Bridging the Knowledge Gap: Internationalization and Privatization of Higher Education in the State of Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman Dissertation zur Erlangung des Grades „Doktor der Naturwissenschaften” im Promotionsfach Geographie am Fachbereich Chemie, Pharmazie und Geowissenschaften der Johannes Gutenberg-Universität in Mainz Torsten Brandenburg Geboren in Bonn Mainz 2012 II | 1. Berichterstatter: 2. Berichterstatter: Tag der mündlichen Prüfung: | III Abstract Higher education is on the move: In a period in which the Arab Gulf states can use their abundant petro funds to close the financial and economic gap towards the most advanced economies, it is not surprising that these states are also using their funds to bridge the gap in terms of educational, cultural and technical sophistication. The import of Western lifestyle and culture, as seen in the bid to host international sport events, but also cooperation in museum projects and philharmonic orchestras, are visible signs of a creeping Westernization. Through the adaption of Western civilization, especially in terms of identity-establishing entities, such as culture and education, GCC states are buying into inevitable contradictions. By using a cybernetic theory approach, the work in hand will screen the current move in higher education by analyzing the import reform strategies and its implementation in two case studies, in the State of Qatar and the Sultanate of Oman. Guideline-based expert interviews with local decision makers and shareholders as well as a systematic desk research were used to analyze the different modes of cross-border educational services which are accompanied by a policy of economic liberalization since the mid 1990s. It is evident that the reorganization of the educational systems is related to the emergent knowledge-based economy debate in the region. Internationalization and liberalization have become panacea, as these policy measures promise to overcome the region’s generally accepted backwardness in terms of knowledge production. Economic progress and the citizens’ material welfare shall no longer rely solely on the export of depletable resources but rather on productivity, innovation capacities and a capable domestic knowledge base. While the commercial presence of foreign educational providers and the overall shift towards privatization are defining features in Qatar and Oman, the country-studies reveal that the strategies and the implementation of the higher education reform differ widely in both countries. Qatar promotes a mobility of providers, whereas the funding of higher education remains mostly public. By contrast, Oman’s policy leads to a mobility of academic programs, at the same time the government shifts educational costs to society. Thus, it is possible to link the different modes of cross-border higher education to the strategies at a national- and at an institutional level. Thereby it becomes apparent that the global market for cross-border higher education is highly fragmented as it is used strategically to meet the specific demand. Public policy in the Arab Gulf states ever followed specific patterns. The claim to power of ruling dynasties, the status of rent-seeking petro economies, the social stratification, the abundance of capital as well as the dependency on foreign labor are unique features which have affected policy making since the 1970s. Those regional features also shape the character of the globalization’s impact on higher education and human capital formation nowadays. Even if foreign educational providers intend to operate as independent, quasi extraterritorial (offshore) entities in the host country, they still have to apply to the local rules and norms. Thus, the globalization of higher education, in terms of internationalization and privatization, is never uncoupled from the local environment. IV | Table of Contents | V Table of Contents Abstract III List of Abbreviations XIII Acknowledgments XV 1 Knowledge and Innovation: GCC’s Currency of the 21st Century? 1 2 Knowledge Discovery: A Cybernetics Theory Approach 7 2.1 System Analysis and Cybernetics 7 2.1.1 Fundamentals 7 2.1.2 Characteristics of Systems 8 2.2 Research Design 14 2.2.1 Cybernetics: Control Theory 16 2.2.2 Procedures of a System Analysis 18 2.2.3 Strategic and Functional Objective 18 2.2.4 Research Objective and Approach 19 2.3 Research Methodology, Study Design and Data Collection 21 2.3.1 Rationales for Country Selection 22 2.3.2 Cognitive Process: Qualitative Experts Interviews 24 2.3.3 Selection of the Interviewees 25 2.3.4 Challenges of Field Research in the Arab World 27 2.4 The Case-study Approach 28 2.4.1 Overview Qatar: Geographical, Historical and Economic Patterns 28 2.4.2 Overview Oman: Geographical, Historical and Economic Patterns 30 3 Theoretical Framework (1): Globalization, Development, and the Knowledge-based Economy 33 3.1 Establishing Knowledge-based Economies: The New Panacea of Economic Development or Just the Buzzword of the 21st Century? 33 3.1.1 Introduction: The Knowledge-based Economy 34 3.1.2 Globalization, Education and the Knowledge-based Economy 34 3.1.3 Knowledge for Development: Benchmarking Knowledge Economies 37 3.2 GCC’s Vision of a Knowledge-based Economy 38 3.2.1 GCC’s Overall Knowledge Economy Readiness 41 3.2.2 WEF’s Global Competitiveness Index 43 3.2.3 WEF’s Scenarios of Socio-economic Development in the GCC 44 3.3 Higher Education as a Part of the GCC’s Knowledge Revolution 47 3.3.1 Knowledge Lights the Lamps that Point out the Way on the Arab Journey to the Future 47 3.3.2 Bridging the Knowledge Gap 49 VI | Table of Contents 4 Theoretical Framework (2): GATS, Internationalization and Privatization of Higher Education 51 4.1 Privatization of Higher Education 51 4.1.1 Higher Education as a (Former) Public Commodity 51 4.1.2 The Creeping in of a Market Philosophy into Higher Education 52 4.1.3 The Marketization of Higher Education 53 4.1.4 The Emergence of Private, Profit-oriented Higher Education 56 4.1.5 Types of Private Higher Education Institutions 58 4.1.6 Typology of Higher Education Sectors 59 4.2 Internationalization of Higher Education: Growth and Complexity of Cross- border Services 61 4.2.1 Terminologies 62 4.2.2 Educational Services Across National Borders 63 4.2.2.1 Cross-border Program Mobility 63 4.2.2.2 Cross-border Provider Mobility 67 4.2.3 Values and Rationales Guiding Cross-border Higher Education 70 4.2.3.1 Import Strategies 71 4.2.3.2 Export Strategies 73 4.3 Liberalization Commitments to Higher Education According to GATS 75 4.3.1 General Agreement on Trade in Services 75 4.3.2 The Relevance of Trade in Higher Education 78 4.3.3 The Intensity of Liberalization Commitments in Higher Education 79 5 External Factors and Controlling Elements and their Impact at the National Level in the GCC 83 5.1 External Factors Affecting Higher Education in the GCC 83 5.1.1 Demographic Challenge 83 5.1.2 The Oil and Gas Industry: Backbone of the Economic Development 85 5.1.3 GCC’s Labor Market 88 5.1.4 Legitimacy of the Ruling Family 88 5.1.5 Cultural Norms and Values 89 5.1.6 Geopolitics 90 5.1.7 Challenges of the Existing Higher Education System 91 5.1.8 Conclusion: External Factors 92 5.2 Privatization as an Element of GCC’s Higher Education Policies 92 5.2.1 Governmental Strategies Relating to Private Higher Education 93 5.2.2 Adjusting the Controlling Element: Models of Privatization 96 5.3 Factors Affecting the Internationalization of Higher Education in the GCC 97 5.3.1 Limitations on Cross-border Mobility of Arab Students and Scholars 97 5.3.2 Gender Aspect 98 5.3.3 The Political Economy of Cross-border Higher Education Services (1): Import and Export Strategies at the National Level 99 5.3.4 The Political Economy of Cross-border Higher Education Services (2): Import and Export Strategies at the Institutional Level 101 Table of Contents | VII 5.4 Intensity of Liberalization Commitments on Higher Education in the GCC 102 5.4.1 SWOT Analysis 102 6 Country Study Oman: Building a Domestic Knowledge Base in Oman: Higher Education to Meet the Challenges of an Upcoming Post-Oil Era 105 6.1 The Early Phase of Higher Education in Oman: 1970-1995 105 6.1.1 Oman’s Crossroads: Political History and Economic Development 105 6.1.2 Oman’s Renaissance: Knowledge Production and Dissemination During Sultan Qaboos’ Reign 107 6.1.2.1 Public Investment in Higher Education 108 6.1.2.2 The Control Model: Regulation of Oman’s Higher Education System at the Initial Phase 111 6.2 Target Values: Promoting Higher Education to Set the Course for a Sustainable Future in a Post-Oil Era since 1995 113 6.2.1 Oman’s Vision 2020: Defining Oman’s Socio-economic Transformation 113 6.2.2 The Role of Higher Education within Oman’s Vision 2020 115 6.3 External Factors – Imperatives of Change 117 6.3.1 Demography 117 6.3.2 Capacity Building 118 6.3.3 Rationalization 119 6.3.4 Labor Market 120 6.4 Adjustment of the Controlling Elements: Oman’s Shift to Privatization and Internationalization of Higher Education 121 6.4.1 The Policy of Economic Liberalization of Higher Education 121 6.4.2 Internationalization of Higher Education 125 6.4.3 Oman’s Liberalization Commitment to GATS 127 6.4.4 Public Investments in Higher Education 128 6.4.5 Cybernetics Control Model: Control Mechanism in Higher Education 129 6.5 The Effects of Oman’s Higher Education Policy since 1995 132 6.5.1 Massification of Higher Education: “The Need for More” 132 6.5.2 Public versus Private Higher Education Opportunities 135 6.5.3 Oman’s Additional Private Higher