The title of the conference asks whether private universities and open universities are the future of education. My topic is Widening Access to Quality Higher Education: the Role of Private Universities and Open and Distance Learning. // Let me start by putting my remarks in context. Making quality higher education widely available is increasingly seen as one of the keys to national development and success in the 21 st century. It is not necessary to believe everything that one reads about our living in an information age or a knowledge society to subscribe to the view that wide participation in higher education is important.