<br >Foreword<br >E<br >ducation is clearly a critical area for developing countries<br >and has for some time been an area of focus of the<br >development community. In the past， however， there was<br >limited attention to the role of private education in the overall<br >mix of educational institutions in these countries. As we at<br >the International Finance Corporation， (the private sector<br >lending arm of the World Bank Group)， have moved into new<br >investment areas， such as infrastructure and health， we have<br >also become aware of the p~tential to participate in private<br >sector education investments. However， there was little<br >information to guide us 0n the types of investment<br >opportunities available in private education in developing<br >countries， let alone information on how best to evaluate<br >prospective private education projects. We therefore worked<br >with support from education specialists at the World Bank to<br >commission a global study of private education in developing<br >countries. The study used detailed case studies of private<br >education companies to draw conclusions on the key elements<br >for successful investments in these types of companies， and<br >examined the education sector in a number of countries to<br >identify types of investment opportunities in private education<br >appropriate for support by development institutions such as<br >IFC.<br > The study contributors， from the University of Manchester，<br >Nord Anglia PLC， and the Institute of Economic Affairs，<br >provided a mix of academic and private sector perspectives<br >that allowed them to highlight both public and private<br >considerations of interest to IFC.<br > The study presented many new insights into the world of<br >private education in developing countries， and provided a<br >great deal of new factual material that had previously not<br >been available. We are therefore pleased to make this<br >information available to a wider audience through the<br >publication of this monograph， which provides the major<br >7<br ><br >