1. ACU GRADUATE SCHOOL
"THE PUBLIC GOOD, THE GLOBAL MARKET
AND GLOBAL DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS: THE
MANY CHALLENGES FACING THE HIGHER
EDUCATION"
MEMBER OF EUROPEAN ASSOCIATION FOR
INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION,
P.O. BOX 1119,
1001 GD AMSTERDAM,
THE NETHERLANDS.
E-MAIL: info@eaie.org
PERSONAL ADDRESS:
POVERTY ALLEVIATION PROGRAM,
2. DEPARTMENT OF EDUCATION,
P.O. BOX 25632, SEGEREA, ILALA,
DAR-ES-SALAAM,
TANZANIA.
E-MAIL: duncanhensisya@yahoo.co.uk;
duncanhensisya@gmail.com;
hensisya@gmail.com;
Hensisya2014@twitter.com
TEL. NO. +255-762-532217/+255-715-
532217.
TO: ACU GRADUATE SCHOOL,
ACU BOX 29140,
ABILENE, TEXAS 79699,
USA.
RE: THE PUBLIC GOOD, THE GLOBAL MARKET AND GLOBAL
DEVELOPMENT PROBLEMS: THE MANY CHALLENGES FACING
HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS:
3. I.INTRODUCTION:
I am an author of books, articles and journals who has ever
published an English Language Book entitled " English Language
for Basic Courses in Proficiency & Communication Skills" with
ISBN: 978-9987-734-05-4, and a member of European
Association for International Education (EAIE) and a
Researcher. I studied Master's of Science in Psychology leading
to PhD with Atlantic International University in Honolulu,
Hawaii, USA as a Distance Learner, graduated on 30th March,
2014 and currently, I am studying Master's in Biblical Studies
with Andrew Connally School of Preaching, an Extension School
of Bear Valley Bible Institute in Denver, Colorado, USA. After
graduation in 2016, I will go to continue my studies with Abilene
Christian University in Texas, USA whereby I am going to study
Doctor of Divinity.
I would like to offer insights and concerning how Higher Education
Institutions (HEIs), in Europe in the first place, can engage in
meaningful ways of contributing to human development. This can be
achieved through education or research activities conducted at the
home campus or by training students from the developing world. It
may be by engaging in various ways of cooperation with HEIs in the
developing world.
Before looking at such engagements in more detail, this introductory
chapter will discuss some key concepts. Then, in an attempt to
provide a context for the chapters that follow, some important
current developments in the world of higher education will be
highlighted. The role of knowledge in today’s world is changing
rapidly. Implications of trends in higher education, such as the
increasing commercialization and competition, will be depicted as
well. Whether present trends contribute to the use of knowledge to
4. address important global issues and to global development will also
be questioned. By doing so, we aim to point out important issues
that form the background of the contributions in this publication.
II. KEY CONCEPTS:
Firstly, an attempt will be made to define, or at least circumscribe,
some of the key concepts used in this publication: knowledge,
globalization, development and internationalization.
Throughout history, “knowledge” has been defined in infinite ways.
For the purpose of this publication, we define knowledge rather
pragmatically as “what is known in a particular field or in total.” 1.
On one hand, knowledge is a living substance, carried by people in
their heads. On the other hand, vast amounts of knowledge built up
over centuries are stored in various ways (books, files, etc.) by
which it can be accessed when necessary. Many attempts to define
knowledge also make the distinction between theoretical knowledge
(scientific {validated?} knowledge as opposed to common
knowledge (non-scientific knowledge and/or knowledge gained by
experience). When talking in this publication about knowledge, we
generally refer to scientific knowledge.
Although “scientific” may suggest that knowledge can be a universal
and neutral thing, another matter that will be touched upon in this
publication is the relation of knowledge with its context. For
instance, knowledge may relate to power, which justifies questions
such as “who develops knowledge and for what purpose?” and who
possesses knowledge and whose knowledge counts?
There is a lot of confusion as to how “globalization” may be defined.
In the words of one influential author on the topic:
Globalization encompasses many things: the international flow
of ideas and knowledge, the sharing of cultures, global civil society,
5. the global environmental movement [……………….]. Economic
globalization entails the economic closer integration of the countries
of the world through the increased flow of goods, services, capital
and even labor. (Joseph Stieglitz, 2006).
This summing up indicates much of what globalization may
encompass. In this publication, globalization will refer to a broader
meaning than the rather narrow economic connotation.
A notion of (global) development is central to this publication, but
the term “development” may be even more confusing than the
others. Concerning development, there is nothing near consensus on
what development is or entails. In principle, development may
relate to any movement or change, and therefore may assume rather
diverging connotations. In this publication, we talk about human
development, as it is conditioned by context. That context may be
the global, the national or the local-and actually, it will be all of these
at the same time. Even then, development may be defined in many
ways:
2. Often the term has a strong connotation with improving the living
conditions in poor areas or poor countries, not incidentally referred
to as “developing countries”. For example, in 1990, the South
Commission-chaired by visionary former President of Tanzania, Dr.
Julius Kambarage Nyerere- described development as:
A process that enables human beings to realize their
potential, builds self-confidence, and lead lives of dignity and
fulfillment. It is a process that frees people from political, economic
or social oppression. Through development, political independence
acquires true significance. It is a process of growth; a movement
essentially springing from within the society that is developing.
(South Commission, 1990).
Almost a decade later, Nobel Prize Winner Amartya Sen., elaborated:
6. Development can be seen as a process of expanding the
real freedoms that people enjoy [………………]. Development requires
the removal of major sources of “un-freedom”, poverty as well as
tranny, poor economic opportunities as well as systematic social
deprivation, neglect of public facilities as well as intolerance or over
activity of repressive states. (Sen.1999).
In this publication, the term development refers to this meaning.
“Global development” consequently refers to the development of all
human beings on earth. It is about “our common future” and ideally
includes both the rich and the poor-the more so as globalization
leads to an increasing integration and interdependence. At times the
perspective of the poor world is lacking, while on the other hand,
many global development discussions almost exclusively focus on
poor people and poor countries.
“Global Development Challenges” are increasingly seen as issues
that the world community at large has to deal with. Global
Development diseases and the need to secure (basic) care and
education for all. At the U.N. Millennium Summit in the year 2000,
eight targets were set that since have been known as the Millennium
Development Goals (MDGs) (U.N., 2000). The MDGs however are by
no means comprehensive. Other challenges include the impact of
climatic change, environmental pollution, the exploitation of non-
renewable natural resources, the securing of fresh water and
sufficient food supplies. These concerns, and how higher education
relates to them, form the backbone of this publication.
Finally, “internationalization”. This term will be used in this
publication exclusively in relation to higher to higher education (and
research). An appropriate intently-neutral definition of
internationalization is “the process of integrating an international,
intercultural or global dimension into the purpose, functions, or
delivery of higher education,” (Knight, 2004).
7. In an overview of the evolution of international education
terminology, the same author classifies “international development
cooperation” (in higher education) as one of the “traditional terms”
used in the field over the last 40 years (Knight, 2008). The
qualification “traditional” may hint at both the long history of higher
education which relates to development. Let us now turn to current
trends in the area of knowledge, to begin with, and then of higher
education and HEIs.
III.INCREASING DEPENDANCY ON
KNOWLEDGE:
Knowledge has become more important to our lives than ever
before. The development of our societies is increasingly based on
the use of knowledge-that is, knowledge built up in the past and the
application of new knowledge. This concerns technological
knowledge and knowledge in the areas of health and life sciences
and the humanities. In deed the relation between knowledge and
development has become so tight that new developments seem to
be pushed or driven by knowledge. Various sources, ranging from
influential scholars to the World Bank, therefore, qualify our current
society as “knowledge-driven”- meaning, that knowledge has
become the foremost driver of any new development (for instance
World Bank, 2002). 3. The implication is that our current societies
have become increasingly dependent on knowledge. This concerns
future development and progress as well as our capacity to address
the challenges and problems that our societies currently face.
Meanwhile, the production of knowledge in what used to be called
the “Western World”-now known as the “Global North”- which is
rapidly including new industrializing countries in Asia and Latin
America, growing at an amazing speed. 4. The same is the case for
8. knowledge that we already have at our disposal. How this ever
expanding amount of codified knowledge ;5 actually relates to the
development of our societies, in the developing world and the global
society at large, and how knowledge can be strategically managed to
contribute more to development are increasingly complex questions
(Soete, 2006). Beyond the common notion (or assumption) that
more knowledge is good and leads to more development, 6 there
seems to be little genuine concern in current policy debates for how
we can effectively use the knowledge that we have at our disposal
and which we are still producing.
Nevertheless, societies will have to deal with the challenge of
how knowledge can be effectively mobilized for the [common] good.
Most problems facing the global society will only be solved by using
our full knowledge capacities. To not adequately address these
problems, may be disastrous. However, the struggle of the EU with
implementing the Lisbon agenda and to relate research with
development and growth may be indicated for the complexity of this
challenge.
IV.KNOWLEDGE HUBS:
According to Soete and other observers, so-called “knowledge hubs”
increasingly plan a role in relation between knowledge, innovation
and development. In this vision, the current growth poles in the
global economy are increasingly dependent on such hubs where
knowledge is developed, stored and mobilized for new
developments, innovations and products. These hubs consist of a
large number of actors and stakeholders, both public and private.
Knowledge production itself, including Science, is of such complexity
and scale that it requires elaborate such structures. All players and
9. stakeholders, as well as the channels through which knowledge
flows, are tapped and used, therefore, they are institutionalized to a
high degree. In other words, processes of knowledge production and
use have become complex to the extent that only huge and highly
structured conglomerates of knowledge producers and users-
interacting intensively with each other-are able to generate the
critical mass required for further advancement.
When holding this perspective up to the developing world, 7
the first observation is that the contribution from the developing
world is also becoming increasingly knowledge dependent. On the
other hand, many problems in the developing world [especially
relating to poor living conditions for so many people] clearly need to
be addressed, and knowledge is needed for that. On the other hand,
as the world becomes a smaller place, many problems have
globalized and therefore need global-and often very complicated-
answers. The developing world is confronted with many problems,
such as pollution and global warming, which the North has exported
to all corners of the globe. And, vice versa, many problems of the
developing world have become [or at least should be] a concern of
global mankind. In short, knowledge is needed in the developing
world. Does the developing world need to create its own knowledge
hubs?
V.THE DEVELOPING WORLD: A
CRADLE OF INNOVATION ?
In a recent essay, Luc Soete describes the current emergence of a
global research for development agenda, which is relevant for both
the developing and the developed world [Soete, 2009; Molenaar et
al, 2009]. This new research agenda will trigger the development of
10. new research activity, often initiated by international partnership
and consortia. 8. At the same time, this research agenda will also
offer new opportunities to introduce development topics in current
research agenda and in higher education curricula, both in the
Global North and Global South.
In Soete’s view, the whole process of innovation using
existing knowledge and generating new knowledge in relation to
development is currently changing rapidly. Studies show that many
innovations are no longer based on the discovery of new
technologies, but rather on the ability to exploit new combinations
of existing knowledge in specific contexts. In the increasingly
complex environments of today, innovations become based on trial
and error, leading to unique, context-specific solutions that are
difficult to replicate elsewhere. Examples range from management
problems in huge [Western-based] institutions such as banks,
hospitals or industry to the development of low-tech water
management systems in the coastal plain areas of Bangladesh or in
Sahel countries.
This fundamental change in the application of knowledge
has important implications as almost every innovation becomes
unique with respect to its application. Endogenous innovation
processes more Centre stage, both in “rich” and in developing
countries. Innovation needs to take place close to the users’ context
and actually has to involve users in the innovation process.
Soete refers to Prahalad (2004) who sees an enormous potential in
the developing world for new innovations and products that will be
developed, produced, sold and used mainly by poor communities at
“the bottom of the pyramid”. Because of the sheer magnitude of the
world’s poor communities and the urgency of the many problems
they face, a strong expansion of research capacity in and for the
developing world may be expected. Global innovation capacity may
11. shift southward. The future action will increasingly be found in the
developing world will contribute to development and to knowledge
development in general.
However, Soete admits, this potential may no be unfold
by itself; enabling support is needed. Access is crucial: access to
[Codified] knowledge, how to work with knowledge and how to
improve on existing knowledge. It is here that cooperation with
knowledge partners in the rich world, such as Europe, is needed.
According to an optimistic Soete, many researchers in the North will
be keen to enter into such cooperation, that is, as long as they are
not forced by funding organization into the limiting formats of
‘demand-led’ development cooperation [Molenaar et al, 2009].
VI. KNOWLEDGE CIRCULATION AND
CONTEXTULISATION:
However, there are at least three critical factors that may hamper
desirable developments.
First, as the present situation in the Western World, shows sufficient
knowledge and innovation capacity is by no means a guarantee that
innovation efforts are targeting real development problems.
Second, Northern researchers may be interested in cooperating
with the developing world, but their bosses, funders and research
policy-makers may be less interested.
And third, extremely poor developing countries lack even
rudimentary structures needed to enable ‘bottom of the pyramid’
types of development at a scale sufficiently significant to make a
meaningful contribution to human development.
12. Obviously, the developing world needs to create effective
mechanisms to put knowledge to use for the benefit of society and to
address the many problems it faces. Some countries many indeed
move in that direction, as some Asian and Latin American countries
have done since the 1980s and 1990s. But specifically less
developed countries are characterized by a very poor knowledge
infrastructure. It is difficult to see how such countries, in a
foreseeable time span, can build up a knowledge generating capacity
that is to any measure comparable to the knowledge generating
capacity of major industrialized countries.
9. Actually, the gap between the knowledge production and output
of Africa [along with other poorer regions elsewhere] and more
advanced regions seems, if anything, to be widening.
The question, however, is whether the developing world
needs to copy the North. As Soete’s perceptive suggests, this may not
be the case. The changing nature of innovation processes and
phenomenon for the developing world. 10. In addition, the use of
new information and communication technologies may help
countries to gain access to new knowledge much faster than has
been possible at any earlier point in history. Thanks to modern
information technologies, knowledge can circulate around the globe
in seconds. Of course, there are obstacles for a truly free circulation
of knowledge, but the potential definitely is there. This
fundamentally changes the nature of the knowledge problem for the
developing world.
It will be challenge for the developing world to create
effective mechanisms to tap and download knowledge from
[virtual] networks that provide access to knowledge anywhere.
That knowledge then needs to be translated to the local context
[Contextualization] before it can be applied and put in service of
local development [Saint, 2003]. 11, 12. New innovations may be
13. different processes than the ‘laboratory-led R & D’ innovations that
have been a dominant driver for economic and technological
development so far [Soete, 2009].
VII.KNOWLEDGE AND POWER:
Discussions about knowledge often tend to be somewhat neutral on
the premise that knowledge is something good in itself and that the
problem is its availability at the right place and at the right time. The
discussion then focuses on the fact that it is currently produced and
located elsewhere. So the question becomes how knowledge can be
made available more widely, particularly to institutions in the Global
South, to help them in their goal to tackle local development
challenges. For instance, discussions on IT in this context almost
exclusively focus on how knowledge can be distributed more
effectively by using IT and rarely on what knowledge is distributed
and to what purpose.
At various points in this publication, we will introduce the
issue of knowledge in relation to power and political structures.
Both in “development” and in the [global and local] generation of
knowledge, power imbalances are at play and the question “whose
knowledge counts?” becomes relevant. The use of knowledge is not
always neutral and can actually reinforce inequalities. Similarly,
educational and research institutions can reinforce inequitable
power inequitable power relations and imbalances in power-
especially in situations whereby only certain kinds of knowledge are
valid and legitimate.
However, if we are moving towards a world that is drawing
on existing knowledge but new knowledge and innovations will
increasingly be generated through re-invention and co-construction
14. by new actors [local researchers, students, communities] in a
particular context, existing power relations may be challenged. This
may especially be the case of these new actors indeed come from
“the bottom of the pyramid”.
Knowledge generation may have elements of emancipation
and provoke conflict if it challenges power structures. Such
structures can be of a political, economic, commercial, cultural or
religious nature. However, according to the interpretation by Sen.,
quoted earlier in this chapter, human development has always had
aspects of emancipation, and thus of conflict and even of [political]
violence related to it. It is good to be aware that in certain contexts
this may unavoidably take on a political dimension. Likewise, there
is also knowledge and there are knowledge structures that sustain a
certain status quo that actually can reinforce existing balances, thus
even marginalizing and obstructing the development of certain
groups.
VIII.ANOTHER KNOWLEDGE CAPACITY
IS NEEDED:
All this has huge implications for the building of knowledge capacity
for development. The “what”, “why”, and “how” are all at stake. In
view of what will be needed, the current knowledge capacity in the
developing world is completely inadequate in quantitative and
qualitative terms. A titanic effort is needed. This concerns [higher]
education capacity, research capacity, innovation and other
knowledge-related implementation capacities have built up and how
knowledge workers were trained in the past are inadequate. And
the changes needed concern all knowledge workers.
15. IX.HIGHER EDUCATION REVISITED:
Let us look first of all the implications for higher education. The
increasing knowledge intensity of most human activity implies that
the student-knowledge relation has to be thoroughly reconsidered.
The first implication may be that students need to learn in rather
different ways than most of them currently do. Actually, this is true
for students in higher education anywhere, not only in the
developing world. While mastering a set of basic knowledge in a
particular field of study used to be an adequate preparation for
almost any career, it has now become crucial that students learn to
work with huge quantities of information. Students collecting
knowledge just in case that knowledge may be useful [the
traditional basis of education over centuries] is no longer sufficient.
Students need to develop a capacity for learning whatever they need
to learn to work from a [more or less static] knowledge base, but
how to work with knowledge that they can independently collect
and interpret.
To be able to do that, students also need to be trained to
become more independent. As future knowledge workers, they will
need to work mainly on their own initiative. In the global knowledge
society, they need to behave as “self-directed learners”. Students
need to learn how to identify issues and problems that are
relevant and meaningful in their area of knowledge and
expertise. They must learn how to analyze these issues, and to
identify what knowledge they need in order to understand the
problem at hand. They need to find that knowledge. And they
need to know how reliable the information they find is; how to
discern scientifically-based knowledge from opinions and
ideas-another increasingly complex problem, especially on the
16. web. Last but not least, students need to learn how to
contextualize the knowledge and apply it to the issue or
problem to be solved. Higher education should help them learn
how to co-construct knowledge with relevant actors in a
particular context.
In short, quite a different version of higher education is
needed. 14. The urgency of this is increasingly recognized and
confirmed. For instance, in the most recent publication by the World
Bank on tertiary education in Sub-Saharan Africa [World Bank,
2008], 15 student-centered methodologies take the ‘student as
learner’ as the starting point, which is rather different from starting
with the knowledge of the teacher(s), as still is common practice.
Methods such as problem-based learning use real issues and
problems as triggers for learning. Skills training and
competence development are other elements that are
increasingly woven into curricula, which make perfect sense in
view of the demands that society places on professionals.
In sum, approaches to higher education in the developing
world are required that will revolutionize what is still common
practice in most places.
X.THE CHALLENGE IS ENORMOUS:
Educational change has not yet gained the required momentum.
Higher education institutions urgently need to consider what the
emerging global knowledge society implies for their education and
take subsequent action. Worse, it may be questioned whether the
17. current situation in the higher education sector of many developing
countries allows for any significant improvements. Current realities
in higher education are rather daunting. There are problems both in
quantitative and qualitative terms. In quantitative terms, the
demand for higher education has exploded in the developing world
in recent decades. But this growth has not met by an adequate
expansion of capacity in terms of student places nor [public]
funding. Often the capacity of universities has been expanded but in
insufficient numbers while funding has been decreased even in
absolute terms, resulting in a dramatic decrease in [public]
expenditures per student. This has a negative effect on the quality of
education. “The overall quality of higher education has declined
in much of the developing world as a result of overcrowding
and inadequate resources,” [Altbach, 2008].
It is unlikely that in such situations the needed changes
in higher education can be made. Apart from resistance to change,
which may be expected from substantial parts of the educational
establishment, the present conditions hardly provide room for
change, innovation or experimentation. Vision and leadership are
definitely present but often lack sufficient critical mass and the
political support and means to make a significant impact. Strategies
for implementing change are hard to come by. Resources are almost
inadequate.
This is not to suggest that higher education in the
developing world is a dead-end street. There is a rapidly growing
awareness among all stakeholders that higher education is not
delivering adequately. Things cannot go on as they have been in the
past. Change is urgently needed in order to enable participation in
the global economy and faster development. It is also clear that the
required quantitative expansion and qualitative strengthening of
high education in the developing world cannot be achieved without
18. external support, in terms of cooperation, partnering, linkages,
resources and funding. Everyone involved in cooperation and
capacity building in higher education in the developing world-like
many European Universities- will have to address these issues.
XI. ANOTHER REVOLUTION:
The knowledge revolution has equally far-reaching consequences
for the world of research. In Europe and more generally in the
Global north, many changes in the area of research are already
experienced as a consequence of changes in the global knowledge
production. There are more actors and funding is growing,
commercialization and privatization are increasing and public
agents, such as the European Commission, are raising their
investments in research as well, albeit increasingly on a competitive
basis. A true globalization of research efforts is taking place,
characterized by huge concern traditions of knowledge producers
and global networking. This tends to raise critical mass levels to
enable the production of new knowledge.
The developing world is also seeing big changes in this
respect. On the one hand, the increasing complexity of producing
knowledge through scientific research may imply that it will become
even more difficult for developing countries to generate research
and produce knowledge on their own. On the other hand, new
methods of generating knowledge may open up new opportunities.
Community engagements of various kinds may offer interesting
opportunities for co-construction of knowledge amongst a range of
actors involved in addressing difficult development challenges.
Similarly, locally relevant innovations can be developed
and introduced in the same way. Such processes may be assisted by
19. the fact more knowledge become available through global
(electronic) networks. New communication technologies facilitate
access to knowledge-that is, in principle. In short, the challenge for
developing countries is to “scan globally-reinvent locally,” (Stiglitz,
1999). Every alleged example of local implementation of central
policy, if it results in significant social transportation, is in fact a
process of local social discovery, “(Schon, cited by Stiglitz, 1999).
All this will imply great changes in the way researchers in
the developing world work, and in how they are trained. The
emphasis may shift from doing (fundamental) research in often
rather isolated settings to participation in global knowledge
networks. Researchers from the developing world need to learn
how to participate in and use such networks. They need to learn
how to extract and critically verify knowledge through such
networks. Partnerships with knowledge institutions in the North in
Europe may be instrumental in enabling participation in global
knowledge networks. This is to be paralleled by another challenge:
for researchers in the developing world and their Northern research
partners alike to develop meaningful partnerships with local
communities and stakeholders, by which, knowledge can be
contextualized and applied, leading to local innovations and
solutions.
XII. INCREASING CIRCULATION OF
KNOWLEDGE WORKERS:
Another phenomenon of the emerging global knowledge society to
be mentioned here is the increasing mobility of knowledge workers-
researchers, scholars, students and experts. The increasing
production, availability and accessibility of knowledge is paralleled
20. by an increasing flow of people-carriers of knowledge-around the
globe. Obviously this has its impacts on higher education and
research everywhere and certainly in and for the developing world.
Although offering opportunities, the mobility of
researchers, scholars and students also results in a huge brain drain
for most poor countries (See for instance Teferra, 2000, 2003;
Mohamedbhai, 2003). The increasing mobility of knowledge
workers is lopsided; the main direction in which scholars move
is from poorer to richer countries. They go to the Global North
and elsewhere where more can be done in scientificresearch
and higher education, where salaries are substantially higher
and pastures are generally greener. Current figures suggest
there are more African researchers working outside Africa than
on the continent.
Although brain drain continues to be a serious problem
and everything should be done to reduce this one-sided flow, it has
become clear through the years that brain drain cannot be stopped
or even substantially slowed down as long as global imbalances
continue to exist. With this being the case, the massive movement of
educated people needs to be taken as a reality. Taking that as a
starting point, there may be opportunities to stimulate “brain
circulation”- the (temporary) movement of knowledge workers
based in the North to contribute to knowledge development in and
for poorer regions. Especially the diaspora from African, Asian and
Latin American countries based in the North may potentially play a
role that does not yet seem to have been fully explored or exploited.
Knowledge institutions in the North (Europe) may play a role in
stimulating contributions from their academic staff to development
in the South, both on an individual basis and as part of partnerships
with institutions in the South.
21. XIII. CONSEQUENCIES FOR NORTH-
SOUTH COOPERATION:
The picture sketched in this introduction obviously has many
implications for what is generally referred to as North- South
Cooperation in higher education and research. 17. Actually, there
are many different forms of cooperation. Probably most common
are research cooperation through joint projects and cooperation in
higher education through teacher and student exchanges. Next and
sometimes combined with these, are many on-going efforts to
“build capacity” in higher education or research in the South.
Often these efforts are backed by substantial donor funds. Generally,
such arrangements link Northern higher educational and research
institutions often assume a role as “contractor” or “grant holder”
while the latter are supposed to be the “beneficiaries”. However,
this may cause tension when the intention is to develop
partnerships on a basis of equality. Sometimes arrangements
include other actors, such as consultants or non-governmental
organizations. 18.
Although concrete data is lacking, the impression is
that most efforts tend to build capacity for research and education in
rather traditional ways. The focus is on developing capacity to do
research in the Northern academic model, usually with much
emphasis on sound research methodologies and often lacking links
to the societal context. As Taylor and other observers indicate, there
is a growing need to question the paradigms of knowledge and
innovation that steer the research carried out in various contexts.
This is also the case for the relationship between research carried
out by HEIs and its application in a wider society, and the way that
society and human development need to shape the research agenda
(Taylor, 2008).
22. In education, the emphasis has generally been on
capacity building for rather traditional campus-based/class-based
(if not lecture-based) teaching, with a focus on theoretical content
rather than on applied content with developmental relevance-or the
use of more innovative methodologies. The analysis in this
introduction suggests that new approaches are urgently needed.
In research, a shift of emphasis is needed towards
strengthening the capacity of the developing world to participate in
global knowledge communities, to tap knowledge from global
networks, and to produce “new” knowledge by translating,
contextualizing and “re-inventing” existing knowledge. This is to be
achieved through a network of links with society, which will direct
the adaptation and application of imported knowledge for local
development purposes.
In education, the shift should be towards preparing
students to be independent critical learners, able to gather
knowledge from the internet and other digital sources and
networks, learn how to professionally appreciate such knowledge,
i.e. ‘What is scientifically sound and what is not’ and how to apply or
even redevelop this knowledge to address real problems in real
(local) contexts. All this requires a rather fundamental rethinking of
current practices and how things have been done so far.
It is inevitable that information and communication
technology will rapidly gain more importance, as it already has done
over the past years. William Saint sees, among other things, a new
crucial role for university libraries:
Libraries will become interactive resource centers for
the university and surrounding community, providing both
traditional and computer-based learning materials. They will
23. merge gradually into electronically linked regional and global
knowledge webs (Saint, 2003).
But to become a reality, this will also require big changes on the part
of universities in the South, and for their partners and doctors in the
North. It will require an understanding of the evolution of the role of
the library from being “just” a library to a full partner in the
academic enterprise. If the classical library indeed transforms into a
state-of-the-art learning resource Centre, this transformation will
eventually transcend the library and will call for a complete revision
of the university organization at large.
It is likely that in the near future many educational
programs, residential or offered as distant learning, will consist
of a combination of lectures, e-learning coursework, practical
skills training and group work, with IT as an indispensable tool
throughout.This will not be a revolution purely in educational
formats; it will need to be accompanied by a thorough revision
of effective ways of teaching and learning. It will require the
introduction of state-of-the-art methodologies and new
approaches. The same can be said, mutatis mutandis, for the
implications of the possibilities offered by IT for research
capacity development.
In summary, the many changes that the emerging global
knowledge society implies for research and higher education in the
developing world call for a thorough revision of how to effectively
build capacity for teaching and research in the developing world.
This is a challenge that addresses knowledge institutions in the
South as much as their partners in the North, in Europe.
24. XIV. IS THE NORTH STILL
INTERESTED?
Another issue in this context that has to be addressed is the interest
and commitment of universities and other HEIs in Europe and in
other rich countries, to support partner institutions in the
developing world. There seems to be growing tension between this
commitment (traditionally embedded in many universities) and the
increasing competition in the world of higher education, which
causes universities to drastically change their traditional
commitment to university development cooperation. 19
It is one of the paradoxes of the globalizing world: the smaller the
world gets, the more institutions seem to be preoccupied with them.
Institutional leaders focus on how to build an offensive profile in a
world perceived as a competitive battlefield. In such a world, huge in
equalities and sharp contracts seem to be taken for granted as an
unavoidable part of the game, not as something that is man-made
and for which institutions may assume responsibility.
In contrast, the recent trend in the international
development aid community has been to re-evaluate the importance
of tertiary education development. In 1990s, donor support for
higher education development in developing countries was reduced
sharply. In the slipstream of the ‘Education for all’ conference in
Jomtien (1990), most efforts were redirected to strengthening basic
education, sometimes directly at the expense of support for higher
education. It was not before the beginning of the new millennium
that there was a serious reconsideration of the role of higher
education for development. This shift was heralded by the World
Bank 20 that, ironically, also had an important voice in shifting the
attention away from higher education during the 1990s. The
increasing attention on the quality of governance in developing
25. countries and the adoption of MDGs in 2000 also contributed to a
reassessment of the role that higher education and knowledge in
general play in development (World Bank, 2002).
However, damage had already been done. Higher
education in the developing world suffered seriously in the 1990s
until well into the new millennium. The lack of importance of the
higher education sector in relation to development during most of
the 1990s and the consequent reduced support for higher education
programs in the developing world also reduced the interest of
higher education institutions in the North, including Europe. The
irony may well be that while presently the global development
community asks for a renewed commitment from higher education
institutions towards development achieving the MDGs (See for
instance World Bank, 2008), higher education institutions in the
North have meanwhile taken up other preoccupations. Their
traditional involvement in development problems has shifted in
many cases to the margins of institutional policies. Project-style
cooperation based on solidarity and a genuine commitment to
improve things in an unjust world seem to be (increasing?) under
pressure.
A generally favorable altitude among academic institutions to
cooperate with each other, in the developing world and in general,
seems to have been substituted without much discussion for an
altitude focusing on competition, both on national and international
levels (See for instance Knight, 2004).
XV. A PARADIGM SHIFT?
Many authors on international education trends have observed a
rather radical change in recent years in (international) relations
26. between higher education institutions. Some see nothing less than a
paradigm shift changing the emphasis between HEIs from
cooperation to competition. 21 Knight, when discussing
international academic projects that have evolved as part of
development and technical assistance work, and have been
considered as an important contribution to the nation building of a
developing country, writes, for instance:
There is a discernable shift from an aid-developing
approach to international partnerships,and now to an
approach focused on trade for commercial purposes. This shift
is likely to become more pronounced (Knight, 2004).
Many see this growing influence of market forces on higher
education and the emergence of a “free market in higher
education services” as a trend that may push aside (traditional
ways of) cooperation supposed to be of benefit for the development
world. For instance, Philip Altbach observes that:
The privatization of public higher education has
also contributed to narrowing the roles of universities [……….].
This privatization has meant that the broad traditional
purposes of the university-most of which do not readily
produce income-have to some extent been de-emphasized
while potential income-generating activities have become more
central. (Altbach, 2008).
As of several concerns to the liberalization of the global educational
market, Scott (2006) mentions the risk that this may “undermine
capacity building, particularly in developing countries.”
Current changes induced by globalization mean
different things for different institutions in different places.
Institutions are differently positioned, some better than others, to
address the challenges posed by globalization. History, location,
27. reputation and resources are factors that make a difference. These
differences are likely to become more profound in a world where
“free market forces” play their role. HEIs in developing countries,
often already in a weak position when compared with their
colleagues in the North, may face hard times if they are to compete
on a global scale. Institutional leadership will be challenged in
completely new ways. Entrepreneurship in the education and
research sectors becomes of pivotal importance. But
entrepreneurship is quite new to the sector. Meanwhile, regulatory
frameworks, at least on a global scale, are at best still in an infant
state.
All this has invaded the higher education sector with a
speed that many observers would not have held possible until very
recently. The world of higher education has changed drastically, and
much more is yet to come.
XVI. KNOWLEDGE INSTITUTIONS AND
DEVELOPMENT IN THE 21S T CENTURY:
In a globalized world, higher educational and research institutions
in Europe and elsewhere, including the developing world, will have
to compete for funding, for (good) students, for (top) researchers,
for being part of knowledge workers’ circuits and networks. Not
surprisingly, this has become the major preoccupation of HIE
leadership. As a result, European University bureaucrats and their
leadership have become obsessed with issues they hardly ever
thought of until a decade ago: positioning, marketing, ranking,
branding, international student recruitment strategies, money
raising, etc.
28. It is this major shift that rather awkwardly relates to the
traditional institutions in Europe and cooperation tends to be
rooted in solidarity and is characterized by the sharing of
knowledge and goods and not-for-profit altitude, aimed at building a
partnership that is mutually beneficial in terms of education and
research, which somehow contributes to development. It may well
be that, in the eyes of the new entrepreneurial HE bureaucrat, such
partnerships are ‘one-sided’ in ‘the wrong direction’ (!)22 and are
seen to contribute next to nothing to the new ambitions and targets
set by university bosses. Worse, the shift also seems to relate rather
awkwardly to what seems globally necessary today. Is the
commercializing HE sector of today capable of addressing the huge
challenges?
At the beginning of the 21st Century, the pendulum
has swung way too far towards the government and the market,
at the expense of the traditional autonomy of the academe.
Society would be better served by a more balanced academic
environment in which universities could be better attuned to
the broader public interest and to the traditional values of
academic autonomy and independence. (Altbach, 2008).
A major investment is needed in terms of knowledge in research and
in higher education-in support of major global developmental aims
and challenges. The MDGs formulated by the UN are just an
indication of what needs to be achieved-urgently, at least. Thinking
about how our planet is supposed to support a population of
approximately 10 Billion souls at an acceptable human standard in
an environmentally sustainable way is another way to put the issue.
The building of knowledge capacity in the developing
world, in institutions and in people, is certainly one of the necessary
requirements for achieving such goals. The help of academic
institutions in the rich world, including Europe, is indispensable in
29. this effort. The same can be said for the necessity to globally
maintain a knowledge base that is adequate to address problems of
global development. There is the need to train students at all levels
on global development issues, to educate all students in higher
education as global citizens, and to globally nurture a critical
intellectual awareness concerning the major global development
problems.
This is what the global knowledge community European
universities included-actually can, no, must contribute to
development. Whether they will actually make that contribution is
conditioned by the many other forces and mechanisms that steer the
knowledge sector globally and locally, as well as by the ways that
research and higher education are undertaken. If that implies that
the knowledge community at large is failing to make the
contribution that is needed globally, it needs to be seriously
questioned whether the global higher education system is really
serving its purpose.
ENDNOTES:
• Definition by the Oxford English Dictionary.
• For a fascinating account on how the notion of ‘development’
has evolved and alternately been interpreted in the second half
of the 20th Century; see the book, “The History of Development
by Gilbert Rist (1997).
• For instance, Daniel Bell in his classic, “The Coming of the Post-
Industrial Society,” predicts, “In the post-industrial society,
production and business decisions will be subordinated to, or
will be derived from other forces in society. [………]. They will
be based on the government’s sponsorship of research and
development [………]. The husbanding of talent and the spread
30. of educational and intellectual institutions will become a prime
concern of society; not only the best talents but eventually the
entire complex of prestige and status will be rooted in the
intellectual and scientific community.” (Bell, 1999).
• By lack of a definition that satisfactorily catches the greatest
divides between countries in the world (e.g. developed vs.
developing, advanced vs. backward, rich vs. poor,
industrialized vs. rural etc.), in this article we arbitrarily use
the dichotomy “Global North-Global South.” Sometimes the
Global South is also referred to as “the developing world” (See
also endnote 7.).
• Soete, Luc (2006): Knowledge Circulation in a Global Economy,
presentation at the opening of the academic year, Maastricht
University, September 2006, the Netherlands.
• Various studies question for instance the direct relationship
between knowledge production, innovation and economic
growth, implying that although indeed there is a relation, this
relation is much more complex (for instance, Bijker, Wiebe,
2006).
• There are many ways to define the developing world. As any
definition is arbitrary, no one is fully satisfying. Here the
developing world is arbitrarily defined as those countries
which are ranked according to the Human Development Index
(HDI) of UNDP with an HDI score lower than 0.80 (the upper
limit of the country group classified as having “medium human
development”). Most of these 120 countries (out of a global
total of 177) are located in Africa, Asia (with notable exception
of Japan and the other now more advanced countries in
Eastern Asia) and Latin America (with major exceptions of
Chile, Argentina and Mexico).
31. • At the same time, the emergence of this new global research
agenda makes attempts to develop research ‘space’ on a sub-
global level unrealistically limitative and therefore illusive-the
attempt by the EU to develop a European Research Area is
mentioned by Soete as an example. Soete suggests that the
attempts to develop intra-European research cooperation have
had their merits in the 1980s and 1990s. But since the turn of
the century, globalization has created such an enabling
environment to the world of research that strategies to
develop cooperation in a limited geographical space have
almost become parochial.
• The total economic output of the African continent, for
instance, is smaller than that of a country such as Spain, of
which South Africa alone is responsible for about half of this
figure, (IMF, 2008). The IMF calculated the total Gross
Domestic Product (GDP) of the African continent for October
2008 to be US$1647 Billion and US$1688 Billion for Spain.
For Sub-Saharan Africa alone, it was estimated to be US$1311
Billion; substantially less than, for instance, the combined GDP
of two countries such as the Netherlands (US$909 Billion) and
Belgium (US$530 Billion). At the same time, Research and
Development expenditures in these European countries as a
percentage of GDP was higher than in all individual Sub-
Saharan African countries.
• For many years, one of the main problems in higher education
in the developing world has been the rather uncritical copying
of curricula developed in the western world, which are seldom
meaningful or relevant in the context of the developing world.
• In William Saint’s words, “Most knowledge produced globally
is not produced where its application is most needed. The
challenge is how to transfer knowledge that may have been
32. produced anywhere in the world to places where it can be used
in a particular problem-solving context. Because Africa is not
presently well equipped to participate in the global knowledge
economy, developing the organizational and electronic
capacity to identify, access and adapt external knowledge for
local problem-solving will produce developmental dividends.”
(Saint, 2003).
• In a recent discussion on the topic, a striking parallel was made
with slum dwellers in a big city in the developing world. The
slum dwellers tap from the electricity net, whose wire network
above their small huts transport electrical energy from one
hub of office buildings to the next compound of luxury
apartment blocks. Initially the power is tapped illegally but
after a lot of debate and pressure of slum representatives it
becomes legal. The slum dwellers tap the electricity, not only
for improving their living conditions by having electric power
to have light, to cook and to watch TV, but also for all kinds of
small scale production, better enabling them to earn a living in
the big city community.
• With thanks to Peter Taylor for his input on this section.
• In an adaptation from a paper of Patrinos (2002), a brochure of
Maastricht University’s Centre for International Cooperation in
Academic Development (Mundo) claims, “ The emerging of the
global knowledge-based society implies that we have to move
from:
• Terminal education To lifelong learning;
• Knowledge-based learning To application of knowledge;
• Discipline-based knowledge To integrated (multi-
disciplinary) knowledge;
33. • Rote learning To analysis, synthesis, understanding;
• Learning things just in case they may be useful To just-in-
time learning;
• Directive-based learning To group (team) work.”
• “Perhaps the most difficult task facing tertiary institutions as
the transition to a culture favoring innovation is to change
their traditional pedagogy. The changes required are well
known: interdisciplinary rather than disciplinary perspectives;
flexibility in learning; group work instead of lectures; problem-
solving rather than memorization of facts; practical learning as
a complement to theory; learning assessment through project
work that demonstrates competence instead of multiple choice
examinations; communication skills and computer literacy”.
(From: ‘Accelerating Catch-Up-Tertiary Education for Growth
in Sub-Saharan Africa,” World Bank, 2008).
• Figures cited by Gollum Mohamedbhai during a presentation at
the EAIE conference in Krakow, 2005.
• Cooperation between HEIs in rich countries (the ‘Global
North’) and poorer countries (the ‘Global South’).
• Some examples are the European Union’s former Asia Link
program, EU’s new EDU LINK Program, the British Higher
Education Links Scheme (HEIs), the Belgian-Flemish VLIR
Program, the Swedish SIDA Research Cooperation Program
and the USAID Tertiary Education Linkages Project (TELP).
• For instance, in the Netherlands, several universities that
traditionally deliberately nurtured an effort to assist partner
universities in the developing world have, if judged on their
own strategic plans, abandoned this commitment since 2000.
34. • See for instance: ‘constructing knowledge Societies: New
Challenges for Tertiary Education’.
• Van der Wendi: “The competition for talent is growing. The
notion of a ‘knowledge economy’ dates from the 1960s.
However, it has turned into a paradigm on thinking about
economic competition. The role of knowledge is at the core of
that and that is why higher education and research are so
important. This is related to a shift of paradigm in
internationalization. It has changed from purely cooperation-
based to also competition-driven. However, it is not ‘or/or’. It
is often cooperation to be able to better compete together”.
(Van der Wendi, 2006) translation from the author).
• Taken literally from an e-mail correspondence between faculty
and university policy advisors at a Dutch University, 2007.
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