An educational point to ponder globally:
U.S. presidential candidate Marco
Rubio says that universities are operating as a "cartel".
" We do not need timid tweaks to the old system. We need a holistic
overhaul," he said. He felt that
the powerful colleges and universities use their power "over the
accreditation process to block innovative, low-cost competitors from entering
the market.
Cartels represent oligopolistic structures. Cartels fix prices. A few elite institutions set standards and prices. Entry is limited to the affluent, the privileged, the networked. ('The prime ministers of England are made on the play fields of Eton', they say). The syllabi covered in a typical class in all good universities are the same. Yet there is brand differentiation in education. Alumni and faculty of elite institutions benefit from the perpetuation of this branding.
Marco Rubio is quite right. There is need to democratize education. The new on line learning systems and the Internet of Education (as a part of Internet of Things ) needs to dis-intermediate the elitism in education.
"They also serve who only stand and wait", said Milton. We shall wait.
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