USING THE INTERNET TO INTEGRATE TRANSBOUNDARY WATERS EDUCATION, RESEARCH AND PROFESSIONAL DEVELOPMENT IN THE GLOBAL SOUTH: COSTS AND BENEFITS FROM A VIRTUAL MSc EXPERIMENT

摘要

This paper assesses the balance between economic and social costs and benefits in an experimental Internet-mediated tutorial and research-based postgraduate degree program. To test new means of building individual and institutional integrated coastal and water resources management capacity in developing countries and countries with economies in transition, a cohort of students was nominated by GEF (Global Environment Facility) transboundary waters projects to pilot a partially distance-delivered Master of Science pro-am in development geography, with a concentration in International Waters. Results are examined from both the perspective of providers - e.g. the educational institution - and beneficiaries. Analysis encompasses potential economic as well as "opportunity cost" benefits to students, their sponsors and employers, and by extension management expertise for the coastal or catchment resource base as it relates to sustainable development in a transboundary waters region. Conclusions drawn from the experience of a virtual MSc piloted by Royal Holloway, University of London, and GEF-IW:LEARN (the International Waters Learning Exchange and Resource Network project) from 1998-2000 point to integration of education and research with professional development as potential drivers in the expansion of environmentally sustainable development as a "growth industry" in the new millennium.