The view that competition initiatives in education, such as Chile's introduction of vouchers, promote socioeconomic segregation in schools is questioned. Chile and Argentina have faced very different decentralization reforms, carried out within different regulatory frameworks, but have arrived at similar situations in terms of schools'…

Outsourcing has been proposed as a method for improving effectiveness and productivity in Australian public library service. Developments, drawbacks, and potentials are discussed, and differences between contracting out whole services as opposed to selected activities are examined. (AEF)

Documents the transformation of a subsidized international development project into a for-profit "environmental enterprise," an ecological business run by and for small-scale fishermen on Colombia's Caribbean coast. Demonstrates the need for development projects to become businesses and the critical role of social investments (literacy…

Explores: (1) historical incorporation of degree-granting institutions in the United States as non-profit and the role of the State in provision of non-profit higher education; (2) benefits and challenges of non-profit and for-profit organizational forms in higher education; and (3) growth in commercial or for-profit behavior in research…

This paper is part of a research project into parental choice, social class and market forces carried out by a team in Zaragoza (Spain). The main objective was to evaluate parents' choice of school and the consequences this may produce in terms of social exclusion and inequality. Additionally, our aim was to determine whether certain populations,…

Arguing that the politicisation of decentralisation appreciably reduces educational quality and efficient resource allocation and negatively affects matters of equity in and delivery of education, the present study provides a critique of decentralisation and privatisation in education in Africa with special reference to Nigeria. On the basis of…

The Grant-in-Aid (GIA) higher education sector in Karnataka, India, is examined as an example of a well-established public-private partnership (PPP). Interviews with senior officials in the Government of Karnataka, and in two contrasting Regions, centred around Gulbarga and Mysore, together with visits to GIA and private-unaided (PUA) colleges…

The paper explores processes of social movement learning within SINTRAEMCALI, a public service trade union in the South West of Colombia, which has successfully prevented a series of attempts by the national government to privatise public utilities. The paper develops the concept of "strategic learning" and applies it to an exploration…

The following paper highlights the political, economic, socio-cultural, ethical, philosophical, legal, and practical aspects of the far-reaching theme of international trends in private higher education, in general. It also focuses on the driving forces, causes and consequences of the emergence of private higher education in India during the last…

This paper takes the point of view that the mechanisms of demolition are those of economic rationalism: globalization, marketization, deregulation, competition, and privatization. The growing concern of government with economies, markets, and money carries over to education and other institutions. Currently in Australia, devolution is interpreted…

The importance of private schools in Argentina is in contrast with the little attention they have been given in research on the country's education system. This paper has two aims: (1) to provide a brief summary of the outstanding milestones of educational privatization in Argentina; and (2) to review some of the most significant features of the…

Almost 800 school business officials across the United States and Canada responded to the ASBO's 1996 survey on privatization. A vast majority of respondents opposed privatization of district functions (such as budgeting, accounting, and school operations), but approved contracting for architectural design and legal services. A major reason for…

The practice of "franchising" higher education programs, or provision of educational programs through vendors, is examined as it occurs in the United Kingdom as a result of recent educational policy changes. A set of principles for assuring the quality of such programs is proposed. (MSE)

Privatization in disintermediated nations wears a different face. Canada's once-sovereign powers are being offered up to economic blocs (particularly the Asian Pacific Economic Community), the equivalent of corporate headquarters. Canadians are swept downstream in the global race to work cheaper and expect less, a transformation requiring schools'…

Explores the role played by modernization policies of the government in promoting contemporary conflicts between private and public interests, using Mexico and Oregon's education systems as case studies. Finds modernization policies, especially the privatization of education, inappropriate in meeting social, political, and economic needs of both…