EdInvest
News
August 2002
Copyright ©
World Bank Group, 2002. All Rights
Reserved.
Facilitating Investment in the Global
Education Market
“Towards
an enhanced role for the private sector in
education”
September
2002
To join please visit:
http://vx.worldbank.org/cgi-bin/lyris.pl?join=private-ed
or join by email by
sending a blank message to:
mjoin-private-ed@lists.worldbank.org
In this months issue we focus on two country reports on Albania and Croatia that were written by Frances Tsakonas from the Greek Ministry of Foreign Affairs. These reports focus on the education and private education investment climates in the two countries, and underscore the need for private sector development in education in South Eastern Europe. Tsakonas emphasizes that within education there are many private sector investment possibilities, including primary and secondary schools, vocational schools, and universities, as well as supporting activities such as textbook publishing, student loan financing, and computer learning centers.
The country report on Albania, states that
regulation of the private education industry is a sensitive issue with the
Ministry of Education and Science. In fact, many of the educational departments
are not reporting the unlicensed providers in their jurisdictions nor are they
clear about how much control they should exert on these institutions. Many of
the regions seem to be in denial about the existence of such schools in their
midst. (p38, Albania Country Report) A high value added tax in the country also
proves to be a burden on providers. Tsakonas concludes in her study that
“the market potential in Albania for private
education is promising. The expressed dissatisfaction with the existing public
schools and the inadequate provision in rural areas, present potential markets
for private education and training investment at all levels – primary, secondary
and tertiary. Investors however
need to be flexible and ready to adapt to the changing education and training
needs of the country as it progresses along the road of a
globalize economy and EU accession.”(70), and she also
recommends the best sub sectors for private provides can to operate in.
The Croatian Country Report paints a slightly different picture of a war-torn country trying to rebuild itself. The public opposes state financing of private school, as they perceive this as money being taken away from public schools. A Decentralization Law that was passed in 2001 will make the local population accountable for private primary and secondary schools. The aim was that the State and the local communities would subsidize all private schools with about 20 percent per capita of the unit cost of students at state/public schools. However, according to a Member of the Parliamentary Education Committee for 2001, the State actually subsidized private schools with a per capita subsidy of 25 percent for private primary schools and 11 percent for private secondary schools.
Tsakonas concludes that providers willing to be creative in carving out a market niche would do very well in Croatia. She also mentions that public-private partnerships might be the key to carrying out the governments proposed development reforms.
To obtain these Country Reports please email
EdInvest@Ifc.org, and write Albania or Croatia in the subject
line, or visit our publications database
SEED Network Funds Albanian Private High
School
The South-East Europe Enterprise Development
Fund recently given some financial
assistance to Inkus, a private high school and training center headquartered in
Tirana. One of their locations is an adult training facility. Services
began in 1996, focusing on a foreign language training, computer science and
secretarial work. Inkus has since expanded into public education by opening a
four-year high school and now has 86 students, 67 in Tirana and 19 in the two
other branches combined. Students in the Inkus high school program pay a monthly
tuition of $150. The school employs 11 full-time staff and has a net income of
$40,000 annually on a turnover of $115,000. SEED is helping the school improve
current financial operations and produce an investment plan for the refinancing
of debt related to the purchase of its main building.
To read
more about Inkus see the SEED newsletter at :
http://www.seerecon.org/BusinessOpportunities/SEED/SEEDNewsMay01.pdf
Albania
- http://www.see-educoop.net/portal/id_alb.htm
Croatia
- http://www.see-educoop.net/portal/id_cro.htm
UNESCO
Education for all Assessment 2002 for Croatia -http://www2.unesco.org/wef/countryreports/croatia/rapport_1.htm
Facts
and Figures: From EDCO reports, and SEE EDU-COOP
Number of Schools by Type in Croatia
Primary
Upper
secondary
state
private
state
private 1999/2000 2137
6
601
26 1995/1996 1989
1
519
4
Number of Schools by Type in Albania
Primary Upper
Secondary
state private
state
private
1999/2000 1828
31
386 18
1995/1996 1797
0
416 0
Table 1: Trends in Gross Enrollment Rates by Level of Education, Croatia
Level of
Education
1995
1996
1997
1998
1999
Preschool
19.7
20.5
20.5
21.5
21.5
Primary
81.8
83.4
80.8
83.0
81.8
Secondary
74.5
79.6
78.2
78.9
76.7
Tertiary
25.6
28.0
27.5
29.9
30.1
Source: Central Bureau of Statistics,
Republic of Croatia.
1985
1990
1995
1998 Primary
103.1
100.2
107.2
109.6 Secondary 71.7
78.3
37.5
38.2 Tertiary
7.2
6.9 6.9
10.9
Trends in Gross Enrollment
Rates by Level of Education – Albania
Events for 2002
EdInvest E-Discussion – September
2002
Topic “Towards and enhanced role for the Private Sector in Education”
To join this discussion please go to :
http://vx.worldbank.org/cgibin/lyris.pl?join=private-ed
or join by email by
sending a blank message to:
mjoin-private-ed@lists.worldbank.org.
Learning Solutions Conference: "Virtual
Learning and Higher Education" – September 10-11
Oxford UK http://www.inter-disciplinary.net/v1he1.htm
Global Education Expo – September 12-15
Mumbai, India http://www.educationexpoindia.com
Global Alliance for
Transnational Education Annual Conference: "Assuring Excellence in the Business,
Technology and Globalization of e-Learning" - September 19 -September 20 Paris
http://www.edugate.org/conferences/index.html
Heller Reports
Conference: "EdNet 2002" - September 22-
September 25
Los Angeles, CA http://hellerreports.com
Worldwide Comparative Education Forum:
Economic Globalization & Education Reform - October 14-16 Beijing Normal
University, Beijing http://www.hku.hk/cerc/Beijing_Forum/forum.htm
Universidad de
Extremadura International Conference on Information and Communication
Technologies in Education November
20-November 23
Badajoz, Spain
http://www.formatex.org/congreso.html
International Conference for School Effectiveness and Improvement - January 5-8 2003 Sydney, Australia for more information email icsei2003@icmsaust.com.au
or visit www.icsei2003.com
Over 5,000 individuals read EdInvest News. EdInvest, the education investment information facility, is a forum for bringing together individuals, corporations and other institutions interested in education and the future of developing countries. EdInvest will provide information for making private investment in education possible on a global scale.
Michael Latham and Avani Parekh (send comments to edinvest@ifc.org )
To unsubscribe from EdInvest News, send a blank message to: edinvest@ifc.org , with the word "unsubscribe" in the subject line.
Copyright © World Bank Group, 2002. All rights reserved. Proprietary information: may not be distributed or reproduced electronically or in print without written permission from EdInvest. EdInvest can be contacted at EdInvest@ifc.org