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

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Before World War I, IGOs were more regional bodies and had limited purpose: there was a little
or no interaction and collaboration among these international bodies and every IGO had been
created to serve a specific purpose only. But later on, in the wake of new social, political and
technological developments, the IGOs took multifaceted roles with enhanced inter and intra-
organizational cooperation and networking. Likewise the role of international organizations
(IGOs) in the field of education is more consistent and continuous since the mid of the twentieth
century. At debut, IGOs launched their activities at a limited scale in selected fields in few
countries but later on this phenomenon became extensive and even universal. The influence of
IGOs on national systems of education can be explained using two particular concepts: neo-
institutionalist research with the concept of isomorphism and externalization with reference to
systems theory. The neo-institutionalist approach focuses on the diffusion and the effects of
cognitive-cultural models whereas the concept of externalization introduces a dialectic view on
the processes of internationalization (Amaral, 2010)
3.3 Classification of international organizations
International organizations are explicit arrangements, negotiated among international actors,
which prescribe, proscribe, and/or authorize behavior (Koremenos, Lipson, & Snidal, 2001).
These international bodies are of many types and forms, depending on the reason or purpose of
their existence, nature of work, level of action, geographical area covered, type of service
provided etc. International organizations have been classified on many bases: non-governmental,
intergovernmental, legal, cooperative, social, educational, economic, political, terrorist,
humanitarian environmental etc.
Classification of international organization is not a simple task because of their overarching
characteristics, structures, functions, forms, aims and objectives. According to the Yearbook of
International Organizations, with the increase in the population and the variety of international
bodies, it has become difficult to adhere to the old selection criteria (UIA, 2010). Today
International organizations (IOs) have a broad spectrum of variety. It‟s true that the diversity
poses a great challenge in the way of classification of IOs but at the same time there also exist
some similarities, which can be used as a criterion to classify IOs. These similarities can be
based on purpose, nature, structure, function, membership potential, mode of action and the
terminology, nomenclature.