Local Choices, Global Effects

is the title of my First Year Seminar Course on Sustainability. The title can be applied to a number of varied areas, one of which is education, specially foreign students.

An interesting article in the NYT notes the growth in foreign students worldwide. There are a number of forces, one of which is mentioned in the article as 'Globalization of Knowledge." I have referred to the Globalization of Talent, where employers are searching for talent worldwide. Students studying in other countries is going to push this globalization even further. However the effects of "virtual education" are harder to estimate. Will technology advances allow us to simulate social learning virtually?

Traffic Picks Up in World Education - NYTimes.com: "Though there may be disagreement on the implications, the scale of the global traffic is beyond dispute: depending on how you count, there are currently between 2.5 and 3 million foreign students (some countries count only foreign citizens who stay for longer than a year). By 2025 that figure is expected to reach 8 million. Dr. Salmi cites both “push factors — things that make you decide to leave your own country — and pull factors” behind the projected growth. “Push factors could be students aren’t happy with the quality of instruction on offer at home — or perhaps they just didn’t find a place,” he said. “For example, medical education is very selective in Germany. So many German students go to Austria.”"