The increasing competition of private higher education institutions : assessing the role of the state

Abstract

The research investigates the rise of private higher education institutions (PHEIs) in Malta. This market is relatively new in Malta and for a long time, the need for education was catered for by the state, which in most cases, is still the case. By making use of a qualitative study, document analysis was conducted which consists of a timeline of events with regards to PHEIs. To complement this, semi-structured interviews were carried out to PHEIs, NCFHE and Malta Enterprise. The results emerged in the form of recommendations. In the case of competition of higher education (HE), it is still in its infancy. It resulted that in order to ensure pluralism, the state has to amend the current funding system. One recommendation is that the funds are indirectly given to the student upon choosing the institution and thus, such funds will then be transferred to the institution of choice. Therefore, instead of providing funds to institutions immediately (which is the case today), the funds will be more central in the students’ choice of institutions. Moreover, quality assurance is seen to be helpful to PHEIs, but concerns arose regarding the quality audits which occur every five years. One recommendation was to substantiate the five-year audit by regular spot checks. The main limitation was that the interview response rate was low. One main reason for this is that this study was carried out from a competing institution. Despite assuring them that the institutions will not be asked commercially sensitive information, there was some hesitancy with such PHEIs.