Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...

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Christopher Steven Collin (2009) has studied the role of the World Bank in higher education in
two countries: Uganda and Thailand. He found that during past thirty years there is a positive
shift in lending for education (Collin, 2009). Keohane studied how international institutions
work, and transform. He made critical comparison of rationalistic and reflective view (Keohane,
1988). Martin and Simmons had also found that most of the research conducted on international
organizations is theoretical work or qualitative case studies and rare work exist on their role
(Martin & Simmons, 1998). Mingat (2007) has studied the variation in the distribution of
resources and outcomes across different countries (Mingat, 2007). Tilak has studied the
financing of education for development in Asian region. According to him “international aid –
loans and grants, both bilateral and multilateral, has been an important source of financing
education in some of the Asian countries: almost all low income countries in the region receive
small to significant amounts of external aid for development of education” (Tilak J. B., 2010).
2.2 IGOs’ importance in the society
Realist, liberal, idealist and institutionalist schools have long debated the utility of IGOs and a
majority accepts that IGOs have special roles to play in the society but no consensus exist on
what extent IGOs can/ should influence the states (Boehmer, Gartzke, & Nordstrom, 2004).
Whereas constructivists, functionalists, and institutionalists are of the opinion that regimes and
international institutions play a pivotal role fostering cooperation, promoting common norms,
reducing conflicts and confrontations (Young, 1992). It is also evident that for the last few
decades, IGOs have become dynamic players in the world of politics and have increased their
influence as well. Due to the enhanced role of these international bodies, now it is believed that
IGOs matter and they have become a complimentary component of the world order (Boehmer,
Gartzke, & Nordstrom, 2004).
IGOs are continuous international actors as well as instrument of the state in supporting higher
education for social and economic development through international understanding, cooperation
and collaboration. Different concepts of IGOs functioning can be summarized as: IGOs as
political tool of state diplomacy; as arena for coordination and negotiation; as cooperative
agents; and as bureaucratic bodies (Amaral, 2010), (Barnett & Press, 2004).
IGOs are owned, designed, created, constructed, managed, resourced, advanced, protected and
defended by states. These organization are neither hollow vessels nor useless entities but an