The business of higher education: a study of public-private partnerships in the provision of higher education in South Africa

Abstract

The phenomenon of partnerships between public higher education institutions and private providers of higher education in South Africa began in the early 1990s. While partnerships emerged in the distance education sub-sector, they soon became a feature of the broader higher education landscape as many residential institutions began to venture into distance education. Private Institutions, for their part, realised the opportunity to mediate distance education with face-to-face support. However, the phenomenon has since spread to include other types of partnership. This monograph, based on an empirical study of the public-private partnerships that existed between 2002 and early 2003, offers the first compelling account of a hitherto under-researched phenomenon in higher education provision in South Africa.