Arega Yirdaw
Published: 2015-03-01
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The purpose of this study was to identify factors of leadership and governance in Ethiopian private higher education institutions (HEIs) that result in a poor or decaying quality of education in those institutions. The study was initiated at a time when higher education in the country was under scrutiny and especially private HEIs were being held to account by the public and the government. The study explored how key governance or leadership factors in private HEIs may contribute to a poor or declining quality of education and the extent to which leaders of private HEIs agree that appropriate governance can reverse poor or declining quality in the country's HEIs. The research employed a qualitative case study methodology to obtain data from private HEI leaders whose institutional head offices were in the city of Addis Ababa. It used document review, field notes, and observation to enable triangulation of the findings with other publicly available information. Results indicated that leaders of private HEIs are continuously challenged to balance government requirements and stakeholder demands in an environment where underfunding, a scarcity of qualified instructors, poor infrastructure, marginally or less-qualified students, and a disparate regulatory environment are facts of life. Based on these results, recommendations for leaders, policy makers, and regulators of HEIs include ensuring availability and proper utilization of qualified instructors, adequate infrastructure, an autonomous quality assurance unit in each HEI, and more equable regulation and enforcement of provisions across the higher education sector. Instituting these measures will help to ensure that all Ethiopian HEIs meet the country's needs for a citizenry capable of 21st-century economic development.Keywords: Educational governance, quality education, relevance, private and public educational institutions, quality factors, leadership role, quality assurance, challenges to quality education