Era of cost-sharing may be on way out
Oct 19, 2003
Donors and education experts across sub-Saharan Africa recently met in Accra, Ghana to discuss the problem of declining academic standards in Africa’s universities and colleges
By John Eremu
Donors and education experts across sub-Saharan Africa recently met in Accra, Ghana to discuss the problem of declining academic standards in Africa’s universities and colleges.
“Universities should be blamed if they don’t teach and do research well, but not for failing to feed or provide accommodation for students,†Prof. Daniel Mkude of Dar-es- Salaam University said as he summarised the need for radical reforms in the financing of public universities and the higher education sector in general.
The Accra conference and the recent failure by Makerere University Business School (MUBS) to re-open immediately at the beginning of the semester, were an interesting coincidence.
While in Accra, the delegates advocated total divestiture of university education, MUBS was up in arms with the Government over financing. The issues at MUBS could be more complex than meets the eye.
Other than the legal technicalities, one thing is clear: Government is finding it more and more difficult to finance public universities and other tertiary institutions.
MUBS delayed opening for up to 10 days demanding that the Government first releases money for state-sponsored students, who are just 20% of the total student population. In January, Makerere University was also unable to open before the Ministry of Finance released the money for state-sponsored students. It took the personal intervention of President Yoweri Museveni to have the money released.
The Accra conference recognised the inability of most African governments to fund the higher education sector and called for radical reforms in finance if the sub-sector is to remain on course to meet the challenges of globalisation.
The conference, organised by the World Bank, the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) working group on higher education, the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Ghana National Council for Tertiary Education noted that cost-sharing was inevitable and universities should divest themselves from the provision of non-academic services like accommodation and meals.
Birger Fredriksen, the World Bank’s senior education advisor, Africa region, said research had proved that it costs the universities five times more to prepare and provide meals to students than if the service was outsourced.
Prof. Mkude said Dar - es- Salaam University had already done away with catering services and was in the process of privatising the halls of residence. This is done in the philosophy that the primary mission of universities is academic and not the provision of social services, he said.
Public universities usually get block grants from the Government for feeding and accommodating students. Mkude said the component for feeding, calculated at the rate of Tz sh2,500 (US $2.5) or Ugsh5,000 a day is passed onto the students.
The students are then free to eat from any of the numerous private catering service providers on campus. If this was the case, the 20% government students at Makerere or MUBS would not have delayed the opening of the academic year for the 80% privately sponsored students.
Mkude said Dar - es-Salaam University had already formed the University Students Accommodation Bureau (USAB) which is working with the students’ guild on the privatisation of halls. This is being done with the view that students usually use the facilities irresponsibly and the halls lie idle for months when students are on vacation. The idle period, he said, could be fruitfully utilised if the halls were privatised.
The introduction of private sponsorship programmes has reduced government-sponsored students to less than 20% in most universities. Even the majority of government-sponsored students are non-residents and are paid living-out allowances.
“So, students who put up at the universities are now much fewer and why should they have the privilege of vandalising public property?†Mkude asked. However, students have always resisted any reforms which make them dig deeper in their pockets. Prof.
Bruce Johnstone, the director, Centre for Comparative and Global Studies at the New York State University said the historical cause of resistance to cost-sharing in Sub-Saharan Africa stems from the Marxist ideologies that governments have the financial muscle to provide all the education and other services free of charge, which was no longer tenable.
“Sub-Saharan African universities and other tertiary institutions need to supplement their limited governmental or tax-payer revenue with revenue from parents and students,†he told the delegates. Hamidou Boukary, the senior programme officer with ADEA said universities should come up with innovative ways of financing as most countries could no longer afford to provide free higher education due to worsening economies.
“Cost-sharing is no longer inevitable,†Hamidou said. “The way we used to finance higher education is no longer sustainable and we should come up with creative ways of financing to ensure our institutions move forward,†he added.
Makerere and the three other state universities in Uganda have to prepare for the reforms despite the usual stiff resistance, particularly from students. The current students’ guild has vowed to fight any attempts to privatise the halls of residence saying it will disadvantage poor students.
The Dean of students, John Ekudu, said the university was studying the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing services like catering and accommodation. He however, said the issue was held up because unlike in Tanzania and South Africa where Government pays a reasonable unit cost to students for meals, what Uganda pays as unit cost for meals was too little.
“Government pays only sh1,070 per day to feed the students. So if you privatise the halls and the catering services, the students will not be able to survive,†Ekudu said.
Donors and education experts across sub-Saharan Africa recently met in Accra, Ghana to discuss the problem of declining academic standards in Africa’s universities and colleges.
“Universities should be blamed if they don’t teach and do research well, but not for failing to feed or provide accommodation for students,†Prof. Daniel Mkude of Dar-es- Salaam University said as he summarised the need for radical reforms in the financing of public universities and the higher education sector in general.
The Accra conference and the recent failure by Makerere University Business School (MUBS) to re-open immediately at the beginning of the semester, were an interesting coincidence.
While in Accra, the delegates advocated total divestiture of university education, MUBS was up in arms with the Government over financing. The issues at MUBS could be more complex than meets the eye.
Other than the legal technicalities, one thing is clear: Government is finding it more and more difficult to finance public universities and other tertiary institutions.
MUBS delayed opening for up to 10 days demanding that the Government first releases money for state-sponsored students, who are just 20% of the total student population. In January, Makerere University was also unable to open before the Ministry of Finance released the money for state-sponsored students. It took the personal intervention of President Yoweri Museveni to have the money released.
The Accra conference recognised the inability of most African governments to fund the higher education sector and called for radical reforms in finance if the sub-sector is to remain on course to meet the challenges of globalisation.
The conference, organised by the World Bank, the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) working group on higher education, the Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Ghana National Council for Tertiary Education noted that cost-sharing was inevitable and universities should divest themselves from the provision of non-academic services like accommodation and meals.
Birger Fredriksen, the World Bank’s senior education advisor, Africa region, said research had proved that it costs the universities five times more to prepare and provide meals to students than if the service was outsourced.
Prof. Mkude said Dar - es- Salaam University had already done away with catering services and was in the process of privatising the halls of residence. This is done in the philosophy that the primary mission of universities is academic and not the provision of social services, he said.
Public universities usually get block grants from the Government for feeding and accommodating students. Mkude said the component for feeding, calculated at the rate of Tz sh2,500 (US $2.5) or Ugsh5,000 a day is passed onto the students.
The students are then free to eat from any of the numerous private catering service providers on campus. If this was the case, the 20% government students at Makerere or MUBS would not have delayed the opening of the academic year for the 80% privately sponsored students.
Mkude said Dar - es-Salaam University had already formed the University Students Accommodation Bureau (USAB) which is working with the students’ guild on the privatisation of halls. This is being done with the view that students usually use the facilities irresponsibly and the halls lie idle for months when students are on vacation. The idle period, he said, could be fruitfully utilised if the halls were privatised.
The introduction of private sponsorship programmes has reduced government-sponsored students to less than 20% in most universities. Even the majority of government-sponsored students are non-residents and are paid living-out allowances.
“So, students who put up at the universities are now much fewer and why should they have the privilege of vandalising public property?†Mkude asked. However, students have always resisted any reforms which make them dig deeper in their pockets. Prof.
Bruce Johnstone, the director, Centre for Comparative and Global Studies at the New York State University said the historical cause of resistance to cost-sharing in Sub-Saharan Africa stems from the Marxist ideologies that governments have the financial muscle to provide all the education and other services free of charge, which was no longer tenable.
“Sub-Saharan African universities and other tertiary institutions need to supplement their limited governmental or tax-payer revenue with revenue from parents and students,†he told the delegates. Hamidou Boukary, the senior programme officer with ADEA said universities should come up with innovative ways of financing as most countries could no longer afford to provide free higher education due to worsening economies.
“Cost-sharing is no longer inevitable,†Hamidou said. “The way we used to finance higher education is no longer sustainable and we should come up with creative ways of financing to ensure our institutions move forward,†he added.
Makerere and the three other state universities in Uganda have to prepare for the reforms despite the usual stiff resistance, particularly from students. The current students’ guild has vowed to fight any attempts to privatise the halls of residence saying it will disadvantage poor students.
The Dean of students, John Ekudu, said the university was studying the advantages and disadvantages of outsourcing services like catering and accommodation. He however, said the issue was held up because unlike in Tanzania and South Africa where Government pays a reasonable unit cost to students for meals, what Uganda pays as unit cost for meals was too little.
“Government pays only sh1,070 per day to feed the students. So if you privatise the halls and the catering services, the students will not be able to survive,†Ekudu said.