The Effects of Globalisation on Education

The localised impact of globalisation around the world has, is and will continue to be a source of heated debate, especially since the concept has been in the limelight for the last two decades.

This debatable nature has encouraged both positive and negative views on how it affects numerous fields, including business, economy and education. It is unavoidable for interconnection between cultures to take place without changing nations’ norms on the way there, and some argument will be similarly inevitable at some point over such important issues. Regarding education though, a globalised world has certainly transformed, and still does, the field in certain positive ways:

 Thanks to globalised education, teaching methods are now more interconnected and widespread. Access to schools has been enhanced and because of that students are increasingly becoming prepared for multinational roles. Such preparation also allows students a more holistic understanding of how the global business scene works and encourages their active participation in it.

 With the rise of the world’s refugee crisis and brain drain constituting a major change in the global academic and business scene, one cannot help but see the downside of globalisation. Easily moving around means that the youth more often than not leave their home countries in search of more lucrative prospects when it comes to their studies and careers, thus depriving their native countries of productive minds. However, seeing that it’s not easy to change things at the moment, one can observe an upward trend in the development of multicultural awareness. One way or another, this huge mobility is closing down cultural barriers with people of different backgrounds intertwining.

 Working together in a multicultural environment allows students to acquire new knowledge and thus make sense of new and unfamiliar situations by applying that knowledge. Students are more prepared to face adversity or circumstances they wouldn’t necessarily run into when receiving a more localised education.

 Globalised education also enhances teamwork and the exchange of ideas among students. As teamwork is crucial in the academic and business world alike, learning to actively contribute is an asset for students.

Though not directly related to education, there are a couple of drawbacks to the concept of a globalised society. For instance, the already existing technological gap between developed and developing countries will widen even further, leaving a lot of discrepancies to be dealt with. Consequently, such discrepancies may assist in a new form of colonisation at the expense of developing countries, who will most likely struggle to keep up.

Overall, globalisation is a concept that is here to stay, constantly altering a world to which we have to adapt. Being a debatable topic, though, I would love to hear your opinions on the matter. How has globalisation affected education in your view?