Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Public Higher Education

  • Living reference work entry
  • First Online:
Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions

Around the globe, the relevance and importance of public higher education are clear. Globally, around seven in ten students in higher education enroll in public institutions (Levy 2011). Nations and their policymakers increasingly see a strong link between a well-educated, skilled citizenry, certain types of university research, and economic growth. But public colleges and universities also face challenges, particularly in regard to adequate funding and access for all who seek it, especially for women and minority populations (OECD 2013a).

In this chapter we first cover the origins and history of public higher education (with an emphasis on Western origins), before describing the major structural differences in the enterprise around the globe, giving attention to regional differences and key emerging trends (We recognize that up to now more is known of the history and development of higher education in the Global North than the South and thus our depiction is necessarily uneven). These...

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Log in via an institution

Institutional subscriptions

References

  • Altbach, P. 2011. The past, present, and future of the research university. In The road to academic excellence: The making of world-class research universities, ed. P.G. Altbach and J. Salmi, 11–22. Washington, DC: The World Bank.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Anderson, Robert. 2006. British universities: Past and present. London: Hambledon Continuum.

    Google Scholar 

  • Berdahl, Robert. 1971. Statewide coordination of higher education. Washington, DC: American Council on Education.

    Google Scholar 

  • Boggs, Brubacher, J.S., and Willis Rudy. 1976. Higher education in transition. A history of American colleges and universities. New York: Harper and Row.

    Google Scholar 

  • Cohen, A.M., F.B. Brawer, and C.B. Kisker. 2014. The American community college, 6th ed. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.

    Google Scholar 

  • Dill, D. 2010. Quality assurance in higher education: Practices and issues. In International encyclopedia of education, 3rd ed, ed. P.L. Peterson, E.L. Baker, and B. McGaw. Amsterdam: Elsevier Science.

    Google Scholar 

  • Elsner, P.A., G. Boggs, and J.T. Irwin. 2015. Global development of community colleges, technical colleges and further education programs – revised edition. Prescott, AZ: Paul Elsner & Associates, Los Vientos, Inc.

    Google Scholar 

  • European Commission/EACEA/Eurydice. 2015. The European higher education area in 2015: Bologna process implementation report. Luxembourg: Publications Office of the European Union.

    Google Scholar 

  • European University Association. 2014. Transformations in Latin American Higher Education: Executive summary. Alfa Puentes: Survey results and highlight trends in Latin American Higher Education. Brussels.

    Google Scholar 

  • Experton, W., and Fevre, C. 2010. Financing higher education in Africa. Africa regional educational publications; directions in development. Human development. Washington, DC: World Bank. http://documents.worldbank.org/curated/en/497251467990390368/Financing-higher-education-in-Africa.

  • Greenaway, D., and M. Haynes. 2003. Funding higher education in the UK: The role of fees and loans. Economic Journal 113(485): 150–166.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Institute of International Education. 2013. The U.S. community college model: Potential for applications in India. New York.

    Google Scholar 

  • Johnstone, Bruce, and Pamela Marcucci. 2010. Financing higher education worldwide. Baltimore: Johns Hopkins University Press.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kamp, Norbert. 1960. Federico II di Svevia. Dizionario Biografico Degli Italiani. Roma: Instituto Della Enciclopedia Italiana.

    Google Scholar 

  • Kerr, C., et al. 1960. A master plan for higher education in California 1960–1975. Sacramento: California State Department of Education. http://www.ucop.edu/acadinit/mastplan/MasterPlan1960.pdf.

  • Lane, Jason. 2011. Importing private higher education: International branch campuses. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis. 13(4): 367–381.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Levy, Daniel. 2011. Public policy for private higher education: A global analysis. Journal of Comparative Policy Analysis 13(4): 383–396.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Li, A.Y., and W. Zumeta. 2015. State support for higher education. In The Palgrave international handbook of higher education policy and governance, ed. J. Huisman, H. de Boer, D. Dill, and M. Souto-Otero, 463–482. London: Palgrave/Macmillan.

    Chapter  Google Scholar 

  • Mason, R. 2016. Plan to end student grants without commons vote outrages opposition. The Guardian, January 13. Retrieved from http://www.theguardian.com/education/2016/jan/13/plan-to-end-student-grants-without-commons-vote-outrages-opposition.

  • OECD. 2013a. ThesState of higher education 2013. Paris: Edited by Anna Glass.http://www.oecd.org/edu/imhe/StateofHigherEducation2013-ExecutiveSummary.pdf.

  • OECD. 2013b. Organization for economic co-operation and development. Share of enrollment by type of institution. http://stats.oecd.org/Index.aspx?datasetcode=EAG_ENRL_SHARE_INST.

  • Orton, L. 2009. Statistics Canada’s definition and classification of postsecondary and adult education providers in Canada. Culture, Tourism, and the Centre for Education Statistics. http://www.statcan.gc.ca/pub/81-595-m/81-595-m2009071-eng.pdf.

  • Prague Declaration. 2001. Toward the European Higher Education Area. Communiqué of the meeting of European ministers in charge of higher education in Prague on 19 May 2001.

    Google Scholar 

  • Reddin, E. 2010. The “community college” internationally. Inside Higher Ed, June 16. https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/06/16/intl.

  • Scott, J.C. 2006. The mission of the university: Medieval to Postmodern transformations. Journal of Higher Education 77(1): 6.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Sigurdson, K., A. Kretz, and C. Sá. 2015. Looking under the streetlight: Limitations of mainstream technology transfer indicators. Science and Public Policy 42(5): 632–645.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Slaughter, S., and B.J. Taylor (eds.). 2016. Higher education, stratification, and workforce development. Cham: Springer International Publishing.

    Google Scholar 

  • State Higher Education Executive Officers (SHEEO). 2014. SHEF: FY 2014 state higher education finance. Boulder. http://www.sheeo.org/sites/default/files/project-files/SHEF/FY/2014–20150410.pdf.

  • Sursock, A., and Smidt, H. 2010. Trends VI: A decade of change in European Higher Education. European University Association. http://www.eua.be/Libraries/Publications_homepage_list/Trends2010.sflb.ashx.

  • Thorsten, Nybom. 2003. The Humboldt legacy: Reflections on the past, present, and future of the European university. Higher Education Policy 16: 141–159.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Trow, M. 1973. Problems in the transition from elite to mass higher education. International Review of Education 18: 61–82.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  • Universities in Latin America. 2011. The struggle to make the grade. The Economist, October 11. Sao Paulo. Retrieved from http://www.economist.com/node/21531468.

  • Whyte, William. 2015. Redbrick: A social and architectural history of Britain’s civic universities. Oxford: Oxford University Press.

    Book  Google Scholar 

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Washington, Seattle, WA, USA

    Elizabeth Apple Meza & William Zumeta

Authors
  1. Elizabeth Apple Meza
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. William Zumeta
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elizabeth Apple Meza .

Editor information

Editors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Education, Seoul National University, Seoul, Korea (Republic of)

    Jung Cheol Shin

  2. CIPES, Faculty of Economics, University of Porto, Porto, Portugal

    Pedro Teixeira

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2016 Springer Science+Business Media Dordrecht

About this entry

Cite this entry

Meza, E.A., Zumeta, W. (2016). Public Higher Education. In: Shin, J., Teixeira, P. (eds) Encyclopedia of International Higher Education Systems and Institutions. Springer, Dordrecht. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_29-1

Download citation

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-017-9553-1_29-1

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Publisher Name: Springer, Dordrecht

  • Print ISBN: 978-94-017-9553-1

  • Online ISBN: 978-94-017-9553-1

  • eBook Packages: Springer Reference EducationReference Module Humanities and Social SciencesReference Module Education

Publish with us

Policies and ethics

Search

Navigation