Investor’s Perspective on ADB Financing RMIT Vietnam
ADB Annual General Meeting Seminar on Private Sector Development Strategy
H:\Work\Voyager\David Wilmoth\Website\publications\WilmothADB2001.doc
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10 April 2006
The global education market is huge
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. International education, by which students, educationprograms or education providers cross national boundaries, is a fast-growing component of the sector, particularly higher education and particularly in Asia
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. The number of studentstravelling for education outside their own country is growing fast and the largest share of thatgrowth is in East Asia. This movement has a transforming effect on destination countriesand institutions, not only in host universities (e.g. RMIT has 7500 international students inMelbourne, or 22 percent of the student body there), but in local economies and cultures(e.g. international students make up a substantial portion of the population of the City of Melbourne). It enriches international understanding and cultural tolerance.But sending students and trainees overseas satisfies only a small portion of demand in theemerging economies, and typically for the wealthy and well-connected. Moreover it is oftenlinked with migration and non-returns are seen as contributing to the brain drain and loss of foreign exchange. In Asia this outflow is rarely reciprocated by return movements of students from developed countries to create a balanced flow. Non-tariff barriers to tradesuch as government monopolies, recognition of academic awards, curriculum controls, visaquotas etc limit the scale of such movements, as highlighted by the education reference tothe current WTO services round
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Just as in any other industry, trade in education and training through study abroad leads toinvestment in the origin countries. First, universities establish twinning partnerships with
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See eg James Tooley: The Global Education Industry: Lessons from Private Education in Developing Countries,Institute of Economic Affairs Education and Training Unit and International Finance Corporation, London, 1999.Also UNESCO, IDP report, GATE data, IMHE.
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e.g. David Ashton, Francis Green, Donna James and Johnny Sung:
Education and Training for Development inEast Asia
, Routledge, London, 1999.
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See Marjorie Griffith Cohen: ‘The General Agreement on Trade in Services: implications for public post-secondary education in Australia’ Australian Universities Review, 2, 1999 – 1, 2000: 9-15.
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