Scenario 4 : Higher Education Inc. (Μια περίπτωση λογοκρισίας).

Η εύκολη λύση: Τα "4 σενάρια" στην... πυρά!!!

Κι όμως οι δημοσιογράφοι των εφημερίδων που έσπευσαν να πλειοδοτήσουν για την... "πυρά" αποποιήθηκαν πλήρως της βασικής τους ευθύνης δηλαδή να θέσουν σε δημόσια θέα -στις σελίδες των εφημερίδων- τις βασικές τουλάχιστον ιδέες των στελεχών του ΟΟΣΑ για το πώς διαμορφώνεται το μέλλον της μεταλυκειακής τριτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης στην εποχή της παγκοσμιοποίησης.

Κι όλα αυτά συνέβησαν παρά το γεγονός ότι τα στελέχη του ΟΟΣΑ φρόντισαν με επάρκεια στην εισαγωγική τους τοποθέτηση στο επίμαχο κείμενο εργασίας να ξεκαθαρίσουν πως τα "4 σενάρια" δεν αποτελούν τίποτα περισσότερο απο "εργαλεία για σκέψη αναφορικά με το μέλλον" της τριτοβάθμιας εκπαίδευσης (ακολουθεί το πλήρες κείμενο του πιό επίμαχου απο τα "4" επίμαχα σενάρια).

[Scenario 4
Higher Education Inc.

In the scenario, higher education institutions compete globally to provide education services and research services on a commercial basis.
Research and teaching are increasingly disconnected, as they have always been in the
General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS). Higher education institutions concentrateon what they consider to be their core business – either teaching or research. Research universities thus hardly teach (if they teach at all), whereas most vocational and general institutions concentrate almost exclusively on teaching.

Most segments of the market are now demand-driven, with business-like methods
(responsiveness to customer needs, attention to effective management and administration of the institution, etc.), while the most prestigious institutions continue to be more supply-driven and managed through peer assessment. Governments still encourage and subsidise researchand teaching in areas where there is little commercial interest, such as archeology and Sanskrit. But following the principles of free trade, these subsidies should not distort trade in commercial research and education.Vocational education has a significant share of the global
market for education.

There is fierce competition for students. Many universities are opening new institutions or branch campuses abroad, franchising educational programmes, etc. Individual institutions and even whole higher education systems specialise according to their competitive advantage. An international division of labour is emerging, with some countries earning reputations for highquality undergraduate education, while others are competitive in training postgraduate students and conducting research.

Formerly “emerging countries” are developing competitive advantages in selected/specific research fields (for example, technology in India, agronomics in China, etc.) and outsourcing research has become common practice. India and Singapore are large exporters of education services in the developing world.

In the research segment of the market, there is fierce international competition for super-star academic researchers. Basic research projects are still funded by governments, but following a tender to which all research centres in the world can – and increasingly do – apply. The research sector is rapidly becoming concentrated. International rankings play an important role in informing students of the comparative quality of different educational offerings.

Finally, English has become the language of research and postgraduate studies, while local languages are still used in vocational and undergraduate teaching. Most cross-border higher education institutions and programmes operate almost exclusively with local staff of the receiving country.

Key drivers of change.

The “Higher Education Incorporated” scenario could be driven by some form of trade
liberalisation in education. Originally pioneered by a few countries, trade in higher
education has gained ground and become more pervasive.

An increasing number of governments have decided to liberalise the higher education sector and even commit themselves through the GATS negotiations at the World Trade Organisation or bilateral free trade agreements.

An international marketplace for higher education and academic research services thus
emerges on a commercial basis. Such a change is facilitated by low transportation and
communication costs and the increasing migration of people.

It is also facilitated by the rise of private funding and provision of higher education, which has led to the growing recognition that higher education services were not very different from other types of services.

At one point, stakeholders felt that there was no longer any reason not to open these services to worldwide competition, as has happened for other formerly public services.


Related developments.

- Education services and research services are already included in the GATS
negotiations.

- Countries such as Australia, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, and the United
Kingdom have turned or are trying to turn their higher education sector into an exportindustry. Cross-border higher education now represents an economic stake: student mobility alone was estimated at around 40 billion US dollars of export revenues.

- Programme and institution mobility under commercial arrangements has grown
significantly in the past decade and full tuition fees for mobile students are put in place in an increasing number of countries.

- The competition to attract foreign students has grown over the past decade.

- Cross-border funding of research and private research activities has increased in the past decades.

Questions

- Are all systems equally equipped to compete globally in education and research?

- Will all countries be able to retain some national educational and research capacity?

- What would happen to areas of human knowledge that are not commercially viable?
- How would national cultures and languages be kept alive?


[Questions to start the discussion

-From your perspective, which scenario is the most desirable? Which is the most probable?

-What would it take to get closer to the most desirable scenario?

-What are the pros and cons of the different scenarios in terms of quality, access, equity and innovation?

-In which ways do the systems diversify in the different scenarios (e.g. public/private, research/teaching, types of students, fields, etc.)?

- What level of funding would they require and how would the cost of higher education be shared between stakeholders?

- How is the control of the system shared between all stakeholders (government, academics, students, business, etc.) in the different scenarios?

- To what incentives, interests and demands would the institutions be responsive?

Δυστυχώς αλλά στην χώρα μας εξακολουθεί να κυριαρχεί όχι μόνο η κουλτούρα της αντιπαράθεσης αλλά και η δογματική αντίληψη του μακαρίτη καπετάνιου για το τι δημοσιεύεται και το τι δεν δημοσιεύεται ακόμη και στον "αστικό τύπο".