CHAPTER - III

OVERVIEW OF STUDY

Firstly, 'globalisation' is a multi-faceted set of processes which include not only the changes
which have flowed from the new information technologies and opening up of markets, but also
new concepts which mean that 'shrinking space, shrinking time and disappearing borders are
linking people's lives more deeply, more intensely and more immediately than ever before'.
The dissemination of knowledge on a global scale has the potential to transform peoples lives in
significant ways. Today, technology provides this powerful capability and facilitates access to
information that is no longer constrained by physical boundaries. Progressive universities and
their savvy 21st-century consumers are reaping the benefits of globalization, which is the most
important and game-changing trend in higher education today. The globalization of postsecondary education has the potential to reshape our world.
The brain race is defined by the unprecedented movement of students around the world, and the
growing movement of faculty around the world, and the creation of efforts by countries like
South Korea and Saudi Arabia to create world-class universities that really can compete with the
best that is out there. One can define it in a number of ways: from receiving students from
overseas to sending students overseas, engaging in international research and the doubling of
cross-border scientific collaboration in the last 20 years.
And how do you measure it? Well the most prominent way of measuring it is through global
college rankings
Just like financial markets, educational markets need information in order to function effectively.
So the bottom line is that as this marketplace is developing, these rankings are being to help
students, to help universities themselves, to help policymakers and governments to gauge exactly
how effective these universities are. The rankings, of course, have many imperfections; they are
a work in progress.

There are many universities that are simply trying to get involved in exchanges. They are
bringing in students from other parts of the world, sometimes for long-term degree programs;
they are sending their students overseas. There is a real awareness that it is helpful to be exposed
to students with different cultures.
Just as there is a wide variety of universities, there is a wide variety of students. Some students
are never going to travel overseas. But travel is cheaper than ever before. Communications are
easier than ever before. Universities are more interested in enrolling the best student they can
find than ever before.
Sometimes they are interested in revenue from these students. Great Britain and Australia have a
lot of overseas students who pay full freight; they pay a lot of tuition, so they are attractive
financiallybut their brainpower is [also] attractive to other countries. Students have a lot of
opportunities because of the global marketplace.
Indiawhich has many problems in its higher education systemat least has set very ambitious
goals in expanding the number of seats. It has a population that is hungry for knowledge.
Knowledge is not a finite resource that everybody has to fight over to get their piece of the pie.
Its something that can grow. Economists often say that knowledge is a public good. When there
is a research discovery in one country, you cant keep it within national borders.
Its entirely possible that new universities in other countries will create knowledge that gets taken
advantage of by American innovators and entrepreneurs, that they will create great new products
from that knowledge. We should embrace those forces of globalization in education just as the
forces of globalization in the rest of the economy are very healthy.
We already have major research collaborations that are growing. We have all kinds of
[university] partnerships across borders. There are whole new ways to organize universities. The
private sector are for-profits. Those schools continue to grow. The online sector is very big; its
natural for cross-border studies.

Globalisation of higher education in 21st century is emerging differently. There can be no doubt
that the destinies of individuals, cultures and nations are being increasingly shaped by the
decisions and actions of global players, globalisation is neither new nor is its path pre-ordained.
Educational programmes cannot operate without educational materials and equipment (or
'goods') and in the absence of quality educational 'services'. Increasingly educational goods and
services are being privatized. For other OECD countries, the export of textbooks and services is
also big business; in 1997, the UK exported over $US114 million worth of textbooks.
Participation in the rapidly changing knowledge society of the twenty-first century demands new
knowledge and skills and learning throughout life, and higher qualifications than ever before. As
a result, the demand for higher education is growing constantly, higher education systems are
under great strain to cope with dramatic increases in numbers without a commensurate increase
in public funding. In many countries, expansion, both public and private, has been 'unbridled,
unplanned and often chaotic'. The results - deterioration in average quality, continuing interregional, inter-country and intra-country inequalities, and increased for-profit provision of higher
education - could have serious consequences' for developing countries and disadvantaged groups
and the very concept of the 'university'.
The World Conference on Higher Education sought to 'set the direction needed to prepare higher
education for the tasks that await it in the twenty-first century, and to help mankind and the
community of nations to strive out towards a better future, towards a world more just, more
humane, more caring and more peaceful' by establishing a few key principles and priorities for
action. The Conference showed the need to strengthen the traditional research and specialized
teaching functions of the university, while at the same time to insist on its intercultural and
international mission of higher education in the twenty-first century.
Globalisation processes have led to an unprecedented demand for access to higher education
while at the same time most governments are unwilling or unable to provide the necessary
support to public institutions. Thus the dramatic growth in private and open higher education, the
financial and identity crisis facing universities worldwide, and the intense and increasing
competition for overseas students has become the major drawback in todays world.