The Hindu : `Globalisation causing inequalities'

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Friday, Apr 25, 2003

Southern States

Southern States - Karnataka-Bangalore

`Globalisation causing inequalities'

By Our Special Correspondent

BANGALORE April 24. The Union Minister of State for Human Resource Development, Vallabhbhai R. Kathiria, has said that globalisation of education is leading to inequalities in the field.

He was speaking at a seminar on "Internationalisation of Indian higher education — Quality dimensions" here.

Mr. Kathiria said the number of foreign students studying in the country had declined in the last five years from 11,888 to 6,988. On the contrary, the number of foreign students in Australia had doubled. In the U.S., it had increased from 4.15 lakh to 5.14 lakh, and in the U.K. to 2.2 lakh. More than 54 per cent of the foreign students in the U.S. were from Asia, including 42,000 were from India. On the other hand, there were only 707 American students in India, he added.

Dr. Kathiria said that there was scope for increasing the enrolment of foreign students in the country. Drastic changes were needed in the approach to higher education. He added that the quality of higher education varied greatly in India.

The Vice-Chancellor of Bangalore University, M.S. Thimmappa, who welcomed the gathering, noted that the General Agreement on Trades and Services had given access to foreign universities and institutions to students in the country. There was apprehension that internationalisation and foreign MNCs would aggravate the problem of inequality in education, he said.

`East selling ideas'

Dr. Thimmappa said the East had been selling ideas to the West for long. A good number of Indian spiritual leaders were imparting education in the West, and experts, particularly in fields such as psychology, were much sought after, he added.

The Director of the National Assessment and Accreditation Council, V.N. Rajasekharan Pillai, spoke of the problem of ensuring quality. He said there were 5,000 colleges which were not under the purview of the University Grants Commission. There were 12,000 colleges and 300 universities in the country, he added.

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