Comparative Appeal of Private and Public Higher Education: Kingdom of Saudi Arabia Presentation

The Situation

• KSA funds a total of 8 universities with 76 colleges;
• Public education commenced with King Saud University 1957;
• All are tuition-free;
• Even pay students a stipend;
• Competition has more appeal;
• Private universities in the Kingdom;
• Study abroad (UK, USA).

Problem Statements

• Why the mismatch?
• Proximity?
• Quality of instruction?
• Variety of course offerings?
• Versus preferred careers, occupations?
• Academic standards vs. performance in high school?
• Biases of decision-makers?
• Who decides?

Research Objectives

• Determine if parents or children influence decision more.
• What criteria guided them:
  • In choice of public university?
  • To opt for local or foreign private university?
• What are the credible media, other sources of information?
• What are their preferred careers?
• What course of study will best prepare them for these careers?
• In general, what is the perception of academic standards at public and private universities.
• Or is the financial standing of the family the sole consideration for attending public university?

Statement of Hypotheses

Methodology

• Mixed methods approach;
• Secondary/Desk research;
• Qualitative Depth Interviews for insight into decision-maker motivations;
• Quantitative Self-administered Survey:

• • *To quantify motivations;
  • And sources of dissatisfaction.

Sampling Frame

Qualitative:

• Convenience sampling;
• Best efforts at diversifying by city and family socio-economic status.

Quantitative:

• Systematic sampling;
• From the universe of all private and public school students.

Sample Sizes

• Qualitative: from 50 to 100 or until interviews no longer reveal new constructs;
• Quantitative: 1,000 respondents in order to suppress standard error of estimate to ± 3% for entire sample, given normal assumptions at 95% confidence level.

Breakdown of Quantitative Sample

Data Analysis, Desk Research

Secondary data:

• Contingency tables and cross-tabs;
• Correspondence analysis.

To investigate differences between public and private university as to variety of course offerings and proximity to population centers.

Data Analysis, Qualitative

Developing constructs:

• Transcription and encoding;
• Two-judge manual coding;
• Computer-aided coding.

Outcomes:

• Verbatim statements to illustrate depth of feeling;
• Constructs to inform formulation of survey questionnaire.

Data Analysis, Survey Research