Private Higher Education in Nursing and Health Sciences--Embracing the Uncertainties of Globalisation

摘要

Unprecedented global opportunities are driving a transformation of private higher education on a global front. This transformation and reshaping should provide for expanded global access to higher education and promote a paradigm shift from teaching to learning with focus on educational outcomes. Thus the global education export market entails the commercialization of international higher education whereby, profit drives this internationalization process. Going global further entails an emphasis on co-operation and partnerships with the convergence of human resources and infrastructural resources. Complementing, but also, competing interests shall push the proliferation of knowledge and information farther forward. This shall equate to an emergence of trans-disciplinary knowledge production and intellectual interaction at global levels. However, emerging programmes and practices need to ensure that international higher education is not simply a profit centre. This paper looks at the implications of globalization and internationalization on nursing education in the private establishments of higher education, particularly in Malaysia. The strategy must be one of long term, but with a response to immediate and short term problems. Furthermore, the dynamic interaction between private higher education and global society should underline the fundamental importance of research within private higher education establishments and its vital contribution to a national system of innovation.