The Private Higher Education Sector: A Journey through India and China

Abstract

The world economy is changing as knowledge supplants physical capital as the source of present and future wealth. Countries need to educate more of their young people to a higher standard. The quality of knowledge generated within higher education institutions and its accessibility is becoming increasingly critical to national competitiveness in the global front. The authors are interested in studying the trends and growth of private higher education in developing countries viz., India, China and Ethiopia with the objective of sharing the experiences of India, and China to the Ethiopian Higher Education System. To achieve the objective of the paper, the authors followed documentary review method. The findings of the study revealed that Ethiopia, where contribution of higher education sector is negligible, has to cater to the current and anticipated demand for medium, high level skilled and highly trained human resource. Indian scenario offers guidelines to Ethiopia while framing her policies of evaluating quality of private higher education institutions. The active and aggressive policies of China to appear as a major player in international education shows how people can become the wealth of this nation. The paper also warns the possibility of brain drain problem of students going abroad for higher education if Ethiopia loses quantitatively and qualitatively. This will have a serious impact on Ethiopia’s development in the future.