SpringerLink
Log in

Private Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific Overview, Development, and Challenges

  • Reference work entry
  • First Online:
International Handbook on Education Development in the Asia-Pacific

  • 63 Accesses

Abstract

This chapter traces the development of private higher education in the Asia and Pacific region, both the growth of the private higher education sub-sector and the increasing privatization of public higher education, by reviewing the relevant laws and policies and the various factors (e.g., government policies, institutional governance and funding, demographics, and socioeconomic factors) which influence the development and/or regression of private higher education in the Asia and Pacific region. Country cases (e.g., Cambodia, China, Myanmar, the Philippines, and Vietnam) are also presented on top of a regional analysis presented.

The chapter argues that internationalization and regionalization of higher education including in the Asia-Pacific region has seen various initiatives that blur borders between public and private HEI, making it difficult to classify proliferating international branch campuses in the region. Private higher education in the Asia-Pacific differs in scale, maturity, and faces different challenges. Demographics, political regime change, laws, and policies support or discourage private higher education. As seen in the country cases, structural changes in public higher education have been initiated, implemented, or planned with a common trend on the use of new public management further advancing the privatization of public higher education. However, the chapter also argues that there is a limit to both the development of private higher education and the privatization of public higher education, and that the interplay of various factors (e.g., supply-demand dynamics, and the thin, blurred line between what is private and public higher education institutions) increases the complexity of sustainable growth of private higher education in the coming decades.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Altbach, P. (1998). Comparative higher education: Knowledge, the university and development. Greenwood.

    Google Scholar 

  • Altbach, P., & Levy, D. (2005). Private higher education: A global revolution. Sense.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Altbach, P., De Wit, H., & Woldegiyorgis, A. A. (2021). Public vs. private participation in higher education: Realities and debates. UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • ASEAN Secretariat. (2021). ASEAN key figures 2021. ASEAN Secretariat.

    Google Scholar 

  • Asian Development Bank (ADB). (2012). Private higher education across asia: Expanding accesss, searching for quality. Asian Development Bank.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bjarnason, S., Cheng, K.-M., Fielden, J., Lemaitre, M.-J., Levy, D., & Varghese, N. (2009). A new dynamic: Private higher education. UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Bothwell, E. (2018, March 8). Global boom in private enrollments. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from Inside Higher Education: Of the 179 countries showing enrollment by sector, only 10 nations appear to have no private higher education, according to the analysis.

    Google Scholar 

  • Buckner, E. (2017). The worldwide growth of private higher education: Cross-national patterns of higher education institution foundings by sector. Sociology of Education, 90(4), 296–314.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Chao, R. J. (2012). Democracy, decentralization and higher education: The Philippine case. Asia-Pacific Social Science Review, 12(1), 31–44.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao, R. J. (2014). Regionalization, international organizations and east Asian higher education: A comparative study of east Asian higher education reforms. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from City University of Hong Kong. https://scholars.cityu.edu.hk/en/theses/regionalization-international-organizations-and-east-asian-higher-education(559b032d-a82e-4474-9186-6be1f5d0ef1f).html

  • Chao, R. J. (2018). Higher education systems and institutions, Myanmar. In J. Shin & P. Teixeira (Eds.), Encyclopedia of higher education systems and institutions. Springer Nature B.V.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao, R. J. (2019). Funding of higher education (Philippines). In L. Symaco & W. J. Jacob (Eds.), Bloomsbury education and childhood studies. Bloomsbury.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao, R. J. (2022). Higher education in the Philippines. In L. Symaco & M. Hayden (Eds.), International handbook on education in South East. Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Chao, R. J., & Horta, H. (2018). International organizations and Asian higher education. In P. Teixeira & J. Shin (Eds.), Encyclopedia of international higher education systems and institutions. Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Clark, B. (1986). The higher education system: Academic organization in cross-national perspective. University of California Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Commission on Higher Education. (2008). Manual of regulations for private higher education. Commission on Higher Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cross-Border Education Research Team (C-BERT). (2020, November 20). C-BERT international campus listing. Retrieved February 16, 2022, from Cross-Border Education Research Team. http://cbert.org/resources-data/intl-campus/

  • Dang, Q. A. (2009, October). Recent higher education reforms in Vietnam: The role of the World Bank, EPOKE working paper on university reforms no. 13. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from EPOKE Working Papers Aarhus University. http://edu.au.dk/fileadmin/www.dpu.dk/forskning/forskningsprogrammer/epoke/workingpapers/WP_13.pdf

  • Edwards, B. J., Rappeport, A., Sperduti, V. R., & Caravaca, A. (2021). The influence of the World Bank on policy formulation, policy implementation and private education- a systemic review of literature. UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar. (2016). National education strategic plan. Government of the Republic of the Union of Myanmar.

    Google Scholar 

  • Hoang, L. (2019). Twin privatization in Vietnam higher education: The emergence of private higher education and partial privatization of public universities. Higher Education Policy, 32, 359–380.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Kwiek, M. (2003). The state, the market and higher education: Challenges for the new century. In M. Kwiek (Ed.), The university, globalization, Central Europe (pp. 71–114). Peter Lang.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levy, D. C. (1986). Higher education and the state in Latin America: Private challenges to public dominance. University of Chicago Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Levy, D. C. (2011). The decline of private higher education, PROPHE working paper series. The Program for Research on Private Higher Education (PROPHE).

    Google Scholar 

  • London, J. (2006). Vietnam: The political economy of education in a “socialist” periphery. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 26(1), 1–20.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Lu, X. (2018, August 14). Transnational education: Sino-foreign cooperative universities in China. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from World Education News + Reviews. https://wenr.wes.org/2018/08/sino-foreign-cooperative-universities

  • Meyer, J., Boli, J., Thomas, G., & Ramirez, F. (1997). World society and the nation state. Americcan Journal of Sociology, 103(1), 144–181.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China (MoE). (2021, March 1). Major educational achievements in China in 2020. Retrieved from Ministry of Education, People’s Republic of China (MoE): http://en.moe.gov.cn/features/2021TwoSessions/Reports/202103/t20210323_522026.html#:~:text=In%202020%2C%20there%20were%20210%2C800,time%20teachers%20stood%20at%2010%2C293%2C900

  • OBHE/C-BERT. (2017). International branch campuses: Success factors of mature IBCs. OBHE/C-BERT.

    Google Scholar 

  • Postiglione, G. A. (2005). Questioning centre-perephery platforms. Asia Pacific Journal of Education, 25(2), 209–225.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Private Higher Education Institutions Association (PHEIA). (2022, December 2). The role of private higher education in Myanmar: Opportunities, challenges, and hopes. Retrieved from Ministry of Education, Myanmar. https://www.moe.gov.mm/?q=content%2Frole-private-higher-education-myanmar-opportunities-challenges-and-hopes&fbclid=IwAR37Y1RqaYH_R25W00sBo29hq8eKKuwcjrGNWm1qS7UFJiPy6FDrnFObgDE

  • Quacquarelli Symonds. (2019, August 8). How aging populations are impacting the higher education sector. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from Quacquarelli Symonds. https://www.qs.com/aging-populations-impacting-the-he-sector/

  • Rany, S., Zain, A. N., & Jamil, H. (2012). Establishment of institutional policies for enhancing education quality in Cambodian universities. International Journal of Higher Education, 1(1), 112–127.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Saguin, K. (2022). The politics of de-privatisation: Philippine higher education in transition. Journal of Contemporary Asia.

    Google Scholar 

  • Sharma, Y. (2018, April 6). Declining populations point to a sombre future for HE. Retrieved from University World News. https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20180406110416788

  • Shen, G. (2018). Building world class universities in China: From the view of national strategies. Retrieved February 14, 2022, from Global University Network for Innovation. https://www.guninetwork.org/articles/building-world-class-universities-china-view-national-strategies

  • Siltaoja, M., Juusola, K., & Kivijärvi, M. (2019). ‘World-class’ fantasies: A neocolonial analysis of international branch campuses. Organization, 26(1), 75–97.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • UNESCO UIS. (n.d.). Distribution of enrollment by type of institutions. Retrieved 02 12, 2022, from UNESCO UIS Database: http://data.uis.unesco.org/Index.aspx?themetreeid=1

  • Varghese, N. V. (2002). Private higher education. International Institute for Education Policy (IIEP).

    Google Scholar 

  • Wang, L. (2014). The road to privatization of higher education in China: A new cultural revolution? Springer.

    Book  Google Scholar 

  • Welch, A. (2021). Private higher education in East and Southeast Asia: Growth, challenges, implications. UNESCO.

    Google Scholar 

  • World Bank. (2021, October 22). Higher education. Retrieved February 12, 2022, from The World Bank. https://www.worldbank.org/en/topic/tertiaryeducation#1

  • Wu, H., & Zha, Q. (2018). History of Chinese higher education. In Encyclopedia of educational philosophy and theory. Springer.

    Google Scholar 

  • Yonezawa, A. (2020). Challenges of the Japanese higher education amidst population decline and globalization. Globalisation, Societies and Education, 18(1), 43–52.

    Article  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Division of Education, Youth and Sports, ASEAN Secretariat, Jakarta, Indonesia

    Roger Y. Chao Jr.

Authors
  1. Roger Y. Chao Jr.
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Singapore Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore, Singapore

    Wing On Lee

  2. School of Social Sciences, Cardiff University, Cardiff, UK

    Phillip Brown

  3. Faculty of Education, The University of Hong Kong, Hong Kong SAR, China

    A. Lin Goodwin

  4. University College London Institute of Education, London, UK

    Andy Green

Section Editor information

  1. Institute for Adult Learning, Singapore University of Social Sciences, Singapore, Singapore

    Wing On Lee

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 Springer Nature Singapore Pte Ltd

About this entry

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this entry

Chao, R.Y. (2023). Private Higher Education in the Asia-Pacific Overview, Development, and Challenges. In: Lee, W.O., Brown, P., Goodwin, A.L., Green, A. (eds) International Handbook on Education Development in the Asia-Pacific. Springer, Singapore. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-981-19-6887-7_127

Download citation

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation