This past week the minister of education in China was fired for corruption.

He lost his job due to a number of issues, including the inability to curb corruption at the post-secondary level where some administrators have been known to profit from selling degrees and changing marks.

Similar corruption is rampant in India, where there are allegations that you can buy your way into a college or university, and that you can buy your credential on the way out.

Makes you wonder why you would bother attending class in the first place.

Corruption is so bad in India, that in 2007 their prime minister remarked on the sad state of their higher education system and vowed to improve the credibility of Indian credentials.

India is fraught with religious and cultural cleavages that impact immensely on its ability to build a strong national post-secondary system.

Yet beyond these problems it has been able to create an acceptable technical university system.

Success in this type of training and education is starting to occur as India had two schools listed within the top 200 universities in the world in 2009.

These were the Indian Institute of Technology Bombay and the Indian Institute of Technology Delhi.

China had 11 universities on that same list, with four of them among the top 50: University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong University of Science and Technology, the Chinese University of Hong Kong and the Tsinghua University.

In China, it is often believed that political ideology influences the decision-making of college or university administration.

This can impact on a school’s ability to meet student demand, provide the best learning available and attract good faculty, just to name a few.

And to make education even more interesting in China, all universities are expected to educate a number of students to enter the People’s Liberation Army.

In Canada, we have the Royal Military College of Canada—we don’t usually offer military training at our colleges and universities.

What really happens with countries like China and India is that students who want a solid, reputable education will leave to get their education elsewhere. This is why you will see many Chinese students enrolled as international students all over Canada.

They know their degree or diploma from a Canadian post-secondary institution will be worth more and get them a better job than that same credential from some of their schools back home.

Although in India many students leave as that country builds its higher education system, it is looking at inviting universities to establish campuses in their country.

It is just a matter of time where you may see western universities set up satellite campuses in New Delhi if it hasn’t already happened.

When you look at countries like India and China, it really makes you appreciate how good we have it here in Canada.

Our system may not be perfect but we can be assured that our credentials are solid and reputable.

Jane Muskens is the interim registrar at Okanagan College.

jmuskens@okanagan.bc.ca