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China has witnessed the emergence and rapid development of private higher education in the past three decades. As private higher education gradually takes on a more significant role in the Chinese educational system, due to the inability of the government to accommodate the growing demand for higher education, educational reform, influenced by the success of private higher education, will inevitably affect the quality and quantity of education overall.

This chapter focuses on several aspects of this development: the growth of private higher education in China, issues of finance and access, its relationship to the national system and to government policy, issues of ownership and the autonomy of private higher education, as well as the advantages and challenges of Chinese private higher education and the larger significance of its emergence in China. This study concludes that with proper management private colleges and universities will benefit from and contribute to Chinese society through multiple roles and responsibilities at their mature stage.

In the past couple of decades, higher education systems have been in transition in sub-Saharan Africa. The phenomenal growth of private, for-profit higher education institutions is almost universal. The global trends in higher education have affected the universities in sub-Saharan Africa as well. This chapter critically examines the rapid growth of private universities as a result of globalization and its impact on society. Although the research covers only Anglophone sub-Saharan Africa, the findings have broad implications for the whole of sub-Saharan Africa (Jokivirta, 2006). The chapter is divided into four major parts, namely globalization and the knowledge economy; the evolution of private higher education in the region, using two of the oldest universities as examples; the growth of private universities and the challenges facing them; and the linkages between foreign institutions and local ones. The empirical research on which this chapter is based is part of a longitudinal study, 2001–2006, of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa.

The purpose of this paper is to report the findings of a series of interviews conducted with a number of managers of Chinese private higher education institutions on the growth of the private higher education sector in China and the relationship it has with the government. Private higher education managers in China do seem concerned with the regulatory impediments to their institutions’ development and the difficulties involved in competing with state-funded institutions.

The paper uses a series of interviews conducted with a number of managers of Chinese private higher education institutions on the growth of the private higher education sector in China and the relationship it has with the government.

The research found that private higher education managers in China do seem concerned with the regulatory impediments to their institutions’ development and the difficulties involved in competing with state-funded institutions.

This work is the only one of its kind in the academic literature.

This paper aims to make a contribution to the current lack of literature in the Australian context by reviewing qualitative feedback collected from students in five private higher education institutions. In particular, the paper seeks to examine factors influencing student choice to study at private higher education institutions and student perceptions of such institutions. Previous studies on this topic are mostly focussed on universities with lack of research with the booming private higher education sector.

This study draws data from five different private for-profit higher education institutions in Australia. It involved feedback from 120 students undertaking higher education courses in different discipline areas at different stages of study. The study involved 15 focus group interviews with eight students in a group. The selection of students was based on the representation of different characteristics of student such as: male/female, domestic/international, and discipline areas.

An analysis of the data collected from the students across these five institutions indicated that the main factors influencing student choice can be grouped in six domains. These are: student perception; access and opportunity; learning environments; quality of teachers; course design; and graduate success. This study reinforces that student perception of the private for-profit higher education institutions is an important factor in influencing student choice to study at the institution.

The limitation of the study was the ability to interview more students from larger colleges, across all discipline areas. However, the time and length of the focus group interviews was largely managed by the five institutions.

The private higher education sector has experienced consistent growth in the last few years in Australia. Currently, there is no qualitative research done in Australian private higher education on factors influencing student choice to study with private institutions. The rise of such providers require research on insights about student choice, student expectation and their experience.

It is considered a mystery by many people that, despite charging significantly higher fees when compared to public institutions, research has shown an increase in the demand and enrolments at private higher education institutions. The purpose of this paper is to investigate the critical factors considered by students when deciding to make private higher education institutions their institution of choice.

The study uses a case study approach and draws data from all the six private higher education institutions in Zimbabwe. Self-administered questionnaires were given to students representing at least 5 per cent of the student enrolment and representing all gender, study disciplines and levels of study from each university.

Irrespective of gender, six main factors influencing student choice were identified to be, in order of priority: access and opportunity; promotional information and marketing; reference or influence by others; quality of teaching and learning; fees and cost structure, and finally academic reputation and recognition.

The research was focused on a case study of Zimbabwe.

The study has implications on the way private higher education institutions market, manage and sustain the quality of educational provision. The study therefore provides private institutions with useful and practical insights on what students want in their institution of choice. This will assist these institutions in strategising in order to sustain or gain competitive advantage and to maximise on the increasing demand for private education. Implications to government and public institutions are also given.

The study recognises the critical role played by private universities in improving access and recommends African Governments who face financial and resource constraints to fund and expand public universities to encourage private higher education as a meaningful and viable way to improve access and provide higher education opportunities to potential students.

The study contributes to the current dearth of literature on factors influencing student choice to study with private institutions.

This paper seeks to conduct an in‐depth study of international trends in private higher education and focus on the Indian scenario

The methodology adopted is conceptual, analytical and comparative.

Though there has been better acceptability of private higher education institutions in India today than the “trepidation” felt at their emergence three decades ago, certain basic questions have been raised: Is the presence of private sector in higher education inevitable? Is it desirable too? Why is the Supreme Court of India intervening in matters pertaining to private higher education so frequently? What are the issues at stake?

An attempt is made to highlight the political‐economic, socio‐cultural, national‐international, ethical‐philosophical and legal‐practical aspects of this outreaching theme, in general, and focus on the driving forces, causes, and consequences of the emergence of the private higher education during the last three decades, in particular.

This paper focuses on the analysis of how mass inclusion has taken place primarily in the private higher education sector. I present data on the evolution of Brazilian higher education, indicating the complementary roles undertaken by public and private sectors and their effects on the present configuration of our higher education. Then, I discuss the increase in higher education enrollment, in view of two factors: the widening of the supply and demand base – the former specifically by means of the expansion of for-profit private sector – and the adoption of mechanisms for access and commitment to higher education by public financing for students in private institutions.

The paper aims to establish a quality assurance framework for Chinese private higher education (PHE) in particular and for any newly-established higher education sector in general.

This research relied on published qualitative and quantitative data, existing literature, historical documents, and the authors' observations. It described the PHE growth context, analyzed the quality issue from three dimensions (academic, administrative, and relationship quality), and examined its quality assurance practice through three players.

The paper provides empirical insights about how quality and quality assurance issues have impacted on PHE development. To approach the issues, it suggests a “quality assurance triangle” framework that is composed of three PHE players (government, market, institution) and their joint association.

Because of the relative position of each player in current quality assurance, the success of its implementation in China depends on how the government establishes the triangle system and balances its dominating roles to ensure each of the players act independently and collaboratively.

This framework provides directions for establishing an appropriate quality assurance system for PHE in China.

This paper fulfills an identified need to setup a sound quality assurance system for PHE in China and contributes to quality assurance literature with a new framework.

Analyzing educational evaluation not only implies investigating its goals, methods, and dimensions, but also studying the rationale behind it. The present contribution relates this rationale to the interests and the goals set by the agents involved in the formulation and implementation of educational evaluation. When it comes to the evaluation of higher education in Brazil, the specific topic of this chapter, those agents are not restricted to the scope of public departments and boards of education; also included are national and international companies as well as inter- and supranational organizations that directly or indirectly set up quality and efficiency standards for educational processes. Particularly, the rationale and the goals of the higher education evaluation models developed in Brazil from the 1970s up to the present will be focused on, highlighting the close relationship between educational assessment and educational regulation.

The aim of the chapter is to investigate the changing structural position of post-secondary schools in Poland, seen from the perspective of the expansion of higher education from one side and the current reform of vocational education from the other. Do post-secondary schools enhance opportunities for those who might not otherwise consider further education, especially when we consider lower cost, open admissions and greater accessibility in comparison with higher education institutions? Or do they play a role of a ‘discounted’ and ‘undervalued’ education for those who could not manage to enter three-year-bachelor cycles in tertiary education and thus were forced to lower their initial educational aspirations? The opening up of higher education to new student populations was done by the rapid expansion of the private (paid for) sector and the fee-paying courses in the public sector. Liberal educational policy not only opened an opportunity for the privatization in higher education, but also expanded the market-driven provision at the post-secondary level. The discussion on the relevance of post-secondary vocational qualifications must be seen within the context of the continual inflation of diplomas/degrees and the unemployment of graduates after finishing higher education. Since 2010, there has been a reverse process initiated at the governmental level in Poland: reform schemes to increase the participation of young people in vocational education and training. However, the structural position and functions of post-secondary schools, as well as their role in the employability of young people, are not subject to any open discussion at the political level. This sort of status quo concerning post-secondary institutions means that their institutional identity issues are resolved and their structural position defined predominantly by market forces.