GLOBAL: Universities for justice and unity

Universities' neutrality and their aspired role as the conscience of society can be compromised when they play an active role in political transition. But they are often the drivers of political change and their contribution to democratisation processes around the globe is significant.

At its Leaders Conference in Madrid, the Talloires Network explored whether universities can and should be an active partner in political transition.

Two African countries took prominent positions in the workshops on the theme, each from its own dramatic historic perspective: South Africa, with its democratisation process that was launched with the abolition of apartheid; and Liberia, with its efforts to escape the legacy of a ravaging civil war.

The case of South Africa was presented by Russel Botman, vice-chancellor of Stellenbosch University. He divided transition processes into four general phases: its origins among the people, its elevation to a macro level, its transformation to a constitutional issue and then its embodiment as an institutional issue.

"I will argue that the last part, embodiment, is the most important and critical phase and it is in this phase that we find the biggest role for higher education," Botman said.

"Transition is difficult to define. It comprises changes that affect every single part of society. Mostly, people speak of it as socio-political transformation, but I believe it is about two simple issues: justice and unity.

"The justice I refer to is justice back and forth between the constitution and the community. Very often you find that even when there are strong institutions and a strong jurisdiction there is no connection to people other than criminals. But justice is not just a matter of sentencing criminals. It also means doing people right who have suffered but there is no longer anyone to blame.

"On the other side is the issue of unity. Often transition is guided by oppositional frameworks. This can yield some very complex situations, even if they look simple at a first glance. For higher education it is important to be seen to be working hard on both opposed sides. People entering a university must feel that they enter a united space."

Precisely defining what role higher education can play in these processes proved quite a challenge for Botman too, and quite understandably so, because change today has become a constant.

"First of all, people are less scared now that they have and can share more information. Secondly, in the past you could tell a student exactly what to do. Today that's different. Graduates are steering into a multi-career, multilingual and mobile future.

"Higher education used to prepare people for government services. This changed and the strong claim of the private sector became a very important part. Now, even that driver is becoming less powerful. Today, universities must just create innovation and prepare people for it and for change, the biggest and most challenging of which is perhaps the change from our self-centred societies, where individual gain is the greatest driving force for development and innovation, to one of sustainable development for the next generation."

Referring to his own university, Stellenbosch, a historically white university, Botman said: "One important task for us is to help white students, whose parents have been strongly involved in past racial practice, to win a debate at home on apartheid.

"Another important challenge is to disentangle all kinds of issues from apartheid. We must teach people confronting each other in debate not to turn to racial issues too quickly. People must learn to argue for the sake of arguing, without racial prejudice."

A participant from Lebanon referred to his country's diverse population and the problems this raises in democratisation.

"We speak of democracy, but we are a bit afraid of it because it includes majorities and minorities. So we look at non-numerical democracy but do not yet quite know how to do that," he said.

Botman conceded that this is a problem in South Africa too but that it is rooted in a profound misunderstanding of democracy.

"What some people do not understand is that one key role of democracy is to protect minorities. If you visit a very poor community in South Africa and ask its people whether they like democracy they will say no, because they think of democracy as a different thing. We do not think voters or even the president are the highest authority. It is the higher court. One thing we learnt is that after an election you must first think of the new minorities and only then of the majority. That has the best chance of keeping everyone happy."

This may have a chance in South Africa; it is an entirely different matter in a country such as Liberia which has been torn apart by a savage civil war.

Emmet Dennis, president of the University of Liberia, said: "True reconciliation is still very difficult in Liberia. We try to find a role for higher education in this, but it is not easy."

After the war and the first elections in 2005, Liberia was entirely dependent on donor support. Donors preferred basic education which was the buzz in development aid five years ago because of the millennium goals.

"We resorted to best practice from, for example, Makerere and other African universities in countries that had experienced similar situations. We now see three key tasks for universities in the reconstruction and reconciliation process: producing the human capital needed for development, performing noble research and being a think-tank for public and private services."

Instead of being able to give faculty stability and peace to work on these aims, change had to be enforced because the pre-war curricula were not very relevant to the country's current needs any longer. The number of universities went up from three to eight and the total number of students is now 35,000 out of a population of 4 million.

"Universities want to be relevant in the reconstruction process but they lack the capacity," said Dennis.

"Most of the resources are eaten up by physical renovations of damage while at the same time resources are needed for changing curricula and developing strategies for avoiding future conflict. There is so much to be done and it must be done so quickly so that the fragile peace can turn into visible recovery. Add to this that many of our partners do not think beyond five-year frameworks, while we want to think in time frames of closer to 20 years."

Curriculum transformation is carried out throughout the country with the help of international partners. Two universities have peace studies institutions. Post-traumatic stress is studied elsewhere. Programmes are offered for government officials, such as a programme for middle managers at government services in finance that is supported by the World Bank.

"Most importantly, the universities are integrating measures to support civic development into their curricula. Students from mixed ethnic backgrounds study at universities. They must do community service and are often sent into other communities than their own. This is tremendously important in a post-civil war situation."

But it is also tremendously difficult. "Although we have a truth and reconciliation committee, the insidiousness goes deep. If you have killed my father and mother, and now you walk past me and say: 'Let's forget all about it...'. Well... it's just so difficult."