The Council for Private Education (CPE) was set up in 2009 to clean up the beleaguered private education industry. Now, private schools have to meet minimum standards in the key areas of management, corporate governance, fee protection for students, and academic processes, for example, teacher selection.

There are now over three hundred private schools registered with CPE, and the CPE keeps a close watch on them to ensure that they are run properly and to prevent unnecessary closures which affect students adversely.

Under its Enhanced Registration Framework, schools also have to make sure their finances are transparent and qualified teachers are recruited. Schools which want to take in foreign students must meet even higher standards, to obtain the quality assurance award, EduTrust.

The private education industry has to keep up with the market, as competition heats up from other sources such as expanded publicly funded university offerings and the attraction of studying abroad.

Beyond meeting minimum standards, institutions must also adapt their curricula and courses to meet new challenges, for example, making sure that their graduates are employable.