The Twin Challenges for Tertiary Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries

Authors

  • Roberta Malee Bassett World Bank
  • Koen Geven World Bank

Keywords:

Sustainable Development

Abstract

Since the turn of the twenty-first century, tertiary education enrollments have exploded globally, particularly in low- and middle-income countries. This expanding demand for tertiary education presents two central challenges for policy makers: managing the pressures on quality, relevance, governance, and equitable access; and managing the financing of the sector. Effective responses will involve substantial investments in infrastructure, training, diversification of delivery, and regulatory reforms.

Author Biographies

Roberta Malee Bassett, World Bank

Roberta Malee Bassett is global lead for tertiary education at the World Bank, Washington, DC, United States. E-mail: rbassett@worldbank.org.

Koen Geven, World Bank

Koen Geven is tertiary education lead consultant at the World Bank, Washington, DC, United States. E-mail: kgeven@worldbank.org.

Downloads

Published

2025-08-05

How to Cite

Bassett, R., & Geven, K. (2025). The Twin Challenges for Tertiary Education in Low- and Middle-Income Countries. International Higher Education, (123), 41–42. Retrieved from https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ihe/article/view/20253

Issue

No. 123 (2025): Summer Issue

Section

Articles

License

Copyright (c) 2025 International Higher Education

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives 4.0 International License.

Authors who publish with this journal agree to the following terms:

    1. Authors retain copyright and grant the journal right of first publication with the work simultaneously licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution License that allows others to share the work with an acknowledgement of the work's authorship and initial publication in this journal.
    2. Authors are able to enter into separate, additional contractual arrangements for the non-exclusive distribution of the journal's published version of the work (e.g., post it to an institutional repository or publish it in a book), with an acknowledgement of its initial publication in this journal.
    3. Authors are permitted and encouraged to post their work online (e.g., in institutional repositories or on their website) prior to and during the submission process, as it can lead to productive exchanges, as well as earlier and greater citation of published work (See The Effect of Open Access).
    4. Authors will be required to sign our standard License Ageement before publication.

A Word document containing the License Agreement is available for download here.