The increase in monetary value of the goods and services produced in an economy in a given time period or a fiscal year (short term) is referred to as economic growth. It is a quantitative measure of business transactions taking place in an economy. It is measured in terms of the increase in the aggregate market value of additional goods and services produced by using concepts like GDP and GNP. When compared to economic development (multi-dimensional aspects to measure a nation’s quality of life), economic growth is a narrow concept (uni-dimensional, i.e., GDP and GNP-based increase in monetary value of production). It may not require any state intervention, whereas economic development necessitates the formation of developmental policies and their enforcement or implementation. Economic growth is more applicable to developed nations, while economic development is more applicable to developing economies.
Economic Development is the (long term) process by which an economy or a nation keeps improving upon its overall education level, health and well being of its population. It attributes to improvement in production volume owing to advancements in technology and human capital. It is also measure of qualitative improvement of people and their lives represented by Human Resource Development Index (HDI). It depends upon many factors (for computing qualitative measures like HDI and quantitative measures like per capita income, industrial development) such as job opportunities, technological advancements, standard of living, living conditions, per capita income, quality of life, improvement in self-esteem needs, GDP, industrial and infrastructural development etc.
Humans resources are active agents who exploit natural resources. For such an exploitation, they depend upon the skills and knowledge. These skills and knowledge comes from a systemic and long term process of investing in learning and educational resources. The nation can not grow sustainably without growing its human resources both from the health and education perspective, before it goes to work to produce goods and services and earn for itself and for the nation. There is a need to develop human resources through distance education as it provides a parallel source of learning without disrupting the current stream of earnings. Distance education is becoming an integral part of the job. It improves the job performance through general and specific trainings. Access to knowledge is critical determinant of long term well being, happiness and is essential for individual development and freedom. Education provides the real freedom as it allows one to seek what they want to do and who they want to be.
Distance education enabled by ICT can increase its reach to all the people (national or global level) across all the levels, at the convenience of learners and in their homes (for that matter, anywhere they want to be). It influences the health (especially for the professionals as adults or aging population who have health related issues that comes with the age) as it removes the inconvenience and constraint of frequent or daily traveling for to be situated in one designated location in a traditional regulated classroom environment (the educational infrastructure is not readily available in each locality in vicinity or neighborhood) . At that age, they need more time for their own health and other elders at their care (social obligations which are even more for a working women). Time and place, both are big constraints for them. Distance education is an effective mode of keeping themselves up for the job irrespective of their current profession. It helps them keep improving their work efficiency and productivity and continue to be part of the changing economy or developmental trends. Distance Education helps you pace your education based on your time and environment. It is cost effective and one could acquire skills and knowledge from multiple sources. It is inclusive. In short, it offers, freedom of time, place, pace, medium, access, age, class (rural or urban, gender or social inequalities), cost, prior knowledge or level of education, faculty (peer, industry, teacher) and curriculum. The pace factor addresses the drop-out and repeat related economic and social issues normally present in the conventional system as a waste.
Distance education needs national, centralized and autonomous bodies (on-campus and off-campus or open learning). Education is an investment in human capital for nation development and growth. It increases employment, meet basic needs, reduce inequalities in wealth and income and raise the productivity of the poor. Human Resource Development (HRD) is not an isolated societal activity. It is an accumulation or formation of human capital through education (science and technology), health, nutrition and social welfare. It is about providing better education under improved or better health conditions. They are correlated subject matters. Education and social welfare are inter-linked. New knowledge is acquired to bring or raise the level of social welfare activities. Distance education reduces dropouts to insignificant levels, and provide recurring and continuing education with substantial vocationalisation of secondary education.
Education is an investment as increases the wealth and earning capacity of an individual and an enterprise. It improves human capital leading to increase in non-human or physical capital. The rate of physical capital formation grows as the rate of human capital forms or grows and they both grow as the capital or investments in the education system grows or becomes productive. It raises the work productivity and job transitions (flexibility). These are both private and social returns from investment in education or for that matter distance education as well. And distance education is more economic to deliver and has wider reach or impact. Hence it has a huge role in human resource development from education perspective. In short, there is no better alternative today but to ride this wave of technology enabled learning medium or formats formally or informally. It is a cheaper, faster and better option to conventional system and provides higher private and social returns. It is easy to adapt for multiple learners and programs.
Education spurs economic growth which can be measured by two frameworks. (1) Growth Accounting Framework and (2) Endogenous Growth Framework. In case of the first, the earnings like per capita income are attributed to the investments in the education in given period. It assumes or is based on the hypothesis that higher human capital investments should yield higher earnings for the next economy. Increase in human capital implies better productivity of labor and hence the margins or earnings. It also implies more technical and advancements or automation being applied to improve production efficiency and effectiveness. In case of the later, it attributes the growth to the fact the human capital spurs growth of new ideas which proliferates further in time and space rubbing off on other people and institutes to benefit from them and create more alternatives for growth. Hence increasing in innovation potential yielding more or different goods and services adding to more income or earnings as a whole.
Reforms in education particularly means privatization and internationalization of education. Internationalization happens in four different ways (1) cross border supply using ODL and DE platforms (2) Consumption abroad marked by number of students who go abroad for studies (3) Commercial presence which is about opening physical branches in other nations and (4) Presence of natural persons which is about sending teachers and professionals abroad for higher or specific skills and knowledge.
Education as an investment: Investment involves three kinds of decision making – individual, institution and collective or social. These investments or decisions help form the human capital (which creates physical capital in return) which has attributes like heterogeneous, irreparable, long gestation period, on and off job experience, depreciation, spatial occupational mobility, productivity, utilization, inseparability of expenditure etc. Human capital has dimensions like quantitative (number of skills and labor) and qualitative (skill varieties and quality ) and determinants – education, health, on job training, non formal education, extension programs, housing, modernization and migration of workers. Education is the foremost determinant to form human capital – to help labor perform a job or task, build scientific temper, induce lifetime earning capabilities and increase innovation capital for future economic growth. Formation of human capital means current human stock and rate of growth in this stock – new, up-skilling, by eduction level, type and age. Education and earnings are interlinked for human capital development measured in terms of earning profiles, earning differentials and productivity – average, marginal and value . Education as a production functions – by sector (agriculture and industrial), level of education and output returns and on the job training (specific and general).
Waste in education is based on utilization of time of students, staff and system and structures like buildings and technologies.
