Although higher education is generally taken to mean all post-secondary education including universities, teacher training institutions and institutes of applied sciences and research, the special role of universities in the development of human resources merits separate mention. Universities occupy a pivotal status in the hierarchy of educational institutions and they exercise considerable influence on the work of other institutions. Furthermore, modern universities claim a significant proportion of the education budgets of their countries and are likely to continue to do so as the pressure for their expansion increases.