Australian Private Education

This article stood out to us due to the interesting connection to the World Bank and education policies regarding privatization of education. In this article, Australia and Singapore have signed a Memorandum of Co-operation (MOC). The MOC will work with the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) to improve private higher education. Through the unique connection between the two countries, it is interesting to see how study abroad and connections with other schools can impact aspects of education such as privatization. This allows both countries to learn from one another and help each other create better private education throughout the country.  Through our discussions in class, this brought us back to the thought of the positive and negative aspects of private education. For example, the World Bank has had a strong interest in private education for developing countries since the 1980s (Mundy and Menashy, 2012). Their Education Sector Strategy 2020 continues this support of private education noting the positive aspects such as educational advances and ability to meet a growing demand for education (Mundy and Menashy, 2012). However, there are many disadvantages to private education, such as the inequality that it creates between private and public education. Therefore, this article brings us to question why these Australia would be working towards private education. Is this due to the extra need for higher education and the inability for the public sector to fulfill the increasing need to students with degrees in higher education? Overall, it is interesting to note the continued increase in privatization of education both in the World Bank and Australian higher education. 

http://www.asiaone.com/News/Latest%2BNews/Edvantage/Story/A1Story20130304-406266.html