SOUTH SUDAN: Call for mass expansion of universities

The Academics and Researchers Forum for Development, in collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, Research, Science and Technology, organised a conference on the future of higher Education in South Sudan in the capital Juba from 14-15 November. Days before, a higher education bill was presented to the national assembly.

The conference was opened by Gabriel Kuc Abiei Mayool, the deputy minister of higher education, research, science and technology, who said it was of great symbolic significance as it embodied the very aspirations and goals of the struggle of the people of South Sudan.

"Now is the right time for the people of South Sudan to choose the system of higher education they want in order to achieve national advancement, progress and prosperity," Mayool said. He assured participants that the government would commit the resources needed to bring the conference's recommendations to fruition.

The gathering was well attended by both young and heavyweight academics from South Sudan and abroad, legal experts, members of parliament, diplomats, government ministries and the media. The speakers came from various universities in South Sudan and from the Republic of Sudan, America, the United Kingdom, Egypt, Kenya, South Africa and Uganda.

Some 21 papers were presented including by Dr Lam Akol, a former Khartoum University and Imperial College-educated chemical engineering professor who is currently the leader of an opposition party, SPLM-DC.

The themes covered by the papers included: quality assurance and accreditation, networking as a method for building human resources, consolidating higher education, building new universities as agents for change and development, management in higher education, student accommodation, media education, building new campuses based on American university models, meeting the increasing demand for higher education and elitist versus mass higher education.

Many of the papers (more than a quarter of them) recognised the need for South Sudan to prepare for an inevitable increase in social demand for higher education in the coming years.

With the exception of Akol's paper, which stipulated the need for no more than three universities, all of the speakers emphasised the imperative to expand access to higher education. Most of the papers acknowledged the negative impact of the expected expansion on the quality of higher education in South Sudan and proposed measures and strategies for maintaining quality and building capacity, such as using networking and partnerships and the adoption of the US college model.

Not surprisingly, the topic attracted a heated debate between proponents and opponents of expansion. However, it is clear that demand for higher education is going to increase rapidly in the coming years, and in my view widening access by growing the number of higher education providers (both public and private) is not just an option but a national duty.

A special secretariat was set up to capture and distil the recommendations emanating from the papers and the discussions that followed. The preliminary recommendations as perceived by the committee are being edited and the final recommendations will be published after extensive consultation between and among presenters and key participants.

However, the preliminary list of recommendations is as follows:

• Higher education institutions should strive to design curricula best suited to the needs of South Sudan.

• The national government should allocate adequate resources for research and for building lecture halls, libraries, and laboratories.

• While consolidating the quality of existing universities, the government should also increase access to higher education through expansion.

• In order to develop human capital and staffing capabilities, universities must collaborate and network with similar institutions nationally, regionally and globally.

• Technical education must be developed alongside more academic higher education.

• The government should put in place institutions and mechanism for quality assurance.

• The proposed Council for Higher Education in South Sudan should devise a mechanism for the ranking of institutions of higher education.

• Higher education institutions should embrace values of good governance, innovation and enterprise.

• The government and higher education institutions should review the student accommodation model inherited from Sudan with a view to correcting any shortcomings.

• The Council for Higher Education should give special attention to regulating and licencing private higher education.

• Compulsory retirement should be abolished for tenured professors and made optional.

Many participants advised the government to take a second look at its policy of free higher education for all because they felt it would not be sustainable with the expansion in higher education. Instead, said participants, the government should devise a cost recovery strategy that involves students making contributions towards their education, with financial support only available to those who cannot.

Overall, many participants said that the conference was a resounding success and an important milestone in the development of higher education policy for South Sudan.

* Dr John Apuruot Akec is vice-chancellor of the newly established University of Northern Bahr-El-Ghazel in South Sudan, and chair of the Academics and Researchers Forum for Development, an academic-led think-tank and advocacy group in South Sudan.

* This is an edited version of John Apuruot Akec's report on the conference which appears on his blog.


Comment:

I like the timing of the conference as it has come at a time when the Higher Education Bill is about to be tabled in Parliament. From the outline of the key recommendations provided, it is clear that the conference is largely a success. What still remains unclear is whether the required resources will be made avaliable for implementing the recommendations of this conference.

However I trust that the promising words of the deputy minister for higher education will be followed by concrete actions. Otherwise, the citizens of this country have already heard and read many great words and statements from our leaders but have been deprived of seeing actions following the words.

In short, let us make every effort to translate every word we air into action.

Kenyi David