Editorial

Building sustainable higher education

With the growing knowledge economy, higher education is no longer seen as a luxury that developing countries cannot afford, but a critical element of national development. Countries must become globally competitive through skills training, given that good quality products and services are crucial in the fight for global profits.

Higher education is therefore expected to promote economically-productive knowledge: advanced skills will attract investment leading to economic growth which will benefit all sectors of society.

However, the obstacles in many developing countries are alarming. Historical conditions such as colonial and post-colonial origins of the university system, structural adjustment policies and 'brain drain' have all had negative impacts. There is also a growing demand for university places, a lack of basic resources such as classrooms, scientific equipment and libraries and too few skilled and committed academic staff. According to the World Bank's 2000 report on higher education, many universities, particularly in Africa, have reached crisis point.

The development of higher education in low income countries must also be viewed in the context of changing global funding and governance trends and changing ideas of the roles of higher education. The idea of higher education as a social and public good, that contributes to the wellbeing of society in general, is being overtaken by the idea of it as a private good, and a way of helping national economies to become more competitive.

In addition, university autonomy is being weakened by the introduction of market competition for resources and students, and stronger accountability measures to ensure that higher education meets societal demands. There is also greater cross border higher education and an influx of foreign and private providers. These trends are likely to grow with the World Trade Organization's trade liberalisation agreement – the General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) – which aims to break down barriers to international trade in higher education.

This issue of id21 insights education focuses on the opportunities and dangers posed in relation to building sustainable systems of higher education and presents some of the responses developed.

The re-evaluation of higher education by international agencies and governments and the greater interaction between universities in low and high income countries is timely and welcome. However, there are also dangers. The focus on higher education as the primary influence on development diverts attention away from other equally important areas of social policy. It fails to acknowledge the interaction and impact of global political and economic factors and focuses mainly on high-skilled jobs and the economic dimensions of development.

In reality, low-skilled and high-skilled jobs co-exist and this is seen as an advantage in high income countries. Simon McGrath's article develops this analysis by reflecting on the opportunities and perils associated with the change in the World Bank's position on higher education in developing countries.

While greater international interaction may lead to the sharing of expertise, there is also a fear that the meanings of quality and relevance are shaped by elite western universities. This can drive universities away from practices more relevant to their own national contexts.

Rodrigo Arocena and Judith Sutz show how some universities in Latin America are successfully responding to the social and cultural dimensions of development, in addition to the economic ones. This requires expanding their relationships with government and industry to include civil society organisations. The case of the University of the Republic, in Uruguay, illustrates strategies that can be developed at institutional level.

A further challenge facing low income countries is 'brain drain', through which qualified people emigrate, leaving university posts vacant. Damtew Teferra indicates that there is also an internal drain within Africa as Africans move to more attractive countries such as South Africa or work outside academia. As attempts have failed to attract these workers back, he reports that the trend is now moving towards using intellectual migrants in host countries to strengthen teaching and research back home.

How can developing countries respond to the growing demand for higher education, while maintaining equity and quality? Louise Morley reports that gender inequity still prevails despite national and institutional support for equality. Her research indicates that formal and informal mechanisms continue to create an environment which hinders women's professional development and students' learning.

Regulatory systems also have an impact on the relationship between equity and quality. Mala Singh presents the quality assurance system in South Africa, which links accountability requirements to social transformation rather than to narrow notions of efficiency, productivity and competitiveness.

One of the solutions for the growing demand for higher education places has been to encourage foreign and private providers. However, evidence indicates that this has led to a decrease in educational quality. Reputable publicly-funded universities in high income countries may take opportunities to deliver lower-cost learning, primarily by focussing on quantity rather than quality. Tristan McCowan presents the rapid expansion of private higher education in Brazil, which makes up ninety percent of institutions. While this has increased the number of places available, it has not contributed to equitable access for students nor has competition between providers brought expected gains in quality.

The dilemma for developing countries is how to open up to foreign providers in a way that supports sustainable development. Rapidly-growing economies such as India and China are well placed to negotiate the market on their own terms. Sudhanshu Bhushan and Vijay Vrat Arya show how India's plans to implement GATS aim to open up to foreign higher education in a regulatory manner.

China also maintains close government steering. The Education Act of 1995, for example, legislates conditions for joint ventures including the requirement to invest any private surplus income. In addition, as Ka-Ho Mok indicates, the government has implemented several projects to strengthen the competitiveness of Chinese universities.

Policy, governance and funding mechanisms need to be developed to overcome some of the traditional tensions of higher education such as: the relationships between equity and quality (particularly in relation to ethnicity, gender and class), the developmental role of the university and its wider role in knowledge creation, internationalisation versus indigenisation, and academic achievement versus relevance.

A development strategy built by interlocking low, intermediate and high skills may be more viable than one based on high skills alone. This requires joining up different levels of education. In addition, the social and political benefits of higher education need to be valued equally to the economic benefits.

Better policy and regulation are needed to shape the relationship between foreign investment and public and private sectors in order to build skills. There is little evidence to support the assumption that a weakly-regulated market will lead to better quality higher education. This prevents us from thinking about strategies for different forms of regulation and public investment that have worked in the past or could work in the future. For example the 'developmental state' and the 'managed market strategies', which have worked well for some states, may be more relevant to developing nations. These strategies have encouraged the entry of foreign and private higher education within a framework of planning and regulation.

Rajani Naidoo
School of Management, University of Bath,
Bath BA26AH, UK
R.Naidoo@bath.ac.uk

See also

Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise, The Task Force on Higher Education and Society, World Bank: Washington DC, 2000
www.tfhe.net/report/downloads/download_report.htm

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