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"Governments are justified in trying to get people to pay more for their own higher education because it is almost entirely a private good, compared with the greater public benefits of early childhood education."
Education income up, official figures show Education income rose by 10 percent to reach more than $8 million in the 2003 financial year, the Statistics NZ annual enterprise survey shows. The post-school education industry showed strong growth, with the number of fulltime employees rising by 10.7 percent. Government funding, grants and subsidies within the education industry rose by 7.0 percent, to $5.16 million. Increased funding was evident across almost all education industries, ranging from preschool to post-school education. The only education industry not to receive an increase in government funding was 'other education', which comprises mainly private education providers. Income from other sources, such as fees for private education, fees from overseas students, and fund-raising, rose by 14.2 percent, and now contributes 32.5 percent of total income, up from 28.2 percent in 2001. More information is at this web page.
Funding tertiary education - study looks at five approaches Around the world, governments are torn between paying for growing education systems and serving the public good by making higher education affordable. A new Canadian report surveys funding methods from countries that have frozen, reduced or eliminated fees in recent years and those that have introduced fees. The report "Changes in tuition policy - natural policy experiments in five countries" is at downloadable as a PDF.
Harvard endowment breaks US$20b barrier The world's largest endowment fund - Harvard University's - has pushed through the US$20 billion barrier. The fund earns income of more than US$1.1 billion a year and is more than 25 times larger than the biggest British endowment. More than half of Harvard alumni donate to the fund, compared to about 20 percent overall in the US and five percent in the UK. More information is at this web page.
Self-assessment for Malaysian private colleges Private colleges in Malaysia will assess themselves from 2005 to meet minimum standards or gain accreditation for their degrees. The move would help institutions gauge their own strengths and weaknesses, National Accreditation Board chief executive Mohamed Suleiman said in the Online Star. The plan was introduced last year for institutions offering medicine and pharmacy. A story is at this web page.
Norwegian students worry little about debt A survey of Norwegian student finances has revealed that 40 percent "rarely or never" think about how much they owe. After completed studies, women have an average debt of Norwegian Krone 138,996 ($NZ31,000), and men NOK 145,000 ($NZ32,000). Although unemployment was low, many graduates struggled to meet their first repayments. Last year, 10,341 recent graduates (36 percent) applied to have their payments deferred, while 3,678 were prosecuted for defaulting on their loan, according to the Times Higher Education Supplement. Loans, plus interest, must be paid back within 20 years. A Norwegian newspaper story is at this web page.
Campaigns needed to promote choice, says study How to stimulate the supply of school choices is the topic of a new paper that says there is not enough choice for US parents, despite it being permitted under legislation. The paper says state government campaigns are needed to create an environment in which choice can thrive. "Stimulating the Supply of New Choices for Families in Light of NCLB: The Role of the State" is at this web page.
School that combines work and study is a hit Part-time work and study are parts of the curriculum at a popular, private secondary school in East Harlem, New York. Several law firms around the city offer part-time work programmes integrated with the school's programmes to help the student pay their tuition fees. There are 11 such schools in the US, all modelled after a high school in Chicago and designed for communities unable to afford private education. A story on the New York school is at this web page.
Less teacher support at low-income schools affects students A teacher "support gap" exists between new teachers in high-income schools and those in low-income schools who are less likely to experience timely hiring, benefit from mentoring or support from experienced colleagues. These differences reveal inequity that can have severe consequences for low-income students, a US study reveals. The report, "New teachers' early experiences in high-income and low-income schools," is at this web page.
US state college tuition prices soaring but not much goes to students With tertiary education demand rising, prices are going up - real per-student spending rose about 70 percent over the past 20 years, but remarkably little of that has gone toward instruction, a study says. Research has grown, and spending on administrative staffs has soared - since 1976, it took the typical university about three non-faculty professionals to serve 100 students; today, it takes nearly six. Over the 1980s and 1990s, real average faculty compensation rose about 45 percent, and a large proportion of tuition increases went to making life better for permanent paid staff - lower teaching loads, higher salaries. Author Richard Vedder said this was because the not-for-profit university system was largely shielded from market forces. Only about 21 cents of each new dollar per student since 1976 had gone to student instruction, Mr Vedder said. Richard Vedder's new book is Going Broke by Degree: Why College Costs Too Much. An article on the book is at this web page.
Twenty years of Chilean vouchers studied A new report looks at Chile's 20 years of experience with a 'flat' voucher system and says that quality of voucher systems depend on their design. "If an educational system has the objective of compensating for initial social differences, then educational vouchers should be income dependent." The University of Chile report is at this web page.
Student loan repayments manageable It's not the size of your student loan but your ability to repay it that counts and over the past decade that ability has stayed level and very manageable, a new US report says. While debt burden - or ability to repay debts - is a concern students with larger than average debt or lower than average earnings, in general debt burden for students receiving their baccalaureate degree in the 1990s was manageable and unchanged at seven percent. The American Council for Education report is downloadable this web page
Asia-Pacific private university update A US-backed private university is set to transform Adelaide into one of the Asia-Pacific region's most important education centres, Australia's National Nine News has reported. US university Carnegie Mellon is backing the institution. In an Australian first, it will offer both US and Australian post-graduate degrees in areas such as computer science, information technology, public administration, management, business, trade and commerce. The university is slated to open in 2006, attracting up to 3000 students from Asia, the Middle East and Australia. In India, the state of Maharashtra has called for applications for establishing self-financing universities. In Malaysia, the private Mount Austin International University has been given the go-ahead to open in 2008 offering degrees in business management, accounting, information technology, design and engineering. The Adelaide story. The Indian story The Malaysian private university story.
Bring in market pay for teaching: UK select committee Schools with staff shortages should be allowed to outbid others for teachers, a UK parliamentary select committee says. Teachers' pay must be made more flexible to respond to local staff shortages and keep the profession attractive, says a report from the cross-party group of MPs. "Where there are persistent problems of recruitment it is surely right in the interests of children's education that financial incentives are available to attract teachers. They have worked well in encouraging more people to train as secondary teachers, and could make a significant difference." "Greater flexibility of employment patterns must be actively promoted both by the Department and school leaders and managers to make it easier for mature entrants to come into teaching, to promote flexible working and by providing refresher training for returnees. "Teaching will need … facilitate flexibility to allow people to move in and out of the profession." The report - "Secondary education: teacher recruitment and retention" - is at this web page. More information is at this web page.
Asia increasingly popular for international students Countries like Singapore, Malaysia and China are now more active than ever in the international education industry and are proving very competitive, a new report finds. An
analysis of international education finds that some countries that
have been traditional sources of international students have potential
to take market-share away from Australasia. Of the five main English speaking destination countries, New Zealand has the lowest living costs but they are more expensive than any emerging Asian destination:
The
IDP Australia analysis of the costs of international education is
at downloadable
as a PDF.
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