World Bank's verdict on Africa's tertiary education

Quality tertiary education is the only avenue through which countries in Sub-Saharan Africa can realize socio-economic growth, a World Bank sponsored report says.

The report says there is an "urgent need" for developing countries to "acquire capabilities that will spawn new industries that create more productive jobs."

It proposes what it calls "well-known changes" towards learning and teaching methods in tertiary institutions.

These include: Interdisciplinary rather than disciplinary perspectives, flexibility in learning, group work instead of lectures, problem solving rather than memorization of facts; practical learning to complement theory and assessment through project work that demonstrates competence.

Similarly, the report passes a harsh verdict on the state of tertiary education, giving an implication of its irrelevance to development goals of the individual countries.

According to the study, tertiary institutions are preoccupied with income generation to an extent that their core duty of training, problem solving and knowledge transfer to support the economy, is relegated to "community service."

Income generation, the October 2008 report noted, has been too limited to lift institutions above financial survival, too little to reduce dependence on government funding and too constrained to have "more than occasional resources" for experimentation and innovation.

The researchers are now calling on tertiary institutions to focus on "nourishing a national economy" rather than churning out half-baked graduates that add to the huge baggage that is unemployment.

Emphasis is being placed on realigning curricula to the national development road-map, in Kenya's case, Vision 2030. The report proposes that governments adopt a sponsorship criterion where only students in "disciplines deemed more critical to future development" are assisted.

In a synopsis of the report "Accelerating Catch-Up: Tertiary Education for Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa" the financial institution raises a red flag over the reducing quality of post-secondary education in developing countries.

"Too rapid an increase in enrolments, as has happened in the recent past, has eroded quality and is undermining the contribution of tertiary education to growth," the study notes.

It casts doubt over the ability of countries achieving the Millennium Development Goals, due to high mortality rates and emigration of professionals to better-paying jobs in Europe, America and parts of Asia.

While releasing the 2007 MDG status report, Planning and National Development Minister Wycliffe Oparanya blamed inadequate funding for the slow realisation of the MDGs, whose deadline is in 2015.

Although he was optimistic that only two of the goals –Universal Primary Education and Fight against malaria and HIV—were achievable, he said little on the all-important goal regarding food security and poverty.

Apparently, "inadequate research funding and insufficient attention to professional development" has led to a huge crisis in academic staffing. Thus, coming against a backdrop of increased tertiary enrolment, this is bound to dilute further the already poor quality of graduates.

"A combination of inadequate salaries, heavy teaching workloads resulting from declining staff-student ratios, deficient personnel management and lack of research opportunities makes staff retention and recruitment increasingly difficult," the report says.

Top Government leaders have reiterated the call to increase research funds, but there is little to show for it, as researchers continue to 'moonlight' by carrying out private consultancies to raise additional income.

The study was compiled by Shahid Yusuf, William Saint and Kaoru Nabeshima.

The researchers also note that even although many countries have publicly financed research institutes to spearhead innovation, many of the institutions are "fragile, under-resourced and vulnerable to political vagaries."

Lately, Kenyan public universities have been striving to acquire International certification with regard to management processes. Kenyatta and Nairobi Universities are already ISO certified.

However, even with the high managerial standards, the stretched facilities are doing no good to the huge number of students crammed in lecture halls.

Tertiary institutions, the report says, "lack the autonomy to make decisions and the flexibility to adapt to changing labour markets."

This could be the reason for the high number of unemployed graduates, since the curricula, though revised, lacks adequate input from employers.

Mismatches between the education provided and job requirements in the market are cited as the very reason for the high graduate unemployment.

Many employer surveys have revealed that most graduates are "weak in problem solving, business understanding, computer use, team work and communication skills."

The study gives several options: increased funds for research, incentives to researchers for attaining policy goals, taxes to support tertiary education.

It also proposes that all "non-strategic overseas scholarship funds" be redirected to boost local teaching, learning and research quality.

The responsibility of attracting investment in tertiary education and research is squarely placed on the Government. The study proposes that institutions be granted autonomy accompanied by appropriate accountability mechanisms to increase opportunities for innovation.