Higher education in Mongolia has expanded rapidly over the past few years with the gross enrolment rate rising from 36% in 2002 to 51% in 2009 (UIS 2009). However, higher education in Mongolia is characterized by poor quality, mismatch between demand and supply, outmoded and irrelevant curricula and teaching methods, inadequate funding and poor governance and management practices (UNESCO 2008).
The country’s attempts at legal reforms in higher education are seen by many as incomplete and stagnant as they did not bring sufficient regulations into practice. Currently, the only government support to privately accredited institutions is partial tuition fee coverage in the form of student loans and grants. Additionally, the accreditation system and other mechanisms of quality assurance of higher education institutions are not fully effective. Instead, there is imbalance between supply and market demand. Over-supply of specialists such as medical doctors, economists, business managers, lawyers, accountants and teachers appears to be a serious problem, whereas graduates with other specializations have inadequate skills for effective adaptation into the labour market (UNESCO 2008).
Nevertheless, noticeable outcomes were achieved in the Mongolian higher education sector in lessening administrative centralization and increasing the independence of educational organizations.
Vocational education and skills training has been one of the most neglected areas of education in Mongolia. After the initial transition shock in the first half of the 1990s, the number of students in TVET sharply declined from 31,000 in 1989 to 8,000 in 1995. Since then this sub-sector has gradually started to expand, reaching some 23,000 students in 2005. An analysis taken in 2008 of the situation of TVET in the country reveals that: (i) the system does not provide sufficient supply of necessary qualifications to the labour market; (ii) TVET has low social status; (iii) there is an absence of any institutionalized vocational guidance for school leavers; (iv) the labour market relevance of TVET within the formal education sector is low as the contents are mainly of a general educational and theoretical nature; and (v) there is a prevailing shortage of advanced training institutions for post-TVET system occupations (UNESCO 2008).
The gross enrolment rate of tertiary education in Mongolia is 51% (2009). Access to higher education institutions remains an issue for students located outside of major cities as 74% of all higher education institutions were based in the capital Ulaanbaatar (2005) (UIS 2009).
Currently more than 40,000 students, predominantly aged 16-24, attend 64 technical and vocational education and training centers in Mongolia. Young people attending TVET centres in Mongolia often come from disadvantaged and poor families (UNESCO n.d.). Additionally, there is a serious of mismatch between skills supply and labour market demands and access to market-oriented short-term skills training for adults is poor (IBE 2011).
The Government of Mongolia's open policy that allows establishment of foreign education institutions and their branches in Mongolia has had a positive impact of improving the competitiveness of higher educational institutions in the country. However there are practical implications that require clearer and stricter regulations to enhance quality of these institutions. This is to protect the country from importing low quality education. Therefore, there is a need for these institutions to be regulated in line with the government's long-term development policies and strategies as well as market demand (UNESCO 2008).
The quality of TVET is seriously hampered by multiple factors, including: (i) lack of skilled, knowledgeable and motivated teachers and trainers; (ii) no training infrastructure in place; (iii) an insufficient link between theoretical and practical training; (iv) insufficient quality assurance within the TVET system; (v) irrelevant training content and labour market relevance; and (vi) inadequate vocational examination system that provides qualifications insufficient to meet the requirements of the labour market (UNESCO 2008). Furthermore TVET funding is solely reliant on government funding, which is far from adequate (IBE 2011).
The Government holds an open policy regarding higher education. There is little guidance from the Government in this sub-sector, leaving the field open for foreign investors and for-profit institutions (IBE 2011).
Technical and vocational education and training (TVET) is administered under the purview of the MECS and the Ministry of Labour and Social Welfare Services (MLSWS). As the MECS oversees formal long term TVET (more than two years) while MLSWS oversees the non-formal short term TVET (ranging from 2 weeks to 45 days) (IBE 2011).
The Mongolia Education Master Plan addresses 3 main issues facing higher education: access, quality and management, by outlining a strategy to achieve desired outcomes by 2015. These objectives include: (i) improving coordination of enrolment in higher education; (ii) creating favourable conditions to ensure quality guarantee of higher educational training; and (iii) improving management and financing of higher education (Government of Mongolia 2006).
The Law on Technical and Vocational Education and Training (TVET) was passed in 2003. This law determined the importance, scope, type, curriculum and standards of TVET in Mongolia and created the legal environment for TVET centers to work with businesses, schools and social partners in addition to regulating the management and financing of TVET institutions (IBE 2011).
