Quality of Education in Private and Public Higher Education Institutions: A Comparative Analysis

Abstract

Since the introduction of modern education in the Ethiopian education system, education has undergone new changes along with the political changes. To begin with, during the regime of HaileSelassie, education aimed at producing various personnel for the state machinery. During the military regime, the education system was in confusion due to the attempt made to establish a socialist education system (MOE, 1996). Moreover, the new education system followed by the current government of the country is also criticized by different scholars (Seyoum, 1996; Amare, 1986 and Tekeste, 1996). To make a long story short, Amare (1986) has strongly argued that the Ethiopian education curriculum has always been deficient in cultural content and intent, the major factor for development. One potential reason for this may be the continuing change of the curriculum along with the change of the government. In connection to this, Zewdu (2001) stated that change in almost all sectors have been taking place due to the change of the political system. Since the new education policy has become functional, various public and private higher institutions have emerged because the demand for higher education has been rising from time to time. This unplanned expansion of higher education is potentially dangerous for the quality of education. Hence, this paper attempts to assess the level of quality of education as per the standards set in the Education and Training Policy of the Country. To achieve the stated objective, primary data were obtained from students and instructors. Accordingly, analyses were done through employing Chi-square test, paired t-test and simple descriptive statistics. The result showed that there are statistically significant variations between private and government colleges in terms of facilities like the number of computer, the number of instuctors and quality, classroom facilities and extent of staff turnover that are determinant factors of quality of education. In addition, there are variations in the above parameters among the private colleges studied. From the result, it was possible to conclude that both private and government colleges should do harder to bring about the desired outcome. Besides, it is hardly possible to make generalizations as to which category of the higher learning institutions deliver better quality of education.