Critics of private post-secondary education often argue that foreign universities in developing nations are commercial and profit-hungry. But these debates ring hollow in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of private providers are religiously-oriented with non-profit business models. Religious institutions are the fastest growing type of post-secondary institution in almost every nation north of South Africa and south of the Sahara.
Surging demand for higher education ought to have given Kenya a good reason to clean up its universities. But as the number of private and public universities has grown over the past seven years, from 17 to 24 private and five to seven public institutions, so have concerns over the quality of learning.
A decade after Monash University in Melbourne became the first foreign university to gain registration as a private higher education institution in South Africa, its ambitious goal of establishing a profitable campus in Johannesburg has still to be achieved. Meanwhile the university has changed its approach, switching focus from being 'for-profit' to 'public purpose'.
The fate of hundreds, possibly thousands, of final-year students at private universities across Ghana hangs in the balance because they may not graduate, after the National Accreditation Board revealed that they were admitted without the requisite qualifications. The board suggested that some private universities have lowered entry requirements to bolster their numbers.
The minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology, Peter Adwok Nyaba, has issued warning against students who enroll in unlicensed private universities in South Sudan.
While previously higher education was regarded as an equity instrument, now for the first time it is acknowledged as a major development driver in the information-knowledge system. Knowledge production and equity are linked within a more differentiated system. Two major policy goals are to double the participation rate and expand private higher education.
Private universities are opposed to a proposal to scrap the 8-4-4- system as recommended by the task force on the re-alignment of the education sector.
As the once celebrated Makerere University in Kampala suffers from bad management and a overcrowded student body, the Ugandan government is promoting the establishment of more private universities. But at what cost?
Kenyans be proud to learn that their country is the regional hub of private universities. The fact that in the past 30 years the number of private universities in Kenya has grown from only two in 1980 to 27 currently, speaks volumes about the entrepreneurship spirit of Kenyans.
The expansion of higher education has been extraordinary. Since the Catholic University of Angola, the country's first private higher education institution, was founded in 2001, the government has recognised a further 15 private universities.
South Sudan's Minister of Higher Education has closed all privately owned learning institutions with "immediate effect" leaving thousands of students without a place to study.
The national ministry of Higher Education, Science and Technology in the Republic of South Sudan has ordered with immediate effect the closure of private institutions of learning/ private universities that have been operating in the country saying they do not measure to the standards of an institution of Higher learning.
The Association of Private Universities (APU) handed over their petition addressed to the office of the President Salva Kiir in response to the recent Press Statement of the Minister of Higher Education, Science and Technology; threatening to close down 22 private Universities operating in South Sudan for not meeting required standards set by the Ministry.
Adwok Nyaba, the minister for higher education, decided to make news by closing down almost all private universities in the country with immediate effect from Thursday the 10th of May 2012.
Educational infrastructure in Nigeria is overstretched due to explosion of prospective students seeking admission into universities and other tertiary institutions. This has resulted in an unprecedented exodus of Nigerian students to foreign universities. In this report, our Ghana correspondent Kate Da Costa says many Nigerian students are being swindled by suspicious private universities in Ghana.
While South Sudan is the newest and one of World’s poorest nations today, it has great advantage of opting to learn from others in order to leap-frog into the twenty first century. That way, South Sudan can avoid costly mistakes of trial-and-error approaches to developmental policy design, including policies regulating private higher education institutions (PHEIs).
South Sudan can avoid the costly mistakes of trial-and-error approaches to developmental policy design, including policies regulating private higher education institutions.
Private education giant Educor is set to become the first South African institution to set up branch campuses outside the country as it expands its operations into four new African countries under its well-known Intec and Damelin brands.
The US based Carnegie Mellon University officially launched its Rwandan campus on Friday August 24 where they will be offering a Master of Science in Information Technology (MSIT).
The 10th Annual Conference on Role of Private Universities in Higher Education in Africa kicked off on 8th August 2012, in view to assess the impact of private higher education provision on the revitalization of higher education in Africa and to bring some helpful developments on the role of private universities in higher education in Africa.
Private universities play a critical role in advancing the higher education goals of Africa, as the world’s least developed continent grapples with a burgeoning youth population seeking quality, globally competitive skills, a pan-African forum held in Ethiopia agreed.
Professional associations in Egypt have begun clamping down on graduates from private universities who gained admission to higher education with school-leaving marks far lower than those set by state-run institutions.
Dr Charles Olweny, a globe-trotting oncologist who trained and worked on four continents – including as a professor of medicine in Winnipeg – decided seven years ago to leave Canada and return home to lead Uganda Martyrs University, a private Catholic institution. His leadership strategy is guided by five core principles, he told University World News.
Since Nigeria’s National Universities Commission (NUC) announced the suspension of the licences of seven private universities on 4 July, reactions have poured in from stakeholders of the affected institutions, write Dayo Adesulu, Favour Nnabugwu and Laju Arenyeka for Vanguard.
Kenya’s private university investors are lobbying the government to change the law to allow them to attract high-performing school-leavers – currently the preserve of their public rivals – and they have the overwhelming support of students.
According to Carte Blanche, 12 of the courses offered by Damelin, one of the largest private higher education institutions in South Africa, are not registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training. Offering these courses without the requisite registration is an offence.
The American University in Cairo has suspended classes because of student protests, reports the Egypt Independent. On Sunday students objecting to an annual 7-percent increase in tuition barricaded campus gates and blocked access for faculty members and fellow students, leading to heated confrontations.
Fly-by-night colleges operating in the Western Cape could soon be closed down, with police raids on illegal colleges expected to be continued across the country.
Private providers of higher education have welcomed a North Gauteng High Court ruling that the Department of Higher Education could not stop a local company from assisting foreign universities in providing education in SA.
The Federal Government last week announced the granting of licences to enable seven new private universities to operate. With that approval, the number of recognised universities in the country rose to ninety-six, thirty-four of them private.
Armed with a Sh500 million war chest in funds, partly raised through a private placement, the Kenya School of Professional Studies is set to expand its facilities after getting the green light to operate as a private university.
PRESS statements by higher education minister Blade Nzimande confirm his eagerness to address issues in the public higher education arena. But what about the private education sector?
There are strong indications that demand for higher education is outstripping supply. In January, Gloria Sekwena died and at least 20 other people were seriously injured when about 5,000 people stampeded in a desperate attempt to register at the last minute with the University of Johannesburg. The university received more than 85,000 applications for fewer than 12,000 places last year.
The draft bill also implies that private universities could benefit from public funding should the government deem this to be necessary and allocate money to them through parliament. “A private university shall account for any funds received from the government,” says section 50 of the legislation.
The article discusses Covenant University in a town outside Lagos, Nigeria. As a privately run, Christian university, it breaks with a Nigerian tradition of free public higher education. The demand among Nigerian youth for higher education is beyond what the state can provide, leaving an opening for private institutions.
Uganda's National Council for Higher Education has adopted stricter regulations for the registration of private institutions in an effort to ensure higher standards. It has warned that some private universities might be forced to close.
Concerned that a growing number of students are enrolling in poor-quality private universities and diploma mills, Kenya, Tanzania, and Uganda are working together to develop more stringent oversight of their higher-education systems.
Algerian universities will need to accommodate over 2 million students by 2015. To address this rise in class sizes, the Algerian authorities may permit the establishment of private universities for the first time.
Most private institutions are in major cities and are rather small. They offer two-year courses in industrial, business and secretarial fields and some are affiliated with foreign higher education institutions, mainly in France, and provide joint higher level courses.
Qualified lecturers rarely do the teaching in the Congo's private universities. Instead, unqualified assistants take courses that are often obsolete, theoretical and useless for finding a job, says Le Potentiel of Kinshasa.