ABSTRACT
Although the picture is undoubtedly nuanced, virtually everyone believes education to be important for a country’s future. On the basis of this widely shared public conviction, governments feel responsible for primary and secondary education. This will certainly remain the case, although we are seeing increasing privatization even in the primary education sector. There is considerably less agreement on the role of government in higher education, though. Although everyone is convinced of its importance, governments take very different positions in relation to the financing and regulation of this sector, decisions that are naturally important for the future of the system. What the government does, whether it is governing at a distance or monitoring the system closely, is decisive: there is no such thing as a government role that has no consequences.
