ABSTRACT
The emergence of the knowledge economy signifies an increase in the knowledge intensity of economic activities. Knowledge has become the driver of economic growth underlining the central role of human capital and technology in development. Higher education institutions and their graduates became dearer to policy-makers and to corporate leaders. In many of the fast-growing emerging economies, the tertiary-level educated workforce has become a constraint for sustaining their growth rates and is investing more on higher education. The share of budgetary resources allocated to higher education increased in the developed countries in the 1990s and in many of the developing countries in this millennium. The process of globalisation of economic activities necessitated an expanded codification of knowledge, digitalisation of information and its commodification; and it increased the economic returns to investments in higher education. The private sector has grown in many countries and has certainly increased its role in higher education in a majority of the countries.
