Do African countries need tertiary education to succeed

Do African countries need tertiary education to succeed in sustainable capacity development? Talking Notes by DP on Subsidy at Tertiary Education is more beneficial to the tax payer than subsidy at lower levels of Education in Africa AFRICA LEADERSHIP INSTITUTER March 27, 2008

Overview n Is Tertiary Education Important for Economic Development in Africa? n Recent evidence n Current Status & Challenges n Going Forward

Is Tertiary Education Important for Economic Development?

Conceptual Framework

The Array of Higher Education Benefits Public Economic Social Private • Increased Tax Revenues • Higher Salaries and Benefits • Greater Productivity • Employment • Increased Consumption • Higher Savings Levels • Increased Workforce Flexibility • Improved Working Conditions • Decreased Reliance on Government Financial Support • Personal/Professional Mobility • Reduced Crime Rates • Improved Health/Life Expectancy • Increased Charitable Giving/Community Service • Improved Quality of Life for Offspring • Increased Quality of Civic Life • Better Consumer Decision Making • Social Cohesion/Appreciation of Diversity • Increased Personal Status • More Hobbies, Leisure Activities • Improved Ability to Adapt to and Use Technology Source: The Institute for Higher Education Policy, “Reaping the Benefits: Defining the Public and Private Value of Going to College”, March 1998.

Additional public benefits n Produces well trained teachers for all levels of schooling n Trains physicians and health workers n Nurtures governance and leadership skills n Of 38 heads of state in Africa in 2005 with recorded educational attainment levels, 23 had formal higher education.

Public benefits - evidence n Bloom, Hartley, and Rosovsky (2004) showed: n High school graduates working in US states with higher proportions of college graduates earn more than otherwise comparable workers in states with lower proportions of college graduates. n A positive correlation between higher education and entrepreneurship: more-educated entrepreneurs created more jobs than less-educated entrepreneurs n A positive correlation between higher education and good governance n Moretti (2004)

Recent Evidence

Economic growth model

Key results (Bloom Report 2006) 1. Increasing overall education tends to increase the steady-state level of GDP. 2. Increasing higher education tends to increase the rate of technological and income convergence. 3. Capital and Labor have the largest effect. Pooling resources through regional collaboration for small economies has great potential.

Summary estimates 1. A 1 -year increase in the stock of Africa’s tertiary education would boost the annual rate of economic growth by a sizable 0. 63 percentage points. 2. If the current stock of tertiary education in Africa increased to the level of Egypt (0. 59 years/person), the annual rate of GDP growth would increase by a modest/nontrivial 0. 28 percentage points. 3. Poverty reduction effects

Emerging Global Consensus n Commission for Africa Report 2005 n NEPAD HD Strategy n African Union – 2 nd Decade for Education n World Bank AAP n Still, many African countries do not have tertiary education as a priority in their development strategies

Commission for Africa (2005) n Recognizes higher education’s value for development n Suggests $500 million/year over 10 years is needed to strengthen higher education institutions

Current Status & Challenges

World Bank Higher Education Activities Higher education Projects: ESW and Regional: Mauritania Mozambique Uganda Science & Technology Projects with HE comp: n Burkina Faso n Cameroon n Ethiopia n Gambia n Ghana n Lesotho n Tanzania FY 07 n DRC FY 07 n Kenya FY 07 n Namibia FY 07 n n n Projects in Science & Technology n Uganda MSI n Nigeria STEPB n n n Ethiopia, 2003 Uganda S & T, 2004 HE & Economic development 05 Univ staff retention, 2005 SADC policy dialogue, 05/06 Francophone HE conf, 2006 Nigeria S & T, 2006 HE Cost and Financing in Francophone Afr. 2006 Innovation Funds for HE 06 Quality Assurance, 07 Agric Education & Training, 07 Tertiary Education & Growth 07 ICTs and Education 07

Trends n Africa has the fastest increase in tertiary enrollment (grew at an average of 15. 6% increase a year between 1991 -2004) n But coverage is still the lowest in the world (gross enrollment ratio 5%) n Gender parity has been improving female students) (40% n Rising enrollment share in private sector (8 % on average and share exceeds 20% in 10 countries) n Increasing diversification short technical programs) (28% of students in

Financing n Public spending on higher education declined on average (in real terms and as a share of education spending) n Public spending per student has been falling sharply but remains high in relation to GDP(3 times the GDP per capita) n Low efficiency and high social spending (particularly in Francophone Africa) n Financial sustainability is a concern

Efficiency and Relevance n Low efficiency (particularly in Francophone countries) n Mismatch between output of graduates and labor market demand (many unemployed tertiary graduates) n Research and Development is nascent (approx. 48 researchers/million inhabitants, R&D spending approx. 0. 3% of GDP) n Aging faculty, difficulty in staff retention n Weak governance n poor alignment of incentives to quality Limited ICT capacity and connectivity

Going Forward

Improve Quality & Relevance • • • Adopt an integrated post-basic education strategy Strengthen Teaching & Learning (staff, facilities, pedagogy, e-learning) Emphasis on Science, Technology and Innovation Forge stronger link to productive sectors (refer to on-going study) Strengthen institutional and national QA systems (See Hannushek’s Paper)

Strengthen Research Capacity n n n Better Equip Research Labs Encourage Collaborative Research Networks Research management Training Capacity to move from lab results to products and services Incentives

Stronger Partnerships and Regional Collaboration … n n n In Select Areas e. g. PG Training & Research Problem of sustainability: How can partnerships and regional cooperation be reformed to become strategic tools for development? Is there a role for international development partners?

Increase Enrollment Source: UNESCO and World Bank

Create a favorable Climate for Retention of Skilled Personnel n n n Improve Working environment – incentive system Local Postgraduate Training through partnerships – are there promising practices to learn from? Address issue of remuneration – merit-based tenure system at Universities?

Skilled Migrants/Total Migrants

TE Students Abroad/Home country Students

Engage the African Diaspora n n Paradigm shift: View Diaspora as resource, not a loss Learn from Others (e. g. Asia) Deliberate strategies to engage Diaspora What strategies could be applied to engage the African Diaspora? Are there promising practices we could learn from?

Improve ability to respond quickly to change • • Reforms Policy & Governance: Autonomy vs Accountability in public tertiary institutions. Financing: Demand-driven, link to performance, accountability mechanisms Diversification: encourage private providers, non-university tertiary Curriculum & Pedagogy

Advocacy for Tertiary education in development policy dialogue n Poverty Reduction Strategy Papers (PRSPs) n n n Very few mention higher education as a means to reduce poverty, and most see it as less important than primary and secondary education. In 2005, only 3 of 31 countries see higher education as a poverty reduction tool. Number is increasing In SADC out of 5 IDA countries in 2005 with PRSPs, two did not mention higher education and two called for reduction of public spending on higher education.