ABSTRACT
ABSTRACT: After defining the concept of privatization of higher education, this paper presents trends in private educational institutions in the Arab World with a view to pinpointing major challenges besetting privatization. These trends include: blurring of the line between public and private education, development of innovation in education through privatization, competition among private educational institutions to improve quality continuously, and the fluidity of development of private educational institutions in different Arab countries. Throughout the Arab World, private education is a necessary consequence of the inability of public education to meet the volume of demand for higher education in the Arab World and a realization that monopolization of higher education by the state runs contrary to national interest. The author concludes with an advocacy of co-operation, even partnership, between private and public universities in the Arab World.
