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?
Law on Education is expected to take effect in Azerbaijan soon. Regardless of ownership, the higher schools will receive status of state, municipality and private institutions.
“With this new piece of law, public and private universities will now operate under common regulations, which is good for ensuring quality and standards,” said Prof Freida Brown, vice-chancellor of the United States International University – Africa.
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.
Private universities have sprung up like mushrooms in Ghana. In 1999, there were just two but since then 11 new private universities and 19 private polytechnics or colleges have opened their doors.
The human resource development (HRD) ministry may allow private players to set up universities instead of going through the "deemed to be university" route. The ministry will also push for firm regulations which would demand transparency and accountability of the players in the education sector.
The State Government has approved the first private university in the State to be set up by the Azim Premji Foundation under an Act of the Karnataka legislature. The university will promote quality education management programmes and training for teaching staff.
Those who testified at a hearing by the U.S. Education Department debated whether rules on recruiting are too lax and made the case for what they would like to see as the department prepares...