Private higher education: philanthropy to profits

Drawing from experience of some of the developing and developed countries, the paper discusses some important theoretical and empirical issues relating to private higher education.The rapid growth in private higher education in recent years is associated with a few important features and problems.First, there is a significant shift from philanthropy to profits in setting up private institutions.Second, higher education systems in developing countries are more privatized than in advanced countries.Third, in many countries private universities account for a larger number of total universities, but they account for a smaller number of enrolments.Fourth, private higher education is marred by issues such as fees, autonomy, equity and academic excellence and relevance.The notion that higher education is a 'market' needs to be unpacked, because the system doesn't look like the market portrayed in any Economics 101 textbooks.(David Kirp, 2003, p. 2)