Global education is expanding rapidly. There are more students demanding a wider variety of affordable programmes delivered to higher-quality standards. Given its value, it is inevitable that the private sector will actively seek to become more involved.

The rapid growth of public-private partnerships has been a particular phenomenon of the last decade: institutions are seeking to compete internationally and domestically; governments are exploring alternative approaches to provision and the demand for international co-operation in education and research grows apace.

Another response to demand has been the development of programmes delivered transnationally. There are now approximately one million students following reputable transnational education programmes in higher education alone and almost all of these programmes involve some form of public-private partnership.

Examples that were explored at the conference include:

			state sector providers delivering programmes globally and domestically through private companies or education institutions
			private companies offering courses with state sector education providers
			private companies developing in-house education institutions or universities with a state provider
			public-private co-operation to develop programmes for global delivery through distance and e-learning
			research co-operation, domestically and internationally, involving business co-operation
			private companies providing support services to education institutions (e.g. marketing, student recruitment or admissions management)
			private companies investing in infrastructure.

These sessions also addressed the following questions:

			what are the longer term implications of these activities, given that many countries are overhauling their national regulatory systems for international education delivery, for purposes of trade liberalisation and protection?
			what constitutes ‘private’, ‘for profit’ and ‘not for profit’ in the context of international education and co-operation?
			who monitors the qualification for future study and employment purposes?
			what are the quality assurance implications for programmes delivered globally?