The Hindu : Kerala News : ‘Foreign collaborations are a dicey affair’

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Thursday, Dec 04, 2008
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‘Foreign collaborations are a dicey affair’

‘Education should never be allowed to become a purely profit-making enterprise if it is to exist for the public good.’

Education expert Xia Liping stresses the role of the government in ensuring international-quality higher education in a chat with G. Mahadevan

s Xia Liping who is an Associate Professor in the Department of Diplomacy at China Foreign Affairs University in Beijing. It has been China’s experience that foreign collaborators in higher education will always seek to maximise profits and concentrate on courses that they prefer.

This may not always be in the interest of the country inviting such collaborators over. The government has to check such practices of foreign institutions that come into a country.

International seminar

Dr. Liping is here to participate in the three-day international education seminar that will begin at the Kariavattom campus of the University of Kerala on Thursday.

Dr. Liping, who is on her first visit to India, will present a paper on ‘Internationalisation of China’s Higher Education and Its Bearing on China’s National Development’ at the seminar. Education should never be allowed to become a purely profit-making enterprise if it is to exist for the public good, she says. People should have access to as broad an education as possible. One of the main drawbacks of internationalisation of education in China has been that joint educational ventures with foreign entities tend to focus on select areas such as business administration, accounting and public administration. This has not been to the benefit of many Chinese.

Moreover, it has also been noted that in joint educational ventures, the Chinese institutions depend too much on the foreign partner for funds, technology and management.

This has led to an undermining of the spirit of competitiveness and innovation of Chinese universities.

Internationalisation of higher education —since 1978 — has also led to a brain drain in the country, she says. The initial effects of the brain drain have now been countered by a large scale return of Chinese students who had gone abroad for higher studies. The Chinese government is encouraging such students to come back and set up enterprises in China.

Some years ago in rural China, many students used to drop out of schools and colleges owing to parental pressure.

Once China opened up to international education and the people themselves realised the advantage of providing an international-quality education to their children, people are taking to higher education in a big way.

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