Higher Education Expansion in Emerging Economies; Examples from Turkey and Chile

Abstract

Turkey and Chile, both emerging economies, have accomplished to upgrade their tertiary systems to a universal level in the last two decades following different expansion strategies. While Turkey established more than 50 universities, particularly in the least developed regions enabling students from lower socioeconomic status to access higher education in their locale, Chile facilitated privatisation in its higher education sector, causing segregation across lower and upper socioeconomic groups in accessing higher education. This paper starts by presenting the motivations behind attaining higher education and then continues with a delineation of Turkish and Chilean higher education systems. After the previous expansion strategies are summarised, the paper finally focuses on how the recent bold expansion strategies have boosted the tertiary enrolments in both countries and the consequences of the rapid expansion on quality and fair access.