Francophone Africa rethinks HE funding models

In an effort to maintain and improve the quality of teaching and research, francophone countries in Africa have been considering various financing initiatives, including the introduction of performance contracts for universities, online education and cost-sharing models.

This emerged from an interview with Professor Juma Shabani, the director of the Doctoral School at the University of Burundi and the former director of development, coordination and monitoring of UNESCO programmes with a special focus on Africa.

He spoke about ways in which countries are dealing with challenges related to traditional public funding models on the back of the massive growth of the student population in higher education institutions in francophone countries.

Shabani will present a paper, ‘Financing higher education in francophone Africa: Challenges and opportunities’ on the second day, 6 July, of the 15th general conference of the Association of African Universities themed ‘The Future of Higher Education in Africa’.

Financing systems

Shabani said funding for higher education in francophone Africa comes from several sources, including the government, tuition fees and donor contributions.

“In all francophone countries, the budget provided by the government prioritises scholarships and social aid granted to students,” he said.

In Senegal, for example, the budget for scholarships and social aid represents 42% of the national budget for higher education. This amount is higher than the total budget of the Cheikh Anta Diop University of Dakar, which currently has more than 75,000 students, together with the budget for social aid granted to students at this university, according to Shabani.

“It is worth mentioning the option taken by Rwanda and Burundi to abolish the scholarship system and replace it with a repayable loan system,” Shabani said.

On the other hand, Shabani indicated that the tuition fees paid by students are too low to make any significant contribution to the higher education budget.

“In Senegal, these fees vary from US$45 for bachelors studies to US$135 for doctoral studies. Thus, the budget from the government allocated to teaching and research activities is very limited,” said Shabani.

“Insufficient funding for pedagogical and research activities could lead to a negative impact on the relevance and quality of training and research,” he pointed out.

Furthermore, explained Shabani, the budget for teaching and research activities will continue to decrease in view of the rapid increase in student enrolments and the continuation of the policy of scholarships and social aid to students.

Recent initiatives

“The problem of funding shortages in Sub-Saharan Africa is endemic, and countries of the region need to undertake financial management reforms that focus on the diversification of funding sources that are sustainable,” stated a 2021 study entitled ‘Sub-Saharan Africa’s Higher Education: Financing, growth, and employment’.

Shabani said francophone countries have already taken some initiatives that should help to maintain and even improve the quality of training and research.

“These include the introduction of performance contracts for public universities and the establishment of virtual universities. The performance contract is a funding mechanism based on expected results from universities and accountability for the use of the resources made available to them.”

Such a mechanism, he said, is currently being tested in Senegal’s public universities. Burkina Faso has also launched the process of implementing such a mechanism.

“These contracts are signed between universities, based on results expected from their strategic plans, and the ministry of higher education, based on national needs.

“This mechanism allows universities to have adequate resources to effectively implement their missions,” Shabani said.

Virtual universities as another initiative have been created in francophone Africa mainly to address the challenge of massification of student enrolment and unequal access to higher education in these countries, according to Shabani.

“It is expected that these virtual universities will help to improve the quality of training and will reduce the cost of student financial support, given that students are not housed on university campuses,” he explained.

Virtual universities have been established in Senegal, Côte d’Ivoire and Burkina Faso.

This is in line with a 2016 study titled ‘A low-cost open education initiative to face massification of higher education in francophone African countries’.

It stated that: “Making educational content available online does not require many resources. Production costs do not exceed about US$2,370 to set up a platform for Massive Open Online Courses and the production is affordable for developing countries (for instance, Senegal, Ivory Coast).”

Cost-sharing is another option available, which means institutions and governments share costs, but, “depending on the social and economic characteristics of students, issues related to equity and accessibility must be safeguarded”, said Shabani.

For instance, a 2020 study entitled ‘Financial accessibility in cost-sharing policies in higher education in Mozambique’ indicated that, in Mozambique, the cost-sharing model follows a dual-track policy, including public and private funding streams.

But the part of the financing still ensured by the state is far from meeting the real needs of students and families, due to the high cost of study and living, which are well above the students’ or families’ income.

There is no diversification of social support for students, and the only help students receive comes from scholarships, which has an allocation process that is deficient.

“This calls into question the issues of higher education equity and accessibility, especially for families with the lowest socio-economic conditions in the country,” the study indicated.