Financing institutions of higher education in India: The need for a realistic fee policy

The contribution of tuition fees to the income of higher education institutions in India is reviewed against a background of inadequate financial support. A differential system of tuition fees is proposed under which students not deemed suitable for higher education would be admitted to universities or colleges subject to payment of tuition fees which reflected the full costs of their higher education.The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views/policies of the Planning Commission.     

Assessment policy and practice in higher education: purpose,standards and equity

This paper places a discussion of assessment in higher education (HE) in the UK within the wider policy context. It argues for a critical sociological analysis to consider some of the issues, themes and debates in relation to assessment in HE at this time. Recent trends in assessment policy and practice are discussed, alongside a consideration of the purposes of assessment. It examines the moral panic around standards, especially in the context of widening participation, and moves on to discuss concerns of equity in relation to assessment. Issues of identity and power relations are central to these debates, and the paper concludes with a plea for social justice, rather than selectivity and inequality, to be prioritized.     

美国高等学校提高本科教学质量的七条对策

为了提高本科教学质量,美国高校在上个世纪80年代后期经过深入研究后提出了七条对策。这七条对策包括鼓励师生互动,鼓励学生之间相互合作,鼓励学生主动学习,对学生的学习给予及时反馈,合理安排学习时间,对学生给予较高的期望,尊重学生之间的差异及其不同的学习方式等。十年来,这些措施在美国大学普遍应用且成效显著,对我国高校的本科教学不无启示作用。     

Financing higher education in Pakistan

A recent shift in the allocation of public expenditure towards higher education prompts several questions: Is this allocation economically justified? Are these resources well utilized? Is there significant cost recovery of these expenditures? If not, who benefits from the subsidy these expenditures represent? Are there alternative means of financing higher education? This paper attempts to provide answers to these questions, which can be briefly summarized as follows: Estimates of social rates of returns do not support the reallocation of public expenditures away from primary towards higher education; low retention rates and high failure rates suggest that the internal efficiency in the utilization of these expenditures is low; currently, almost all public expenditures on higher education represent a subsidy; given the tax burden and enrollment ratios by income group, the lower income groups seem to be gaining most from these subsidies; a start has been made at private sector higher education with the opening of two professional universities, but the prospects of general universities currently opening appears to be dim. Pakistan has a well designed loan program in operation although its quantitative impact is currently limited.     

Financing higher education in Colombia

All countries and particularly the less developed face serious difficulties in the financing of higher education. This has also been true of Colombia, where private higher education has grown more rapidly than the official sector to the point of accounting for 60% of total enrollment due to the State's inability to increase the number of its institutions and to provide them with growing budgets.Given the greater efficiency in expenditure demonstrated by private institutions, a comparison is made of their income and expenditure structure with that of public institutions and differences are established in order to define those areas in which greater internal efficiency can be achieved.In spite of the total cost of higher education in Colombia it is relatively low due to the prevalence of low salaries and lack of equipment or sophisticated facilities and due also to the fact that research is still in an incipient stage.Faced with problems of fairness toward lower income families that must pay more than they can afford, or on the other hand, those who could pay more but are receiving free state education, a state subsidy is proposed to carry out a direct transfer to the student, while all state universities would charge tuition that would cover the cost of instruction. This subsidy should be channelled through ICETEX, a pioneer institution in the world in the field of student financing through credit. Several sources of student financing are examined that reflect a more realistic way of responsibly subsidizing study.     

Financing higher education in Botswana

The paper describes the current system of university finance in Botswana, and considers alternative options, including the introduction of student loans. A student loan scheme was first recommended in Botswana in 1966, but has never been implemented. At present all students at the University of Botswana receive bursaries, and in return undertake to work in Botswana after graduation and to pay 5% of their annual gross salary for five years as a form of reimbursement. The author concludes that in effect this represents a combined grant and loan. A Presidential Commission in 1990 recommended that the present Bursary system be reorganized into a grant/loan system, and the Government of Botswana accepts this in principle although the modalities of such a scheme are yet to be finalized.     

Short-cycle higher education: Purposes and issues

This article deals with a worldwide movement called short-cycle higher education - a level of education placed between post-compulsory/post-secondary education and university degree completion. Three types of short-cycle institutions are examined and evaluated: (1) extensions of secondary education, (2) expansions of universities and other senior institutions, and (3) units separated from existing schools.Purposes of short-cycle higher education are next discussed, and finally, major issues are identified, and directions taken by various nations contrasted. Particular attention is given to the relationship between short-cycle and university education referred to as articulation and transfer.     

Financing of higher education in Uganda

Uganda faces severe financial constraints which have resulted in a serious decline in the quality of higher education and the government faces an urgent need to find new sources of finance for higher education. At present virtually all tuition costs and students' living expenses are financed from public funds, whereas families must bear a substantial part of the costs of primary and secondary education. This inverted pyramid is inequitable and results in substantial transfer of income from poor tax payers to rich parents and their children. This article considers arguments for increased cost recovery and the introduction of student loans and also considers obstacles to student loans in Uganda.     

Funding,selected issues and trends in Tanzania higher education

The purpose of this article is to discuss the funding constraints as related to higher education in Tanzania. The article discusses also the trend of internal and external efficiency indicators. The funding constraints include: the low growth rate of GDP, balance of payment problems, inflation, devaluation of the shilling, absence of cost-sharing and resources mismanagement. Higher education is characterized by high unit costs, low capacity utilization and high teacher-student ratios and yet private benefits are high as compared to social benefits. Tanzanian higher education remains elitist and continues to serve a well-to-do minority.     

Early childhood education in India: History,trends, issues,and achievements

The changes in the social and economic structure of India have intensified the need for universal early childhood education. The formidable challenges before the Indian Government are: to provide high quality early childhood education programs; to preserve indigenous practices such as multilinguality, family/community involvement, participation of older children as caretakers of their younger siblings; and to provide early childhood education to all children despite serious financial constraints. This article presents a brief overview of the traditional childrearing practices in India, chronicles government initiatives in early childhood education, describes the range of programs available in India, and identifies goals that will shape the future of early childhood programs in India. Portions of this article will appear in Isenberg, J.P., & Jalongo, M.R. (Eds.). (1997, in press).Trends and issues in early childhood: Challenges, controversies, and insights. New York: Teachers College Press.     

Financing public higher education in developing countries

The financing of education has emerged as a major topic of discussion among policy makers in recent years. There is evidence that in many developing countries, governments can no longer continue to increase spending on education at the high rates characteristic in the 1960s and 1970s. The macroeconomic environment has worsened, and there is keen intersectoral competition for public funds. Thus unless educational development moves away from its present heavy dependence on public funds, the expansion of education would be frustrated. One policy option is to increase the private financing of education. In this paper, we evaluate the potential effectiveness of loans schemes as a cost recovery instrument in higher education. Essentially, loans permit students to finance the cost of their education from future income. So the effectiveness of loans would depend on the relation between costs and students' future income. It also depends on the incidence of repetition, dropout, and default, as well as on whether or not a grace period is incorporated in the loan scheme. Our simulations show that in Asia and Latin America, the potential rate of cost recovery is substantial under what appears to be bearable terms of repayment. In Francophone Africa and Anglophone Africa, however, loans schemes are unlikely to perform as well, but they would still permit a shift toward greater private financing of higher education.     

Financing higher education by loans and fees: theorizing and researching the private effects of a public policy

Whilst research has looked at the effects on students of the introduction of higher education loans, the implications for their families have, for the most part, been ignored. This paper examines some of the possibilities and problems in studying the private effects of this public policy. Difficulties are identified in the use of approaches derived from family studies, research on family-education dynamics, and rational action theory. Not only does some of this work have a strong culturalist emphasis, but where economic matters are included, the significance of, and distinctions between different kinds of family financial assets tend to be ignored. The suggestion is that recent changes in the system of funding higher education in the UK are consistent with some forms of family assets and obligations, but challenge others. It is argued that the promotion of privatization, in education and elsewhere, and of individual investment in human capital, not only fails to acknowledge the importance of collective private intergenerational transfers. It also increasingly depends upon the state and the financial services working in combination.     

MOOCs,institutional policy and change dynamics in higher education

The last couple of years have witnessed a growing debate about online learning in higher education, notably in response to the global massive open online course (MOOC) phenomenon. This paper explores these developments from an institutional policy perspective, drawing on an analysis of the initial stages of different approaches to MOOCs and e-learning being taken up at three Australian universities. It points to four commonalities emerging from the institutional constructions of these initiatives including (1) the use of e-learning policy as a vehicle for curriculum redesign; (2) an emphasis on internal curriculum redesign as a core rationale for MOOCs; (3) a desire to capitalise on promotional opportunities but a reticence around wholly embracing the concept and structure of MOOCs and (4) the absence of access-driven concerns in university policy despite the prominence of such concerns in broader public debate. The approach is framed by a consideration of change dynamics in higher education and highlights the emphasis on internal university work within the policy narrative, suggesting this could represent an attempt to reframe the debate about MOOCs away from popular arguments about systemic disruption and instead use them to progress forms of change that align to broader strategic objectives.     

The knowledge triangle, European higher education policy logics and policy implications

While it is common to claim that university reforms are based on universal and standardised ideas about ‘modernising’ the university, few studies have examined in a more coherent way how the combined external pressure for change with respect to the areas of education, research and innovation has affected the university. In this paper it is argued that one can identify three different sets of logics concerning the current external reform agenda, and that these logics together create new challenges as to how knowledge is created, diffused and governed by the university. In the conclusion, it is discussed whether the current pressure for reform might change the university as we know it, or whether new institutional translations might emerge from the process renewing the university while maintaining its identity.