Colombia is experimenting with more public-private partnerships in higher education in an effort to increase student enrolments through private sector expansion. But allowing for-profit universities is still highly controversial and opposed by students and university rectors alike, according to the country’s former education minister Cecilia María Vélez.
Laureate Education Inc, a for-profit higher education provider that boasts former U.S. President Bill Clinton as honorary chancellor, is planning to launch an initial public offering, according to people familiar with the matter.
Only 16% of higher education spending comes from public sources, compared with an OECD average of nearly 70%. Three-quarters of Chile's universities are privately owned. The government says this private sector involvement should be welcomed, but the students argue that it effectively turns education into a commodity, governed by market forces.
Last week, the government put forward a package of 21 reforms, including an offer to increase funding, improve teacher training, increase university scholarships and help resolve unpaid student loan debts. But students rejected the plan, saying it failed to meet a key demand that private universities invest their income in educational improvements.
Presents information on the success of the University of the Americas, which was owned by Sylvan Learning Systems, in Chile. Consequences related to the growth of the university; Impact of the university's marketing on its growth; Criticisms on the education provided by the university.
Presents information on Pitágoras College owned by Apollo International and Pitágoras Group in Brazil. Number of students enrolled in the college; List of disciplines offered by the institution; Teaching methodology used by the college.
Focuses on the growth of private universities in Chile. Increase in enrollment in higher education; Amount of tuition fees charged by the universities; Complaints of the universities on the government's ruling on student loans.
The police and education officials on Thursday moved to shut down 14 universities that the government determined did not meet basic academic standards. The schools, with a total of about 38,000 students, were on a list of failing universities, sometimes called “garage universities” because of accusations of their low quality.
Some blame the problem on for-profit universities that have proliferated in the past two decades as a reaction to increased demand for higher education. The universities, which offer as little as one degree, have earned the moniker ‘garage universities’ because they often operate from houses, where each room is a ‘faculty’.
When Jesús Ignacio Lechuga applied to college three years ago, he was looking for an education that would be affordable and allow him to work and study at the same time. So he applied to the International College for Experienced Learning, or Universidad ICEL, a for-profit university in Mexico City, where tuition is 10 percent of what it is at the city's elite nonprofit universities and classes are offered at nights and on weekends.
As Mexico’s last baby boom comes of age, more young people than ever aspire to a college degree. A rush of private higher education institutions has arrived to meet rising demand.
Rosemir Soares always wanted to go to university but could never afford the fees. Then she discovered Prouni, a scholarship program of the Brazilian government that has guaranteed a college education for more than one million low-income students since it began, in 2005.
Recently DeVry Inc. (DV - Analyst Report), one of the largest providers of higher-education in North America, acquired Faculdade do Vale do Ipojuca (“FAVIP”). FAVIP, which is based in Fortaleza, Ceará, Brazil will form a part of DeVry Brasil.
Universities in Brazil have long been for the privileged few. Only 11% of the population of working age has a degree – and such scarcity has brought rich rewards. Graduates earn, on average, 2.5 times more than those without degrees, and five times as much as the majority who never finish secondary school, reports The Economist.
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.
Camila Vallejo has come to the UK to deliver its students a message: learn from what privatisation did to higher education in Chile or your universities will suffer the same fate.
The Ministry of Education submitted its request to the National Council of Education (CNED) on Monday for the closure of Universidad del Mar, following a five-month audit. University officials, employees and students were not officially notified of the request and were instead informed of the possible closing upon reading local press publications.
With its endless expanse of bleak, cinder-block tenements, this city north of the Mexican capital seems an unlikely setting for a business success story. But within days of opening a new campus here in 2002, the privately run Technological University of Mexico was mobbed with more than 2,000 applicants. The reason: It offered a mix of practical, job-oriented education and brand recognition, at a price residents could afford.