In the interest of the people, I find it essential to acknowledge and share with everyone the experience that I have gained in the two days seminar at NEHU, Shillong 07-08-2006 because we always need to innovate our thoughts and widen our knowledge and that is what I have gain from the seminar.

National seminar on "Global convergence of commerce Education" was organised by Department of Commerce NEHU - Shillong and Institute of Chartered Accountants of India, New Delhi. The sole aim of the seminar was to acknowledge everyone in particular the students, that due to globalisation of business and trade related activities there is a vast need for harmonizing the accounting, reporting techniques and trade related activities.

The seminar has taken into consideration the implications of United Nations (UN), the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Paris, European Union (EU), World Trade Organisation (WTOs), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), International Federation of Accountant (IFAC).

In the seminar 36 delegates presented their papers. The two day seminar was divided into four technical sessions. 1st Technical Session was basically meant for Accounting Education and Research, 2nd Technical Session for WTO and Developing Nations, 3rd Technical Session for SME Management and 4th Technical Session for Information Technology and e-commerce.

Many important personnel from the concern area grace the seminar and place their views and opinions so as to supplement the ideas and opinions expressed by the delegates. Though all resource and experienced persons gave valuable informations, I would specially want to mention the speeches delivered by Dr. TP Ghosh, ICAI-New Delhi, S.K. Tiware, Chief Secretary, Govt. of Meghalaya and Prof. S. Nandy, IIT Guwahati.

Dr. TP Ghosh shared an important point with all regarding the Impact of Economic Reforms and Globalisation on Accounting and Governance. His paper was based on a recent study on corporate governance in ten countries in Asia. He placed the fact that India ranked fourth in the region. Singapore, Hongkong and Malaysia are ahead of India, South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand, Philippines, China and Indonesia are behind.

In enforcement, only Hongkong and Singapore are ahead of India. Indian investors are willing to pay a governance premium of 23 percent, conceivably for lower agency costs. S.K. Tiwari humbled himself by expressing that he is very much illiterate about commerce and business.

Nevertheless being a very senior and well experienced administrative officer he deliberately point out the relativity of the system of financial reporting with that of the economic, legal, educational and political institutions in a country. His view was that there have been major changes in financial reporting in India since the economic reforms and globalisation began in the early 1990s. His noble opinion in the context of the seminar was that commerce education should be in convergence with the global requirement but basically should be divergence in function.

Prof S Nandy gave a very informative speech. He was taking about C2B - a future prospective of customer to Business. The most important point was that C2B will be a new empowerment of customers. C2B will be coming. It will be accepted not just by the businessmen but by the whole community of academics, politics, economics and others because C2B is basically for the public.

In the very first technical session of Accounting Education and Research four delegates placed certain basic facts. Leena B. Dam, Faculty ICFAI National College, Guwahati, attempted through her paper to study the research done in the field of accounting and also suggested further scope for research and development.

Prof. R.K. Gupta, PU, Chandigarh stressed the need to integrate the accounting research with environmental data as well as decision making in organizations. Then, Shruveer S. Bhanawat, Sr. Lect, BNPG College Udaipur gave a disclosure about the Accounting of Intellectual Property Rights (IPG) with special reference to pharmaceuticals industry. The main objective of his paper was to provide a road map for corporate sector on how they can account for their IPRs.

Jaya Choudhury, Lect., Pragjyotish College, Guwahati presented her paper on the career opportunities offered by forensic Accounting. She placed her opinion that Forensic Accounting is an emerging branch of accounting focussing mainly on fraud investigation and prevention, dispute resolution, litigation support and other criminal investigations.

Under the second technical Session, 12 delegates presented their papers on the WTO and Developing Economies. And at the very onset, Prof S. Borbora, IIT Guwahati talked about different complex issues involved in the WTO implications mainly in the context of negotiations on agriculture.

His paper focussed on certain areas on Agriculture negotiations like domestic support and export subsidies with the main objective to identify possible future strategy for the developing countries. I, myself followed his speech.

My paper was on the Free Trade in Higher Education under the WTO's GATS : Opportunities and challenges with special reference to India.

My paper was an effort to highlight the emerging trends of higher education in India in the context of globalisation. For the purpose of my presentation I concentrated on certain statistical figures which I felt should be given more emphasis to give a comparative account.

Higher Education is basically recognized as a service due to the fact that this sector has a huge potential customers in the form of students worldwide. International trade in higher education has been estimated to reach US$50 billion.

There are 1.8 million international students who pursue higher education and grow to 7.2 million by 2025. US earns $ 13 billion, Australia Aus $ 4.2 billion from international students investment. In the present existing situation, I have placed the fact that our Indian education system is still lagging behind.

Japan has 684 Universities, UK 104, Germany 330 but India with more than 100 crores population has only 335 Universities and the percentage of enrolment relating to only 6% while UK accounts for 52%, US 80.9%, Indonesia 11%. Govt. expenditure on education as proportion of GNP of India is only 3.8 % even for Zimbabwe it is 8.3%.

The provision of education in 5 years plans reached 5.21% in Fourth five years plan but decline to 4.25% in the Nineth five years plan and the share of higher education in total expenditure of education in 5 years plan reached upto 25% in IV 5 years plan but when approach to the IXth plan it also decline to 10% only.

So, at this present rate, taking the opportunity of the seminar to interact with different resource persons, I seeked their opinions about the implications of WTO's GATS which advocates for commercialization of higher education and introduced this sector in the open market.

Everyone was of the opinion that the nation now needs a sensible policy which can give attention to the implications of WTO's GATS taking its positive perspectives and at the same time analysing the negative implications also. Then, Tulika Mattach, Lect, DHSK Commerce College, Dibrugarh expressed the various aspect of the WTO aggreements and their significance to the developing countries of the world through her paper entitled "WTO and Developing Economies".

A.K. Vashist, Prof. PU,. Chandigarh highlighted the reform measures undertaken by the Govt. in the direction of world class patents in India and their implications and impediments under the title of his paper "Intellectual property Rights in India - Issues and challenges".

In a paper under the topic of Impact of Globalization of life Insurance Sector with reference to Mizoram, LG Singh, Lecturer in Commerce, Govt. Aizawl college gave an account about the impact of globalization on life insurance sector in India as well as in Mizoram relating to growth, market share performance and new challenges particularly after the entry of private players.

Issues relating to developing countries in WTO regime were placed before the participant and the other present in the seminar in a very precise manner by Surya Naragan Ray, Lect in commerce, Dinhata college, Dinhata, Cooch Behar. Dipanker Shome, Research Scholar Dept. of Commerce, NEHU, Shillong expressed the imperative requirement on the part of India to ensure a strong regulatory supervisor mechanism for banking sector under the topic of GATS commitments and Reforms in Indian Banking.

Furthermore, the need to strengthen the regional economic developing strategies of developing countries under the economic implications of SAARC and WTO was expressed by Sanjoy Rinzin, Lect, Sherubtse, Kanglung Bhutan.

Dr. Swatantra Kumar, Faculty, RB Management Institute, Bareilly presented his paper on the tittle 'global supply chains: Problems and Prospects' in the post globalisation scenario so as to highlight global best practices, failures and prospects in global supply chain management. He placed the fact that in post globalisation scenario the Global Supply Chain Management is becoming an interesting area of academic investigation.

Dr. K.C. Kabra Sr. Lect Dept. of Commerce NEHU placed the major challenges of the developing countries including India to the viability of agriculture mainly in the context of high domestic support, export subsidies and denial of market access through various tariff and non-tariff barriers in the developed countries.

Intellectual Property Right - Destination of III world Nations was another paper through which V Satyana-rayana, Ass. Prof. Mesco Institute, Hyderabad gave an account about the issues involved in IPR with special reference to its implication in the developing world.

Then taking into consideration the heterogeneous status of the world in terms of level of development and difference in the path of development adopted by the Nations, the paper of Vipin Nagi, Sherubtse College, Bhutan argued that the developing countries need protection for some time in certain specific areas before they can tap and realize their potential so as to be in a position to compete with the advanced countries.

In the third technical session, 10 delegates presented their papers on the issues and problems of SME Management. Ben-jamin F. Lyngdoh, Lecturer NEHU, Deptt. of Management and Bipasha Chetiya, Lect. Dibrugarh Univ., separately presented their respective papers on the opportunities of small and medium sized business in the Tourism industry particularly for creating sustainable development.

They conclude their paper by giving us an optimistic approach that tourism development can provide employment and associated benefits to the local community. Amalesh Bhowal, Reader, Dept. of Commerce attempted through his paper to measure the risk.

Perception of the employers of the SBI with the assumption of inverse relationship between level of risk perception in equity share investment and the level of equity investment and direct relationship between the level of equity share investment and the level of entrepreneurial culture initiation.

It has become very important for the SME entrepreneurial culture for their economic and technological development. The WTO can be beneficial only to those states which are educating their SMEs in time and properly about the use and implications of IPRs. These were the views of Dr. Nagendra Yadav, Reader and Head, Dept. of Management Studies, UPRT Open Univ., UP in his paper "IPR for SME in the Era of WTO".

In the work of Mukulesh Barua, Associate Prof. Assam Institute of Management, Guwahati expressed the point that SMEs account for a sizeable share of total business population of Assam and support substantial employment opportunities for its youths. The well being of the SMEs holds enormous significance for the economy of the state.

The Small Scale Industries (SSI) sector plays a vital role in building the economy of a country. In India, this sector accounts for about 40 per cent of the total industrial output and contributes nearly 35 percent of the total direct exports. The SSI sector has been assigned the target of annual growth of 12 percent and creation of 4.4 million additional jobs during the Tenth Five Year Plan.

This was the view expressed by R.K.P.G Singha, Dept of Commerce, Pachunga College, Aizawl and NVR Jyoti Kumar, Prof and Head Department of Commerce, Mizoram Univ. in their paper "Managing Small Scale Industries" in Mizoram: Challenges and opportunities in which their paper identify the challenges and opportunities in managing small scale industries with special reference to Mizoram.

Under the topic of 'Role of Information technology - a modern marketing tool for small and medium scale enterprises', Abhijit Chakraborty, Lecturer Liberty Public College of Commerce, Nagaland, explain the concept of marketing (from traditional to modern view points) thereby emphasizing on the shift from protective policies to an environment of relationship marketing concept which revolves around the customer, his tastes, preferences perception, behaviour etc.

S. Keshorjit Singh, MIMS, Manipur University, Canchipur, Imphal presented a paper under the title "The knowledge entrepreneur - the emerging trend". He was of the view that knowledge is the core factor with which KE differentiate themselves from traditional entrepreneurs and common businessmen by simply doing something "unusual" and "unexpected".

They rule the knowledge economy by the process of wealth creation rather than wealth accumulation and become celebrities through their success. "Small and Medium enterprises Management: A roadmap for the success of Entrepreneurship Development in India". This was also one important topic presented by Swela Banerjee, Faculty, ICFAI University, ICFAI National College, Guwahati.

Kh. Tomba Singh, Lect. Department of Commerce, Assam University, Silchar, under the topic "An analysis of Industrial Sickness in Small Scale Industries Sector-a case study of SSI Units in Manipur" in the context of the era of privatisation with growing competitiveness,

Lastly the IV Technical Session confines on Information Technology and e-commerce. There were seven delegates who presented the papers. 1st Amitav Nath, Business Development Executive, Product Promotion Group, C-DAC (Formerly NCST), Bangalore Talked about Rural e-Commerce for Growth and Prosperity, under which he point out the fact that ICT has a long way to go to reach upto the rural areas of India for social benefits.

Globalisation, e-commerce and IT in India: Issues and Challenges was a paper presented by Jayanti Ningomba, Sr. Lecturer, Dept. of Accounting, D.M. College of Commerce, Imphal were she studied the emerging trend and issues in the IT and e-commerce sector in the wake of new knowledge economy and to explore the viable policies and strategies on the future development and growth of these emerging sector in India.

Then, Subhendu Dutta, Dept. of Economics, Public College of Commerce, Dimapur, Nagaland under the topic "Emerging Scenario of Electronic-Banking in India" point out the developments of core banking in the recent year in the form of Internet and Intranet enable service.

Technical issues in e-Banking was a paper presented by Purna Prasad Sharma, Department of Commerce, BBS College, Shillong where he discussed the importance of e-Banking in today's world of virtual market.

S. Somokanta Singh, Faculty, MIMS, Manipur University, Imphal made an endeavour towards looking into the various technological aspects and applications of e-commerce under his paper "M-commerce: a paradigm shift of business pattern. M. Moses Antony Rajendran, Senior Lecturer in Commerce, Sherubtse College, Kanglung, Bhutan presented his paper entitled "Driver of success of e-commerce" his view was that e-commerce is yet to be developed in the true sense of the word although in some sectors development might have been visible.

In the very outset Manoj Rana, Assistant Librarian, NEHU Central Library, Shillong threw light on the concept of e-commerce, the security issues related with conducting business electronically and its problems and prospects.

In the valedictory Session, Prof. N. Srivastav, Dean EMIS, NEHU thanked all the participants and at the same time expressed his desire to realise the imperativeness that during the highly challenging era of globalization and competition, the Indian Universities should join hands with the ICAI so as to help students attain a useful mix of academic and professional learning.

The two days seminar has most vitally been organised with the prime objective of strengthening the educational needs of students. The Board of Studies has actually been benefited with the motivation, aspiring issues, concerning problems laid down by the resource persons, delegates, participant students, faculties of universities of different parts of the countries.

Through this article I would specially want that the same spirit and encouragement be felt by all the students, scholars and faculties of our University and I hope I could in some parts be successful in doing so.

Taking this opportunity to publish the proceeding of the Seminar, I would like to thank and express my gratitude to James E. Hartley, Associate Professor of Economics, Mount Holyyoke College, Massachusetts and S.K. Tiwari Chief Secretary, Govt. of Meghalaya who showed special interest in my paper, inspired me to work more and encourage me to publish the paper in the interest of whole student community.

Last but not least I also thanked S. Gunadhar, Principal, R.K.S.C.E and C. Maisnam, Asst. Prof. M.U., Eco. Dept. for providing various data and actually made my paper complete.