The importance of private higher education (PHE) is increasingly clear globally. But does Europe fit the global generalisation? This question can be assessed with reference to two major considerations: the size of PHE and the degree of private-public difference. The growth of PHE in Europe has been delayed and limited compared to that in most of…

No topic in private higher education study has attracted as great attention globally as has growth. This is appropriate as private growth has soared to nearly a third of the world's total higher education enrolment. But while private growth continues to be the dominant trend, important declines in private shares have emerged. These must be…

This volume begins its global tour with the case of Mexico. The Mexican case is significant because of its original importance in defining the primary types of private higher education. It shows trends that reflect rapid transformations in the country and tensions in developing countries at the intersection of resource constraints, relatively weak…

Analyses of private higher education should consider the increasingly important for-profit sector in many countries. Yet information on the for-profit sector has been quite limited. Even in the United States, where for-profit higher education is well-established, only recently have researchers turned their attention to studying its scope and…

India demonstrates many features characteristic of private higher education in much of the world. Among these features are proportional size, with roughly 30 percent of total enrollment, and fast growth. Also rather typical is finance, which comes almost exclusively from non-government sources, principally tuition, while public higher education is…

One of the salient concerns in contemporary higher education internationally is access, which is rapidly expanding. Another salient trend is the rapid expansion of private higher education. These two salient tendencies have not been treated in scholarship as heavily intertwined. Much of the reason is that many people associate "private"…

Spectacular contemporary growth in private higher education challenges the "new institutionalism" and its emphasis on "isomorphism." The growth brings great inter-organizational distinctiveness and is linked to technically rational competition. Findings about this growth and distinctiveness lead us to re-assess and revise…

Although Latin America once was a focal point for student activism, decline of activism is now obvious. Macropolitical causes include the legacy of authoritarian rule, redemocratization, and decline of the left. Unprecedented growth, privatization, intellectual change, and research trends have changed the conditions for activism in higher…