Private Higher Education in the GCC: Best Practices in Governance, Quality Assurance and Funding, Executive Summary

Summary

The Gulf region has for the last 15 years seen a vast expansion of private higher education in an effort to increase higher education capacity beyond national systems, develop human resources, and diversify national economies away from oil and gas resources. The examples of classical American- and French-system private universities in Beirut and Cairo and their contribution to human and socioeconomic development are strong reasons for supporting private higher education. However, there are important shortcomings in the governance, quality assurance and funding of especially for-profit higher education, which must be overcome for this sector to positively contribute to development. This policy brief outlines the strengths and weaknesses of private higher education, best practices in governance, quality assurance and funding: non-profit, independence and commitment to academic excellence; the consequences of Western accreditation; and non-profit and endowment-based finance.

The Gulf region has for the last 15 years seen a vast expansion of private higher education in an effort to increase higher education capacity beyond national systems, develop human resources, and diversify national economies away from oil and gas resources. The examples of classical American- and French-system private universities in Beirut and Cairo and their contribution to human and socioeconomic development are strong reasons for supporting private higher education. However, there are important shortcomings in the governance, quality assurance and funding of especially for-profit higher education, which must be overcome for this sector to positively contribute to development. This policy brief outlines the strengths and weaknesses of private higher education, best practices in governance, quality assurance and funding: non-profit, independence and commitment to academic excellence; the consequences of Western accreditation; and non-profit and endowment-based finance.