Development Partners and Development Banks

2. Development Partners and Development Banks

124. International organizations can play several roles in promoting PPPs. A key role is providing early-stage equity and loan capital to promote investments in private education. HEIs find it difficult to access investment capital with a sufficiently long time horizon. Private equity companies are generally not interested because they expect short-term returns on their investments. International lenders can raise the profile of private education as a legitimate sector for investment, and they can also work with banks to mitigate some investment risks in the sector. International organizations can also build the capacity of both banks and the education sector and help countries to create enabling regulatory frameworks for private education (World Bank 2009). 28

Box 11: The Maldives —Government Support for the Private Sector

The government encourages the private sector to expand its services in higher education

with finan cial assistance from international development organizations. The government’s support for the establishment of new private higher education institutions includes land

grants, subsidies for building and facility construction, and other financial aid. (ADB. 2011. Higher Education across Asia: An Overview of Issues and Strategies. Manila.)

Box 12: Central America —University–Private Sector Program for Sustainable Development To bolster cooperation between Central American universities and the private sector, the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) has been implementing the Programa Universidad-Empresa para el Desarrollo Sostenible (PUEDES) (University –Private Sector Program for Sustainable Development) since 2007 as part of the Higher Education and Science for Sustainable Development Project. In joint pilot measures, universities and businesses are stepping up cooperation in order to promote sustainable development in their countries. In the PUEDES pilot project, designed to promote an entrepreneurial spirit in Nicaragua, four Nicaraguan universities and the Nicaraguan Chamber of Commerce collaborate to hone the entrepreneurial skills of the students. At the start of 2009, 150 students were already participating and 30 business plans were prepared. The best of these have won awards. Three companies have already been successfully launched. Another PUEDES pilot project, Sustainable Biodiesel Production from Jatropha curcas, has an entirely different thematic emphasis. It is being conducted in cooperation with the University of San Carlos, Guatemala, and small and medium-sized local enterprises. The university is investigating how organic farming can be strengthened by cultivating Jatropha curcas, a renewable resource used to produce energy in the form of biodiesel. Another PUEDES pilot project, Knowledge Transfer for Small-Scale Agroindustry Enterprises in

Catacamas, aims to develop the capacity of small and medium-sized enterprises in rural areas of Honduras. In this project, the National Agricultural University (Universidad Nacional de Agricultura) cooperates closely with the companies. The project holds training sessions on management and entrepreneurial practices for small businesses, and trains students at the university so that they are then able to offer training themselves. (GTZ. 2009. On the Road to Central-American Universities Relevance. Puedes.)

28 World Bank. 2009. The Role and Impact of Public –Private Partnerships in Education. Washington, DC.

Box 13: Singapore —SIM University

In 2005, the first private university was opened in Singapore. The private SIM University (UniSIM) covered a niche by providing university education to working professionals and adult

learners through a flexible learning approach that enables its learners to balance their career, family, and studies. The Government of Singapore quickly recognized the advantages of private

investors taking over former public tasks and financially supports the private institution. Since 2008, it provides fee subsidies for UniSIM's part-time undergraduate degree programs and wants to tap on the private education sector even further by introducing publicly-funded full-time

degree programs in UniSIM. With the extension of government subsidies to UniSIM, the government ensures its right to play a stronger role in the governance and quality assurance of

UniSIM and retains its accountability of public monies. (Government of Singapore. www.moe.gov.sg/Education /post-secondary/)