The world in the 21st Century is commonly referred to as a global village. Transnational communication through advanced digital and high-speed data networks has transformed the way that citizens live, study, work and do business in the modern world. The Internet through the information superhighway has caused a radical shift in the virtualization of many existing aspects of humanity.
Education, more precisely Higher Education has been seen as the main driver for development in the developed countries and as the key for ensuring the future of developing countries. However, the other side of the coin is in fact also a bit disconcerting for many. Education has become a business, and a lucrative one. Education is indeed a business, which so far, has been flourishing for mostly developed countries, as they were the role models for guaranteeing the success at an individual and global level, thus forging a huge market in the developing or under-developed countries. Many young citizens of those countries, either want to explore greener pastures outside their country and those who cannot afford to leave their home nation, will prefer to spend their money on foreign institutions being locally represented under the impression, and very often illusion that they are receiving quality education.
Quality education is a term that was often associated to high-ranking universities and/or to universities located in the developed world such as the UK, Germany, France, Australia and the US. Europe and the US used to be the dominant territories for quality education and over the past decades countries in Asia like Singapore, India (a few institutions) and China have joined in the competition. Quality education is also intrinsically linked with culture and civilization. The Western civilization is seen as liberal, democratic and advanced. Therefore the global perception and the socio-political propaganda will be geared towards giving their education system a sense of superiority over others. They become the ideals of those living in a more traditional civilization. A clear example is the Middle-East countries like the United Arab Emirates, Bahrain and other oil-rich Gulf countries where western qualifications are highly valued for high responsibility posts in major sectors of the economy.
With the advances of the Internet and the globalization phenomenon, the concepts of internationalization of education and trans-border education have taken a different dimension. Instead on only attracting foreign students on local territories, or setting up physical branch campuses in foreign land, many higher education institutions are now providing distance education courses through the open and online mode of delivery. While trans-border higher education is often projected to be a means of opening access to higher education, private and for-profit organizations are the promoters of such initiatives with the exception of a few such as the VUSSC project of the Commonwealth of Learning. However, while opening access is key to the idea, initiatives like the VUSSC have struggled to provide a reliable framework for the recognition and accreditation of such models. The emerging concept of MOOCs (Massive Open Online Courses) as well as virtual movements like the University of the Indian Ocean or the OER University still have to make a bold statement. Most reports on trans-border higher education are conducted mainly by organizations with the roots in Europe such as OECD, and a significant emphasis is often laid against the provision of low quality education and this often creates the perception that trans-border education where the sending countries are developing ones, more caution should be exercised.
However, it is not news that most of the so-called diploma and degree mills as well as accreditation mills exist in the US and Europe regions. Reports suggest that in the UK the prevalence of the so-called mills is very high. A diploma mill is basically a fake university that sells diplomas and degrees and other qualifications either by fooling its customers into thinking they are legitimate or by doing so with the full consent of the customer. Accreditation mills therefore are created to accredit those institutions thereby creating a perception that they are legitimate. Many people confuse diploma mills with fully legitimate institutions operating mainly in the education domain with the aim of focusing mainly on their profit rather than on the quality of education that is dispensed. They associate the term ‘mill’ with the factory concept where graduates are just being produced for the sake of producing them. This is an erroneous definition and interpretation of the term diploma or degree mill.
Modern connectivity provided by telecommunications networks and web platforms has opened up the competition globally and the key players in US and Europe have now to face competition from smaller but recognized higher education institutions from many countries of the World. Open Universities are growing everywhere and traditional, small, less reputed private universities are exploring the avenues, grabbing a significant market share by providing recognized and affordable ‘products’ and ‘services’ to a growing demand from the middle-class ‘consumer’. The key is no longer quality education or prestige of the institution but flexibility, affordability and recognition. The reality is also obvious. In the UK for instance, many universities are autonomous but private universities, although they are regulated by Government. Similarly for instance in India, many universities are private institutions but offering good quality products and are officially recognized. The Open University of Malaysia for example is a privately owned institution while in Mauritius the Open University of Mauritius is a public institution. On the other hand, the Open University of the UK is a prestigious University which is not affordable to everyone especially international students from the third-world.
The key is that private institutions in whatever jurisdiction they are found are privately owned entities and their mission is to do business. Many of them are not-for-profit organizations but this is not really the issue as the key is that a business is a business. The business model might be different and the target is the same – it is not necessarily profitability but survival. For higher education systems, the issue might be even bigger relating directly to a country’s economy. For example, UK is one of the largest exporters of higher education, which means that this is an important sector of its economy.
In most countries, there are government authorities that are responsible for the regulation, accreditation and overall control of the higher education sector and providers. In India, the University Grants Commission (UGC) looks at the regulation of mainly private providers, and in Mauritius the equivalent entity is the Tertiary Education Commission (TEC). In South Africa, the South African Qualifications Authority (SAQA) looks at higher education sector regulation and recognition. While the UGC, TEC and SAQA are all Government bodies that oversee the higher education sector in the respective countries, the western world such as the UK and the US have a different system where degree granting status for institutions are looked at by specific bodies, while recognition and accreditation follow a more open model. These differences often lead up to confusion on the real status of an institution especially in those countries and therefore can lead to problems being faced by students who embark on studies with these institutions. Therefore the terms autonomy, recognition, accreditation and equivalence can have different meanings in different parts of the world especially with respect to private institutions. The European region has established the so-called ENIC networks and in the UK, the body that is empowered by Government to provide expert advice on recognition and comparability of qualifications is the UK NARIC.
However the UK NARIC is managed and owned in fact by a private company called ECCTIS Ltd. Their role is different from that of the TEC in Mauritius for instance, which is the sole Government Authority in Mauritius regarding Tertiary Education provision. It is clearly mentioned that they provide expert advisory opinions, which is not necessarily binding on organizations especially UK Universities that are autonomous bodies and that make their own decisions on admissions and equivalence of qualifications of foreign students for instance. The US adopts a more liberal approach through independent Credential Evaluation services that form part of recognized bodies with the Government such as NACES. Basically the reliability of an evaluation conducted by a private entity affiliated with NACES will be positively looked upon. Again those are trusted expert opinions and are not biding on any institution with respect to recognition and equivalence.
Comparative education is also a concept that has its root from the origins of transnational and trans-border education where educational systems from different territories are examined and compared for equivalence. Comparative Education encompass however a broader spectrum of educational issues inherent in different cultures and has been established as a full fledge academic field of study. There is widespread global consensus that countries should engage into a facilitation process with respect to the recognition and equivalence of foreign qualifications in the best interest of students.
The Lisbon Recognition Convention was elaborated by the Council of Europe and UNESCO in 1997 and it stipulates that qualifications of students obtained in a particular country and formal study must be recognized unless substantial differences can be proved by the institution that is charged with recognition. This convention is in line with the Bologna process initiated in 1999 where the aim was to create a European Higher Education area. While non-member states of the Council of Europe such as the US, Australia and Canada have also adhered to the Lisbon Recognition Convention, critics from academics and other institutions have termed the convention and the Bologna process as an initiative to protect Europe’s economic interests in Higher Education through an enlargement of scale of the European systems of higher education, in order to enhance its 'competitiveness' by cutting down costs.
