Bernard Lawrence Bernie Madoff Assignment Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Bernard Lawrence Bernie Madoff - Assignment Example For years MR. Madoff complied with paying dividends to investors, but under false assumptions. The deception that was occurring was unethical behavior. The third type of illegal behavior associated with this scam was that Madoff’s company was not complying with the generally accepted accounting principles. Not complying with the general accepted accounting principles is a violation of the FASB and SEC mandates. 2. The scam that Bernie Madoff pulled off hurt a lot of different interest groups. Prior to the scandal exploding the hedge fund that Mr. Madoff was operating was an extremely attractive investment alternative for a lot of individual investors and organizations that were looking to gain a profit from the stock market. The hedge fund Mr. Madoff was able to maintain in the marketplace for over 20 years was a tremendous opportunity for a lot of investors. Some federal prosecutors believe that the fraudulent activity from Mr. Madoff began as early as the 1970’s. The total losses that this scheme caused investors exceeded $65 billion. The fund offered investors every year consistently double digits returns, which is unheard of on Wall Street for a prolonged period of time. The Ponzi scheme Madoff operated hurt a lot of interest groups. Some of the interest groups that were hurt by the scam included individual investors, non –profit organizations, governmental agencies, and private corporations. â€Å"If Madoff hadn’t faced $7 billion in redemptions, the Ponzi scheme might have never been discovered† (Lenzner, 2008). 3. There are several safeguards that could have prevented the Ponzi scheme that Madoff created from occurring. The first safeguard could have been obligating the company to reveal the exact composition of the portfolio of the fund to the individual investors on a recurrent basis. A second potential safeguard could have been establishing recurrent audits of the investment activity of the firm by independent audito rs. A third safeguard that could have prevented this fraud could have been more involvement by the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC) in the matter. The SEC could have imposed more rigorous auditing standards to analyze the activities of the company. A fourth source of risk management prevention should have been the FBI. Most of the major investment firms on Wall Street believed that the returns offered by Madoff’s company were unrealistic in the long term. The FBI should have investigated this situation earlier. It seems ironic that it took the FBI and the SEC over 20 years to realize it was all a scam. 4. The grand majority of the funds of the hedge fund were invested by individual investors. From an investor’s standpoint the losses could have been prevented or at least minimized by investing only a small portion of their portfolio composition in this hedge fund. A second way investors could have prevented falling into this fraudulent scheme would have been by mandating that Madoff revealed the sources of the income of the hedge fund. Another way the investors could have prevented the scam was by asking the advice of registered broker prior to investing in the fund. 5. The scam that Mr. Madoff was involved

Humanitarian Ethics System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Humanitarian Ethics System - Essay Example According to a recent report by the World Federation of International Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent is no longer defensible humanitarian intervention before certain disaster without addressing its causes. This paper 2000 humanitarian ethics system in a concise and comprehensive way. Speaking in the context of twenty first century, humanitarian action is consisted on strong values, norms and standards of 'humanity', from which its name is taken. Humanity, thus, appears as the unshakable link that unites and cements all human beings: a feeling, emotion and a sense that push each person to recognize the other as his or her equal and fellow human being. Most ethical theories in the ancient world were forms of virtue ethics, but in the era of 2000 there have, until recently, been few virtue ethicists. Most moral theories of 2000 treat rightness as a matter of producing good results or conforming to moral rules or principles, but virtue ethics specifies what is moral in relation to such inner factors as character and motive, and unlike most modern views, it treats aretaic notions like "admirable" and "excellent" - rather than deontic concepts like "ought," "right," and "obligatory" - as fundamental to the enterprise of ethics (Slote, 2007). Slote (2007) mentions that in its 2003 report on disasters, the International Federation of Societies of Red Cross and Red Crescent, in addition to analyzing some timely topics such as famine in southern Africa, the conflict between power and ethics in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, the phenomenon of forced migration, framed conceptually ethics humanitarian disasters and wars, reflect on the measurement of disasters (challenges, opportunities and ethics) and provide data on disasters and refugees. Regarding the famine in early 2003 affected 15 million people in southern Africa, the document denounces lack of foresight, inefficiency and delay in implementing the aid. The combination of this disaster with the HIV / AIDS and poverty dramatically complicates the situation and generates questions about the relevance of certain intervene in conflicts without attacking its structural causes (Slote, 2007). Jacques (2003) discusses that another example of the difficulties of international aid to solve basic problems is the situation in Afghanistan, where in many aspects of security and human rights were compounded since the invasion of the allied troops led by the United States. Also the phenomenon of forced migration (175 million people living outside their homeland) raises ethical and legal problems related to humanitarian aid and citizenship and their rights. The humanitarian ethics is guided by two principles: neutrality and independence. These are the basis of a code of conduct for humanitarian aid which has acceded to over 200 organizations worldwide. However, the Federation of Societies of Red Cross and Red Crescent noted that compliance with these principles has been uneven. Humanitarian assistance tends to

Arthur Miller Research Paper Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 1500 words

Arthur Miller - Research Paper Example Miller's first play to make it to Broadway, The Man Who Had All the Luck (1944), was a dismal failure, closing after only four performances. This early setback almost discouraged Miller from writing completely, but he gave himself one more try. Three years later,  All My Sons  won the New York Drama Critics' Circle Award as the best play of 1947, launching Miller into theatrical stardom. All My Sons, a drama about a manufacturer of faulty war materials, was strongly influenced by the naturalist drama of Henrik Ibsen. Along with  Death of a Salesman  (his most enduring success), All My Sons and The Man Who Had All the Luck form a thematic trilogy of plays about love triangles involving fathers and sons. The drama of the family is at the core of all of Miller's major plays, but nowhere is it more prominent than in the realism of All My Sons and the impressionism of Death of a Salesman, a play which secured Miller’s reputation as one of the nation’s foremost playwr ights. Also in 1956, Miller married actress Marilyn Monroe. The two divorced in 1961, one year before her death. That year Monroe appeared in her last film, The Misfits, which is based on an original screenplay by Miller. After divorcing Monroe, Miller wed Ingeborg Morath, to whom he remained married until his death in 2005. The pair had a son and a daughter. Miller also wrote the plays A Memory of Two Mondays and the short A View from the Bridge, which were both staged in 1955. His other works include After the Fall (1964), a thinly veiled account of his marriage to Monroe, as well as The Price (1967), The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977), and  The American  Clock (1980). His most recent works include the plays The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1993), and Broken Glass (1993), which won the Olivier Award for Best Play. Miller also wrote the plays A Memory of Two Mondays and the short A View from the Bridge, which were both staged in 1955. His other works include After the Fall (1964), a thinly veiled account of his marriage to Monroe, as well as The Price (1967), The Archbishop's Ceiling (1977), and  The American  Clock (1980). His most recent works include the plays The Ride Down Mt. Morgan (1991), The Last Yankee (1993), and Broken Glass (1993), which won the Olivier Award for Best Play. Although Miller did not write frequently for film, he did pen an adaptation for the 1996 film version of The Crucible starring Daniel Day-Lewis and Winona Ryder, which garnered him an Academy Award nomination. Miller's daughter Rebecca married Day-Lewis in 1996. With  Tennessee Williams, Miller was one of the best-known American playwrights after WW II. Several of his works were filmed by such director as John Huston, Sidney Lumet and Karel Reiz. Arthur Miller was awarded the Pulitzer Prize in 1949 for  Death of a Salesman.  He has come to be considered one of the greatest dramatists in the history of the American Theatre, and his plays, a fusion of naturalistic and expressionistic techniques, continue to be widely produced. Arthur Miller's  Death of a Salesman  stems from both Arthur Miller's personal experiences and the theatrical traditions in which the playwright was schooled. Miller is in some way accusing a culture that encourages "wrong" values and campaigning against an uncharitable social order that deprives honest workers of constructive labor, then discards those who are no longer useful. The play recalls the

A Reaction To The Making Of The Hurricane Assignment

A Reaction To The Making Of The Hurricane - Assignment Example The paper gives detailed information about the movie "The Making of the Hurricane". This movie proves that there exist injustices in the world, including the criminal systems, which are supposed to be just. Close to the end of this bonus documentary, the producer admits that the movie attempts to unravel the injustices in the world. This is through its based on the life of Rubin Carter, a fighter with promise, who was incarcerated for something he did not do. The producer argues that injustices are existent in society, and these include racism, political injustices, among many other forms. Carter himself adds that the movie is based on redemption, specifically his redemption. He also notes that the movie is meant to inspire people in overcoming adversity in life. All these roots from the injustices that Carter had to undergo in his life. According to Carter, his rescue from the hands of injustice was a complete miracle. Similarly, another actress in the movie notes that injustices in society have persisted in various spheres, but the human spirit is strong enough to endure them. She considered Carter strong-hearted, because he underwent all that, and still manages to smile. From this documentary, I have learned new things about the whole issue surrounding Rubin Carter and generally, his life. Although the past events in Rubin’s life are quite known by different people, this documentary has revealed to me some surprising facts. First, I am surprised that in the process of shooting the movie, the crew kept in close contact with Rubin Carter.

Humanitarian Ethics System Essay Example | Topics and Well Written Essays - 750 words

Humanitarian Ethics System - Essay Example According to a recent report by the World Federation of International Societies of the Red Cross and Red Crescent is no longer defensible humanitarian intervention before certain disaster without addressing its causes. This paper 2000 humanitarian ethics system in a concise and comprehensive way. Speaking in the context of twenty first century, humanitarian action is consisted on strong values, norms and standards of 'humanity', from which its name is taken. Humanity, thus, appears as the unshakable link that unites and cements all human beings: a feeling, emotion and a sense that push each person to recognize the other as his or her equal and fellow human being. Most ethical theories in the ancient world were forms of virtue ethics, but in the era of 2000 there have, until recently, been few virtue ethicists. Most moral theories of 2000 treat rightness as a matter of producing good results or conforming to moral rules or principles, but virtue ethics specifies what is moral in relation to such inner factors as character and motive, and unlike most modern views, it treats aretaic notions like "admirable" and "excellent" - rather than deontic concepts like "ought," "right," and "obligatory" - as fundamental to the enterprise of ethics (Slote, 2007). Slote (2007) mentions that in its 2003 report on disasters, the International Federation of Societies of Red Cross and Red Crescent, in addition to analyzing some timely topics such as famine in southern Africa, the conflict between power and ethics in humanitarian aid to Afghanistan, the phenomenon of forced migration, framed conceptually ethics humanitarian disasters and wars, reflect on the measurement of disasters (challenges, opportunities and ethics) and provide data on disasters and refugees. Regarding the famine in early 2003 affected 15 million people in southern Africa, the document denounces lack of foresight, inefficiency and delay in implementing the aid. The combination of this disaster with the HIV / AIDS and poverty dramatically complicates the situation and generates questions about the relevance of certain intervene in conflicts without attacking its structural causes (Slote, 2007). Jacques (2003) discusses that another example of the difficulties of international aid to solve basic problems is the situation in Afghanistan, where in many aspects of security and human rights were compounded since the invasion of the allied troops led by the United States. Also the phenomenon of forced migration (175 million people living outside their homeland) raises ethical and legal problems related to humanitarian aid and citizenship and their rights. The humanitarian ethics is guided by two principles: neutrality and independence. These are the basis of a code of conduct for humanitarian aid which has acceded to over 200 organizations worldwide. However, the Federation of Societies of Red Cross and Red Crescent noted that compliance with these principles has been uneven. Humanitarian assistance tends to

A Reaction To The Making Of The Hurricane Assignment

A Reaction To The Making Of The Hurricane - Assignment Example The paper gives detailed information about the movie "The Making of the Hurricane". This movie proves that there exist injustices in the world, including the criminal systems, which are supposed to be just. Close to the end of this bonus documentary, the producer admits that the movie attempts to unravel the injustices in the world. This is through its based on the life of Rubin Carter, a fighter with promise, who was incarcerated for something he did not do. The producer argues that injustices are existent in society, and these include racism, political injustices, among many other forms. Carter himself adds that the movie is based on redemption, specifically his redemption. He also notes that the movie is meant to inspire people in overcoming adversity in life. All these roots from the injustices that Carter had to undergo in his life. According to Carter, his rescue from the hands of injustice was a complete miracle. Similarly, another actress in the movie notes that injustices in society have persisted in various spheres, but the human spirit is strong enough to endure them. She considered Carter strong-hearted, because he underwent all that, and still manages to smile. From this documentary, I have learned new things about the whole issue surrounding Rubin Carter and generally, his life. Although the past events in Rubin’s life are quite known by different people, this documentary has revealed to me some surprising facts. First, I am surprised that in the process of shooting the movie, the crew kept in close contact with Rubin Carter.

Education Sector Essay Example for Free

Education Sector Essay The typical Indian classroom was once characterized by students sitting through hour-long teacher monologues. Now, technology is making life easier for both students and educators. Schools are increasingly adopting digital teaching solutions to engage with a generation of pupils well-versed with the likes of PlayStations and iPads, and trying to make the classroom environment more inclusive and participatory. Take Smartclass from Educomp Solutions, one of the first Indian companies in this space. Smartclass is essentially a digital content library of curriculum-mapped, multimedia-rich, 3D content. It also enables teachers to quickly assess how much of a particular lesson students have been able to assimilate during the class. Once a topic is covered, the teacher gives the class a set of questions on a large screen. Each student then answers via a personal answering device or the smart assessment system. The teacher gets the scores right away and based on that, she repeats parts of the lesson that the students dont appear to have grasped. Technology makes the teaching-learning process very easy and interesting, says Harish Arora, a chemistry teacher at the Bal Bharti Public School in New Delhi who has been using Smartclass since 2004. For instance, [earlier] it would easily take me one full lecture to just draw an electromagnetic cell on the blackboard. Though I could explain the cell structure, there was no way I could have managed to show them how it really functions. This is where technology comes to our aid now I can show the students a 3D model of the cell and how it functions. Instead of wasting precious time drawing the diagram on the blackboard, I can invest it in building the conceptual clarity of my students. According to Abhinav Dhar, director for K-12 at Educomp Solutions, more than 12,000 schools across 560 districts in India have adopted Smartclass. More importantly, the number is growing at almost 20 schools a day. On average, in each of these schools eight classrooms are using Smartclass. When we launched Smartclass in 2004 as the first-ever digital classroom program, it was an uphill task convincing schools to adopt it, Dhar notes. These schools had not witnessed any change in a century. It is a completely different scenario now. Private schools across India today see [technology] as an imperative. A digital classroom is set to become the bare-minimum teaching accessory in schools, just like a blackboard is today. Dhar recalls that one major roadblock for Educomps proposition in the early days was on the price front. At US$4,000 (at the exchange rate of Rs. 50 to a U. S. dollar) per classroom, schools found the product very expensive. To get over this hurdle, Educomp quickly decided to make the initial investment and gave the schools an option to pay over a period of three to five years. The strategy worked. Enthused by the market response, in January Educomp launched an upgraded version the Smartclass Class Transformation System with more features, including simulations, mind maps, worksheets, web links, a diagram maker, graphic organizers and assessment tools. Huge Potential According to the Indian Education Sector Outlook Insights on Schooling Segment, a report released by New Delhibased research and consultancy firm Technopak Advisors in May, the total number of schools in India stands at 1. 3 million. Of these, private schools account for 20%. Educomps Dhar points out that only around 10% of the private schools have tapped the potential of multimedia classroom teaching whereas in government schools, it has barely made any inroads. The current market size for digitized school products in private schools is around US$500 million, says Enayet Kabir, associate director for education at Technopak. This is expected to grow at a CAGR [compound annual growth rate] of 20% to reach the over US$2 billion mark by 2020. However, the market potential then might get as big as US$4 billion [i. e.if the total population of private schools that could adopt multimedia actually adopt it. ] Apart from this, the current market size for ICT [information and communications technology] in government schools is US$750 million. We expect this to grow five times by 2020 due to the current low level of penetration in government schools. Kabir lists Educomp Solutions, Everonn Education, NIIT, Core Education Technologies, ILFS and Compucom as dominant players in this sector. New entrants include HCL Infosystems, Learn Next, Tata Interactive Systems, Mexus Education, S.Chand Harcourt (India) and iDiscoveri Education. Except for S. Chand Harcourt, which is a joint venture between S. Chand and US-based Houghton Mifflin Harcourt, all the others are Indian firms. A recent trend is that schools in tier two and tier three cities are increasingly adopting the latest technology. Rajesh Shethia, head of sales and marketing at Tata Interactive Systems, which launched Tata ClassEdge in early 2011 and has partnered up with more than 900 schools, says that more than half of the demand for digital classrooms is from tier two and tier three cities. According to Shethia, schools in these smaller cities realize that it is difficult for their students to get as much exposure as students from tier one cities. [So] they proactively subscribe to solutions such as ours, which richly benefit both teachers and students by simplifying the syllabus. Even parents want the best for their wards and are not averse to paying a little extra. They see value in these initiatives by schools to modernize the way teaching is imparted today. Making some back-of-the-envelope calculations Shethia adds: If we consider the top 100,000 private schools in India as the captive market, the potential is approximately two million classrooms of which currently just about 80,000 have been digitized. Srikanth B. Iyer, COO of Pearson Education Services, also sees tremendous potential in the smaller cities. Pearson provides end-to-end education solutions in the K-12 segment. Its multimedia tool, DigitALly, has been adopted in more than 3,000 private schools across India since 2004. DigitALly installations have been growing at three times the market for the past two years, Iyer says. Currently, more than 60% of our customers are from tier two and tier three towns, such as Barpeta (in the state of Assam), Sohagpur (in Madhya Pradesh) and Balia (in Uttar Pradesh). In order to make its offering attractive to the schools, Pearson has devised a monthly payment model under which a school pays around US$2 per student per month. As the price point is affordable, schools across all locations and fee structures find it viable to opt for our solution, Iyer notes. We focus on tier two and tier three towns and cities where penetration is relatively low and desire for adoption of technology is high. HCLs Digischool program, which launched about 18 months ago, has also made a strong beginning, with a client base of more than 2,500 schools. Partnering with State Governments Meanwhile, state governments are also giving a boost to the adoption of technology in schools. Edureach, a divison of Educomp, has partnered with 16 state governments and more than 30 education departments and boards in the country, covering over 36,000 government schools and reaching out to more than 10. 60 million students. Edureach leads the market with 27% of the total schools where ICT projects have been implemented, says Soumya Kanti, president of Edureach. We are looking [to add] 3,000 more schools this fiscal year and 20,000 to 25,000 additional schools in the next five years. As of now, Edureach has created digital learning content in more than 14 regional languages for these projects. In the northern state of Haryana, CORE Education and Technologies is implementing a US$59 million ICT project that aims to benefit 5 million students across 2,622 schools. Five of these schools will be developed as Smart schools. CORE is also implementing ICT projects in the states of Gujarat, Meghalaya, Punjab, Maharashtra and Nagaland. The scope of work in these projects ranges from implementation of computer-aided learning in schools, installing bio-metric devices to monitor attendance of teachers, and setting up computer hardware, software and other allied accessories and equipments. The task has not been an easy one, admits Anshul Sonak, president of CORE. There are several logistical issues. Delivery of equipment to rural areas is a big challenge in itself. There is lack of basic infrastructure either there are no classrooms or there are ones with no windows. Some schools dont even have toilets. Moreover, the power availability in these areas is often poor and we have had to deploy generator sets in many schools. But despite the challenges, educationists are optimistic. Rahul De, professor of quantitative methods and information systems area at the Indian Institute of Management in Bangalore (IIM-B) believes that ICT can have a huge impact on our education system. He points out that ICT can result in increasing the reach [of education] and in keeping the costs low. With increasing penetration of mobile phones and Internet kiosks, the potential is indeed immense, he adds. A study conducted by De in 2009 on the economic impact of free and open source software (FOSS) in India found that it resulted in significant cost savings. FOSS can play a huge role in education, De notes. In the state of Kerala, it has already had a huge impact in both saving costs and providing state-of-the-art access computing to students in government schools. FOSS has a huge number of packages for school students, many of which can be ported to local languages and used in schools. It is also helping disabled students in a big way, by enabling them to access digital resources using audio-visual aids. Edureachs Kanti adds that a study by the Centre for Multi-Disciplinary Development Research in Dharwad in Karnataka in 2006 revealed significant improvement in student enrolment and attendance, as well as a reduction of student dropouts due to ICT interventions. Yet another study conducted by the Xavier Institute of Management in Bhubaneswar in 2007 revealed that computer-aided education has improved the performance of children in subjects such as English, mathematics and science, which are taught through computers using multimedia-based educational content. All in a Tab In line with this increasing interest in technology for school education, there has been a rush of education-focused tablet computers in the market. The most high-profile of these has been Aakash, which was launched by Kapil Sibal, union minister for human resource development, in October 2011. The Aakash project is part of the ministrys National Mission on Education through Information Communication Technology (NME-ICT). It aims to eliminate digital illiteracy by distributing the Aakash tablets to students across India at subsidized rates. While the project itself has become mired in delays and controversy, it has generated a lot of awareness and interest among students around the educational tablet. Meanwhile, DataWind, the Canada-based firm that partnered with the union government for the Aakash project, has also launched UbiSlate7, the commercial version of Aakash. The opportunity for low-cost tablets in India is huge. In the next two years, it will exceed the size of the computer market in India i. e. 10 million units per year, says Suneet Singh Tuli, president and CEO of DataWind. In April, technology firm HCL Infosystems launched the MyEdu Tab, which is priced at around US$230 for the K-12 version. The device comes preloaded with educational applications and also books from the National Council of Educational Research and Training, a government organization. Anand Ekambaram, senior vice-president and head of learning at HCL Infosystems, is in the process of partnering with more than 30 educational institutes across India for MyEdu Tab. MyEdu Tab has content offline and can be accessed over the cloud. It allows students to learn at their own pace, Ekambaram notes. With a topic revision application and a self-assessment engine, students can evaluate their skills and knowledge on their own. Teachers can upload content, which can be accessed by students and parents for tasks such as homework and progress reports on their respective devices. The parent can monitor the progress of his or her child through the cloud-based ecosystem. Earlier this year, Micromax, a leading Indian handset manufacturer, also launched an edutainment device called Funbook. Micromax has also partnered with Pearson and Everonn to make available relevant content for students. Susha John, director and CEO at Everonn, was upbeat at the launch. Digital learning facilitated through tablets will revolutionize the educational space, John said. Everonn has invested in developing content and services targeted toward tablet audiences. To start with, we will offer our school curriculum-learning modules and at home live tuition products on the Funbook. Students can now have access to good teachers, educational content and a great learning experience anytime, anywhere. At Pearson, Max Gabriel, senior vice-president and chief technology officer, is focusing on K-12 content in English to begin with. We are sitting on a huge repository of existing content. Adding the right level of interactivity and richer experience will be our priority. Meanwhile, Educomp is gearing up to launch content that is device agnostic and can be run on any tablet. But even as schools in India are going through this transformation powered by technology, one key question is how big a role technology will play in the education sector. In an earlier interview with India [emailprotected], S. Sadagopan, founder-director at the International Institute of Information Technology in Bangalore, pointed out that there are four parts to learning lectures, library, laboratory and life noting that, Technology plays a critical role in all these. Kabir of Technopak adds another perspective. Despite numerous studies on the impact of ICT in education, the outcomes remain difficult to measure and open to much debate. It needs to be understood that technology is only an enabler and a force multiplier and cannot be treated as a panacea. We believe that impressive gains in teaching-learning outcomes are possible only through an integrated approach rather than a piecemeal intervention. Don Huesman, managing director of Whartons innovation group, recommends caution in considering potential investments in educational technologies. These are very exciting times for online and distance education technologies, but there are risks facing parents, educators and policy makers in evaluating the opportunities these new technologies, and their proponents, represent. Huesman points to the recent growth in high-quality, free, online educational courseware offered on websites like the Khan Academy and the Math Forum, as well as the work of the Open Learning Initiative in developing intelligent cognitive tutors and learning analytics. But such technologies, available from a global network of resources, only provide value when understood, chosen and integrated into a local educational community, he says. As an illustration, Huesman offers the example of cyber kiosks, provided in recent years by foundations at no cost to rural communities in India, exacerbating the gender divide in many traditional communities in which young women congregating at public cyber cafes, also frequented by young men, would be considered taboo. Interventions by governments and NGOs must be inclusive of local community concerns and aware of local political complications, Huesman notes. Globalization: Impact on Education by Satish Tandon, September 2005 The principal objective of education has been the development of the whole individual. The minimum level of education that was necessary to achieve this goal in the agrarian society was basic or primary and in the industrial age, secondary. In the present borderless information society, education needs to be able to respond to additional demands of a rapidly globalizing world by raising awareness of environment, peace, cultural and social diversity, increased competitiveness, and the concept of a global village. Such education is to a knowledge or information society what secondary education was to an industrial economy. Education prepares the individual to connect and live in harmony with the environment around him. Globalization has changed the size, nature and quality of that environment. The challenge for higher education, therefore, is to reform, create and develop systems that prepare the individual to work in a borderless economy and live in a global society. In other words, our educational institutions need to produce global citizens. The collapse of the Soviet Union in 1991 allowed liberal democracies to claim victory for the capitalist system and contributed to increasing the pace of globalization that was already under way. As globalization gained momentum, market substituted political ideology as the dominant force guiding national and global policies. What followed next, therefore, does not seem so illogical. National governments everywhere partly in deference to the ascendancy of the market and partly in response to pressure from the private sector to expand their sphere of activities began to relinquish control over the delivery of social goods. Everything began to be viewed as a commodity that could be produced and delivered by the private sector in line with market forces and according to the principles of supply and demand. One by one water, electricity, postal services, health, and now education, have been turned into a commodity. The withdrawal of state from higher education has also been helped by economists, who have had an overly simple way of assessing the return on investments in higher education. The basic problem is that they have measured the return on education exclusively through wage differentials. With reference to someone who has no education, someone who has been to primary school, someone who has completed secondary school, and someone with a university degree, one can ask how much more each earns than the previous. These differences are then compared to the incremental amounts invested in their education to find the return. The results generally suggest that higher education yields a lower return than primary or secondary education and they have been used to justify the skewing of government budgets and development funds away from higher education institutions. The rate of return calculations are flawed because they do not take account of the full range of benefits to those who receive higher education. For example, higher education can enhance health, openness, peace, and social development, and at the same time reduce disease, bigotry and blind nationalism so the private benefits to the individual and to society are not just the direct labour productivity benefits, as the rate of return analysis suggests. Higher education confers benefits above and beyond enhancing the incomes of those who receive it. And many of these benefits take the form of public goods, such as the contribution of higher education to enterprise, leadership, governance, culture, and participatory democracy, and its potential for lifting the disadvantaged out of poverty. These are all vital building blocks for stronger economies and societies and all routes by which the benefit of investment in higher education multiplies throughout society. Liberal democracies have traditionally operated on the principle of separation of activities in the social sphere just as they have on the principle of separation of powers in the political sphere. The private sector had been given a relatively free hand in the production and delivery of economic goods while the state concentrated on the provision of healthcare, education and other infrastructure goods, also known as public goods. Globalization has changed all that. The rapid expansion of the influence of the private sector at the global level necessitated a corresponding expansion in their sphere of activities by diversifying into the production and delivery of public goods that had always been within the purview of the state. The takeover was swift and remarkable in the sense that the effort did not meet much resistance. One of the major consequences of the globalization of education has been commodification and the corporatization of institutions of higher learning. It is said that the for-profit education market in the United States is worth more than $500 billion in revenue for the involved corporates. More than one thousand state schools have been handed over to corporations to be run as businesses. But there is a fundamental problem with the way business models have been applied to the delivery of education and other public goods. Unthinking adoption of the private sector model prevents the development of a meaningful approach to management in the public services in general or to the social services in particular based on their distinctive purposes, conditions and objectives. There is another, more serious, problem with corporatization of education. Corporations operate on the principles of cost reduction and profit maximization. These require introducing standardization and the packaging of product in compact, measurable, byte-like, configuration. Applied to education, these approaches would possibly negate its basic fabric and purpose. Education has always encouraged and represents openness, inquiry, diversity, research and limitless learning. Corporatization of education would make it elitist the one provided by corporations for the masses and the poor who cannot afford going to the traditional institutions of learning, and the other for the rich and the affluent. The delivery of public goods and services is and should remain the primary responsibility of the state. Representative government may not be the ideal or perfect arrangement for governance but it represents the best that is available, and certainly more desirable than the private sector management of public services such as education. If the state relinquishes its control over education and education policy, we run the risk of diminishing it to the status of a packaged for-profit product which it is not. Openness, diversity, scholarship, research and disinterested learning will be its biggest victims.