In the session devoted to this question at last week's Going Global conference, all three speakers agreed that they couldn't although Lord (John) Tomlinson, former Labour minister and chair of the UK's Association of Independent Higher Education Providers, said: "Yes, but not very well."

Tomlinson said if anyone had suggested to him 10 years ago he would be an advocate of higher education in the private sector "I would have made Peter look like a novice when he denied Christ three times before the cock crowed".

Then he met an educational entrepreneur who was providing high quality education at a lower cost. He was converted and became chair of the advisory board of the London School of Commerce.

This private sector college has 5,500 students and works in partnership with three public sector universities. Undergraduates from overseas get a degree, validated by one of the partner universities, in two years and usually go on to take an MBA with Warwick University in the time before their visa lapses after three years and four months.

Tomlinson said all the institutions benefited from the arrangement. However, he added, the biggest besetting problem over the past 10 years had been the mentality of the Government whose mindset was: public sector good, private sector bad. This had led to the discriminatory nature of issuing visas.

Tomlinson helped to set up the AIHEP which established clear principles, standards and a basis to work in partnership with public sector universities. The association also supported the Government's policy that higher education should not be used for illegal immigration to the UK.

He was disappointed, however, with the latest Home Office reforms on immigration which included the requirement that overseas students had to have a 'highly trusted sponsor' before entering the country. The public sector universities were assumed to be trusted while the private sector colleges had to apply to become sponsors.

There was still this residual thinking that institutions were judged not on the basis of quality but on ownership and methods of operation, he said.

Dennis Murray, Executive Director of the Australian Association for International Education, said there had been a dramatic growth in the private sector over the past decade and an increase in overseas students with subsequent problems. Issues of accommodation, transport, workplace exploitation, and especially safety and security had led to a media frenzy, particularly in India, he said.

"The public sector lifted its skirts and was angry." This had led to a regulatory framework and an Act of Parliament. Regulations were not the only way to go. The government should work in partnership with the public and private sectors as it can't deliver its national policy without the private sector, he said.

Pavan Agarwal, Principal Secretary of the Government of West Bengal, presented some astounding statistics about the explosion of higher education in India where there are already 100 million more people in the age group than China.

The country has some 25,000 higher education institutions, mainly small colleges specialising in engineering or IT, and 30% are in the private sector while in the US it is 20%.

"The phenomenal growth in the private sector has not been seen anywhere else in the world," Agarwal said. He explained that private institutions were not for profit - cash had to be ploughed back into the operation.

"But they behave like for-profit organisations. For example, they are very aggressive with their advertising. One institution spends £10 million ($14.89 million) a year on advertising."
In the 1980s the growth of the private sector was considered a menace, he said. "Current thinking says it is essential."

Source:    University World News