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This report seeks to provide USAID and other interested stakeholders with recommendations towards effecting positive transformation of Sub-Saharan African higher education – at both the system and institutional levels. This work is based upon the premise that African higher education institutions are critical to sustainable human development on the continent, evidenced by numerous studies measuring… Read more
Critical for Africa’s future is strengthening indigenous educational systems and institutions for generating and applying knowledge by assuring long-term public support with emphasis on research capacity. In addition to individual skills developed in research work, research capacity includes: quality of the research environment, funding, adequate infrastructure, research incentives, time available to the researcher, etc. In… Read more
This paper briefly examines the international experience concerning the regulation of private education at the school and higher education level. It begins with an overview of the private school and higher education sectors and a short discussion of the potential benefits of increased private participation in education. The remainder of the paper focuses on the… Read more
This study addresses the implications of higher education marketisation for quality in Kenya. It focuses on full fee-paying programmes, the de facto market source of revenue for Kenya’s public universities. The study argues that Kenya’s public universities were precipitately subjected to diminished public capitation, and so was their plunging into marketisation. These institutions started enrolling… Read more
This book seeks to understand the economic context in East Asia, as a means to understanding the need for an improved higher education system. The book begins with a diagnosis of the current state of higher education in East Asia. Although higher education provides several noneconomic benefits, such as nation building and socialization, the book focuses on the economic benefits of higher education… Read more
This paper looks at the decision of the government or “central planner” in the allocation of scarce governmental resources for tertiary education, as well as that for the individual. It provides estimates of the net present values, or cost and benefits. These include costs of tertiary education; the benefits of improved skills of those who remain in the country; and… Read more
This article explores the effects and implications of brain drain on developing countries. Recognising that brain drain is not always negative, the author advocates that reducing migration may not end the challenge of brain drain. Instead, what is needed are better methodologies to assess the net impacts of migration — including but not limited to the… Read more
Higher education is an important form of investment in human capital. In fact, it can be regarded as a high level or a specialised form of human capital, the contribution of which to economic growth is very significant. It is rightly regarded as the “engine of development in the new world economy” (Castells, 1994, p…. Read more
This book sets forth a mordern human capital approach to higher education policy in the United States, and in other OECD member countries. It emphasises the nature, measurement, and valuation of the private and social benefits of higher education – with special attention to the non-market private and social benefits, direct and indirect effects, and… Read more
This review focuses on how to effectively increase access to and quality in higher education in developing countries. 175 research papers on the impact of higher education policies and methods of provision on access, quality and gender issues in developing countries, available in English language, were systematically reviewed. The majority of the studies fell into… Read more
This volume spells out the case for more knowledge-intensive growth in Africa, which demands increasing attention to secondary and, most important, postsecondary education. Despite rising enrollment in tertiary-level institutions, the numbers of students graduating are pitifully small. And despite reform efforts, the quality remains well below par. However, change for the better is in the air,… Read more