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

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science and technology development. The Bank also contribute to the process capacity building
in the field of higher education through publications, country reports, research studies,
conferences, workshops, newsletters, data and information repositories at national and regional
levels, and web-based analytical tools.
In education sector the World Bank has invested US$ 69 billion in more than 1,500 projects
majority of them were in Asian countries. The Bank‟s lending for education is more than 8% of
the total lending for all sectors in the world. Since 1963, as compared to other regions, the Bank
has invested the largest share in Asian higher education: an amount of $US 13.4 billion in 187
higher education projects, or projects with higher education components in 27 countries.
By all accounts the Bank is a leading source of funds for higher education in developing
countries (Banya and Elu 2001). The World Bank lending for higher education is constantly
increasing every year: five million US$ in 1963 to 5 billion US$ in 2010, an increase by one
thousand times. Likewise, the Bank has given the highest loans to higher education sub-sector
after primary education: 5235 $US million and 10167 $US million respectively. The average
share of education in the Bank‟s total loans for all sectors is also increasing: it was once less than
1% and today it is more than 8%.
Education
adjustment
Literacy/
nonformal
World Bank lending by Education sub-sectors, 1981–200 (current $US million)
Early
childhood
development
Distance
/Tech.
Other
education
Primary Secondary
Vocational
/ tech./
training
Tertiary Total
1443.2 144 128.9 4 1728.5 10167.3 3248.5 4646.3 5235.3 25866.4
Sources: (Psacharopoulos, World Bank policy on education: A personal account 2006)
Table 29 World Bank lending by Education sub-sectors
To meet the increased demand of assistance for higher education the Bank has launched
Education Strategy 2020 in spring 2011 that focuses on an investment, which is early, smart, and
for all. Merely investing in higher education is no guarantee of success so the Bank Group also
evaluates the results, outcomes and impacts of its projects and programs through the Independent
Evaluation Group (IEG). According to IEG‟s evaluation reports most of the World Bank‟s
tertiary education projects performed poorly and were unsuccessful in achieving the set goals in
low-income countries in Asia. Similarly Operations Evaluation Department (OED) rated the
outcomes of 70 percent of the Bank‟s projects moderately satisfactory or better.