The article discusses Covenant University in a town outside Lagos, Nigeria. As a privately run, Christian university, it breaks with a Nigerian tradition of free public higher education. The demand among Nigerian youth for higher education is beyond what the state can provide, leaving an opening for private institutions.
Patrick Awuah, Ashesi University's president, celebrated the fifth anniversary of Ghana's first liberal arts college this week in Seattle. After an eight-year career at Microsoft, Awuah, a native Ghanaian, founded Ashesi in 2002 with this vision: "Imagine if every Sub-Saharan African country had several small liberal-arts colleges, educating students at a level equivalent to liberal-arts colleges in the United States -- colleges dedicated to nurturing critical thinking, effective communication skills, practical experience, and a true concern for society in their students."
Dr Charles Olweny, a globe-trotting oncologist who trained and worked on four continents – including as a professor of medicine in Winnipeg – decided seven years ago to leave Canada and return home to lead Uganda Martyrs University, a private Catholic institution. His leadership strategy is guided by five core principles, he told University World News.
African countries are still too focused on the state sector, and this hinders the private sector from contributing to alleviating poverty in the region, experts said during the IMF/World Bank meetings
Critics of private post-secondary education often argue that foreign universities in developing nations are commercial and profit-hungry. But these debates ring hollow in Sub-Saharan Africa, where the majority of private providers are religiously-oriented with non-profit business models. Religious institutions are the fastest growing type of post-secondary institution in almost every nation north of South Africa and south of the Sahara.
Algerian universities will need to accommodate over 2 million students by 2015. To address this rise in class sizes, the Algerian authorities may permit the establishment of private universities for the first time.
The expansion of higher education has been extraordinary. Since the Catholic University of Angola, the country's first private higher education institution, was founded in 2001, the government has recognised a further 15 private universities.
Parliament recently amended Section 6 of the Internal Revenue Act, Act 859 of 2000 to exclude private universities from the expression "educational institution of a public character" contained in the definition of organisations exempted from paying tax.
In an era of private universities, those of the 61,000 left stranded, whose parents can afford it, would be admitted into private universities or sent abroad. Let say 10,000. And another 10,000 would find their way into the polytechnic system and other state tertiary institutions.
Armed with a Sh500 million war chest in funds, partly raised through a private placement, the Kenya School of Professional Studies is set to expand its facilities after getting the green light to operate as a private university.
Twenty five private universities will converge on Joseph Ayo Babalola University (JABU) in Ikeji-Arakeji, Osun State for the 5th edition of the Nigeria Private University Games Association, NPUGA slated for December 14 to 22, 2013.
Students of tertiary institutions under the aegis of National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) yesterday staged a protest in Ado- Ekiti against the prolonged strike of the Academic Staff Union of Universities (ASUU).
Surat Group, owners of the Nigerian Turkish Nile University (NTNU), have recorded another first in Nigeria as the four-year old institution held its maiden convocation for 77 students. Parents and guardians in their gay outfits watched with pride as their wards graduated from four years of hard work, luckily in an institution not encumbered by the incessant strikes the tertiary institutions in Nigeria are known for.
The Madonna University Alumni Association has urged the National Association of Nigerian Students (NANS) to soft-pedal on its threat to massively clamp down on private universities in the country as a result of the ongoing strike by the Academic Staff Union, (ASUU).
The Entrepreneurship Training Institute (ETI) has held its fourth Congregation ceremony in Accra with a call on private universities to invest more in the development of the competence of their staff to ensure quality education.
Founded in 2005, the Crescent University, Abeokuta, Ogun State, has come a long way. The Registrar, Ademola Ajibola, a lawyer, in this interview with Editor, Education, TAYO LEWIS insists that rather than encouraging a depreciation of standards, private varsities are raising a standard which is putting parents’ minds at rest.