The Academics and Researchers Forum for Development, in
collaboration with the Ministry of Higher Education, Research,
Science and Technology, organized a conference on the future of
higher Education in South Sudan in the capital Juba from 14-15
November. Days before, a higher education bill was presented to
the national assembly. The conference was opened by Gabriel Kuc
Abiei Mayool, the deputy minister of higher education, research,
science and technology, who said it was of great symbolic
significance as it embodied the very aspirations and goals of
the struggle of the people of South Sudan. "Now is the right
time for the people of South Sudan to choose the system of
higher education they want in order to achieve national
advancement, progress and prosperity," Mayool said. He assured
participants that the government would commit the resources
needed to bring the conference's recommendations to fruition.
The gathering was well attended by both young and heavyweight
academics from South Sudan and abroad, legal experts, members of
parliament, diplomats, government ministries and the media. The
speakers came from various universities in South Sudan and from
the Republic of Sudan, America, the United Kingdom, Egypt,
Kenya, South Africa and Uganda. Some 21 papers were presented
including by Dr Lam Akol, a former Khartoum University and
Imperial College-educated chemical engineering professor who is
currently the leader of an opposition party, SPLM-DC. The themes
covered by the papers included: quality assurance and
accreditation, networking as a method for building human
resources, consolidating higher education, building new
universities as agents for change and development, management in
higher education, student accommodation, media education,
building new campuses based on American university models,
meeting the increasing demand for higher education and elitist
versus mass higher education. Many of the papers (more than a
quarter of them) recognized the need for South Sudan to prepare
for an inevitable increase in social demand for higher education
in the coming years. With the exception of Akol's paper, which
stipulated the need for no more than three universities, all of
the speakers emphasized the imperative to expand access to
higher education. Most of the papers acknowledged the negative
impact of the expected expansion on the quality of higher
education in South Sudan and proposed measures and strategies
for maintaining quality and building capacity, such as using
networking and partnerships and the adoption of the US college
model. Not surprisingly, the topic attracted a heated debate
between proponents and opponents of expansion. However, it is
clear that demand for higher education is going to increase
rapidly in the coming years, and in my view widening access by
growing the number of higher education providers (both public
and private) is not just an option but a national duty. A
special secretariat was set up to capture and distil the
recommendations emanating from the papers and the discussions
that followed. The preliminary recommendations as perceived by
the committee are being edited and the final recommendations
will be published after extensive consultation between and among
presenters and key participants.
However, the preliminary list of recommendations is as follows:
• Higher education institutions should strive to design
curricula best suited to the needs of South Sudan.
• The national government should allocate adequate resources
for research and for building lecture halls, libraries, and
laboratories.
• While consolidating the quality of existing universities, the
government should also increase access to higher education
through expansion.
• In order to develop human capital and staffing capabilities,
universities must collaborate and network with similar
institutions nationally, regionally and globally.
• Technical education must be developed alongside more academic
higher education.
• The government should put in place institutions and mechanism
for quality assurance.
• The proposed Council for Higher Education in South Sudan
should devise a mechanism for the ranking of institutions of
higher education.
• Higher education institutions should embrace values of good
governance, innovation and enterprise.
• The government and higher education institutions should review
the student accommodation model inherited from Sudan with a view
to correcting any shortcomings.
• The Council for Higher Education should give special
attention to regulating and licensing private higher education.
• Compulsory retirement should be abolished for tenured
professors and made optional. Many participants advised the
government to take a second look at its policy of free higher
education for all because they felt it would not be sustainable
with the expansion in higher education. Instead, said
participants, the government should devise a cost recovery
strategy that involves students making contributions towards
their education, with financial support only available to those
who cannot. Overall, many participants said that the conference
was a resounding success and an important milestone in the
development of higher education policy for South Sudan.
* Dr John Apuruot Akec is vice-chancellor of the newly
established University of Northern Bahr-El-Ghazel in South
Sudan, and chair of the Academics and Researchers Forum for
Development, an academic-led think-tank and advocacy group in
South Sudan.
* This is an edited version of John Apuruot Akec's report on the
conference which appears on his blog.
* This article was published on University World News site and
can be accessed through this link:
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20111125211010757