The multi-model approach to privatization: Questions of sustainability

This chapter provides an overview of the revolutionary steps taken in privatizing higher education throughout the GCC. The new GCC higher educational systems that have emerged are difficult to categorize, and any effort to classify them risks oversimplification. Attempts to distinguish them as private and public colleges or for- profit and non-profit universities or even branch and independent campuses fail to capture the realities on the ground. The reforms were a response to both educational and political considerations as well as external pressures. It was believed that the traditional approach to learning in the Arab/Muslim world had failed to develop the analytical and critical thinking skills needed for the twenty-first century economies. The majority of the new colleges and universities are for-profit institutions, but the less vocationally oriented, multi-disciplinary institutions have attempted to create robust boards of trustees that are primarily charged with ensuring the academic quality of the institution.