Funding Problems of Technical Education in Developing Countries.

During the past decade, funding mechanisms for universities and technical education institutions and colleges have undergone massive restructuring in developed and developing countries alike. Governmental support has generally decreased, resulting in greater reliance on fee-based education or creation of privately sponsored engineering/technical colleges or universities. The following are some of the trends that will likely result from changes in the funding of technical education: (1) export of education will become an important component of the economies of advanced, rich countries such as Australia, New Zealand, the United Kingdom, and Canada; (2) privatization, commercialization, and marketing of education, especially business, commerce, and information technology will increasingly play a dominant role in developing countries; (3) quality management in developing countries will also move away from government monitoring to professional monitoring, as is now the case in developed countries; (4) the quality of education in developing countries will eventually be determined by market forces; (5) educational funding from individual family budgets will become increasingly difficult in developing countries as privatization results in increased fees; and (6) education will move from being a totally governmental activity to a more commerce- and industry-based activity and will eventually become a service industry. (MN)