Greece is facing the prospect of legal action by the European Union unless it satisfies Brussels that it will lift a series of restrictions on private colleges.
Recent years have witnessed a boom in private education opportunities across the Central American isthmus. To some, it seems that private entities cannot open classrooms fast enough. Whereas 30 years ago there were virtually no private universities, today there are more than 151 and every year more emerge.
As private higher education makes inroads in Britain, lawmakers should look to the United States for lessons on shaping how the industry will grow and evolve, a new report says.
The Department of Labor is considering rule changes that could substantially alter the balance of power between private colleges and their employees' unions, by forcing college administrations and their outside consultants to disclose much more information than previously required on their efforts to influence union elections or contract talks.
Private colleges spent an amount equivalent to about 37 percent of all of their tuition and fee revenue on scholarships for students in the fall of 2010, an all-time high, according to an annual "tuition discounting" survey. The estimated tuition-discount rate for first-time freshmen—42.4 percent—was also a record high, according to a report on the survey by the National Association of College and University Business Officers.
One of Britain's best-known public intellectuals took higher-education observers by surprise on Sunday with the announcement that he is spearheading the establishment of what would be an unprecedented kind of institution in Britain—a private, for-profit liberal-arts college that would rival elite institutions such as the Universities of Cambridge and Oxford.
Only 16% of higher education spending comes from public sources, compared with an OECD average of nearly 70%. Three-quarters of Chile's universities are privately owned. The government says this private sector involvement should be welcomed, but the students argue that it effectively turns education into a commodity, governed by market forces.
Last week, the government put forward a package of 21 reforms, including an offer to increase funding, improve teacher training, increase university scholarships and help resolve unpaid student loan debts. But students rejected the plan, saying it failed to meet a key demand that private universities invest their income in educational improvements.
But ultimately it is the huge private sector, which caters to about 80 percent of Korean students, where the pain is likely to be felt most—and the private providers are already under scrutiny. Some are exaggerating their number of students, covering up financial problems, and hiking student fees to unacceptable levels, says Ms. Yu. "Some are paying professors lower salaries than for primary schoolteachers."
The emergence and growth of private higher education in Poland has been widely regarded as one of the greatest achievements of the country's transformation in the 1990s. Now, however, the sector is endangered - not only due to great demographic pressure, but also to unfair treatment of private institutions by the state. These issues dominated celebrations of the 20th anniversary of private higher education in Poland last month.
For the next 20 years, Matt Foist will be paying off his $46,000 in cooking-school loans, and all he says he has to show for it is a useless chef's diploma, a nice set of knives - but no job.