Private university education in Yemen

Abstract

University education on the concept of market economics, that is, taking it as a field for investment with a view to profit, is a new phenomenon in the world and Yemen, as it is no more than three decades old, imposed by many international and local factors and variables, which this study discusses positively and negatively.
Private universities, as they are called in Yemen, a designation that, according to the previous indicator, seems inaccurate. Perhaps this designation was given to the dimensions of the profit attribute, and as an imitation of what was followed in public education in naming schools established by the private sector as “private schools.” The last designation may have come to distinguish it from private schools that were established as educational institutions for children of diplomatic missions and foreign minorities living in the capital, Sana'a.
And since the designation of private schools for the children of diplomats was earlier in use, it may be preferable to use another term “Al-Ahly” to denote schools established by the private sector, as a distinction from schools that preceded it in its inception.
In the same vein, the term “my family” was used for universities established by the private sector, although there are no private universities in the previous sense for children of diplomatic missions.
And the private universities in Yemen differed in their name from the designation that is circulating or commonly used in almost all countries of the world, which is “private” in relation to the privatization of education, that is, making it an investment, with the intention of making a profit. Therefore, it is logical to use the term “private universities” based on what is happening in most of these universities, by following the path of financial or political profit, or both.
The privatization of education in Yemen is a new phenomenon that dates back to the beginning of the nineties of the twentieth century, that is, after the achievement of the blessed Yemeni unity in 1990, when the unity government expanded the activities of the market, after it adhered to the capitalist directives, which encouraged businessmen or owners of capital to open private schools. Or, more specifically, it began to increase and spread in the main cities, and sometimes even in the secondary cities, driven by economic, political and social factors. However, after the 1994 war, and after the state’s orientations towards market economies were confirmed and deepened, the door opened wide for the privatization of university education and public education, as the opening of private universities increased and their growth doubled and their activity expanded to the opening of branches in a number of the main Yemeni cities, taking advantage of the weak State resources to meet the social demand for university education, in contrast to the narrow space for public university education, in addition to its poor conditions and deteriorating level, and the desire of some political forces to have an active political presence. On the other hand, the Yemeni government has found from the emergence of private universities a new source that alleviates its financial hardship, and takes its place on its behalf in bearing the burdens of financing and managing university education, and a new support for supporting the dissemination of university education, and an aid that helps it in organizing and social construction, and participating in shouldering the responsibility for development and social change.
In these circumstances, in addition to the absence of objective rules and criteria for the opening of these universities, their growth rates multiplied with limited material and human resources in many cases, so that most private universities almost depended on their teaching, administrative and technical cadres on public universities, especially the universities of Sana’a and Aden.
Within only four years, eight private universities were established, six of which were in the city of Sana'a, while the other two were one in the city of Taiz, and the other in Hadramout. Almost all of them have opened colleges and departments that are almost identical, and even in this short life they opened programs for postgraduate studies (high diploma, master's, and doctorate) in many scientific disciplines, including micro-sciences. These programs have not been reached by the universities of Sana'a and Aden, despite their long lives of thirty years, despite the scientific competencies available to them and the great political and social support.
In fact, the privatization of university education has become a new approach pursued by Yemen and many developing countries as a new path for economic and social development, perhaps due to factors that have arisen from here and there, or as an imitation of the experiences of some developed countries, without a clear vision of the real and far-reaching implications of private universities, or that they have predominated in looking at the positive aspects to overcome On the immediate problems of the negative aspects and their unforeseen effects, and without considering that the developing countries lack the mechanisms for employing those universities optimal employment economically and socially, because private universities arose as a result of the historical development of capitalist tendencies in some developed countries. According to the logic of the natural development of societies, it would be difficult, if not impossible, to repeat human experiences without the availability of societal conditions for transferring new experiences and innovations from other societies, and making them more beneficial to these societies, because history does not repeat itself, and any successful human experience in a society will not be successful. In another society by necessity, if modification and change did not affect it, it would re-adapt to the conditions of the society it was transferred to, and become a natural donor for a societal plant with all its conditions.
This is the real problem raised by private universities and raises more than one question about the sudden and rapid growth of private universities in some developing countries, including Yemen, but not in others, as if they are the healing balm to solve the chronic problems of these countries, and are able to overcome the pitfalls of public universities, and address their shortcomings.. And if universities As seen by some specialists, the same problems created by public universities are repeated in many countries. This is seen from the bitter complaints about these universities and the loud warnings about their negative effects that they have created in many developing countries.
Based on the foregoing, the problem of this study stems from the amazing speed of the establishment of 8 private universities in Yemen, and some other colleges that are more than 160 colleges, with more than 400 majors, at an age of no more than four years, which led to the division of Yemenis at different levels into Supporters and opponents of