Driving Development with Tertiary Education Reforms

Abstract

Tertiary education refers to all postsecondary education, including but not limited to universities. Although universities are a key part of all tertiary education systems, in recent years a diverse and growing set of public and private tertiary institutions in every country—colleges, technical training institutes, community colleges, nursing schools, research laboratories, centers of excellence, distance learning centers, and many more—form a network of institutions that prepare students for application of knowledge at an advanced level. These networks are critical for economic growth and poverty reduction. However, despite rapid growth in tertiary education around the world, many challenges remain, including in expanding and promoting equitable access, improving learning achievement, fostering educational quality for relevance, strengthening knowledge generation and technology transfer, and encouraging desired values, behaviors, and attitudes, among others.