TUNISIA: Revolution is chance to reform universities

The Tunisian revolution in January could provide an opportunity for reform of higher education, but this would require a change of attitude by the university and business communities to make courses more practical and students more employable, according to a commentary in La Presse of Tunis.

In the article, "Improving the performance of the Tunisian university after the revolution", Moufida Bouabid said universities suffered from several drawbacks, in particular the inappropriate emphasis given to theoretical education.

"Students are subjected to lectures and tutorials, and rarely carry out any initial training in companies or government services to complete their education," said the article. "Why do we continue with this kind of teaching which often has no link with the environment to which the university should be open?"

Once students graduated they had enormous difficulties finding a job, because they knew nothing about means of production and the world of work as they had not carried out work experience placements during their university studies. Employers preferred to recruit young graduates who understood how they operated, and were reluctant to offer posts to people without relevant experience, said Bouabid.

Another problem was the mismatch of supply and demand; more than 150,000 young graduates were currently unemployed, said the article. The state was incapable of satisfying all demands, and the few competitive exams on offer attracted thousands of young people hoping for success that they did not find.

But if the revolution of 14 January had lifted the veil on these real difficulties in the labour market, it could not bring immediate solutions to all the problems of the university or youth unemployment, wrote Bouabid.

"I believe it is necessary to influence people's attitudes, to change their views and options. First, universities must be restructured to adapt better to the changes taking place, with less theory and more practical work.

"That depends on everybody's willingness - the ministry, managers, teachers and students, but also those in charge of companies who must make partnerships with universities to improve interaction between the university world and the labour market."

Students must also pay more attention to their studies, adopt a "spirit of initiative" and not be content just to be "consumers of knowledge". They should be proactive, make proposals and themselves go to look for placements in companies and not just wait for them to turn up, wrote Bouabid.

In addition, multiplying the number of courses and subjects had not produced the expected result, either in improving the quality of teaching or the level of student employability. So it was necessary to rethink the education system to make it more efficient. The new spirit generated by the revolution must reverberate in relations between the different members of the university community - management, teachers and students, wrote Bouabid.

"A spirit of innovation and entrepreneurship must be instilled in students to make them independent and able to face the future with much hope."

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original report.