THE NEW GLOBAL ECONOMY, INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY AND RESTRUCTURING EDUCATION

The world economy underwent a radical transformation in the 1970s and 1980s. The transformation has affected long-term national growth possibilities, the actual and potential roles that countries play in the world economy, and the strategies that governments must pursue to ensure growth. Because the use and production of information is so important to these changes, education has been particularly impacted. The experience of both developed and newly industrializing countries suggests that not only has education's importance as a source of growth increased, but that new educational policy approaches are required to realize this growth in an era of greater resource constraints and changing demands for labour skills. This essay describes the main characteristics of the economic changes taking place, assesses the corresponding changes in the international division of labour and its effects on configuration of schooling in various countries, and explores the need to respond to such changes through new educational investment strategies and restructuring the process of education itself.