Abstract
Projections for the global economy frequently center on the BRIC countries: Brazil, Russia, India, and China. As futurists and economists alike define and re-define both formal and informal coalitions (for example, by broadening the R in BRIC to include all Eastern European economies or instead re-directing the discussion to G-8 countries or to World Trade Organization members), the education profiles of the individual nations sometimes resemble economic indicators: what is imported, what is exported, and what is the potential for expansion. Higher education, and specifically distance learning (the Clicks element of this paper), can already be charted in these terms for some nations. This paper describes the current role of distance learning in countries described as growing economies and proposes a typology for describing change as additional data become available. The paper informs readers of global developments in distance education, using the BRIC nations as examples.
Highlights
The global perspective for education is decades old: the globalization of scholarship was named by the 1970s
Traditional, formal education continues to dominate national initiatives, but distance learning is recognized as the route for expansion of systems and access by learners [4]
Moore, Sener, Mayadas, and Ettinger [5] predicted that two billion people worldwide might be identified as learners, assuming that global access to education will eventually resemble the widespread access in the United States
Summary
The global perspective for education is decades old: the globalization of scholarship was named by the 1970s. Traditional, formal education continues to dominate national initiatives, but distance learning is recognized as the route for expansion of systems and access by learners [4]. Obvious results of this recognition are the emergence of mega universities, open universities, branch campuses by foreign institutions either operating singularly in a host country or in partnership with a local university, and cross-border education. Each of these routes to access will be discussed. We realize that the right to education demands an infrastructure of technology, financial supports, and government supports beyond the individual’s influence
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