Private providers in UK and continental Europe: competition and collaboration Paper presented in Track xx at the EAIR 32 nd Annual Forum in Valencia, Spain 1-4 September 2010 Robin Middlehurst & Steve Woodfield Contact details: Robin Middlehurst Kingston University, London VC’s Office River House 53-57 High Street Kingston-upon-Thames KT1 1LQ UK r.middlehurst@kingston.ac.uk Keywords: Funding – private higher education; governance; higher education policy/development; internationalisation; national systems of higher education Title: Private providers in UK and continental Europe: competition and collaboration Abstract: Private providers of higher education (for-profit and not-for-profit) have become increasingly prominent in UK higher education in the last five years. Concerned about their impact on the mainstream publicly-funded sector, Universities UK commissioned research to identify the main providers, analyse the market context in which they have emerged, examine the nature of their relationships with higher education institutions and assess the implications for policy and practice at university and sector levels. The study included a small-scale comparison of private providers in four continental European countries and was informed by wider global trends. This paper reports on the main findings of this study.