Implications of Globalization on Higher Education
Nowadays, the world is shrinking into a united, integrated community. Distances are disappearing and cultures are merged. All these aspects describe what we call now as “Globalization”. Globalization affected almost every factor in our human life; political approaches, beliefs, fashion, food and art. For instance, it dramatically impacted education and specially higher education. None can deny the changes due to internationalization on the education systems. However, some people claim that it affected it negatively, while, others believe it improved and developed higher education. In this essay, we will examine the causes of the impact, as well as its advantages and disadvantages on the higher educational systems.
The societys perception about the need for education was altered over the years. For example, it was once treated as a luxurious factor exclusive for the nobles, not to use it but just to show off. Moreover, in Ancient Greece, education and science were treated as immaterial factors, they were considered as the essence of the soul. Nowadays, education became one of the skills a person has to acquire in order to have a suitable life. Education is now treated as a material aspect which is used to afford a good position or reflects a certain social image. Thus, higher education, nowadays, became a mean for investment and making profit. Nigel M. Healey states in his paper:” For many countries, higher education is now an important export sector, with university campuses attracting international students from around the world.”(2008)
One of the main reasons behind this phenomenon is the globalization of the business world. As mentioned by Healey, higher education is actually modernized and globalized in parallel with international organizations (2008). Multinational companies and international organizations are now the most prestigious rewarding places to work for. Thus, bearing in mind their firm Human Resource management procedures and their unitary approaches in management, the competition became very hard. Undergraduates are now striving for an edge that guarantees them to become members in these fancy multinationals. Another reason behind internationalization of higher education is Media and Internet. The media plays a major role in our life nowadays. It imposes new goals. It alters perceptions. In other words, it shapes the culture. Hence, when the media conveys that multinational companies are heaven; it directly impacts the youth and shape their future dreams. To sum up, all previous aspects lead to one conclusion which is the internalization of higher education. It comes without saying that every change has benefits and detriments.
First, from the students perspective, global educational systems facilitate their motilities from country to the other during their studies. Hence, they travel the world, explore other cultures and build