The Future of the Transnational Higher Education Opportunity?

Posted on September 17, 2007 by David Gray

One of the spectacular features of an online community like this is that it has a global reach. That means, among other things, that with this post I may actually reach and hear back from aspiring college students in distant places, like India for example, where the educational opportunities may not be what they are here in the United States. If that’s you, and you’re reading this, I have a couple of important questions to ask, and invite you to respond freely.

First, to explain a bit about the source of my questions, I came across this article by Kanika Datta in New Delhi appearing on rediff news and entitled “The Paradox of the Indian MBA.” It is essentially about a growing craving for advanced degrees in places like India where, by some standards, the availability of quality options are not meeting the demand.

The writer makes two important assertions. This first is this:

Though rarely articulated, it is commonly acknowledged that outside of the 2,000-odd students from the premium B-schools like the Indian Institutes of Management who clearly skew the market, most Tier-II B-schools face a quality problem.

My questions about that are: Do you agree? Is this true? Our own research here at UMassOnline, with help from Eduventures, tells us that the number of university-level institutions in India increased from 177 in 1991 to 371 in 2006; colleges increased from 7,346 in 1991 to 18,064 in 2006; and student enrollment increased from 4.9 million in 1991 to 11.2 million in 2006. So while there would appear to be no shortage of available undergraduate and graduate institutions, has this demand been met at the expense of educational quality?

The writer’s second assertion is this:

To be sure, this basic flaw is something that those in the education business have begun to understand. That explains the rush for local tie-ups with global universities that leverage technology to provide access to world-class education through distance learning.

In your opinion and/or based on your experience, would access to an online MBA program from a well-established, fully-accredited university system in the United States help solve this issue? Is there enough of a baseline technology infrastructure to support an online MBA degree program? Is it your belief that an MBA degree from an American college or university would be considered a high value achievement on the part of local employers?

I ask these questions because UMassOnline is increasingly expanding what I call our global campus. Our class of 2008, for example, is increasingly the World Class of 2008. In that context, two of the region’s bestknown and prestigious schools – Harvard and The Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) – do not offer any online programs (with the exception of some programs from Harvard’s Extension school offerings). The University of Massachusetts, located in the same state as Harvard and MIT, draws its students and faculty from the same region as these schools. We tap into the same business and cultural environment. Our graduates go on to work with, and effectively compete against, undergraduates and graduates from any and all large and substantial colleges and universities in the United States. It seems to me that access to our programs and quality levels would appeal to those anywhere seeking the best available online education. But, again, I want to hear from you. Is there, in your opinion, a transnational educational opportunity?