Chapter 1 -- The Global Education Challenge

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Demand

World demand for higher education is exploding while public funding for higher education is either decreasing or stagnating.
Between 1985 and 1992 alone, the world's total student body increased by 12%.
Students seeking higher education grew 26% during that same seven year period -- the highest growth rate of any single education sector.

The New Adult Learner

Students no longer fit the traditional mold of the 18 to 22 year old, unmarried, living-on-campus learner. Today the average student is 23, he or she already holds some kind of higher education degree and anticipates being or has been "downsized" from a job.
This new higher education student profile isn't likely to change soon. And, lifelong learners among the developed countries' baby boomers will be joined and eventually eclipsed by those from developing countries.

Supply

Public financing for education the world over is shrinking.
There are few indications that the money it would take to build traditional bricks-and-motor campuses to accommodate all the students who want higher education will be available any time soon. In many developing countries what public funds there are for education are being funneled toward primary and secondary-level education, not to colleges and universities.
High tuition costs for higher education also are limiting access only to those with financial means.

Enter Distance Education

New models are needed to deliver higher education to both developed and developing countries -- ones that use carefully integrated electronic platforms.
The World Bank agrees. It touts electronic distance education as the way developing countries can expand access to higher education. Private enterprise can help.

Also in this chapter:

Charts: student population growth, percent of world GNP devoted to education, world literacy rates;

Countries' quest to keep higher education students at home;

The short- and long-term demand for higher education facilities;

Levels of public funding for primary and secondary students worldwide;

The role of the private sector in bringing down public education costs;

Education in Germany and Japan.