will work in different cultures.

·                  Provide the ability of working together with the people coming from different cultures.

·                  Develop the skill of multi-sided thinking by causing them gain the cultural sensitivity and experience.

·                  Teach how to behave according to cultural differences.

·                  Teach how to manage multinational groups.

·                  Develop the way of thinking from individuality to globalize.

Features of Globalization

·               Encouragement of markets rather than government central planning

·               Increasing migration of peoples within and across national boundaries in search of work

·               The growth of media by satellite that ensures programs to be beamed across the globe regardless of national boundaries

·               Growth of national and international Non-Governmental Organization (NGOs)

Impact of Globalization on Education

Through Globalization of education, knowledge is getting transferred from the Western countries into developing countries, to improve the skills and capabilities of the people. The direct inter relation between the industries, corporate world and higher education has brought a transformation in the skills required for various jobs. The process of globalization has brought significant transformation in the world trade, communications, educational activities and economic relations since the latter part of 20th century.

 Education is an important investment in building human capital that is a driving force for technological innovation and economic growth. It is only through improving the educational status of a society that the mufti-faceted development of its people can be ensured.

In the post-industrialized world, the advanced nations have derived major proportion of their national income not from agriculture or industry but from the service sector. Since the service sector is based on imparting skills or training to the students and youth, the education sector is the most sought after. It must provide gainful employment so that the sector is developed in a big way. It has also given rise to controversies relating to introducing changes in the inter-sectorial priorities in the allocation of resources leading to the misconceived policy of downsizing of higher education. It has also advocated privatization of higher education without realizing the danger of making the system a commercial enterprise.

Positive impact

Globalization is creating opportunities for sharing knowledge, technology, social values, and behavioral norms and promoting developments at different levels including individuals, organizations, communities, and societies across different countries and cultures. In particular, the advantages of globalization may include the following:

·         Global sharing of knowledge, skills, and intellectual assets that are necessary to multiple developments at different levels

·         Mutual  support,  supplement  and  benefit  to  produce  synergy  for  various  developments  of  countries, communities, and individuals

·         Creating values and enhancing efficiency through the above global sharing and mutual support to serving local needs and growth

·         Promoting international understanding, collaboration, harmony, and acceptance to cultural diversity across countries and regions

·         Facilitating  communications,  interactions, and  encouraging  multi-cultural  contributions  at  different  levels among countries

Negative impact

Globalization creating serious negative impacts for developing and underdeveloped countries. The negative impacts include the following:

·         Increasing  the  technological  gaps  and  digital  divides  between  advanced  countries  and  less  developed countries

·         Creating  more  legitimate  opportunities  for  a  few  advanced  countries  for  a  new  form  of  colonization  of developing countries

·         Increasing inequalities and conflicts between areas and cultures

·         Promoting the dominant cultures and values of some advanced areas. 

Life Long Learning

Lifelong learning (Colloquialism) is the "ongoing, voluntary, and self-motivated” pursuit of knowledge for either personal or professional reasons. Therefore, it not only enhances social inclusion, active citizenship, and personal development, but also self-sustainability, as well as competitiveness and employability.

Lifelong learning is based on the following four fundamental principles: 

·         Learning to know, by combining a sufficiently broad general knowledge with the opportunity to work in depth on a small number of subjects. This also means learning to learn, so as to benefit from the opportunities education provides throughout life.

·         Learning to do, in order to acquire not only an occupational skill but also, more broadly, the competence to deal with a large number of situations and work in teams. It also means learning to do in the context of young people’s  various  social  and  work  experiences  which  may  be  informal,  as  a  result  of  the  local  or  national context, or formal, involving courses alternating study and work.

·         Learning  to  live  together,  by  developing  an  understanding  of  other  people  and  an  appreciation  of interdependence, - carrying out joint projects and learning to manage conflicts – in a spirit of respect for the values of pluralism, mutual understanding and peace.

·         Learning  to  be,  so  as  to  develop  better  one’s  personality  and  be  able  to  act  with  increasingly  greater autonomy, judgment, and personal responsibility. To that end, education must not disregard any aspect of a person’s potential: memory, reasoning, aesthetic sense, physical capacities, and communication skills. 

Need and Importance of Lifelong Learning

Homeschooling involves learning to learn or the development of informal learning patterns

·         Waldorf education which teaches children to love learning for its own sake

·         Adult education or the acquisition of formal qualifications or work and leisure skills later in life

·         Continuing education which often describes extension or not-for-credit courses offered by higher education institutions

·         Knowledge work which includes professional development and on-the-job training

·         Personal learning environments or self-directed learning using a range of sources and tools including online application.

Online Education

      Online education refers to an education system which involves electronic media and Information and communication Technologies. In simple, it is the technique of learning, getting training and conducting research through Electronic Medias.

      Online education is defined as the creation and proliferation of the personal computer, the globalization of ideas and other human acts, and the use of technology in exchanging ideas and providing access to more people. Audio, video, computer and networking technologies are often combined to create a multifaceted instructional delivery system. The fundamental method to unite the distance learning instructor with the distance learner is the network.

      There are many terms for on-line education. Some of them are virtual education, internet-based education, web-based education, education via computer-mediated communication. The web-edu project uses a definition of online education that is based on Desmond Keegan’s (1988) definition. It is by:

·         The separation of teachers and learners which distinguishes it from face-to-face education

·         The influence of an educational organization which distinguishes it from self-study and private tutoring

·         The use of a computer network to present or distribute some educational content

·         The provision of two-way communication via a computer network so that students may benefit from communication with each other, teachers and staff.