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the Column
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Afghanistan: international aid under fire
Paradigm change in fight against hunger
Poverty reduction and higher education
07/2005 |
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[ Universities ]
Poverty reduction and higher education
Lidia Brito, a forestry professor and former cabinet member from Mozambique, considers “technology, globalisation and the digital revolution” forces that shape life all over Africa. Therefore, she believes that higher education is crucial for developing countries. Africa needs qualified academics, she says, to provide “bridges to the international knowledge pool”. Universities, the former Minister for Higher Education argues, need to become up to date to serve their purpose. In her view, the conventional atmosphere of bureaucratic and rigid curricula is not up to the task. For too long, she complains, graduates had undergone outdated programmes only to leave university “without much to contribute to their country”. Brito stresses that universities need to be involved in relevant research, and not only in teaching, if they are to train professionals adequately, and that they need funding for doing so.
Such arguments fell on open ears at a Conference held by Nuffic, the Netherlands Organisation for International Cooperation in Higher Education, in Den Haag in late May. On behalf of the Dutch government, Nuffic had invited scholars from all over the world to take part in an effort to produce new ideas on how to promote higher education in developing countries. The conference did not revolve around lectures and presentations but rather kept the participants busy in small working groups assessing the past, present and future of higher education in poor countries.
One result of the conference was the suggestion to reconsider the relevance of university education for poverty reduction. At first glance, these issues do not necessarily seem related as higher education obviously caters to members of the middle classes with professional aspirations. Nonetheless, Kenneth King of Edinburgh University stresses the need for “centres of excellence” and “cutting-edge research” in developing countries. He sees the Indian Insitutes of Technology and Management as model cases. They are well-known for having served as launch pads for the international careers of Indian engineers and business leaders, but – as Professor King points out – they have also helped to establish high tech growth industries in India.
As a Dutch official summarised after the conference, higher education is, indeed, “indispensible” for attaining the Millennium Development Goals. After all it contributes to strengthening governance, generates knowledge for developmental interventions, trains staff for anti-poverty programmes for instance in the field of health, and grants countries access to the international knowledge base.
At the end of the conference in Den Haag, one idea that had caught the Dutch government’s attention was that of setting up a new multilateral institution. Such a body should be independent, flexible and efficient, and run by donors and recipients. It could pool funds from various countries and distribute them responsibly over the long term. One of the core challenges of higher education, after all, is that it needs to be promoted consistently for long time spans and must not become subject to passing policy fads. Jan Hoekema, the Foreign Office’s Ambassador for International Cultural Cooperation, said in his closing remarks that a mulitlateral approach seemed promising in this context. (dem)
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