Knowledge and Innovation of GCCs Currency of the 21st Century - Essay Example

Knowledge and Innovation of GCC’s Currency of the 21st Century Knowledge and Innovation of GCC’s Currency of the 21stCentury Following the 1990s downfall, the political-economic model of Arabian Peninsula countries changed and this led to formation of a short modern history. Having a lot of oil reserves, the Gulf Cooperation Council which constituted countries such as Kuwait, Saudi Arabia, Bahrain, Oman, UAE and Qatar experienced a relatively high growth in their economies due to the presence of the oil. The leaders believed that it could be possible to build their economies on oil until the late 1980s and 1990s when they realized that the oil prices was declining and they got challenges to maintain their economies. The ruling families realized that there should be policy change in economic programs to ensure that the countries developed long-term and sustainable economic plans. The international community was involved in promotion of economic status of the GCC states where they advised that a knowledge-based economic policy would be effective in steering the economies rather than relying on oil that was dwindling. Introduction of the knowledge-based economy would ensure expansion and investment in education to build wealth from the human labour and resources instead of relying on the natural resources. President Obama and Angela Merkel delivered speeches on the benefits of the knowledge-based economy over reliance on natural resources. Obama stated that the Islamic countries should begin to increase their investment in education since even the countries that had more natural resources like America had invested in other policies to steer their economies. Angela Merkel on the other hand emphasized on the importance of promoting freedom and innovation from the power of science and human intelligence. Innovation, technological development and invention were essential for development challenges in 21st century. These speeches revealed the interest which the western countries had on the development of the GCC countries. The Arab countries have adopted the policy and culture of promoting the education in the region by increasing the number of institutions of higher learning at high rate. Since the end of World War II, the number of universities have increased from 10 to 140 in 2000 and later increased up to 260 in 2010. This reveals the interest of leaders to propel their countries in knowledge-based economies. Obama and Merkel stated that the countries in the region should pay tribute to the developments taking place in education especially the universities that have embraced the visions of the Gulf monarchies. Modernization of education would play a critical role in the development plans of the Gulf region and the western region as well. The interest of the western countries to disseminate knowledge and promote scientific progress in GCC states is also evident. Today, the globalization of knowledge especially through higher education seems to have economic benefits to countries which participate in the partnership and a way of establishing economic bonds. Education is considered to be a trading commodity in the globe and also serves as a lucrative business where much wealth can be generated. The Arabian countries were known to be active in importation of education in 1990. However, this has changed overtime where the region has expanded its education system. The nations purchase the equipment including infrastructure required to promote education from such countries like U.S, Australia and Canada. This is one of the reasons why the western countries want to promote their international cooperation with the GCC countries to trade mainly in higher education services. It has been indicated that many western countries take advantage of the countries in GCC to develop the higher education where they establish universities aligned to the elite campuses in their countries and giving names that resemble them. Since the services of higher education have become phenomenon in the globe and states in the GCC are emergent member countries which have taken a position in the global trend which is caused by various factors. The tremendous growth in the education system has changed within one decade and the rate of growth has led to introduction of many campuses in the region. The other factor includes the model of reforming the higher education system through internationalization. It has been facilitated by the availability of financial resources as a result of gulf oil although it affected the development of education infrastructures in various ways. The third factor involves development of education could be distinction that exists between the public and private sectors. The role of privatization on development and public sector involvement is different in the GCC countries than other places which affects the landscape of higher education. There are also factors that are essential in development of education in the country. Demographic factors make a significant impact in the education since when the population is high; the number of graduates from secondary schools is likely to be high and thus the demand for higher education. Changing requirements within the labor market also lead to demand for more higher education institutions to cater for the demand. Further the rise in inspiration from non-nationals also lead to increased growth of higher learning institutions. The implementation of the second subsystem which involves the knowledge-based economy indicates that the relevant entities combined with the interrelation between, political economy, higher education and governmental regulation can help the country to achieve the modern economic system. A knowledge-based economy succeeds where a strong higher education system exists since it is able to satisfy the labor demands. In regard to inclusion of subsystems the higher education system can combine the entities such as ruling family or government, demand for better system of higher education as well as labour markets. All the entities are interrelated and interconnected. Oil/Gas revenues- owing to the liberalization that took place in 1990s, the ruling governments in GCC were influenced to change their future economic polies to knowledge-based where they embarked on a process of modernizing higher education. Labor market-higher education - modification of the higher education system is based on the labor market demands. This leads to establishment of institution that offers skills needed in the labor market. Higher education-legitimacy - through higher education, the ruling regime also embraces legitimacy as they change their values and cultures. Read More