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Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions pp 1–9Cite as

Private Higher Education in Developed Countries

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Synonyms

Massification; Private higher education; Privatization

Introduction: Expansion, Public Funding, and Demography

The role of private higher education (PHE) varies by global region. Overall, its role has been smaller in developed countries than in developing countries and smaller than expected following the growth of privatization in the 1980s and 1990s. Exceptions include the United States (with its own PHE history and standards), Latin America (historically highest shares of enrollments), Asia (historically highest enrollments), and postcommunist Central and Eastern European systems (most rapid expansion of PHE). Although it is perhaps unwise to refer to “developed countries” as a whole in light of the cross-regional, intra-regional, and cross-national heterogeneity of PHE, some generalization is possible in relation to PHE in OECD member states.

Scholarly research on PHE remains scarce, with theoretical studies in only a handful of countries since the 1980s, most notably in...

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Acknowledgments

The author would like to gratefully acknowledge the support of the National Research Council (NCN) through its grant (UMO-2013/10/M/HS6/00561).

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  1. Faculty of Social Sciences, Center for Public Policy Studies, Adam Mickiewicz University, Poznan, Poland

    Marek Kwiek

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    Kwiek, M. (2018). Private Higher Education in Developed Countries. In: Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_92-1

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    • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_92-1

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