EXPORT OF EDUCATIONAL SERVICES AS A MEANS OF DIVERSIFYING SOURCES OF FUNDING FOR HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS
The global trend toward reducing government funding for higher education and the focus on finding additional sources of funding are leading to local, regional, and international competition for financial resources and an increase in student enrollment. The international sector is seen as a promising avenue for diversifying the funding sources of higher education institutions.
The processes of globalization and internationalization of the scientific and educational sphere are expanding access to additional funding and facilitating the inclusion of domestic universities in international cooperation consortia, which helps to increase competitiveness in the international education market. Finding ways to decouple revenue growth from the growth in the number of applicants will enable the government to elevate state universities to “world-class” status.
Measures that could contribute to this include relinquishing control over the setting of tuition fees or expanding the number of cutting-edge programs, among others. An alternative mechanism for attracting financial resources to achieve “world-class” university status could be improving university efficiency and expanding research areas, which would help attract additional investment. The transformation of the higher education system—which is academic in nature—into a global industry of educational services is a widespread global trend.
The increased involvement of higher education institutions in the market economy has led to a drive to increase profits. It is worth noting that attracting international students affects not only the financial situation but also the prestige, positive image, and competitiveness of a higher education institution.
In addition to financial considerations, attracting international students also has strategic implications: the establishment and development of a successful international education system; the promotion of national policy, culture, economy, and way of life in the global communities of the countries from which these international students originate; it is one of the mechanisms for enhancing the country’s economic competitiveness by employing the most talented foreign graduates.
Today, higher education is viewed as a significant factor in economic growth. The World Trade Organization has added education to the list of services whose trade is regulated by the provisions of the General Agreement on Trade in Services. Because educational services are exported, international competition in this sector is growing accordingly. M. van der Wende, a researcher in the field of comparative education policy, links the reduction of inequality at the global level to a rebalancing that has occurred due to China’s strengthening position in the global scientificresearch sector, as reflected in its high share of global spending on research and development and its high ratio of researchers (for both of these indicators, China currently ranks second in the world after the United States and Europe, respectively).