The Expansion of Tertiary Education – How big should it be?
12 October, 2007 – Governments have a responsibility for providing the means whereby their citizens have access to tertiary education, and in many cases, particularly in developing countries, this has led to detailed planning of the universities to meet specific manpower planning targets. Manpower planning, particularly in small and closed systems, has proved valuable. But given the increasing internationalisation and globalisation and, in Bhutan, given the democratisation and liberalisation processes being introduced to society, it is doubtful whether such detailed planning instrument can be effective for the longer term. There are various ways to gradually change the current manpower planning systems. One way would be to nationally set the number of funded student places, that the government would be willing to support by institution and by subject area. The institution would receive funding for those student places and the students admitted would be eligible for student support. The
