This is the conclusion to last week’s “The Evolution of Higher Education In Some Parts Of The World”, in which Dzib-Goodin introduced her project to find out what the international state of higher education is. She took to Facebook and LinkedIn to determine the state of higher education from country to country and asked people what the positive and negative points of their respective national industries were. In this week’s conclusion, Dzib-Goodin reveals some problems she discovered and perspectives gained.
Common problems
Shared views find common problems, from teachers or students, even found repeatedly in various articles that even talk about the North American education: lack of commitment by some teachers, apathy by the students, particularly notes a lack of development in reading skills, writing and to a lesser understanding of arithmetic, and in the case of Latin America, the complaint focuses on a lack of government commitment.
A common denominator: the existence of three types of universities: those with intensive research, what some call original centers; newer universities with a vision a little more modern scientific or artistic disciplines and currently are the new universities, planned by way of polytechnics have a wide variety of vocational.
Universities or online courses which of course, have their own dynamics, emerge more forcefully.
Another central issue is the certification of the skills acquired and of course there is an extensive work in the search for international certifications due to increasing student mobility at international level and the increase of studies online, which while they are a response to the educational need, also open discussions on its quality.
A worrying issue is the so-called brain drain, which costs the country that the forms and whose skills are developed in the countries that can offer better opportunities. Such is the case of Argentina, Brazil, Mexico, and the India. Many of the graduates and postgraduates find open a door in the United States, and some other countries, developing technology and science that eventually exported to other countries.
Lastly, noted the problem of school retention, dilemma while it has a social background, is also part of the education. The problem focuses in some populations than in others, for example, in the United States is more serious among the African Americans and Latinos, while in Latin America it becomes more among women.
Perspectives
It seems to me that sometimes looking at education as something without movement, which once established must be perfect and without movement. However, it is a reflection of a changing and dynamic society whose needs change under economic, cultural, and technological models, and therefore, it cannot be a finished model. It should flow in constant search of performances as well as science.
So if it seems a need, a revision of education at all levels, since the concept originated for thousands of years, has just been changed from specific problems, which may be weakening it in the light of social changes. While the question is “What to teach?”, there are voices that say he has to teach adaptation to social systems and another which is science and its beliefs.
And of course this can be a good moment for reflection if higher education should continue creating productive and creative employees or if the goal is solving social problems from their own paradigms.
Finally, various groups are working with the role of policy in education, which leads to a need that politicians understand the education of every country and sees it as a future investment and not a waste of money.
Acknowledgements:
Thank you to all participants for their comments made around this subject in the groups: Higher Education Teaching and Learning, Learning without Frontiers, Calidad Educativa and Haciendo preguntas, buscando respuestas.
References:
Kim, p. (2010) Is Higher Education Evolving?. Educause quarterly 33 (1) available online: http://www.educause.edu/EDUCAUSE+Quarterly/EDUCAUSEQuarterlyMagazineVolum/IsHigherEducationEvolving/199366.
Lewin, T. (2011) The Evolution of Higher Education. The New York Times. Available online: http://www.nytimes.com/2011/11/06/education/edlife/the-evolution-of-higher-education.html?_r=1
Long, S. (2012) Degrees are earned, not sold. The evolllution. Available online: https://evolllution.com/curriculum_planning/degrees-are-earned-not-sold/
Scholastic and The Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation (2011) Primary sources 2011: first look for education nation. Available online: http://www.scholastic.com/primarysources/pdfs/Gates_FullDraftR11TOVIEW.pdf
Tsiligiris, V. (2012) The impact of the economic crisis on higher education. University World News. Available online: http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20120314055536933 .
Universia Noticias (2012) Brasil y México tienen el 90% de los doctores graduados en América Latina. Available on line: http://noticias.universia.net.mx/vida-universitaria/noticia/2012/02/22/913127/brasil-mexico-tienen-90-doctores-graduados-america-latina.html
You Might Also Like
