Europe and Developing Countries in the Globalized Information Economy: Employment and Distance Education

The rapid development of new technology is accelerating the pace at which different regions and countries of the world are becoming interdependent. The convergence of computer and telecommunications technologies, in particular, is making it increasingly easy for services as well as goods to be produced in a cost effective way at a location that is distant from the market. For example, on-line interactive communication facilities between Europe and India are making it possible for European companies to out source software service work to India, where there is an abundance of low-wage knowledge workers. Similarly, advances in digital technology make it possible for learners in locations like Brazil to access educational material from Europe and other industrially advanced countries. This volume explores the challenges and the opportunities created by the rapid growth of ‘telematics’. European firms benefit through lower labour costs and from access to big new markets in the fields of education and training. At the same time European governments are concerned about jobs disappearing. For the developing world, there is the bright prospect of new jobs and novel means of education. However how secure will these new jobs be? Will a more highly educated work force lead to a brain drain? Umit Efendioglu, Ursula Huws, N.P. Basrur, Seema Chawla, Geraldine Reardon, Ranald Richardson, Abdelkader Djeflat, Andrew Davies, Dave Kapaln, Maria Ines Bastos, Albert Tuijnman, Peter E. Kinyanjui, E