The "Parallel Universe" of Firm-Based Education

• In Event: The Global Education Industry: Emerging Edu-Businesses and Education Markets

Abstract

This paper focuses on certifiers of information and communication (ICT) education and on the related training. Key providers are internationally active software companies, which no longer restrict their business to selling software. They also provide the training to ensure that people can use the knowledge they sell. The paper outlines how this type of education increasingly goes beyond merely providing ICT-skills. The providers are rather about to establish a "parallel universe" of tertiary education. The paper provides an overview about this trend and also points out important differences between providers. The increasing importance of this universe, and the way it has become a model for other types of training, stand in stark contrast to the lack of attention it has attracted so far within educational research. The paper addresses this shortcoming with the case study it presents.

Furthermore, it develops a theoretical perspective which helps to better understand the reasons why this type of providers has gained momentum. This perspective interrelates accounts of sociology of education, political sociology, economic sociology and political economy and introduces the notion of the coordination firm. This type of firms differs from other firms for they play a vital coordination function in the knowledge-based economy. In some cases they even replace governments as key coordinator. Taking ICT-related training and certification as a case in point, the paper examines in more detail the extent to which these firms step into a vacuum between nationally oriented policy-making and an increasing need for international coordination. The emergence of this type of international coordination through private providers has major consequences for the selectivity of this coordination, as the paper critically concludes.

Author

• Eva Hartmann, Copenhagen Business School