[iDC] Getting started: Equity or utility in the future of learning?

[Stian Håklev]

>
> Education has been described as "the last field to globalize". This is not
> for lack of trying. Attempts by universities to develop a global presence
> result more frequently in failure than in success (such as Johns Hopkins
> failed move into Singapore). For-profit entities such as Apollo Group and
> Laureate Education (who recently announced Bill Clinton as an honorary
> chancellor) have had more succes, growing to multi-billion dollar
> internationally distributed university systems. In contrast, some investors
> are predicting a large scale implosion of the for-profit sector (
> http://www.businessweek.com/news/2010-05-27/eisman-of-big-short-says-sell-education-stocks-update2-.html
> )
>

There are many ways to provide cross-border education and training, and
distance education is one, where the institution never leaves its country,
and the student stays at home. There are interesting providers, for example
the Indira Gandhi National Open University in India, arguably the largest
university in the world (more than 2 million students) has study centres in
34 countries, often countries in the Middle East and Africa with large
Indian populations!

And the open university in Turkey has a large amount of students in Germany
(with a significant Turkish immigrant population). To me, these trends are
interesting, because they show a different trend than what we imagine to be
common, with Western institutions moving into developing countries.

Stian
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