Multiple destinations, diversity of pathways

Post-secondary education in emerging markets must be developed through the lens of life-long learning for all. This was one of the conclusions reached by an eminent group of educationists, academics and policy-makers during the recently held Oxford Symposium on Tertiary Education in Emerging Markets.

The above perspective was necessitated by the scale and nature of demand for tertiary education in emerging markets. More and more young people, as well as practitioners in mid-careers, are looking for educational opportunities to upgrade their knowledge and skills to be able to productively improve their quality of life. Delegates from India, China, Brazil, South Africa, Colombia and Malaysia emphasized the need to analyse this demand beyond the requirements of growing economy. While demand for trained human resources was a critical determinant of demand for post-secondary education, changing individual, familial and societal aspirations for a better and more ‘enlightenedâ life were also important determinants of such a demand.

The symposium concluded that a diverse group of learners require a diversity of educational provisions, institutions and pedagogies. It was felt that focus on standard undergraduate university degree is inadequate to respond equitably to this demand; it was important to understand that most people would have multiple careers in their life-time, and that many already in economically productive category would regularly require professional and skill upgradations. Hence, educational opportunities can be equitable only when multiple streams, curriculum, pedagogies and institutions are empowered and enabled to function adequately and with quality.

It is in this sense that the national and provincial governments have a responsibility to create policies, legislations and investments to help such diversity of institutions and provisions to evolve and develop. Governments have a critical role to play in the emerging markets in this regard. It is also clear that public sector will not have adequate resources to fulfill its obligations on its own; but, it was felt that the principle of private participation for public purposes must be encouraged. The twin principles guiding funding options in tertiary education are enpost_titlement to equitable access and opportunity, as well as co-payment from the studentâs own resources.

Further deliberations in the symposium were focused on the critical questions of relevance and design of curriculum and pedagogies. While there is a growing availability of IT platforms and tools for teaching and learning, a blended and mix-method approach may be particularly apt for socially excluded sections of populations in emerging markets. It was argued that design of curriculum should take into account the contextual and specific needs of such categories of students as tribals/indigenous, women and minorities. The engagement of students and their communities in accessing local knowledge and wisdom in curriculum design and delivery may be critical for certain socially excluded groups of learners.

It was interesting to learn about the progress made by countries like Russia, Chile, Colombia, South Africa and Brazil in creating enabling policies for equitable access to opportunity for tertiary education in multiple forms of institutions, beyond only public universities. In addition, it was interesting to note that nearly two-thirds of all tertiary educational institutions in China are promoted by provincial and municipal governments. The analysis seemed to suggest that policy chaos, inertia and stagnation was most pervasive in India today.

It is precisely because of such confusion and stagnation that there is a huge mismatch between demand and supply of post-secondary education in india. While landmark enpost_titlement on rural employment guarantee has been legislated in 2005, supply of para-technicians who can do technical measurement of rural land improvement projects lags behind, delaying payment of wages to the rural labour considerably. While there are nearly 8000 urban habitations and about 400 million inhabitants in these locations, there is no supply of trained manpower for municipal planning, administration or governance.  Availability of teachers at all levels of tertiary education is a huge constraint in India. There are no skilled professionals to work on water, sanitation and hygiene; despite rapid pace of industrialization in the past decade, trained manpower to work on issues of occupational and environmental health is not available in the country. Training of agricultural scientists doesnât take into consideration valuable, locally-practiced and time-tested indigenous knowledge in agriculture, horticulture and forestry. Ironically, the India of giants in information technology doesnât have adequate use of, and policy support for, IT in the delivery of post-secondary education to its aspiring millions.

Once again, the recommendations of Oxford Symposium emphasize policy elaboration of tertiary education as characterized by ‘multiple destinations, diverse pathwaysâ; this is the only approach that would provide equity in access, quality and costs to all citizens of emerging markets, India included.

Rajesh Tandon                                                                                                 January 19, 2012