Report

More documents

Recommendations

Info

134 QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS FROM ECONOMIC COOPERATION IN SOUTH ASIA Many of the restrictions mentioned above are also relevant to South Asia. However, what is interesting in the context of South Asia is that in view of the historical, cultural and colonial connections, the differences across the region are far less stark than that in the entire WTO membership. Hence, South Asian countries can open their education sector among themselves and they can make vast gains by so doing. Education creates social infrastructure on which all other developments depend. The rise of India as a major international player in IT has been to a large extent attributed to some world class educational institutions which India could develop relatively early before and after its independence. In fact, the positive externalities of higher education cannot be gauged by simple economic tools. In the case of India it could be stated that the government set up hundreds of engineering colleges in order to prepare a workforce to handle the manufacturing sector. However, lack of a large-scale manufacturing sector forced this workforce to look for alternatives and incidentally, IT provided them with that opportunity and with the support of huge number of qualified unemployed engineers the Indian IT industry could become one the most successful stories in the world. Across the region the higher education sector manifests interesting similarities. All South Asian countries lack adequate resources to provide their population with quality higher education. In view of their other more pressing priorities like poverty reduction programmes, health care and basic education, in the short or medium term they may not be able to allocate adequate resources in order to offer quality higher education to all those who are willing to join higher education as usually happens in advanced countries. In light of this, pooling of regional resources will be a great help. This chapter analyses the commitments made and initial or revised offers submitted by the South Asian countries under the GATS regime which is one indicator of the level of liberalisation they have achieved in the education sector. Besides, the chapter also discusses other restrictions and efforts to liberalise the sector. The main aim of the chapter is to explore further possibility of liberalisation to see that if there could be some level of equivalence in the education systems of these countries. As there is an increasing trend in the trade in education services at the regional level, this needs to be strengthened to reap the benefits of collective liberalisation. India CHARACTERISING SAFTA COUNTRIES’ COMMITMENTS/INITIAL/REVISED OFFER India had not undertaken any commitments in education services during the Uruguay Round. Nor did it offer any commitments during its initial offer. However, its revised offer includes higher education (CPC 923) for which commitments have been made (for details see table A in chapter 6). In the Market Access column under Mode 1 the entry of cross-border education services is subject to the condition that service providers would follow the same regulations as applicable to domestic providers in the country of origin. This condition is expected to ensure the quality of service and would also be regulated according to the laws of the country of origin. Mode 2 is without any restrictions. This signals that Indian students going abroad for education purpose will have no barriers. Commercial presence however is subject to the condition that fees to be charged can be fixed by an appropriate authority and that such fee do not lead to charging capitation fees or to profiteering. Further, in the case of foreign investors having prior collaboration in this sector in India, FIPB approval would be required. Though this restriction has already been discussed in the context of construction services, it is hard to understand the rationale behind this measure. In the case of education this can be understood as that if the same person is opening another engineering college when he already had one in collaboration with someone, for the second college his application will route through FIPB. If the idea is to check the anticompetitive behaviour, India has a full-fledged competition commission of India (CCI) and that can take care of this aspect. Mode 4 is unbound and refers to the horizontal section. In the National Treatment column Modes 1, 2, and 3 are without any restrictions and Mode 4 is unbound except as in the horizontal section. Thus national treatment has been accorded to foreign services supplied through Modes 1, 2, and 3. Although India’s horizontal commitments under Mode 4 are relatively liberal, the categories of persons mentioned in those commitments do not include education services. Particularly in the South Asian context this assumes greater significance as the trading partners especially Pakistan, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh would be looking at India as a very important next door market for Mode 4. Since these countries may
H IGHER EDUCATION SERVICES 135 not mobilise adequate resources for commercial presence they would be more interested in Mode 4. India should also undertake commitments in adult and other education services. Various kinds of training and other informal educational programmes come under these two categories. India has already shown its ability with regard to exporting IT education, management, and medical training. Some of other South Asian countries may also like to export informal education and thus they would want India to undertake commitments in these two subsectors. According to the study done by Powar (2007) on education, India has the third largest higher education system in the world comprising about 330 universitylevel institutions, about 16,000 colleges (including 4,500 professional institutions), over 9.5 million students and approximately 350,000 teachers. Though the government is the principal contributor of higher education in the country, Powar suggests, the private sector is increasingly making a significant contribution to professional education at the degree level. Another study by Agarwal (2007) highlights that in terms of enrolment in higher education India is third largest system in the world – after the People’s Republic of China and the United States. With 18,500 institutions, the country has the distinction of having the highest number of institutions for higher education in the world – almost four times that in the US and Europe and more than seven times the number of institutions in the People’s Republic of China. The study further suggests that though the quality of education imparted by different higher education institutions in India is admittedly variable, there are quite a few institutions that provide education of quality that is comparable with that offered at the best international institutions. The Indian Institutes of Technology (IITs), the Indian Institutes of Managements (IIMs), the Indian Institute of Science (IISc), quite a few central and state universities, and a few privately managed ‘deemed universities’ are examples. There exists in India a parallel, non-formal stream of education in the form of training institutions that provide skill-oriented programmes while encouraging its students to register at the same time in bachelor degree programmes in the conventional universities. NIIT is a prime example. The non-formal institutions have differing programmes. The best-known institution, NIIT, has two ‘domains’. Domain A is an adaptation of the university structure. Domain B is for those who do not aspire for a degree and includes shortterm, skill-oriented courses whose value is determined by the market. Rapid growth in the globally integrated Indian economy has led to a huge demand for skilled human resource, but the lack of quality and relevance in higher education is causing an obstacle to filling the gap. India is facing up to 25% shortage of skilled candidates in the area of engineering and this problem has surged to 45% level across sectors (Agarwal 2006). In view of this, it has been suggested that foreign universities should come to India to form joint ventures with the universities here and a one year benchmark should be set for this task. In this regard, Pangariya strongly argues that entry of private universities, so common around the world including Bangladesh and the People’s Republic of China, must be introduced (Pangariya 2007). He further argues that the government has no resources to expand higher education at a pace consistent with demand. Nor is it in a position to create many IITs and IIMs like institutions with public resources. International providers are entering the Indian education market in an increasing number. From the advertisements on academic programmes offered by foreign providers during 2000–04, it is clear that there has been an increase in the number of advertisers from 144 in 2000 to 319 in 2004; in the number of providers recruiting students for their home campuses from 117 to 204; and in the number of providers offering programmes in India, under Mode 3, from 27 to 144 (Powar 2007). However, Powar suggests, nearly a third of foreign providers were not universities, and an equal percentage of their Indian collaborators were not a part of the formal higher education. The study by Powar emphasises the importance of distance education. Distance education programmes exemplify education supplied through Mode 1. These programmes take two forms – conventional distance education using print and audio-visual material and e- learning through the internet. Conventional distance education is highly developed in the Asian countries and is available at low cost. India has eleven open universities and 102 centres of distance education in dual mode universities. They provide education at about 40% of the cost of education through the formal mode. Some Indian universities have recently started offering degree programmes, through the distance mode, in countries having a large Indian diaspora. The Indira Gandhi national open university (IGNOU) is the prime example. Cross-border supply through the internet (virtual education) has immense potential, especially in disciplines like management and trade that have strong international components. Some well known training institutes based in India offer, globally, further
Page 3 and 4:
QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS FROM ECO
Page 5 and 6:
QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS FROM ECO
Page 7:
Preface Our consultations with seni
Page 10 and 11:
viii CONTENTS 7. Revenue and Welfar
Page 13 and 14:
Executive Summary OBJECTIVE This st
Page 15 and 16:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xiii Table 1 EAMA
Page 17 and 18:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xv India A full S
Page 19 and 20:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xvii indicates th
Page 21 and 22:
EXECUTIVE SUMMARY xix ments on basi
Page 23:
Part I BENEFITS FROM TRADE, INVESTM
Page 26 and 27:
4 QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS FROM E
Page 28 and 29:
Page 30 and 31:
Page 32 and 33:
10 QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS FROM
Page 34 and 35:
Page 36 and 37:
Page 38 and 39:
Page 40 and 41:
Page 42 and 43:
Page 44 and 45:
Page 46 and 47:
2 Literature Review and Rationale f
Page 48 and 49:
Page 50 and 51:
Page 52 and 53:
Page 54 and 55:
Page 56 and 57:
Page 58 and 59:
Page 60 and 61:
4 Effective Additional Market Acces
Page 62 and 63:
Page 64 and 65:
Page 66 and 67:
Page 68 and 69:
Page 70 and 71:
6 Impact of SAFTA on Member Countri
Page 72 and 73:
Page 74 and 75:
Page 76 and 77:
7 Revenue and Welfare Implications
Page 78 and 79:
Page 80 and 81:
Page 82 and 83:
8 Impact of SAFTA on Inward and Out
Page 84 and 85:
Page 86 and 87:
Page 88 and 89:
Page 90 and 91:
Page 92 and 93:
9 Quantification of Benefits from T
Page 94 and 95:
Page 96 and 97:
Page 98 and 99:
Page 100 and 101:
Page 102 and 103:
Page 104 and 105:
Page 106 and 107: 84 QUANTIFICATION OF BENEFITS FROM
Page 115: Part II BENEFITS FROM DEEPENING INT
Page 126 and 127: 11 Construction and Related Enginee
Page 140 and 141: 12 Tourism and Travel Related Servi
Page 172 and 173: 14 Health and Related Services 1 IN
Page 186 and 187: 15 Prospects for the Telecommunicat
Page 206 and 207:
Page 208 and 209:
Page 210 and 211:
Page 212 and 213:
Page 214 and 215:
Page 216 and 217:
Page 218 and 219:
Page 220 and 221:
Page 223:
APPENDICES
Page 226 and 227:
Page 228 and 229:
Page 230 and 231:
Page 232 and 233:
Page 234 and 235:
Page 236 and 237:
Appendix 8 Intra SAARC FDI Collabor
Page 238 and 239:
Appendix 11 Table A11.1 On an Emplo
Page 240 and 241:
Appendix 12 Original Commitments/In
Page 242 and 243:
Page 244 and 245:
Page 246 and 247:
Page 248 and 249:
Page 250 and 251:
Page 252 and 253:
Appendix 14 Table A14.1 Telecommuni
Page 254 and 255:
Page 256 and 257:
Page 258 and 259:
Appendix 15 REFERENCE PAPER Scope T
Page 261 and 262:
Bibliography Abelson, P. (1996),
Page 263 and 264:
BIBLIOGRAPHY 241 Cuba (2002), Negot
Page 265 and 266:
BIBLIOGRAPHY 243 (2004), Impacts of
Page 267 and 268:
BIBLIOGRAPHY 245 Silva, Patricia an
Page 269 and 270:
BIBLIOGRAPHY 247 (1998), Tourism Se
show all

Report

You also want an ePaper? Increase the reach of your titles

Delete template?

Save as template?