What is Liberalisation
Liberalisation meaning and Concept of Liberalisation
Liberalisation refers to a relaxation of previous government restrictions usually in areas of social or economic policy.
In the social arena it may refer to a relaxation of laws and in the economic arena it refers to free trade or open market.
In some contexts it is also referred to as Deregulation.
Liberalisation should not be confused with Democratisation. They are 2 separate processes.
GATS of the WTO
Education is one of the 12 service sectors covered by GATS (General Agreement on Trades in Service) of the WTO. The purpose of GATS is to progressively and systematically promote freer trade in services by removing many of the existing barriers to trade.
Impact of Liberalisation on Education
1) Trade liberalisation will profoundly impact the nature and provision of quality education.
2) It allows public and private institutions to provide education across international borders to meet the education needs of other countries.
3) It promotes mixing and mobilisation of cross-border students, teachers, scholars, researchers and knowledge.
4) It provides students access to the many facilities and programs that are not available in one’s native country.
5) It leads to growth in the business or commercial side of education.
6) Increase in distance learning, virtual universities, e-learning, etc. due to ICT tools like the Internet.
7) Growing interest and strong potential for future growth.
8) Growth of partnerships and franchises in educational arena.
Precaution
Liberalisation widens scope and heightens competition. It is room for everyone to have a slice of the cake. Hence stringent checks should be kept on quality and accreditation so that bogus institutes do not fool students.
