Development of university strategy ‘a major step forward’

The West African nation of Mauritania has unveiled its higher education strategy for the period 2022-30 to improve institutional governance and the efficiency of higher learning institutions to produce market-ready graduates.

The strategy was prepared by the Mauritanian Ministry of Higher Education and the Africa-based office of UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning in Dakar, Senegal, (IIEP-UNESCO) and launched in Nouakchott on 3 February.

Koffi Segniagbeto, the head of office of IIEP-UNESCO Dakar, Senegal, told University World News: “This strategy is clearly a sign of strong political will on the part of the government.”

In addition, Professor Ahmedou Haouba, the former president of the University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya, told University World News that the Mauritanian higher education system has made progress over the past decade in terms of governance and infrastructure, but still faces certain weaknesses, which the strategy aims to improve.

These include the mismatch between graduates’ capability and labour market needs, the low higher education participation rate and high repetition rates.

Haouba’s views are supported by official figures which indicated that, while the annual intake into higher education institutions is only 3,600 students, and about 1,500 students graduate annually, only 12% of them get a job opportunity.

A 2018 UNESCO-IIEP report, Higher education and research in Mauritania: Elements for efficiency, stated: “Mauritania has approximately 600 students per 100,000 inhabitants, which makes the country one of the least covered by higher education in the sub-region,” and indicated that 16% of undergraduate university students repeat their year of licence.

Besides a new university (University of Tidjikja) being under way, the Mauritanian public higher education system consists of two universities, namely the University of Nouakchott Al Aasriya, which absorbs about 70% of the student population, and the University of Islamic Sciences in Laayoune, along with two higher education schools as well as several higher learning institutes.

Mauritania also has one private university called the Lebanese International University of Mauritania, part of the private Lebanese International University group.

Strategy outline

The strategy is in line with recommendations of the UNESCO-IIEP 2018 report, which called on Mauritania to adopt a higher education approach to enable employment, including self-employment, and economic development.

Segniagbeto said that the strategy focuses on providing the means to manage the expected flow of baccalaureate holders from secondary education into higher education.

“This requires not only sustained funding (infrastructure and teaching equipment, teaching and support staff, among others), but also organisation and consultation, particularly with the [Mauritania] Ministry of National Education in charge of secondary education,” Segniagbeto said.

“The strategy gives a prominent place to the higher education sector governance, in particular through the quality assurance of academic and professional training,” Segniagbeto pointed out.

Enhancing efficiency

To strengthen the external efficiency of the higher education sector, the strategy called for the diversification of professional orientation structures to improve the professional integration of graduates into the labour market along with better management of the flow of baccalaureate holders – the secondary school exit examination qualification – entering higher education institutions.

In terms of internal efficiency, the strategy called for reducing the higher repetition rates – retention in the same grade or level of study where the normal expectation is either promotion or completion of university – which is a powerful indicator of the performance of an education system.

Repetition can result from poor preparation of students for higher studies, academic failure, insufficient examination marks to advance to the next level of instruction, age, poor attendance or, simply, from lack of local educational opportunities.

Industry-university partnership

The strategy also called for strengthening collaboration and partnerships between industry and academic institutions to better adapt it to the context of the labour market, and to develop the higher education system on the specificities of the Mauritanian labour market.

The strategy called for an increase in the number of public research and development institutes that do work which should be essentially directed towards applied research, experimental development and technological innovation to contribute to solving the country’s developmental problems.

Implementation

Segniagbeto said that, while the development of the strategy is a major step forward, the efforts required for its implementation are even greater.

“Apart from the necessary resources and their alignment with the objectives, an important challenge concerns the capacities needed at all levels for the successful implementation of the strategy.

“Addressing this challenge could start with disseminating the strategy to all actors and stakeholders involved in its implementation so that all their actions converge towards its strategic objectives,” Segniagbeto said.

“The regular evaluation of the implementation may also be necessary and will provide an opportunity to take stock of progress and to ensure that the objectives are being met,” Segniagbeto concluded.

Expanding further, Haouba, who is also the chairman of the international panel of experts who participated in preparing the National Strategy for Research and Innovation, said the successful implementation of the higher education strategy requires an adequate budget, the development of digital technology, innovation, research and quality assurance systems.

In addition, the diversification of priority professional training and linking this with the needs of economic development along with training in university pedagogy and better evaluation of students will also support implementation efforts.