The educational sectors are
expected to grow in the future. Growth in primary and secondary education
internationally is also growing. A majority of emerging societies are focused
on increasing students in higher education to improve their economies. Universities will find their products in dire
need in the future.
Exportation of the British
educational system is worth about £17.5bn dollars annually. Such wealth is
contributing to their economic development and now that financing is considered
sustainable additional educational opportunities will be available. Britain
exports higher education through bringing students to the country to study and
exporting educational services.
Tuition paid by international
students is around £3.9bn in tuition fees and £6.3bn in living expenses. The
trend is expected to grow 15-20% over the next 5 years. This creates an
incentive for them to continue improving upon their educational system.
They were able to find a balance
in their visa system to help ensure that qualified applicants could make it
into their educational systems while helping to ensure potential problems and
visa abuse are reduced. The goal is to help qualified students come to the U.K.
and stay to contribute to the economy.
Some of this growth is due to the
fostering of educational technology. This includes the concept of distance
education. The government will continue to support the development of
educational technology and distance learning to help ensure that an adequate
draw of students is available.
Britain appears to understand the
concept of higher education as a potential system for not only increasing national
wealth, exporting cultural norms but also raising poverty around the world. The
American distance learning system could do the same and at a significantly
higher level. This would help bypass the needs of visas and the gridlock
revolving around immigration reform.
They have
targeted China, India, Brazil, Saudi Arabia, Colombia, Turkey, Mexico,
Indonesia and the Gulf as potential places where higher education has strong
possibilities. Online education has the potential to go right into these areas
without heavy outlays of campuses or sunk costs. Most of the students will be
paying cash or findings alternative methods of financing that helps to create a
ripe market without a heavy load on U.S. student loans.
The U.S.
has an opportunity to hedge its traditional educational system with that of
online distance learning. The demographics of the country are changing, people
are in need of updating their skills, and developing countries are yearning for
higher education. The potential advantages of online education are muted by
traditionalist perspectives. This doesn’t mean the system can’t be improved or
developed to a higher state but it does mean that many of the criticisms are counter-intuitive to the rising trends within the market. Online education has
the potential to use new technologies to reach people from nearly every corner
of the earth and thereby transform the learning process and potential strength
of the American educational philosophy.
That still
leaves the economic impact question open. Certainly online education doesn’t
have residency requirements. However, it can act as a primer to encouraging
students to immigrate to the U.S., conduct business with U.S. companies, or
accept some of America’s most precious values of equality. Most importantly it
provides international innovation opportunities and more willing participants
in creating stronger global business opportunities.
You may find lots of interesting
information in the report…HERE
