Higher education in Asian countries and the role of international ...

206
these studies the World Bank reframed policies pertaining to investment in higher education and
changed its position by supporting the growth, development and diversification accompanied
with policy reforms in higher education sub-sector.
In all regions of the world the Bank‟s lending for education is increasing continuously. One
thousand times increase in the World Bank total lending for education sector for the last fifty
years has been seen: 5 million US$ in 1963 to 1.5billion US$ in 1999 and five billion US$ in
2010. The share of education in total lending from the World Bank is also increasing: it has
increased from less than one percent in 1963 to more than eight percent in 2010.
Between 1992 and 1998 the Bank lended more than three billion US dollars, averaged US$481
million a year, for higher education projects, or projects with tertiary education components to 28
countries (The World Bank, 2002) while between 2000 and 2010 this amount the US$ 9.54
billion in 71 countries for 183 projects for higher education and 93 of them are still active.
During the first decade of the 21st century the average lending was approximately one billion per
year.
Figure 17 Share of education sector in the World Bank totoal commitment
The time series data from 1963 to 2010 on the share of education sector in the World Bank
Commitments show that member countries are giving more and more importance to education
sector by increasing the share of investment on education. The world average for the Bank‟s
loans for education, that was once less than 1%, today it is more than 8%. The data show that