Study warns of risks in growing UK private higher education sector

By Brendan O’Malley – Managing Editor. In Features this week, Brendan O'Malley reports on a six-country study conducted by the Centre for Global Higher Education warning of possible pitfalls in growing the private higher education sector in the United Kingdom. Jan Petter Myklebust discusses a report and conference looking at the factors behind Denmark’s leading position in the world as a producer of high-class scientific research and warning of what might erode that position in future. Unsoo Jung describes how university protests escalated in South Korea after police were called in to escort staff during a student sit-in over plans to establish a government-funded night college at a prestigious private women’s university.
In Commentary, John Kelly bemoans the consequences of global rankings, which he describes as a ‘global game’ that benefits those who come out on top while higher education in general loses. Anand Kulkarni says while new higher education policy discussion papers released by the Indian government attempt to address some of the massive challenges faced by the sector, more could be done to address fundamental problems within the system. Ka Ho Mok and Jin Jiang suggest building a new system of higher education governance in China because the existing frameworks, including massification, only serve to widen the gap between rich and poor.
And in World Blog, Grace Karram Stephenson considers the influx of foreign private education providers into Malaysia which cater mostly for wealthy minority groups linked to the business sector, reinforcing their position of relative wealth. Read more...