LOCAL UNIVERSITIES; NEW SOLUTIONS FOR OVERCOMING LITERACY DIVIDE IN DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Certainly, one of the most important challenges in the higher education system of developing countries is the issue of unequal access to the education. In developing countries, due to socio-cultural and economical barriers and unequal distribution of human and technical infrastructures, access to new types of education (such as e-learning) for rural and suburban citizens is a fiction rather than a reality. For this, literacy divide becomes more and more extended in these countries. The development of local universities as a solution for eliminating educational discrimination will provide a good opportunity for both the rural residents to overcome literacy divide and the society to move toward sustainable development. In this study, we provide a comprehensive understanding of local universities, their role and position in higher education, and their contribution in overcoming literacy divide and sustainable development of developing countries.