Is edcuation a service industry Discuss and critically evauate the Essay

Is edcuation a service industry Discuss and critically evauate the role of the WTO in education - Essay Example Higher education is increasingly seen as a commercial product to be bought and sold like any other commodity. Higher education commercialization has now reached the global marketplace. According to the American Heritage dictionary, the term "EDUCATION" is defined as the knowledge or skill obtained or developed by a learning process (Answers.com). The World Trade Organization (WTO) is considering a series of proposals to include higher education as one of its concerns, ensuring that the import and export of higher education be subject to the complex rules and legal arrangements of the WTO protocols and free of most restrictions. The demand for higher education, on the one side, is growing, while on the other side, trans-border education is increasing. The capacity of the public sector has not kept up with this demand. This coupled with the recent developments of ICTs and the ensuing growth in online learning has resulted in the creation of this very lucrative market. Though higher education has a higher calling, it will not be able to compete successfully for necessary resources unless its rules comply with those established by the World Trade Organization (UNESCO) . ... Let us take a quick look at the history and evolution of education to understand it from various perspectives. Going back to the world's ancient civilizations of Egypt, China, Mesopotamia and Indo-Harappan civilizations, it's amply clear that the knowledgeable and the wise ones of the society were looked up to "educate" others. Coming a little closer to out times, I'm sure we can talk of various philosophers like Socrates, Plato, Seneca, Archimedes etc, who are even today acknowledged as some of the world's greatest thinkers and to make a point were in demand to "educate." At that point there was, strictly speaking, no concept of standardization. Education, especially the primary education has spin offs and major economic, social and financial implications on the society. Some of the economists have gone to the extent of linking primary education with the growth of a country's Gross Domestic Product (GDP) (Economics of Higher Education, 2003). Furthermore, education plays a very critical role in not only shaping an individual's capabilities and competence but also has spin - offs on nations. On inspection of history, one can also fairly conclude that economic growth has happened around the seats of education. Also there was great social differentiation between the educated and the not educated (UNESCO). Massing of wealth by the educated and the depreciation of values, later on, has lead to many social revolts, which is a different story and line of pursuit. By the end of the 19th century, all nations globally had recognized and set up some systems of education essentially aiming at long term growth prospects for themselves ( UNESCO). The burgeoning needs for education driven by governmental support, spurn the parental