Human history becomes more and more a race between education and

catastrophe

H.G. Wells, The Outline of History

Higher Education in Developing Countries:

The Task Force on

Higher Education and Society

Peril and Promise

Central questions

• What is the role of higher education in supporting and enhancing the process of economic and social development?

• What are the major obstacles that higher education faces in developing countries?

• How can these obstacles best be overcome?

Five areas of inquiry

• the public interest

• systems of higher education

• governance

• science and technology

• general education curricula

Longstanding problems

• funding

• faculty quality

• student conditions and preparedness

• curriculum

• teaching methods

• research capacity

• vision

New realities

• rapidly changing world• increasing use of information technology• growing income inequality• knowledge capital replacing physical capital

as source of wealth• higher education becoming more important

and in greater demand• resulting expansion: rapid, chaotic, and

unplanned

Public interest

• high private and social returns

• build knowledge capital resource

• address topics with long-term value to society

• promote equal opportunity

• venue for free and open discourse of ideas and values

Government as supervisor

• deter abuses of private education

• encourage autonomy

• ensure coherence and coordination

• ensure cooperation and openness

• encourage competition

• encourage connections to broader economy and society

Governance – some problems

• governments often closely involved in running of universities

• universities are hostage to changes in political weather

• lack of open dialogue about reform

• corruption

• active student political life

Science now

• accelerating pace of scientific progress

• link between scientific capacity and economic performance

• higher education essential for strong science

Science and the developing world

• large and growing scientific gap between developed and developing countries

• brain drain

• scientific advance and global public goods

General education

• develops the whole individual• interactive teaching methods over a broad

range of subjects • promotes citizenship, ethics, and ambition• encourages broad-mindedness, critical

thinking and communication skills• provides adaptable leaders, and is a good

grounding for specialists• contributes to national development

Education is not the filling of a pail, but the lighting of a fire

W. B. Yeats