Globalization connects the world, transforming it into a small community across time and space, with technology serving as the primary facilitator of this interconnection. People, services, capital, goods, ideas, and knowledge move quickly and freely across borders in this process.
One might foresee the benefits of globalization and technology to outshine during times of minimal physical contact, such as the recent COVID-19 pandemic. This would imply continued studies and communication among those involved in educational systems.
Unfortunately, during pandemics, the benefits of globalisation and technology to university education were limited in some developing countries. Because technology’s application was limited, some universities had to completely shut down classes.
Globalization and university education
Globalization, or global links, is said to have begun in the early nineteenth century when rapid interconnection across the globe was observed. Since the 1990s, the term “globalization” has been used to describe the interconnectedness of nations across continents. Hence, it is defined as “not limiting investments, production, or innovation within one nation’s borders.”
Such development at the national level should not be viewed as a complete impediment to globalization. In education and career, it shows as a signal of the need to change national approaches to meet the population demand of developing countries, preferably in a native manner.
Globalization can either strengthen or weaken a country’s educational system and is a good example of educational policies. In order to cope with globalization, developing countries must develop educational policies. They are not only tailored to meet national needs but also integrated to accommodate the global context in a way that is beneficial.
Globalization has confirmed that the educational policy landscape will be reformed and redesigned. The globalization process has fundamentally altered how education policies are established, implemented, and evaluated.
Technology and university education
Technology is the application of scientific knowledge to practical purposes or other aspects of life, whether in industries or in our daily lives. As a result, we use technology whenever we apply scientific knowledge to achieve a specific goal.
Different universities have been functioning using different technologies in different aspects because technology can be so simple or so complex. Colleges and universities have a habit of quickly adopting new technologies, often before their educational value has been established.
The major technologies reforming higher education are computers, the internet, and telecommunications. Some technologies, such as the use of slides, projectors, and other audio-visual skills, have now become standard in higher education. These technologies are used in a variety of fields, including education and communication. This has been critical in various colleges and universities where the traditional teaching and learning process has been transformed.
Despite all of technology’s promise, its adoption in some developing countries’ higher education institutions has been difficult and unsuccessful due to a variety of challenges, including infrastructural constraints. Many barriers to technology-based innovations, as well as high investment costs, have limited the overall exposure of technological advances for both goods and students.
In university education settings, technology has also been found to have drawbacks, including a number of cold aspects. Many instructional positions have become obsolete as a result of technology. The professors’ and instructors’ control over the curriculum has been lost, and cheating on academic matters has become much easier for students. The importance of attending lectures has been overlooked, and the role of some instructors/mentors has been replaced by technology. Technology has also facilitated university students’ laziness. In addition, the high cost of many technological applications makes them difficult to adopt in many resource-constrained institutions.
Conclusion
Education has become a topic of international discussion and concern as a result of globalization. This has been made possible by technological advancements. The advantages of the terms as applied to parts of educational systems in developing countries, as well as the uneven application of the terms. It creates assumptions that obscure the reality of their limitations in university education.
As a result, the pandemic’s lesson serves as a wake-up request for all higher education institutions. Therefore, developing countries need to rethink and modify their curriculum to accommodate a blended learning approach. In developing countries, resources and infrastructures need to ensure equal access to globalised techniques and technologies in higher education institutions.
