PSD Blog - The World Bank Group

An Evolving Discussion

The online discussion on ‘the evolving regulatory context for private sector education’ began two weeks ago with an opening post asking participants to identify the challenges inherent in regulatory change. The responses have been as varied as the contexts and countries from which the authors come. Subsequent posts have introduced new strands to the debate and certain aspects of the discussion have clearly resonated with readers and we hope will continue to do so.

One purpose in initiating this discussion was to identify examples of good practice and to begin to generate a resource for policy makers in emerging economies. This resource will benefit significantly from your input. I would therefore encourage readers to contribute to the discussion on ‘good practice’ found here.

Apollo Group on partnering with government

Jorge Klor de Alva, Senior Vice President of the Apollo Group, contributes his views on the importance of developing regulatory frameworks in partnership between government and the private sector.  Dr. Klor de Alva was interviewed during the IFC's international conference in May 2008.  (Click on "Continue reading..." to see the video.)

Advantages of Policy Dialogue

What is the advantage of involving those who will be affected by a decision in the decision making process? At least two value added gains: relevance and effective communication. You either facilitate their buy-in or understand the rational behind any potential resistance. Knowledge of the policy/decision, understanding of the basic motivations of the decision/policy can lead to adequate implementation and more effective advocacy.

Policy dialogue can create the necessary trust that constitutes the base of all solid partnership. The private sector as an organized entity can have the responsible participation that is needed to fuel that partnership. All policy or decision relating to their role should take into consideration, whenever possible, their feedback and comments. This policy/decision should be jointly monitored and evaluated on a regular base.

Pape Momar Sow, Guest Commentator
USAID

Options for engaging the private sector

If a government accepts that it cannot finance the demand for higher education on its own and does not wish to ask the beneficiaries to pay the full cost in the state-owned sector, it has no alternative to considering the private sector as a partner. It can then adopt various options:

• Drawing on private sector players as members of policy commissions or permanent policy/strategy units.
• Appointing private sector leaders to the Boards of buffer bodies and quality assurance agencies.
• Encouraging the sector to form a representative body (properly staffed with a secretariat) that can be consulted on policy issues.

Engaging the policy makers and private sector in debate

The first week of the online discussion brought well over 200 readers to the forum – we are hoping that this second week will see more of our readers actively engaging with the discussion by posting comments.  All of the posts from our first week (see the links on the right margin under "Private Education Forum") will remain open for some weeks yet before we begin to draft our summary.  Please contribute to those issues as well.

Working Toward Concrete Solutions

According to UNESCO “By 2003, current estimates indicated that ‘the historic threshold of 100 million students worldwide has been crossed and the prospect of reaching the figure of 125 million students will be attained before 2020.” (UNESCO, 2003) 

This sounds impressive but is it really so when we have over 6.6 billion people (over 9 billion people by 2050)?  What about non-traditional learners?  Who is left out of educational opportunity?  Too many people.  I believe, this is why our discussion is very important.  I hope this discussion will help us come up with a strategy which will provide a framework for the necessary policy development and regulations.  I’d like to make a few suggestions:

Consistency and transparency in implementation

Mr. Nuru Yakabu, Executive Secretary for the National Board for Technical Education in Nigeria, makes the case that regulators need to be consistent and transparent in both their policies and the implementation of those policies.  His interview took place in May 2008 during the IFC's international conference.  (Click on "Continue reading..." to see the video.)

Examples of good practice in private education regulation?

A note from Svava Bjarnason, Private Education Forum moderator:

Facilitating discussion on regulatory issues is the primary purpose of this Online Discussion Forum.  However, a secondary purpose is to begin to collate resources for governments, policy makers and practitioners working in regulatory contexts in emerging economies.

Therefore, we welcome your recommendations for examples of policies and regulatory frameworks that can be put forward as good practise. Here are a few examples we have collected so far on the 2008 IFC Online Discussion Resources webpage:

• The Ghanaian National Accreditation Board publishes a Roadmap to Accreditation on its website which has two stages: (1) Institutional Authorisation, and (2) Program Accreditation.
• In Tanzania there are three stages to the process, all under the wing of the Tanzanian Commission for Universities, which are set out on their website.

We encourage Forum Participants (and others) to submit links to documents or webpages via this blog or send them to ifconlinediscussion2008@ifc.org. What makes your case an example of good practice? How might it be useful for other countries struggling with the same issues? We'll collect all the submitted examples on the 2008 IFC Online Discussion Resources webpage to serve as a general resource on this topic.

Quality Driven Regulation Required

A key challenge for governments is how best to regulate the quality of programs delivered in the private higher education sector.  Such regulation can play an important role in providing students and governments with the confidence that the education being delivered meets acceptable standards. 

At the same time, however, governments must ensure that such regulation does not inhibit the private sector’s flexibility or stifle innovation in program design and delivery.  This suggests a need to focus regulation – to the extent possible – on educational standards and outcomes (ie. the quality of what is delivered), rather than on the specification of inputs (how institutions should deliver programs).  Overly prescriptive regulation can act as a barrier to much needed private investment in higher education and can limit the potential gains from private involvement.

And yet more challenges . . .

Regulating private education is a major issue in meeting the huge and growing demand for education in emerging economies.  The main challenges are connected and include the following:

1. Protectionism from the public providers

In too many countries regulatory constraints come from the desire of established public providers to head off challenges from the private sector, with restraints on trade cloaked in cultural causes.  This is especially the case in higher education and for out-of-country providers.  Public and private providers should face common standards as far as possible and a common or similar accreditation and QA regime.

Doug Becker on setting the bar high

Doug Becker, Chairman and CEO of Laureate Education shares his views in the attached video clip that regulators should set high standards and challenge providers to attain them. He believes that by setting the bar high that it will ensure that providers who are serious about providing quality education will continue to thrive and contribute to the local communities.

Evidence Based Decision Making

One means of regulating the private education sector is to increase the consumers’ access to information.  Currently there is very limited information available on quality upon which decisions can be based yet this would seem to be an important pre-requisite to the smooth operation of the decentralised education sector.  Better information for consumers is likely to be of benefit given the potential for wide variations in price and quality across the public and private schools and Colleges.

Mayunga Nkunya on regulation

Mr. Mayunga Nkunya, Executive Secretary of the Tanzania Commission for Universities in Dar-es-Salaam, was a participant at the May IFC/World Bank Colloquium. He was asked his view on the challenges facing regulators of private education. As Mr. Nkunya explains in the video clip below, his position is that regulation should be enabling and coherent with national aspirations. (You will need Real Player to view the clip, available for free download on the Real Player website.)

Regulating for what?

Analyzing the challenges for the regulation of private education will lead us to the unavoidable question of ‘regulating for what?’

Are we regulating for more transparency and accountability? In countries where private education is subsidized directly or benefiting from tax exemption, regulation can be a way to set up the most adequate procedures to channel resources. The challenge is to see that these procedures are not too heavy.

Are we regulating because of the sake of harmonization and alignment of private education to public education? The challenges would be to avoid a confusion of roles and the creation of an environment that would be less attractive to investors (thus a weak incentive).

What are the major challenges?

Not all accept the need for regulation. They say “Regulation is expensive, difficult to do well and best avoided”. “We do not need to regulate or monitor the private sector providers. The market will do that. Those that are any good will prosper, while those that are bad will go to the wall”. Word of mouth in small communities where most private providers operate will, they argue, be enough. This line of thinking overlooks several key factors; the duty of the State to protect its citizens from charlatans, the personal anguish of those who are misled and the loss of human capital from ineffectual private investment. All these argue for the importance of regulating private education.

Introduction to the Private Education Forum

Today marks the beginning of the IFC’s Online Discussion on The Evolving Regulatory Context for Private Education in Emerging Economies.

The purpose of the online discussion is to provide a forum for stakeholders to discuss key questions relating to the evolving nature of regulation of private education. It should provide an opportunity to share experiences and examples of good practice to facilitate informed policy development and implementation.

We have invited a series of ‘Guest Commentators’ from around the world to provide opening statements to act as prompts for discussion. We encourage you to add your thoughts and share your experiences through this forum. To focus our discussions we have set one question per week. This week’s question is:

What are the major challenges in regulating private education and how might they be overcome?

The Evolving Regulatory Context for Private Education in Emerging Economies

Note from the Editor: The following post initiates an online discussion on private education that will take place on the PSD blog between November 3-14. The discussion will be moderated by the IFC's Health and Education Department and will include posts from guest commentators from outside of the World Bank Group.   

Background

In May 2008, IFC, in conjunction with the Human Development Network at the World Bank, hosted a Colloquium focusing on ‘The Evolving Regulatory Context for Private Education in Emerging Economies’. This event brought together a wide range of participants including government representatives, regulatory organizations, private providers, commentators and World Bank Group representatives. The Colloquium’s purpose was to initiate a ‘conversation’ between stakeholders involved in the regulation of private education to facilitate an open exchange of ideas and to share experiences. The online discussion provides the opportunity to extend the conversation with a wider audience.

The Online Discussion

The purpose of the online discussion is to provide a forum for stakeholders to discuss key questions relating to the evolving nature of regulation of private education.  It will provide an opportunity to share experiences and examples of good practice to facilitate informed policy development and implementation.