Privatizing trends in the financing model for Higher Education in European countries, and putting affordable access at risk

Abstract

The influence exerted by supranational organizations, such as the European Union (EU) in the configuration of educational policies, forces us to include the supranational sphere in the study of educational trends. A growing trend in the field of higher education is the increase in private investment and our objective is to measure its impact in recent years in the European context and if it puts at risk the affordable access to this educational level. To do this, in the first place, we analyze the different actions developed from the European Union on increasing private financing of higher education through various documents and work plans. Second, from the Comparative Education methodology, we compare the variation in the sources of financing for higher education in European countries, over a 13-year trajectory (2002-2016), and its impact on affordable access to education higher, through the analysis of economic rates and student aid systems. The results, on the one hand, indicate that the EU justifies the increase in private financing of universities, as a global strategy to achieve greater competitiveness within the context of the knowledge society. On the other hand, there is a trend towards the privatization of financing models for higher education in European countries, which countries such as Ireland, Spain, Italy and Portugal, put at risk the affordable access to HE.