1. Richard Hopper The World Bank UNESCO conference on International Quality Assurance: Globalization and Higher Education October 17-18, 2002 Paris, France Higher Education and Global Public Goods

2. What is a public good? Non-excludable No one can be barred from benefits No single purchaser Non-rival Can be consumed without depletion

3. Externalities produced by higher education Externalities are the difference between public and private benefits Higher education produces significant externalities In higher education, externalities are not often pure public goods Yet are expressed as combinations and levels of the attributes of public goods

4. Externalities of higher education: hard to capture Benefits of higher education tend to be diffuse Employers and society benefit from an educated workforce, educated civil society, and educated populace Producers of goods and services also benefit from educated consumers

5. Free rider problem Benefits of higher education cannot be limited to the individuals who successfully complete it Markets tend to underproduce public goods, so the public sector has role Free rider problem in higher education is complicated by international reach of the benefits

6. Global public goods reach across borders, generations Human capital circulation Free and efficient flow of skills Benefits to firms, individuals, societies Yet, brain drain concerns remain Loss of high-level human capital, loss of public investment, and loss of local social/civil benefits Information & knowledge circulation Public health benefits Environmental and cultural heritage Peace and security Millennium Development Goals (MDGs)

7. Public vs. private / National vs. international Financing How is the cost burden of higher education to be shared among individuals, society, and employers? Provision Who will provide higher education? Quality Who will ensure quality and how?

8. Global challenges growing Interdependence and uncertainty underscore the importance of the global public goods produced by higher education Higher education provision New forms New providers Increasingly international, borderless

9. Enabling framework needed To promote knowledge societies To deal with challenges and public goods Brain drain Quality assurance Qualifications recognition Foreign provision Intellectual property rights ICT access and affordability Basic education for all (EFA)

10. Public policy options National policies are key Gov ts often struggle to develop such policies We need only look to issues like HIV, GM foods, etc. Yet, global challenges require new approaches and frank debate New actors & mechanisms Civil society Private sector International cooperation Cross-sectoral linkages

11. Crisis prevention vs. coherent policy framework Many countries tend to be reactive Lack of national policy debate and framework for higher education lead countries to react to problems Countries should strive for … Flexible lifelong learning frameworks Coherence, articulation, recognition Dev t of quality measures that satisfy local needs

12. Public vs. private Not a simple distinction No correlation with quality Nuance important, yet hard to generalize Public traditional Fee-based and free Private for-profit Common in developing countries; emerging in US Private nonprofit Common in US; often religious-based elsewhere Lack of meaningful nonprofit laws seem to prevent great growth Public for-profit Growing trend, particularly in international offerings

13. Equity and access remain key issues Access costly Benefits accrue primarily to those who can afford higher education Yet, increasing access … Spreads benefits to society Ultimately lowers cost of those benefits Lifelong learning frames promote equity … through modularity, articulation, and recognition Quality assurance coordination can help to promote the modularity, articulation, recognition needed for lifelong learning