PROPHE Summary (by Prachayani
Praphamontripong):
The Malawian government plans to crack down on private higher education
institutions found to be unregistered and illegally operating behind
garages with lack of resources. It claims that, twenty illegal private
institutions often fail to produce qualified graduates and yet offer
courses in accountancy, engineering, and hotel management, ranging from
a one-month certificate, diploma, to a one-year degree. Critics complain
that the government should have considered involving the private sector
in the improvement of educational standards. For the past 10 years,
quality of education has declined due to insufficient infrastructure,
trained teachers, and the HIV/AIDS pandemic.
For the full story (shown with permission), see IRINnews.org,
August 23, 2005, "MALAWI: Crackdown on Unregistered Post-Secondary
Education Planned." IRIN [This article does not necessarily reflect
the views of the United Nations or its agencies.]
PROPHE Observation (by Daniel
C. Levy):
This is another example of government crackdowns on private higher
education. One caveat is that we rarely know what ultimately happens
as a result of these crackdowns or just planned crackdowns. There is
some chance that a measure of grandstanding is at play. Another caveat
is that while crackdowns readily make the news, in most cases there
is no such news and often private higher education is thriving there.
In Malawi, the very selective admissions to public universities allows
for private growth in lesser institutions.
