Ebook Shifting trends in higher education funding
The increasing trend in global demand for higher education is evident when official world student numbers are considered. Due to (among other things) globalisation and countries? integration into the modern knowledge economy as well as an increasing awareness of the private returns to higher education, student enrolment has expanded dramatically since 2000 especially in developing countries.
The Global Education Digest (Unesco, 2009: 9) reports an increase in higher education student numbers worldwide of 51.7 million for the period 2000 (100.8 million) to 2007 (152.5 million). Enrolment figures for higher education “has skyrocketed over the past 37 years, growing five-fold from 28.6 million in 1970 to 152.5 million in 2007. This translates into an average annual increase of 4.6%, with the average number of tertiary students doubling every 15 years.” (Unesco, 2009: 10).
The highest growth rate in higher education enrolment was recorded in sub-Saharan Africa where student numbers increased by 10% annually between 2000 and 2005 (Unesco, 2009: 10). In comparison to other regions however, the total number of sub-Saharan African higher education students still lags behind and accounts for only 3% of global enrolment although 11.9% of the world population lives in this area (Population Reference Bureau, 2008). East Asia and the Pacific now lead the score board in terms of numbers with 46,7 million students in 2007 (31% of global enrolment) followed by Central and Eastern Europe (at 23% of global enrolment), Central and Eastern Europe (14% of global enrolment) and Latin America and the Caribbean and Arab States (both with global enrolment shares of 12%). (Unesco, 2009: 9–13)
Growing participation at higher education implies that the season is definitely changing for higher education systems globally as they are expanding to accommodate the rapidly increasing demand for higher education. there is a definite shift in higher education systems away from elite systems (systems where less than 15% of the relevant age cohort is enrolled) towards mass systems (15–50% enrolment) and in some countries even universal systems (with more than 50% access), following Trow?s (1974) terminology.
This puts tremendous strain on already stretched higher education systems given the fact that some regions? systems are incapable of accommodating higher growth rates (e.g. that of sub-Saharan Africa). Unesco (2009:10) identifies the sub-Saharan higher education systemic crisis when stating that the “[c]hanging levels of participation in tertiary education require a significant amount of additional funding. Moreover, education planners are already faced with the challenge of recruiting qualified academic staff for systems that are doubling in size every eight years on average.” This rapid increase from the demand side leads, in most higher education systems, to fundamental changes in the funding of higher education.
In the first section of the paper we explore the dual nature of higher education i.e. the public and private characteristics by briefly stating the relevant theories and then discuss the profitability of investment (rates of return) in education. In the second section we explore the international practice regarding public and private funding of higher education, discuss the rationale for levying private fees and examine the types of institutions and modes of financing (both for students and institutions). The paper concludes by discussing South Africa?s New Financial Framework (NFF) system in light of the current global higher education financing trends.
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