Knowledge Economy part 3
Today Knowledge society is no longer a vision for the future but a reality. Economic development is determined mostly by knowledge therefore education is an essential prerequisite for economic improvement and poverty reduction. Since the Information revolution started fifty years ago, all developed countries' growth and prosperity are mostly determined by the production of knowledge and innovations. Let's look at the software industry, thirty years ago Microsoft was an unknown company founded by a few students in HarvardUniversity but today it is the largest software company with hundred billion dollars capital and makes its founder, Bill Gates the richest man in the world. Ten years ago, nobody heard of Google but this company, also founded by two students at StanfordUniversity, has become the biggest threat to Microsoft and it is possible that Google may replace Microsoft to be the top company in software industry. What Microsoft and Google have but others do not? The answer is knowledge and that is why I believe having a good education to obtain knowledge will have significant influence on a person's careers and wealth.
My friend, a professor in history told me that every country must follow phases of economic evolution – from agriculture to industrial then to knowledge based on historical perspective. I did not agree with him because I believe that we can skip the industrial phase and jump directly into the knowledge phase. My logic was: Why do we have to base progress according to historical perspective? Why can't we break the sequence? My friend cited several economic theories based on evidences in Europe and the U.S that developed countries evolve by following the sequence of agriculture, industrial then moving toward knowledge society. I told him: “In that case, don't you think developing countries will never be able to catch up and always have to stay behind developed countries? Don't you think those theories which deeply rooted in “Colonial sentiment” is already obsolete?” My logic: Today there are factors that can accelerate economic progress such as the development of semiconductor technology, the establishment of computing and software industry, and the influence of the internet. These factors contribute to the globalization and the creation of knowledge society that never happen before in human history.
Since he is a history professor, I used India as an example. India is an agriculture society that gained independent in 1947, for almost 40 years India has not making much progress. Its economy had not grown but almost come to the verse of collapse because domestic progress failed to keep pace the rest of the world as its population expanded rapidly. Begin in 1991, the Indian government started economic reforms with many successful actions but one of the key reforms was education that brought India from a “Colonial education system” into a respected “science and technology focus” education system. By having a knowledgeable workforce, India has evolved quickly to establish a knowledge society as evidence by its software industry. In 1990 India's software industry contribution to GDP was less than 0.1% but today it has grown to 15% of GDP with 80 billion dollars business and over million people employed. India is not known as an industrial country, at least not yet, but nobody can deny its knowledge industry symbolize by the software industry so I think it is possible to skip a phase to go from agriculture to knowledge society.
My friend seemed not quite convinced yet and he said:” It is easy for anybody to use India as an example but don't you think it was a special case?' I told him that it is not a special case and the lesson in India can be applied to other agriculture society as well if it starts with education. I believe the establishment of a high-quality education system can bring significant change in economy of developing country but this increasing importance of knowledge for economic development can also produce inequality between developing and developed countries if no action is taken. Without a good education, the gap will continue to grow larger and it will be difficult to fix. Since knowledge and technology are changing very fast, the key aspect of education should also be focused on lifelong learning to keep people current with changes. The tradition way of providing education as a set of basic knowledge to qualify people for their jobs is obsolete and must be changed to focus on giving people access to an ever-growing knowledge. Primary education should be the key focus because it is the foundation for any advanced development. If student has not mastered the basic skills of reading, writing and arithmetic, it will be hard for them to engage in continued learning as in lifelong learning. Secondary and tertiary education, which builds on the primary level, must also be improved based on a comprehensive plan where students could be given options for education and employment that enable them to contribute to economic growth and development.
Since education is a key component of economic prosperity, education systems must be viewed in the context of the skills needed in industry rather than a basic knowledge dictated by people in academia. Therefore the collaboration between industry and education institutions is essential. In a knowledge society, industry plays an increasing role in determine what is needed and what is not based on their needs. In developed countries, private schools have an important role in the education system because they are in a better position than public schools to develop training for the specific needs of the industry. People often ask why most of the top universities in the U.S are private schools? The simple answer could be they all receive significant fundings from industry because their education programs are tailored to meet the need of the industry. With fundings private schools can hire the best professors, establishes the best research laboratories, creates the best curricula and recruits the best students. In this kind of relationship, industry can require private schools to establish programs to help people become self-motivated lifelong learners in respond to the increasing need in industry for certain skills and knowledge. For better efficiency, many private schools have utilized modern computing and communication technologies to enable students to access specialized knowledge quickly, in a self-reliant manner. This includes the opportunities offered by e-learning in the transfer of knowledge between schools and industry. In this practical collaboration, students can interact with other students in other schools, work on joint projects for industry (Capstone type of projects), students can also learn at the workplace through a wide range of internships, and university-industry co-operation joint researches. However, this kind of approach will not work if students don't feel a sense of urgency or a need to continue learning as opposed to just receive academic degrees. I think a lot of work needs to be done in raising awareness among students and society about how to become a knowledge society and the benefits of lifelong learning.
My friend seemed to agree so he asked: “In that case, what would you suggest?” I told him that we need to invest more in education and training and adjust the education systems to meet the needs of the industry and make lifelong learning a key aspect of education so people can help growing the economy and make it a knowledge economy.
Sources
- Blogs of Prof. John Vu, Carnegie Mellon University
