General Agreement on Trade in Services and Higher Education in the Southern African Development Community

GENERAL AGREEMENT ON TRADE IN SERVICES AND HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE SOUTHERN AFRICAN DEVELOPMENT COMMUNITY

Editors: Pundy Pillay, Peter Maassen and Nico Cloete

© 2003 Centre for Higher Education Transformation (CHET)

CHET Private Bag X8, Rondebosch, 7700 www.chet.org.za

All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by electronic or mechanical means, including any information storage and retrieval system, without prior permission in writing from the publishers.

ISBN 1–919833–58–7

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CONTENTS

Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0v List of Acronyms . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 0vi Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 01 Section 1

Perspectives on Trade in Higher Education . . 04 Higher Education and the Knowledge Society . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 04 Regional Free Trade Agreements . . . . . . . . . 07 Trade in Education Services . . . . . . . . . . . . 08

Section 2

GATS: Implications and Possible Ways Forward for the SADC . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 11 Implications of GATS for SADC Countries . . . 11 Socio-Economic Development and Higher Education Provision in the SADC . . . . . . . . . 18 Possible Ways Forward . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 19

Section 3

Foreign Students and Academic Staff in Public Higher Education in South Africa in 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 Introduction . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 23 An Overview of Higher Education in South Africa in 2001 . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Head Count Totals of Foreign Students in South Africa’s Public Higher Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26

Full-Time Equivalent Totals of Foreign Students in South Africa’s Public Higher Education System . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 29 Instruction/Research Staff in South African Public Universities and Technikons . . . . . . . 33 Funding of Foreign Students . . . . . . . . . . . . 35 Concluding Remarks . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 37 Appendix A

Globalisation of Higher Education – A Note . . 38

Appendix B

Combined Education Enrolment Ratios and Public Expenditure in Higher Education . . . . . 41

Appendix C

Trade in Higher Education Services – The Kenyan Case . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42

References . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48

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ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The authors wish to thank the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Science for funding the initial research in the SADC countries on which this publication is based. We also want to thank Ian Bunting and Jowi James Otieno for their contributions to the original research report, and for providing us with important data. We are grateful to the Division of Higher Education of UNESCO and the Norwegian Ministry of Education and Science for inviting us to the conference ‘Globalization and Higher Education: Implications for North-South Dialogue’, which took place in Oslo, Norway, on 26 to 27 May 2003, and wh ere we presented an earlier version of this publication. We want to thank the many participants of this conference who commented upon the presentation and report.

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LIST OF ACRONYMS

GATS GATT SADC ICT Unesco EU APEC NAFTA Mercosur Caricom WTO DRC FTE CESM IUCE

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General Agreement on Trade in Services General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs Southern African Development Community Information and Communication Technologies United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation European Union Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum North American Free Trade Network Common Market of the Southern Cone Caribbean Community World Trade Organisation Democratic Republic of the Congo Full-time equivalent Classification of education subject matter Inter-University Council for East Africa

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INTRODUCTION

The General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS), reached in the 2000 Uruguay Round of trade talks, is probably the single most important development in the global multilateral trading system since the General Agreement on Trade and Tariffs (GATT) itself came into effect in 1948. GATS for the first time extends internationally agreed-upon rules and commitments into a large and rapidly growing area of international trade – namely services, including education services. With respect to education, the GATS agreement has especially affected the policy debates on higher education, in developed as well as in developing countries. These debates have been coloured by the nature of the actual GATS negotiations, i.e. higher education was not directly represented in these negotiations – neither from the side of the government nor from the side of the institutions. Instead, the negotiations have been conducted by trade experts on behalf of national Ministries of Economic Affairs or comparable government agencies. Consequently, there has been an air of secrecy around GATS and higher education, leading to many interpretations of the negotiations, the agreements reached, and the possible consequences of any further agreement for higher education. In addition to the lack of insight into the negotiations per se, the knowledge on the practice of trade in higher education has also been rather limited, especially in developing countries. This report addresses two gaps: first by providing a general reflection on the main challenges and issues related to trade in higher education; second by discussing the consequences of the GATS negotiations, including higher education, for the countries in the Southern African Development Community (SADC); and third by

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presenting data from the practice of the trade in higher education in one of the SADC countries, i.e. South Africa. Starting-point for the report is that the demand for higher education is increasing in both developed and developing countries. In the latter group, this is due to improved outputs, in both qualitative and quantitative terms, from the schooling system, and a greater awareness on the part of policy-makers in these countries of the importance of higher education in a rapidly globalising economy. In industrial and many middle-income countries, the increased demand is due to the growth of the knowledge economy. However, while demand is growing, the capacity of the public sector to satisfy the demand is being challenged. This is due to budget limitations, the changing role of government, and the increased emphasis in many countries on the market economy and privatisation (Pillay, 2003). Alongside this growing demand, far-reaching developments in information and communication technologies (ICT) are providing alternative ways to deliver higher education. New types of providers, such as corporate universities and for-profit institutions, are emerging. This scenario is changing further by providers – public and private, new and traditional – delivering education services across national borders to meet the needs in other countries. Alternative types of cross-border initiatives, such as branch campuses, franchise and twinning arrangements, are being developed (Knight, 2002). In line with the above considerations, this report consists of three sections. Section 1 focuses on three issues. It first analyses the new pressures being placed on higher education by the emergence of the knowledge society and raises a few discernible trends as well as relevant questions. It then draws attention to the proliferation of regional free trade agreements and the implications of this trend for higher education, and concludes by briefly addressing the notion of trade in education services. Section 2 assesses the implications of GATS for higher education in the countries of the SADC. First, this section addresses some of the concerns raised by GATS for service sectors in developing countries, with particular focus on the higher education system. The challenges for higher education policy-makers and institutions in SADC countries are discussed in light of these concerns, and this section provides a brief description of the pattern of socio-economic

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development and of higher education in the SADC. Attempts were made to obtain data on movements of students and academics across SADC countries, on academic programmes offered by other SADC and non-SADC countries, and on the presence in these countries of foreign providers of higher education. With the exception of South Africa, no data on these issues is available from either the regional institutions (SADC, African Development Bank) or from the international agencies (World Bank, Unesco). This points to the need for urgent research, particularly to inform both regional and country strategies and responses to GATS. This section concludes by providing a set of possible SADC responses to GATS in the immediate and short terms. Section 3 looks at the issue of foreign students and academic staff in the only SADC country in the region for which such data is available – South Africa. It provides a descriptive account of the enrolment of foreign students and employment of foreign academics in the public higher education system; and offers a broad overview of public versus private higher education. It finally moves on to discuss the available data on foreign students and staff in South African higher education institutions. Appendix A is a note on the globalisation of highter education, and offers some interesting statistics on the exporters of education services and a breakdown of foreign students studying abroad. Appendix B offers a combined picture of enrolment ratios and public expenditure, and the report concludes with Appendix C – a case study on the trade in higher education services in Kenya (a nonSADC country).

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SECTION 1 PERSPECTIVES ON TRADE IN HIGHER EDUCATION Peter Maassen

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Higher Education and the Knowledge Society

A large number of changes currently taking place in universities and colleges worldwide find their origin in the belief that societies are rapidly becoming knowledge-based entities. The key assumption underlying this belief is that economic productivity and wealth will be increasingly dependent on the production and application of new knowledge by highly trained knowledge workers. It is a nation’s capability to apply new knowledge to existing knowledge – rather than physical capital, natural resources or traditional labour skills – that is argued as being essential for economic development. While it is true that higher education has always been formally designed as a structure for the production, transfer and dissemination of advanced knowledge, the emergence of a knowledge-based society and economy has placed new pressures on it. The need for a flexible and versatile workforce, one that is constantly learning and upgrading its skills, has led to a demand for courses in which employees are re-trained and updated on a lifelong basis. Students have to be prepared for a labour market in which they can be expected to change jobs many times, and they need to acquire appropriate skills that are transferrable across sectors, countries and cultures. Traditional universities and colleges first have to take account of the strategies and activities of other traditional universities and colleges which have set up campuses in other countries. In addition, there are the new and highly competitive for-profit suppliers, both nationally and internationally, which must be taken into consideration. Increased competition, moreover, is not only coming

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from new forms of higher education establishments, but also from multinational for-profit firms and companies, which increasingly offer programmes within and across borders. In addition, new forms of information and communication technology are eroding the national borders of higher education systems with important consequences for quality assurance, the protection of consumer and intellectual property rights, cultural maintenance and national identity construction. The developments with respect to the knowledge-based society has resulted in a number of trends in higher education that, while having been experienced differently in developed and developing countries, are nevertheless readily identifiable. These are: • The changing objectives of higher education While the public mission and social and cultural roles of higher education have traditionally tended to be emphasised in national policy discussions, much greater emphasis is now being placed on its economic concerns. Today there are growing expectations for increased participation rates and the market employability of graduates. Higher education institutions are also being given more responsibility for meeting national economic development needs, and are increasingly accommodating the interests of the private corporate sector and a more market-driven environment. As a result, there is a growing need to clarify the social mission of higher education institutions. • Higher education policy and practice increasingly being related to new labour-force demands for highly educated personnel The purpose and function of higher education institutions are increasingly being tied to their role in the new knowledge economy. This reflects the current concern with the link between higher education provision and the economic productivity and prosperity of a nation. New economic thinking concerning the determinants of longterm economic growth (usually referred to as the ‘new growth theory’) not only gives a prominent role to the strong and smart, but also, more importantly, to the swift. That is, nations which achieve a technological lead in

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areas of knowledge production are well placed to sustain that lead. Failure to ‘learn’, on the other hand, will lead to an ever-widening gap in knowledge. • Massification of higher education The shift from the notion of elite access to higher education to one of universal access for all has resulted in a worldwide increase in enrolment. Higher education continues to play an important role in social reproduction, but in most developing countries, despite increased absolute enrolment, participation rates are still very low, especially for certain groups. In the majority of developed countries, on the other hand, an already high participation rate has led to increased attention being given to the provision of continuing education on a lifelong basis. • Increases in number and diversity of higher education suppliers There has been an increase in the number and diversity of institutions providing higher education. In addition to the regular full-time degree courses, there are increasing numbers of specialised institutions (professional, vocational, distance learning, continuing) and growing numbers of providers of short, research-intensive courses. At the international level, there is an increase in the number of providers using new forms and methods of delivery, and private for-profit providers are assuming greater importance in meeting excess demand. Cases of partnerships between public and private institutions are also evident, leading to the blurring of public and private organisational forms, interests and practices. • The use of new technology and new delivery, both nationally and internationally The application of the new technologies in higher education has taken many forms, and is transforming educational delivery. Technological developments have, moreover, made the provision of courses across national borders easier. More attention could profitably be paid to the type and content of these courses. Piecemeal evidence suggests that certain programmes (in business and

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management, for example) are being delivered more frequently than others and this affects departments, faculties, schools and institutions differently. • Changes in institutional practices and organisation Privatisation pressures and the spread of business culture are resulting in the introduction of more managerial governance arrangements in place of traditional collegial practices (Amaral et al., 2003). Additionally, private sector partnerships with universities are promoting the commercialisation of intellectual property, in essence creating a proprietary right to knowledge that is not available in the public domain. As a consequence, higher education institutions are under increasing pressure to adapt their traditional organisational practices. • The internationalisation of colleges and universities For over a decade, colleges and universities in both the hemispheres have deliberately placed internationalisation as the process of integrating a cross-national dimension into their teaching, research and service functions within institutional strategic frameworks. Internationalisation has been a specific response of colleges and universities to the needs of their graduates to have competencies that will enable them to take their place in a globalised society. It has occurred in a variety of ways: through changes to the curriculum, through student and faculty mobility, through cooperative linkages between institutions for research and exchange, through the presence of foreign students on campuses, and through the establishment of foreign campuses and courses.

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Regional Free Trade Agreements

Regional trade arrangements are a permissible exception to the GATT’s most-favoured nation principle authorised by Article XXIV, which allows the establishment of free trade areas and customs unions. As a result, a potentially paradoxical consequence of global trade liberalisation has been the simultaneous proliferation and expansion of regional free trade agreements in Europe, the Pacific Rim, Latin America, Africa, and North America. World trade is

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already quite regionalised, but it is becoming increasingly concentrated within three regional trading blocs defined by the European Union (EU), the Asia-Pacific Economic Co-operation Forum (APEC), and the North American Free Trade Agreement (NAFTA). In the 1990s, economic regionalisation accelerated with 34 different regional trading agreements reported to GATT from 1990 to 1994 alone. The most important regional trading entities are APEC, the EU, Australia-New Zealand, the Common Market of the Southern Cone (Mercosur)1, the Caribbean Community (Caricom)2, the Andean Group3, the Central American Common Market, the SADC4, and NAFTA. In addition, a complex overlapping network of bilateral free trade arrangements has been established in each of these areas between individual countries, and between individual countries and other regional trading blocs. To date, with the exception of the EU, the implications of regional free trade agreements for higher education remain largely unexplored.

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Trade in Education Services

In 1995, the international market for global higher education was estimated at US$27 billion, in 1999 at around $30 billion, and in 2002 at more than $35 billion. Education services are traded primarily through student mobility across borders (consumption abroad) and the largest current source of receipts for higher education services is therefore comprised of student fees paid to attend traditional colleges and universities in host countries. Currently, more than 1.5 million students study abroad, and this number continues to grow each year. The USA is the leading exporter of education services, and commands approximately onethird of the total world market for higher education services.5

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The core members of Mercosur are Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, and Uruguay. The members of Caricom consist of the Caribbean island-nations and coastal nations, including Belize, St. Kitts, St. Lucia, Antigua, Monteserrat, Bahamas, Guyana, Barbados, and Trinidad and Tobago The members of the Andean Group are Columbia, Venezuela, Bolivia, Ecuador, and Peru. The members of SADC are Angola, Botswana, Lesotho, Malawi, Mozambique, Namibia, South Africa, Swaziland, Tanzania, and Zimbabwe. The ten leading exporters of higher education services (consumption abroad) are the USA, France, Germany, United Kingdom, Russian Federation, Japan, Australia, Canada, Belgium, and Switzerland.

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In 1998, the USA exported nearly $9 billion in higher education services and recorded a trade surplus in higher education services of about $7.4 billion. The global market for higher education services delivered through traditional institutions of higher education has continued to expand, as measured by the increasing number of students studying abroad (consumption abroad); the number of foreign visiting scholars travelling abroad to teach and conduct research (presence of individuals); international marketing of curricula, textbooks and distance learning programmes (cross-border supply); and the establishment of branch campuses in foreign countries (commercial presence). By 1998, over 30 countries had made specific commitments in the education services sector, with 21 commitments in the area of higher education services.6 The countries making commitments to liberalise trade in higher education services included all but two (France and Russia) of the world’s ten largest exporters of higher education services. Services in higher education are a growing industry which is branching out into: (1) the new providers of higher education, such as for-profit education and training facilities and corporatesponsored universities; (2) new methods of delivery, such as distance learning via Internet, radio, and television; and (3) new activities, such as educational support services and educational testing services. Other changes in the domestic and international structure of higher education services markets have promoted the development of ‘other’ higher education services that support educational processes or systems, such as educational testing services, student exchange programme services, and study-abroad facilitation services. However, official trade data on higher education services woefully underestimates the actual levels of cross-border activity, since official trade statistics at the national and international level only estimate the value of the tuition and living expenses of students enrolled in foreign colleges and universities (consumption abroad). These statistics do not capture the full value of international trade in higher education services. The official statistics on trade in higher education services, including those of governmental and international organisations, do not include fees paid by students 6

Australia, Austria, Belgium, Canada, Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, Germany, Greece, Iceland, Ireland, Italy, Japan, Korea, Mexico, New Zealand, Norway, Portugal, Spain, Switzerland, Turkey, United Kingdom, and the United States.

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enrolled in any form of electronic or distance education (crossborder supply), fees paid by students receiving instruction in their home country from foreign providers (commercial presence), or those being instructed in their home country by visiting foreign teachers or trainers (presence of individuals). The official statistics simply do not capture the foreign trade in higher education services conducted by for-profit educational institutions (e.g. language institutes) or by corporate education and training facilities in foreign countries, because these activities are recorded by the host countries as part of the gross ‘domestic’ product.

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SECTION 2 GATS: IMPLICATIONS AND POSSIBLE WAYS FORWARD FOR THE SADC Pundy Pillay

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Implications of GATS for SADC Countries

Unequal benefits: lessons from GATT In formulating an approach to the liberalisation of trade in services in general, and trade in higher education in particular, policy-makers in developing countries would do well to heed the lessons derived from the impact of globalisation and trade liberalisation on these countries during the 1990s and the early years of the twenty-first century. As Stiglitz (2002) points out, globalisation has had both beneficial and negative effects. Opening up to international trade has indeed helped many countries to grow more quickly than they could otherwise have done. Globalisation has also helped to reduce the sense of isolation felt in large parts of the developing world, and has given many people in developing countries access to knowledge well beyond the reach of even the wealthiest in any country a century ago. However, to many in the developing world, globalisation has not brought the promised economic benefits. In spite of opening international trade, the absolute numbers of poor in the developing world have been consistently increasing. Globalisation has also not succeeded in ensuring stability, as evidenced by the financial crises in the late 1990s in Asia, Latin America and Russia. There is no doubt that the opening up of international trade has led to unequal benefits. The Western countries have pushed poor countries to eliminate trade barriers, but kept their own barriers through, amongst other things, the creation of regional trading blocs. In this way, for example, the developing countries have been

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prevented from exporting their agricultural products more competitively. In the financial sector, the Western banks have been the greatest beneficiaries from the loosening of capital market controls in Latin America and Asia, but those regions suffered when inflows of speculative ‘hot money’ that had poured into those countries was suddenly reversed. Policy-makers in SADC countries, and particularly those in the education sector, need to ensure that this disproportionate distribution of benefits and costs is not reproduced through agreements reached through GATS. Therefore, the key question policy-makers in the education sector of SADC need to ask themselves is: Trade liberalisation in higher education for whose benefit and at what cost? There are many stakeholders and different agendas involved in the trade of educational services. As Knight (2002) states, policymakers, institutions and educators should ask what are the benefits to students, scholars, institutions and the society at large. The role of government, public institutions and private providers varies considerably from country to country. If trade is monitored and managed in a strategic manner, it may well help a country to better meet the national policy objectives and help with capacity issues. As the pressure for liberalisation grows in international forums, all countries will make choices as to what commitments they will make to GATS – in particular with regard to ‘market access’ and ‘national treatment’. Therefore, developing countries must be able to determine their commitments to higher education and identify restrictions. However, given the domination of industrialised countries in international trade, the central question revolves around what ‘safeguards’ these countries should establish.

GATS’ economic rationale: who benefits? An important thread that permeates much of the debate on GATS and higher education is its consumer-oriented rationale. Developing countries, including those in the SADC, have to be convinced that this economic rationale will lead not only to a wide range of opportunities for education consumers, but that it will also result in appropriate levels of access and quality. The economic rationale must not be understood purely in terms of increased revenues for exporting countries. In some industrialised countries, higher education has become far

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more competitive – shaped more by the market and less by regulation. In these countries, colleges and universities are seen as being slow to respond to the demands of economy and society. Frustrated by the slow pace of change, policy-makers no longer feel the need to protect these institutions from competition, turning instead to the power of market forces as the lever needed to reform higher education. The rationale for this has been the belief that competition offers higher education the opportunity to solve intractable problems. However, the dangers are great and competition is a force that the higher education community may not be able to ignore. The key is finding policy solutions that help steer the market in ways that benefit society and serve the greater public good. Economic rationales are increasingly driving a large part of the international or cross-border supply of education. This commercial or profit motive is a reality today, and applies to both private providers and, in some cases, public institutions. In short, the business side of borderless education is growing and is a target of GATS. It is therefore important that policy-makers, institutional leaders and educators are cognisant of the impact of trade liberalisation on higher education, and take steps to maximise the benefits and minimise the threats to national higher education systems and institutions.

Obtaining a better understanding of what GATS means for the education sector GATS is deemed to apply to all measures affecting services, except: ‘Governmental Services – i.e. services provided by governments on a non-competitive and non-commercial basis. These services are beyond the scope of GATS and not subject to negotiation’ (WTO, 2002). There are those who believe that because education is provided and funded by the government it is therefore exempted. The agreement states that ‘in the exercise of governmental authority’ means the service is provided on a ‘non-commercial basis’ and ‘not in competition’ with other service suppliers. However, there is no clarity on what the terms ‘non-commercial basis’ and ‘not in competition’ actually mean in the higher education context. Because of this lack of clarity, it is quite likely that the public sector/government service providers may not in fact be exempt. The situation is especially complicated in those countries where there is a

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mixed public/private higher education system or where a significant amount of funding for public institutions comes from the private sector. Another complication is that a public education institution in an exporting country is often defined as private/commercial when it crosses the border and delivers in the importing country. The debate about what ‘not in competition’ means is extended by the fact that there do not appear to be any qualifications or limits on the term. For instance, if non-government providers (private non-profit or commercial) are delivering services, are they deemed to be in competition with government providers? In this scenario, public providers may be defined as being ‘in competition’ by the mere existence of non-governmental providers. Does the method of delivery influence or limit the concept of ‘in-competition’? Does the term cover situations where there is a similar mode of delivery, or, for instance, does this term mean that public providers using traditional face-to-face classroom methods could be seen to be competing with foreign for-profit e-learning providers? (Knight, 2002)

Quality of education provision Quality and accreditation are critical issues. As Knight (2002) notes, the importance of frameworks for licensing accreditation, qualification recognition and quality assurance are important for all countries, whether they are importing or exporting education services. There are many countries in the SADC who would be concerned about their capacity to have such frameworks in place in light of the push towards trade liberalisation and increased crossborder delivery of education. A strong case can be made for some SADC countries to resist committing to GATS (at least in the short-term) to enable them to put in place appropriate quality assessment mechanisms. This is necessary because increased cross-border education delivery and a set of legal rules and obligations in trade agreements require that urgent attention be given to the question of quality assurance and accreditation of education providers. It is vital to have national mechanisms which have the capacity to address accreditation and quality assessment procedures for the academic programms of new private and foreign providers. However, it is equally important that attention be given to developing both regional (SADC) and international approaches to quality assurance and accreditation.

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With increased liberalisation, the SADC countries could be flooded by foreign providers, some of whom may provide programmes of dubious quality. Many of these countries would currently have great difficulty in monitoring the quality of these programmes. Moreover, given the high levels of poverty and hence low socio-economic status of most of the individuals seeking higher education, it is unlikely that Northern countries would be able to provide programmes using staff from the exporting countries. This will lead to ‘cheaper’ programmes more suited to the cost structures of the importing countries, leading almost inevitably to compromises in the quality of provision.

Implications for the ‘brain drain’ GATS is one of many factors and instruments encouraging greater mobility of professionals. Although the agreement focuses on temporary movement of the labour force, it may also lead to and facilitate permanent migration. The implications of increased mobility of teachers and researchers are particularly relevant to developing countries. It will be a major challenge to improve education systems if large numbers of well-qualified professionals and graduates are attracted to positions in other countries. Currently large numbers of highly qualified and experienced academics are migrating to South Africa from the rest of the SADC, and from South Africa to the United States, United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand and Canada, amongst others. Liberalisation would undoubtedly increase such migration and exacerbate the staffing situation at higher education institutions in SADC countries. There is already stark evidence of this in countries such as Zambia and Zimbabwe, which used to possess higher education institutions with staff of exceptionally high caliber.

Costs and benefits of cross-trading Several countries undertake negotiations both at bilateral and multilateral trade talks where they may be willing to offer concessions in one sector (say, education) in return for concessions in another (say, agriculture or steel). The possibility of ‘cross-trading’ across sectors will come into play during the ‘request/offer’ stage of negotiations between two trading World Trade Organisation (WTO) member countries. Cross-trading can take place for all 12 service sectors, one of which is education.

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Policy-makers in the education sector in SADC countries will need to be on their guard, especially in discussions with their own trade officials about the costs and benefits of cross-trading involving education in general or higher education in particular. In countries where higher education is less well-developed, trade officials who often lack a sensitivity to education/higher education issues, may be more than willing to take unilateral decisions in this regard – especially at bilateral or multilateral negotiations where education sector officials are often not present. Until one knows what requests have been made of a country, it is impossible to know what impact there will be, if any, on higher education. This is why it is important for the education sector to consult with officials in the respective Departments of Trade about requests which have been received from countries wanting access to the higher education market and what offers the SADC countries will make in response.

Implications for public funding Many commentators have raised the possibility that GATS will threaten public funding of higher education. This is because GATS raises the question of the capacity and the role of government with respect to providing access to higher education. For instance, if education is seen as a public function, can private national or foreign providers help to fulfil this public function, and if so, be eligible for the same subsidies? The concern is that public funding directed, for example, at public education institutions would be interpreted as an unfair subsidy by a private education provider. There is concern that this might lead to a situation where public subsidies would have to be made available to private providers, or to a situation where public funding is decreased (Knight, 2002). The other side of this coin is that liberalisation could lead to less pressure on the government’s higher education budget and possibly lead to the freeing up of some funds for other aspects of education in the SADC, such as primary education or teacher training.

Implications for access Advocates of liberalisation argue that GATS will increase the capacity to raise access to higher education in many developing countries,

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including many of those in the SADC. In the SADC, many governments and public education institutions have felt the responsibility of ensuring broad access to higher education opportunities. In some countries this is a challenging issue as the demand for higher education is steadily growing, often beyond the capacity of the country to provide it. This may be one reason why governments in some developing countries are willing to let their students seek out-of-country opportunities and/or open up their higher education system to foreign providers. Advocates of liberalised trade maintain that students can have greater access to a wider range of education opportunities at home and abroad. Opponents of free trade believe that access may in fact be more limited as trade will commercialise education, escalate costs and lead to a two-tiered system – one for the rich and one for the poor. Trade is therefore often perceived by critics as a threat to the ‘public good’ of education services.

Developing appropriate and effective regulatory frameworks Given the inevitable pressures to liberalise, SADC countries need to give thought to the kind of regulatory framework that they should be developing. A regulatory framework will undoubtedly be needed to deal with the diversity of providers and new cross-border delivery modes, and will become more urgent as international trade increases. In some countries, this may mean a broader approach to policy which involves licensing, regulating and monitoring both private and foreign providers to ensure that national policy objectives are met and public interests protected. In other words, what is needed is a coherent and comprehensive regulatory framework to serve national interests and protect the interests of different stakeholders, especially students.

The implications of GATS for the objectives and rationale of higher education A consistent criticism to the liberalisation of trade in higher education is that it will inevitably curtail a nation’s ability to develop its own system reflecting its unique social, cultural and political characteristics. There is thus always a risk of ‘trade creep’ where education policy issues are increasingly framed in terms of trade. It is important to guard against the situation where international trade

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issues in education overshadow the more important issues – including the key objectives and rationales of higher education, such as social, cultural and scientific development and the role of education in promoting democracy and citizenship.

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Socio-Economic Development and Higher Education Provision in the SADC

The countries of Southern Africa show enormous differences with respect to their relative socio-economic development patterns. Table 1, for instance, shows that GDP per capita (in purchasing power parity terms) varies from US$8 488 in South Africa and US$6 103 in Botswana to just more than US$523 in Malawi. Similar differences can be cited in terms of several development indices, notably the Human Development Index, the Human Poverty Index, and the Gender Development Index. The countries in this region are characterised by high levels of poverty (especially Malawi, Mozambique, Zambia and Zimbabwe), inequality (all), and moderate to low levels of economic growth (with the exception of Botswana and Mozambique). On average the countries of Southern Africa are performing relatively well compared to sub-Saharan Africa as a whole, but less well on average in comparison with other developing countries. The differential pattern of socio-economic development is reflected also in the levels of development of the higher education systems in the respective countries. While data on higher education enrolments and outputs is not available for most SADC countries, anecdotal evidence suggests low levels of enrolment in some countries (e.g. the DRC, Tanzania, Zambia and Mozambique) and inadequate numbers of qualified individuals leaving the system for gainful employment in the labour market. Such a level of underdevelopment of higher education is occurring in several SADC countries in spite of relatively high levels of investment (as a proportion of the total education budget) in some countries (see Appendix B). Given such unequal patterns of higher education systems in the SADC, it is evident that the responses and commitments to GATS from this sector will necessarily vary in the respective countries. At one end of the spectrum of the SADC membership there are countries such as South Africa, Mauritius, Botswana and, until

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Table 1: Some Development Indicators by Country (1998) Country

HDI

GDI

HPI %

GDP per capita (PPP) US$

Gini coeff. (most recent)

Infant mortality (per 1000 live births)

Av. rate of GDP growth (1991– 1999) %

Angola

0.419

n.a

n.a

1821

0.54

170

0.5

Botswana

0.613

0.598

28.3

6103

0.54

38

5.3

Lesotho

0.583

0.558

n.a

1626

0.57

94

4.5

Malawi

0.393

0.370

41.9

523

0.62

134

4.2

Mozambique

0.350

0.320

50.7

782

n.a

129

6.4

Namibia

0.651

0.651

26.6

5176

0.70

57

3.7

South Africa

0.718

0.706

20.2

8488

0.59

60

1.4

Swaziland

0.672

0.659

27.4

3816

0.51

64

2.9

Zambia

0.429

0.415

37.9

719

0.526

112

1.0

Zimbambe

0.570

0.562

37.9

2669

0.63

59

2.2

All developing countries

0.642

0.634

–

–

–

64

–

SSA

0.464

0.459

–

–

–

106

–

Source SADC Regional Development Report, 2000. SSA: sub-Saharan Africa; HDI: Human Development Index; GDI: Gender Development Index; HPI: Human Poverty Index.

recently, Zimbabwe, with relatively well-developed higher education systems comprising high-quality institutions providing education in a variety of disciplines. In South Africa, there is an additional growing private sector component, but at the other end of the spectrum higher education systems are poorly developed (Malawi, Mozambique) or are in serious decline (Zambia).

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Possible Ways Forward

In higher education, the argument in favour of GATS is that it will accelerate the influx of private and foreign providers in countries where domestic capacity is inadequate. An added argument relates to the benefits that more trade can bring in terms of innovation through new delivery systems and providers, as well as greater student access and economic value. Those opposed to GATS are concerned that liberalisation may compromise important elements of quality assurance and permit private and foreign providers to monopolise the best students and most lucrative programmes. They also focus on the threat to the changing government role in higher education.

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At present, GATS is described as a voluntary agreement because countries can decide which sectors they will agree to cover under GATS rules. This is done through the preparation of their national schedules of commitments and through the ‘request-offer’ negotiation rounds. The extent to which the agreement is voluntary is debatable once a country commits a sector such as education, in light of the ‘progressive liberalisation’ requirement. The process of progressive liberalisation involves two aspects – extending GATS coverage to more service sectors and decreasing the number and extent of measures that serve as impediments to increased trade. Therefore, in spite of the right of each country to determine the extent of its commitments, with each new round of negotiations, countries are expected to add sectors or sub-sectors to their national schedules of commitments and to negotiate the further removal of limitations on market access and national treatment. The intention of GATS is to facilitate and promote ever-increasing opportunities for trade. Therefore, countries that are not interested in either the import or export of education services will most likely experience greater pressures to allow market access to foreign providers. The implication of this for SADC countries is that even though they have not yet committed education as a sector (with the exception of the DRC), there will be increasing pressures for concessions in the international forum. It is therefore imperative that a long-term higher education GATS strategy be developed by all SADC countries as a matter of urgency. Moreover, there is little doubt that all countries, both developed and developing, will have to commit to GATS during the next decade. The strategy that each country considers should determine first, the level of market access, if any, that it is prepared to consider now, in five years and in ten years. Under GATS, each country has to decide the level of market access it will provide in each sector. It is up to each country to decide what commitments it will make. In order to develop an informed policy on GATS, it is evident that more research and analysis will need to be undertaken by all SADC countries so that they are fully aware of the implications of opening up their markets to educational imports. They need to have a good sense of what the impact will be on access, quality and development of their own educational systems. More broadly, these countries need to be able to assess whether opening up trade in higher

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education services will result in different, more equitable outcomes between developed and developing countries than has generally resulted from the opening up of the international trade in goods. Countries that have a commitment to education services up to early 2002 include the DRC, Lesotho, Jamaica, Sierra Leone, Costa Rica, Mexico, Panama, Turkey, Slovak Republic, Slovenia, Poland, Hungary, Norway, Switzerland, Liechtenstein, European Community and Japan. The commitments from these countries vary considerably according to which mode of supply they are addressing and the degree of market access they will allow. Most of the developing countries in this group have poorly-developed higher education systems. From their perspective, opening up to foreign providers may be a more cost-effective approach.

Strategic options for SADC countries For the immediate and short terms, at least five possibilities suggest themselves as constituting the ‘way forward’ for SADC countries with respect to GATS. • Full protectionism This could mean not committing the higher education sector for a defined period, say two or three years, while the necessary research and analysis is undertaken to develop appropriate frameworks for quality accreditation and other regulations, and to determine the impact of liberalisation on access and equity. • Full protectionism with concessions through other government agreements As above, but with concessions provided for, e.g. movement of academics and students through government to government agreements with respective immigration/labour departments. This may be a useful strategy to promote intra-SADC movement of higher education students and academics. • Full liberalisation As with the DRC, this may be an appropriate strategy for countries with poorly developed higher education systems and the likelihood of relatively few resources being available for education in the foreseeable future. Full I M P L I C A T I O N S

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liberalisation in such instances may lead to an increase in domestic capacity and ensure that limited government resources are used for school education. • Partial liberalisation A few countries may feel ready to commit to a limited degree of market access immediately, particularly with respect to Modes of Supply 1 (consumption abroad) and 4 (presence of natural persons), while simultaneously developing their regulatory frameworks. Such a strategy may be necessary if the education sector comes under pressure from trade officials indulging in cross-trading. • Partial liberalisation tied to concessions from exporting countries As in the previous point, but with concessions drawn from exporting countries, for say, grants to the SADC postgraduate students to study in institutions of the exporting countries. In conclusion, GATS poses both risks and opportunities for all developing countries, including those in the SADC. The risks relate primarily to being swamped by poor quality and inappropriate products, a lack of requisite capacity to monitor such quality, doubts about whether liberalisation will actually lead to increased access, the possibility of a two-tier (rich-poor) system developing, and the substitution of country-specific cultural, social and other values by those from foreign countries. On the other hand, opportunities relate to increased domestic capacity to provide higher education where current capacity is low, the possibility of increased outputs of scientific and technical graduates, and greater competition and efficiency in the provision of higher education programmes. What all this means is that, given the diversity of higher education systems in SADC, there cannot be a ‘one size fits all’ strategy towards commitment to GATS. Each country will need to weigh up its respective risks and opportunities, the costs and benefits, in determining its degree of commitment both for the short and long terms.

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SECTION 3 FOREIGN STUDENTS AND ACADEMIC STAFF IN PUBLIC HIGHER EDUCATION IN SOUTH AFRICA IN 2001 Ian Bunting

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Introduction

The South African Ministry of Education has in place a policy on the recruitment of students from the SADC. This policy is spelled out in the Ministry’s National Plan on Higher Education of February 2001, which states this: The recruitment of students from the SADC region would be consistent with the Higher Education protocol which commits member states to targeting a maximum of 10% of their places for students from other SADC countries. This is unlikely to impact adversely on access for South African students given the declining enrolments in the higher education system. It will also not adversely impact on the sustainability of enrolments in higher education institutions in the SADC countries, many of which have far fewer higher education institutions than South Africa. The real significance of increasing the recruitment of students from the SADC region lies in the fact that it would contribute to the broader human resource development needs of the region, which is essential if the Southern African Development Community is to become a major social and economic development bloc. It will also enrich the educational experiences of South African students and broaden their understanding of the social, cultural, economic and political ties that underpin the peoples and countries

FOREIGN

STUDENTS

AND

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STAFF

IN

PUBLIC

HIGHER

EDUCATION

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of the Southern African Development Community (National Plan, 2001) This quote shows that the 2001 National Plan has laid out clear incentives for public higher education institutions to become involved in the recruitment of SADC students. In this way, the South African higher education institutions will be supporting a social and economic development protocol signed by government. In addition, they will gain access to new pools of students to help fill spare capacity. Finally, they will receive standard government subsidies for these SADC students.

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An Overview of Higher Education in South Africa in 2001

South Africa’s higher education system has a large public sector and a relatively small private sector. In 2001 a head count total of 645 000 students were enrolled in the public sector. The private sector in 2001 reported a head count total enrolment of 85 000 students, but 55 000 of these were enrolled at the same time in a public institution and were, as a result, included in the total of 645 000 public higher education students. The total of ‘private only’ students in South Africa’s higher education system in 2001 was therefore only about 30 000.

Private higher education in 2001 According to Kruss (2002) private higher education could be classified into the following typology: • Transnational institutions – foreign institutions operating in South Africa (three institutions). • Franchising colleges – tuition centres for distance public providers (four institutions). • Technical vocational education and training institutions – predominantly providing education and training aimed at a specific niche market (six institutions). • Corporate classrooms and lifelong learning centers – developed by large companies to train their own staff (two institutions).

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Some key features of the 2001 head count of the 30 000 ‘private only’ students are: • 28 800 students (or 96%) were registered with South African-owned private institutions. The remaining 1 200 (or 4%) were registered with transnational institutions. • 26 500 (or 88%) of these 30 000 ‘private only’ students were registered for undergraduate studies. The remaining 3 500 (12%) were taking postgraduate studies at masters level or lower. • The major fields of studies of these 30 000 ‘private only’ students were: o

Business and management

36%

o

Science and technology

30%

o

Social and cultural studies

20%

o

Services and applied humanities

13%

Public higher education in 2001 A binary divide exists at present in the public higher education system. South Africa’s public higher education institutions were divided in 2001 into a group of 21 universities and 15 technikons. The technikons are institutions which offer primarily vocationallydirected qualifications in applied disciplines. For example, in the 2001 academic year, 48% of technikon students were following programmes in the fields of business and management and 32% programmes in applied science and technology. The remaining 20% were following programmes in applied humanities. The technikons do not offer general formative or professional academic programmes of the kind found in the universities, and are not as active in research as the universities. Some of the key features of the 2001 public system’s head count enrolment total of 645 000 students are: • 428 000 students (66% of the total) were enrolled in universities and 217 000 (34%) in technikons. • 602 000 (or 93%) of enrolled students in 2001 were either South African citizens or foreign citizens with permanent residence rights in South Africa. About 30 000

FOREIGN

STUDENTS

AND

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STAFF

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PUBLIC

HIGHER

EDUCATION

25

of the overall total (5%) in 2001 were students from other African countries studying in South Africa on temporary entrance permits. The remaining 13 000 included 6 000 students (1%) from Asia, Europe and the USA and 7 000 (1%) whose country of origin was unknown. • 59% of 645 000 students (2001 total) were registered for ‘contact’ or on-campus academic programmes, and the remaining 41% were registered for ‘distance’ or offcampus programmes. • In 2001, 531 000 (85% of the total of public higher education students) were enrolled for undergraduate programmes, 40 000 (6%) for masters or doctoral programmes, and 55 000 (9%) for other postgraduate programmes below the level of masters. • Female and black students had the major shares of the enrolment total of 645 000 students. In 2001, 52% of all students in public universities and technikons were female and 72% were black. • The gross participation rate in public higher education in South Africa in 2001 was 16%, calculated by dividing the enrolment total of 602 000 students who are South African citizens or permanent residents by the total of South Africa’s population in the 20 to 24 years age-group in 2001.

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Head Count Totals of Foreign Students in South Africa’s Public Higher Education System

Tables 2a and 2b below give details of head count enrolments in South Africa’s public higher education system by nationality and delivery mode.

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Table 2a: Head count enrolments of students by nationality and education delivery mode in public universities and technikons (2001) Nationality Univ. SA

Contact Tech

Total

Univ.

Distance Tech

Total

Contact + Distance Univ. Tech Total

219 083 140 297 359 380 173 261 70 313 243 574 392 344 210 610 602 954

SADC

7 580

3 234

10 814

12 430

1 026

13 456

20 010

4 260

24 270

Europe

1 661

129

1 790

1 460

3

1 463

3 121

132

3 253

Asia

901

49

950

565

1

566

1 466

50

1 516

USA

676

3

679

118

1

119

794

4

798

2 066

463

2 529

2 622

14

2 636

4 688

477

5 165

2 608

51

2 659

3 838

807

4 645

6 446

858

7 304

All other Unknown TOTAL

234 575 144 226 378 801 194294

72165 266 459 428 869 216 391 645 260

Table 2b: Proportions of head count enrolments in each education delivery mode category (2001) Nationality SA

Univ.

Contact Tech

Total

Univ.

Distance Tech

Total

Contact + Distance Univ. Tech Total

93.4%

97.3%

94.9%

89.2%

97.4%

91.4%

91.5%

97.3%

93.4%

SADC

3.2%

2.2%

2.9%

6.4%

1.4%

5.0%

4.7%

2.0%

3.8%

Europe

0.7%

0.1%

0.5%

0.8%

0.0%

0.5%

0.7%

0.1%

0.5%

Asia

0.4%

0.0%

0.3%

0.3%

0.0%

0.2%

0.3%

0.0%

0.2%

USA

0.3%

0.0%

0.2%

0.1%

0.0%

0.0%

0.2%

0.0%

0.1%

All other

0.9%

0.3%

0.7%

1.3%

0.0%

1.0%

1.1%

0.2%

0.8%

Unknown

1.1%

0.0%

0.7%

2.0%

1.1%

1.7%

1.5%

0.4%

1.1%

TOTAL

Notes

234 575 144 226 378 801 194 294 72 165 266 459 428 869 216 391 645 260

(1) Source: DoE HEMIS data, 2001. (2) Enrolments are head counts, which implies that full-time students as well as part-time students carrying less than a normal load, are counted as units. (3) ‘Contact mode’ involves students receiving on-campus instruction. ‘Distance mode’ involves students receiving off-campus instruction, either by correspondence or by electronic media. (4) SADC includes all countries in the Southern African Development Community.

The two tables show that the public higher education system in South Africa predominantly serves South African citizens and permanent residents. In 2001 only about 42 000 (or 7%) of the students enrolled in the public system were not South African citizens or permanent residents.

FOREIGN

STUDENTS

AND

ACADEMIC

STAFF

IN

PUBLIC

HIGHER

EDUCATION

27

Some specific points to note about the tables: • 19 000 (or 46%) foreign students were enrolled in contact or on-campus programmes. The balance of 23 000 (54%) were enrolled in distance education programmes, and may as a consequence not have entered South Africa for the period of their studies. • 15 000 of the 19 000 contact students enrolled in universities and the remaining 4 000 in technikons. 21 000 of the 23 000 distance students registered through a university, which gave the public university sector an overall 86% share of the total of foreign students in 2001. • In 2001, 57% of foreign students came from other SADC countries (Angola, Lesotho, Swaziland, Botswana, Mozambique, Namibia, Zambia, Zimbabwe, Tanzania, Malawi, Mauritius, Seychelles, and the DRC). The proportion from Europe plus USA plus Asia was only 14%. The proportions of unknowns and of students from other countries totalled 29% of foreign students in 2001. Figure 1 below offers a summary of the head count totals by delivery mode of foreign students enrolled in public higher education institutions in South Africa in 2001. Figure 1: Foreign students in SA public higher education by education delivery mode (2001) 500000 400000 300000 200000 100000 0 SADC

Europe

Asia

USA

All other

Unknown

Total foreign

Contact

10 814

1 790

950

679

2 529

2 659

19 421

Distance

13 456

1 463

566

119

2 636

4 545

22 885

Total

24 270

3 253

1 516

798

5 165

7 304

42 306

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Full-Time Equivalent Totals of Foreign Students in South Africa’s Public Higher Education System

Tables 3 to 6 offer accounts of full-time equivalent (FTE) rather than of head count enrolments for 2001. Tables 3 and 4 summarise data for the public higher education system for 2001 by education delivery mode and by formal qualification type. Table 3: Full-time equivalent student enrolments in South African public universities by qualification type and education delivery mode (2001) Qualification type

University contact RSA Foreign Total

University distance RSA Foreign Total

RSA

University total Foreign Total

Undergraduate 149 988

7 602 157 590 63 604

5 911

69 515 213 592 13 513 227 105

Postgraduate below masters

18 863

1 368 20 231 15 167

Masters

10 246

1 510 11 756

Doctorate

1 399

16 566

34 030

2 767

36 797

1 180

235

1 416

11 426

1 745

13 172

24

12

36

2 418

557

2 975

11 026 192 517 79 976

7 556

2394

TOTAL

181 491

546

2 940

87 532 261 466 18 582 280 049

Table 4: Full-time equivalent student enrolments in South African public technikons by qualification type and education delivery mode (2001) Qualification type

University contact RSA Foreign Total

Undergraduate 105 905 Postgraduate below masters Masters Doctors TOTAL

Notes

University distance RSA Foreign Total

2 997 108 903 40 977

1 890

RSA

University total Foreign Total

42 867 146 882

4 887 151 769

935

43

978

40

2

42

975

45

1 020

1 113

50

1 163

137

5

142

1 250

55

1 305

9

232

0

0

0

223

9

232

3 098 111 275 41 154

1 898

223 108 176

43 051 149 330

4 996 154 326

(1) Source: DoE HEMIS data, 2001. (2) Enrolments are full-time equivalents, which implies that only full-time students carrying a full curriculum for an academic year are counted as units. Students carrying less than a standard full-time curriculum are counted as ractions of units. (3) ‘Contact mode’ involves students receiving on-campus instruction. ‘Distance mode’ involves students receiving off-campus instruction, either by correspondence or by electronic media. (4) RSA = all students who are SA citizens or who have permanent residence in SA. Foreign = all students who are not SA citizens and who are in the country on temporary study permits.

FOREIGN

STUDENTS

AND

ACADEMIC

STAFF

IN

PUBLIC

HIGHER

EDUCATION

29

Figure 2: Foreign students’ shares of contact and distance FTE student enrolments in SA public higher education (2001) 35% 30% 25% 20% 15% 10% 5% 0% Undergraduate

P/g < masters

Masters

Doctors

Total

Contact

4%

7%

12%

17%

5%

Distance

7%

8%

15%

33%

7%

Some of the main points to note about Tables 3 and 4, and Figure 2 are as follows: • In 2001, the number of foreign students in universities in FTE totalled 18 600 and in technikons 5 000. These foreign students had a 5% share of total FTE contact student enrolments in universities and technikons, and a 7% share of their distance enrolments. • In technikons in 2001, 98% of FTE foreign students were registered for undergraduate qualifications. In marked contrast, in universities in 2001, 73% of FTE foreign students were enrolled for undergraduate qualifications. In universities, 12% of the 2001 enrolment of FTE students were enrolled for either masters or doctoral degrees and 15% for postgraduate degrees below the level of masters. • The shares which foreign students had in FTE undergraduate enrolments and in postgraduate enrolments below the level of masters (e.g. postgraduate diplomas and honours degrees) were consistent with their overall share of enrolments. The shares which foreign students (in FTE) had in masters and doctoral enrolments were considerably above the average for all qualifications.

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In the ‘contact-mode’, 12% of all masters students and 17% of all doctoral students were foreign (in FTE). Tables 5 and 6 summarise the FTE-enrolled student data for the public higher education system for 2001 by education delivery mode and by classification of education subject matter (CESM) category. The 22 categories in the South African classification system have been reduced to four large categories for the purposes of the tables which follow. These are: • Science and technology – which includes the life, physical and mathematical sciences, computer science, the health sciences, engineering, agriculture and other applied sciences. • Business and management – which includes accounting, finance, business science and management studies. • Education – which deals mainly with the pre-service and in-service training of primary and secondary school teachers. • All other humanities – which includes language studies, literary studies, social sciences, fine and performing arts, and various other applied humanities. Table 5: Full-time equivalent student enrolments in contact programmes in SA public universities and technikons by CESM category (2001) CESM CATEGORY

University contact Foreign Foreign + RSA

Science, technology

45%

35%

Business, management

12% 3%

Education All other humanities TOTAL

FOREIGN

Technikon contact Foreign Foreign + RSA

Total contact Foreign Foreign + RSA

78%

44%

51%

39%

16%

5%

29%

10%

21%

7%

0%

2%

2%

5%

40%

41%

17%

24%

37%

35%

11 026

192 517

3 098

111 275

14 124

30 3792

STUDENTS

AND

ACADEMIC

STAFF

IN

PUBLIC

HIGHER

EDUCATION

31

Table 6: Full-time equivalent student enrolments in distance programmes in SA public universities and technikons by CESM category (2000) CESM CATEGORY

University contact Foreign Foreign + RSA

Science, technology

10%

8%

Business, management

31%

Education

18%

All other humanities TOTAL

Technikon contact Foreign Foreign + RSA

Total contact Foreign Foreign + RSA

0%

16%

8%

10%

27%

0%

30%

25%

28%

26%

100%

14%

34%

22%

41%

39%

0%

40%

33%

30%

7 556

87 532

1 898

43 051

7 556

130 583

Figure 3 offers a comparison of the shape of foreign (a) contact and (b) distance FTE student enrolments by CESM category with the comparable totals of FTE students in South African universities and technikons in 2001. Figure 3: FTE enrolments of foreign and total students by CESM category (2001) 60% 50% 40% 30% 20% 10% 0% Foreign contact

Total contact

Foreign distance

Science, technology

51%

39%

8%

10%

Business, management

10%

21%

25%

28%

2%

5%

34%

22%

37%

35%

33%

30%

Education All other humanities

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E D U C A T I O N

I N

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Total distance

Some of the main points to note about Tables 5 and 6 and Figure 3 are as follows: • The majority (51%) of FTE foreign students following contact (or on-campus) programmes in South African universities and technikons in 2001 were enrolled in courses in science and technology. This is higher than the 2001 overall average of 39% of all contact FTE students in South African universities and technikons being enrolled in science and technology courses. • Only 10% of FTE foreign students following contact programmes in South African universities and technikons in 2001 were enrolled in courses in business and management. The overall average for contact FTE enrolments in universities and technikons in 2001 was 21%. • Only 5% of FTE foreign students were following contact courses in teacher education in 2001. The proportion of foreign students following distance courses in teacher education in 2001 was 34%.

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Instruction/Research Staff in South African Public Universities and Technikons

Tables 7a and 7b below set out details of the instruction/research staff employed by South Africa’s public universities and technikons in 2000. A full set of data for both 2001 or 2002 was not available. Table 7a: Head count totals of full-time and part-time instruction research staff members employed by South African public universities and technikons (2000) Citizenship SA

Universities

Technikons

25 687

9 105

Distance institutions 1 392

36 184

Total

SADC

157

5

2

164

Europe

798

26

8

832

Asia

248

10

0

258

USA

151

1

1

153

All other

450

30

4

484

Unknown

369

0

0

369

27 860

9 177

1 407

38 444

TOTAL

FOREIGN

STUDENTS

AND

ACADEMIC

STAFF

IN

PUBLIC

HIGHER

EDUCATION

33

Table 7b: Proportions of part-time and full-time instruction/ research staff members in each citizenship category (2000) Citizenship

Universities

Technikons

92.2%

99.2%

98.9%

94.1%

SADC

0.6%

0.1%

0.1%

0.4%

Europe

2.9%

0.3%

0.6%

2.2%

Asia

0.9%

0.1%

0.0%

0.7%

USA

0.5%

0.0%

0.1%

0.4%

All other

1.6%

0.3%

0.3%

1.3%

Unknown

1.3%

0.0%

0.0%

1.0%

27 860

9 177

1 407

38 444

SA

TOTAL

Notes

Distance institutions

Total

(1) Source: DoE HEMIS data, 2001 (2) Because these are head count and not full-time equivalent totals, a part-time staff member employed for part of a year as well as a fulltime staff member employed for a full year are counted as units. (3) An instruction/research staff member is defined as an employee who spends at least 50% of his/her official duty on teaching and/or research activities. (4) The category ‘distance institution’ includes the University of SA as well as Technikon SA.

This 2000 total of 38 444 part-time plus full-time instruction/ research staff includes all permanent academics, all academics who are full-time but on temporary contracts, and all part-time instructors such as teaching, tutorial or laboratory assistants. This high total gives a better picture of the employment practices of public universities and technikons than is presented by the category of permanent instruction research/staff members, which is most often used in South African higher education analyses. This 2000 total of permanent full-time academic staff members in public universities and technikons in South Africa was only 15 000, which shows that a further 23 000 temporary and/or part-time staff members were employed to assist with the teaching and research activities in these universities and technikons. Some of the main points, which emerge from Tables 7a and 7b are: • This broadly defined cohort of instruction/research staff members in South Africa’s public universities and technikons was as overwhelmingly South African as the student body. In 2001, 93% of all students in the public system were either South African citizens or permanent residents. In 2000, 94% of all instruction/research staff members in the public system were either South African citizens or permanent residents.

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• Only 164 of the 38 444 instruction/research staff members in the South African public system in 2000 came from SADC countries. This gave these countries a 0.4% share of staff, compared to a 3.8% share of the 2001 head count total of students. • Most of the foreign staff members employed in South Africa in 2000 came from European countries. Their share of the 2000 total of instruction/research staff was 2.2%, compared to their 0.5% share of the 2001 head count total of students in the public higher education system.

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Funding of Foreign Students

In South Africa, public higher education institutions receive on average 50% of their income from government subsidies, 25% from student tuition fees and 25% from private sources such as income from investments, gifts and contracts with private organisations for the delivery of research and other knowledge products. Table 8 below offers a broad picture of the income received by public universities and technikons in South Africa in 2001. Table 8: Approximate totals of public higher education income in South Africa (2001) Source

SA rands (millions)

Government subsidies: block grants

Approximate US dollars (millions)

6 700

750

800

100

Student tuition fees

3 750

425

All other private income

3 750

425

15 000

1700

Government funds: earmarked

TOTAL

Sources:

(1) Information on the State Budget for Higher Education. Department of Education, July 2002. (2) Bunting, 2002. (3) Average exchange rate for 2001 assumed to be 1US$ = R9.

Government block grant subsidies are generated by a set of formulas which are based primarily on FTE student enrolments. In terms of current policies, public higher education institutions can claim government block grant subsidies for all FTE foreign students, both contact and distance, from any country. The South African government has, however, announced its intention (a) to limit

FOREIGN

STUDENTS

AND

ACADEMIC

STAFF

IN

PUBLIC

HIGHER

EDUCATION

35

subsidy payments for FTE foreign undergraduate students to SADC students only, but (b) to continue in the future to fund all FTE postgraduate students. These subsidy arrangements will continue to apply to both contact and distance students. In 2001, the approximate amounts generated by the government block grant would have been R27 000 per FTE contact student in science and technology, and R10 000 per FTE contact student in all other fields of study. FTE distance students were funded at 67% of amounts for contact students for science and technology as well as all other fields of study. The block grant subsidies generated by FTE students in 2001 would therefore have been divided in approximately the following ways: Table 9: Estimate of division of government block grant subsidies (2001) Source

SA rands (millions)

SA citizens and permanent residents All foreign students TOTAL

Approximate US dollars (millions)

6 400

(96%)

710

300

(4%)

40

6 700 (100%)

750

Foreign students are not eligible for the financial aid which the South African government makes available to public higher education institutions in the form of block grants. Foreign contact as well as distance students are therefore responsible for their own tuition fees, and foreign contact students for their living, travel and other costs in South Africa. This cost package in 2001 for a foreign contact student would have been at least R50 000. Foreign contact students would therefore have spent about R900 million (or US$100 million) in South Africa in 2001; about 20% of which would have gone to public higher education institutions in the form of tuition fee payments. The cost packages of foreign distance students are more difficult to calculate. On average each would probably have had to send R6 000 to South Africa in the form of tuition fees and study material costs. If this average is correct, then the foreign distance students would have spent about R140 million (or US$15 million) in South Africa in 2001. Table 10 sums up the estimates of funds brought into South Africa by foreign students.

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Table 10: Estimates of total funds brought into South Africa by foreign students in 2001 Purpose of Funds

SA rands (millions)

Approximate US dollars (millions)

Tuition & other fees to universities and technikons

300

Travel, living and other costs

740

80

1 040

120

TOTAL

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40

Concluding Remarks

Three main concluding points which need to be made are these: • The South African public higher education system is one in which there is minimal participation by foreign students and foreign academic staff. For example, in 2001 only 5% of the head count enrolment of students in on-campus programmes, and 7% of the head count enrolment in distance programmes, were neither South African citizens nor permanent residents in South Africa. In 2000, only 6% of the total cohort of full-time plus part-time and permanent plus temporary academic staff in South Africa were neither South African citizens nor permanent residents in South Africa. However, at the postgraduate level there is a subsatntially higher proportion of foreign students (12% at masters and 17% at doctoral). • This ‘closed’ nature of the South African public higher education system is not a consequence of government higher education policies. The Ministry of Education is encouraging public higher education students to enroll SADC students, and leaves the recruitment of other foreign students to the initiative of individual institutions. • The low proportions of foreign students and foreign academics in the South African public higher education system could be a consequence of these factors: o

Higher education in South Africa may not be affordable to potential students from SADC and other African countries because of the high levels of tuition fees and other private costs which all students in South Africa have to meet.

o

Academic salaries and benefits are lower than those in many countries, particularly in Australasia, Europe and North America.

FOREIGN

STUDENTS

AND

ACADEMIC

STAFF

IN

PUBLIC

HIGHER

EDUCATION

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APPENDIX A GLOBALISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION — A NOTE

International trade in higher education services has experienced strong growth internationally. This is reflected in an increase in the number of students going abroad to study, the international marketing of curricula and academic programmes, the establishment of ‘branch campuses’ and exchanges and linkages among faculties and researchers. Between 1989 and 1993 foreign student enrolment in higher education in the USA grew between 3 and 6% per annum (WTO, 1998). Since then the growth in foreign enrolment in the USA has slowed down, but still exceedes 2.5% per annum. In 1995 the global market for education was estimated at US$27 billion. The USA dominates the export of higher education services with other OECD countries making up the remainder of the top four (Table A1). The market for international students is becoming increasingly competitive with Australia and the UK, making strong inroads into the market share held by the USA. This is clearly shown in Table A1 where the growth in the export of tertiary education services within the UK and Australia has exceeded 11% per annum since 1993. As a result, the US share of all foreign students abroad fell from 40% in the 1980s to 30% in 1997. Nevertheless, income from foreign students enrolled at US colleges and universities in 1999 and 2000 was estimated to be in excess of $12.3 billion. This makes it the fifth largest service sector export. During the last decade Australia has been extremely successful in expanding its export of higher education services. Between 1988/89 and 1998/99 the contribution towards the economy arising from the export of education services rose from less than A$0.75 billion to

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A$3 billion. This raised education exports from the tenth to eighth largest export sector. Table A1: Ten leading exporters of education services (consumption abroad) in the world at the tertiary level Host Country

Year

Total number of students

Year

United States

1995/96

453 787

1999/00

514 723

2.6%

France

1993/94

170 574

Germany

1993/94

146 126

United Kingdom

1993/94

128 550

1998/99

219 285

11.3%

Russian Federation

1994/95

73 172

Japan

1993/94

50 801 2000

101 202

15.4%

1999

9 780

Australia

1993

37 152

Canada

1993/94

35 451

Belgium

1993/94

35 236

Switzerland

1993/94

25 307

South Africa

1998

6 030

Total number of of students

Average annual growth

The main export markets for American and Australian education are in Asia, although other developing countries, such as Latin American countries, have grown in importance for the United States (Tables A2 & A3). The share of foreign students from Asia exceeds 60% for both Australia and the USA, with Australia making substantial inroads into the region over the past decade. Within European economies the export markets appear to be defined by cultural or colonial affiliations (e.g. France with Africa) or by regional proximity. Africa is not a major source of international students in OECD countries, except for France where it accounts for 43.1% of foreign students. The share of foreign students enrolled in tertiary education varies between a high of 12.59% for Australia and a low 3.24% for the United States. The composition of these students also differs with the United States attracting a higher proportion of postgraduate students while Australia attracts a higher proportion of undergraduates.

A P P E N D I X

A

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Table A2: Regional breakdown of foreign students enrolled in tertiary education for selected OECD countries, 1998 (% total) Country of origin

Australia

Country in which study is undedrtaken France Germany United Kingdom

United States

Students from: Africa

2.0%

43.1%

9.3%

7.1%

4.8%

68.5%

11.1%

35.7%

33.4%

64.2%

Europe

9.3%

25.2%

48.1%

49.8%

14.8%

North America

2.4%

3.1%

3.2%

7.4%

10.1%

Oceania

5.3%

0.1%

0.2%

0.8%

0.8%

South America

0.5%

2.3%

2.3%

1.2%

5.3%

Not specified

12.0%

15.1%

1.1%

0.3%

0.0%

% foreign students enrolled

12.59

7.30

8.16

10.81

3.24

Asia

Table A3: Top ten source countries for the US and Australia Rank 1

US source country

1998/99

Australian source country

China

51 001

Singapore

2000 18 382

2

Japan

46 406

Malaysia

16 665

3

South Korea

39 199

Hong Kong

15 488

4

India

37 482

Indonesia

9 503

5

Taiwan

31 043

China

4 402

6

Canada

22 746

India

4 062

7

Thailand

12 489

United States

3 041

8

Indonesia

12 142

Thailand

2 928

9

Malaysia

11 557

Taiwan

2 504

10

Mexico

South Korea

2 050

9 641

The majority of international students are self-financed, although universities and colleges often contribute a significant amount. USbased surveys indicate that some 67% of the funding for international students coming to the USA to study comes from ‘personal and family’ sources, with ‘US colleges and universities’ being the next largest source at 18%. (Source: Edwards and Shackelton, 2003)

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APPENDIX B COMBINED EDUCATION ENROLMENT RATIOS AND PUBLIC EXPENDITURE IN HIGHER EDUCATION

COUNTRY

Combined Primary, Secondary, Public Expenditure on Tertiary and Tertiary Gross Enrolment Education as a percentage of Ratios, 1999 Total Education Expenditure, 1995-97

Mauritius

63

24.7

South Africa

93

14.3

Swaziland

72

26.6

Namibia

78

13.1

Botswana

70

n.a.

Lesotho

61

28.7

Zimbabwe

65

17.3

DRC

32

n.a.

Zambia

49

23.2

Tanzania

32

n.a.

Angola

23

n.a.

Malawi

73

20.5

Mozambique

23

n.a.

Source: UNDP, 2001.

A P P E N D I X

B

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APPENDIX C TRADE IN HIGHER EDUCATION SERVICES — THE KENYAN CASE Jowi James Otieno

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National Policies

Kenya’s Ministry of Education confirmed in 1999 that education was considered to be a major foreign exchange earner. Foreign students enrolled in Kenyan universities earned the country Ksh1 billion in 1999 (1 Kenyian shilling = 0.94 South African rands) and it is recognised that Kenya has some of the best educational infrastructure in East and Central Africa. Only South Africa has better and more institutions than Kenya in the region. This much-maligned sector is attracting students from the three East African states, and other countries such as Somalia, Eritrea, Sudan, Ethiopia and others where universities have collapsed, for example, due to civil wars (Wamahiu, 2000). Kenyan state universities have about 52 000 students, which is the highest in the region. The private universities, five of which are chartered, enroll about 6 000 students, again, the highest number in the region. Uganda, the main competitor, has about 25 000 students in higher education institutions, with Makerere University enrolling about 19 000. According to Kenya’s Ministry of Education, higher education is paying dividends by attracting foreign students, particularly in private universities that are regional in nature. For example, the first private university to be chartered, the University of Eastern Africa-Baraton, was started by the Seventh Day Adventists almost 20 years ago to cater for East and Central Africa. The same applies to the Catholic University of Eastern Africa and Nazarene university which serve Eastern and Central Africa. The government of Kenya also encourages enrolment of more foreign students and has assured the public that this will not limit admission places for

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Kenyan students. The Ministry claims this will make education one of the major invisible exports (Wamahiu, 2000). The introduction of the parallel degree programmes in the state universities, which have opened more opportunities to Kenyan students and have also attracted foreign students, is an indication of the government’s bid to develop a semblance of trade in higher education. In 1985, the Government of Kenya established the Commission for Higher Education, with its major roles being long-term planning of universities, accreditation, evaluation, and costing of higher education and advising the Ministry of Education accordingly. The Commission implements most government policies concerning higher education, and by 2002 it had accredited about 13 private universities.

Stemming outflow of foreign exchange Kenya’s Ministry of Education recently defended the introduction of parallel degree programmes offered by the state universities as promoting the country’s educational progress, as these were intended to further the education of qualified students who would have otherwise sought higher education abroad. According to Kenya’s Ministry of Education, the country loses US$19 million each year to foreign universities. It is the view of the government that if more students enroll in local institutions of higher education, the country would likely stem the outflow of foreign exchange and curb the potential for brain drain. Due to inadequate capacity, about 17 000 qualified Kenyan students miss places in the local universities each year, thus some enroll in foreign universities. By 1981, for example, Kenya had 6 844 students abroad (Republic of Kenya, 1981). The USA and Canada had the majority of these, followed by the United Kingdom and India respectively. In 2000, Kenya had about 20 000 students abroad (Wamahiu, 2000). Added to the above nations, Australia and South Africa have come in as other strong attractions for Kenyan students. The establishment of more private universities in the recent past and also the new Privately Sponsored Students Programmes in the public universities may reduce the number of Kenyan students seeking higher education abroad. It may also be an attraction to more foreign students, especially those from the region.

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Intra-African Trade in Higher Education

Compared with the flow of students from Eastern Africa to Europe and America, student mobility within Africa has been relatively small. The Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) has come up with new policies to enhance flow of students in the three East African states. The students from the region studying in a university in another East African country will pay the same fees as students of the host country. IUCEA also awards scholarships for students in the region to study in other universities, even within Africa. The Association of African universities also has as an objective the promotion of intra-African student flows. The private universities, due to the flexibility of their admission procedures, have more international students than the public ones. As they continue to establish themselves, they will provide better grounds for inter-African trade in higher education. The public ones have to make their entry requirements flexible to attract foreign students. As indicated, already, USIU, Catholic University of Eastern Africa, University of Eastern Africa- Baraton have a comparatively larger number of international students compared with the public universities.

The case of Makerere University, Uganda It should be recognised that there are also Kenyan students in regional universities such as Makerere (Uganda) and Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). A problem that has deterred the intra-Africa students’ flow is that the countries offer different systems of secondary education, making it difficult to determine entry grades for the different countries. The admission procedures of the institutions have been based mainly on national examinations with very little provision for foreign grading systems (King et al., 2001). This is slowly changing and Makerere University presents a leading case. Makerere University is the oldest university in East Africa, with the highest current student numbers at approximately 19 000. It provides the biggest competition to Kenyan universities. Though it was run-down during the Idi Amin era, it has regained its position as the largest university in the region, due to massive rehabilitation of its structures and facilities. Makerere has revitalised the quality of its programmes and now leads many new higher education initiatives in

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the region. The University of Nairobi had taken that mantle until Makerere rose again in 1995. Makerere was the first university in the region to introduce a privately-sponsored student programme ten years ago and it has done well. Other universities, especially in Kenya, had to adopt these programmes after Makerere. The university admits three groups of students: those who are fully funded by the government; some who are partially funded; and another group that funds itself. Thus it presents a good mix of public and private elements in higher education. Makerere has made most of its programmes flexible and has introduced new areas of study. It is now strengthening its status as the leading centre of higher education in the region. Most students from the region will most likely opt for Makerere.

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Foreign Higher Education Institutions

The case of United States International University (USIU), Kenya Of the 13 private universities in Kenya, only the USIU is not church sponsored. USIU is a private, independent university which is a separately accredited unit of Alliant International University in Califonia, USA, with other campuses in Almeda, Sacramento, San Diego, Los Angeles, Orange County, Fresno, and Mexico City. It is accredited by both the Kenyan Commission for Higher Education and the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities in the USA. The USIU has lived up to its name and enrolls students from most parts of the world. The result is that Kenya has become the centre of higher education in the region – a role that was enhanced by the establishment of the Commission for Higher Education in 1985. By 2002, USIU had 6 500 students coming from more than 90 countries and 15% of the student population consisted of international students. Tuition fees are currently around US$1 500 per year, which is much higher than the cost of public higher education. The university has two main faculties: The School of Arts and Sciences offers courses in Journalism, Psychology and International Relations, while the School of Business Administration offers courses in Business Administration, Hotel Management, Information Systems and Technology and Tourism Management (USIU, 2002).

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The courses offered by the university are mainly business-related and the graduates are easily absorbed in the job market. USIU is the only non-church sponsored private university in Kenya, and as such the most expensive higher education institution in Kenya. It mainly enrolls students from rich families and those of parents who work with international organisations in Kenya.

Exhibitions by foreign universities A strategy that foreign universities have used to tap students from Kenya is marketing themselves through exhibitions. Australian, British, American and Indian universities hold annual fairs and exhibitions to market their universities. Through these exhibitions they reach prospective students and parents.

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Role of Private Higher Education in Kenya

According to Okech and Amutabi (2002), though private higher education is a relatively new phenomenon in Kenya, it is a growing reality. Due to the growing demand for higher education, there has been a consequent growth in private universities and Kenya now has about 13 private universities – most of which are church-sponsored. The advantage that the private universities still enjoy is the flexibility of their admission procedures which are conducive to international students. Public universities have mainly nationalised admission systems, such as the Joint Admission Board in Kenya, which considers students who graduate from the nation’s secondary schools. The universities do not have the authority to admit any students independently, and as a result have problems with attracting international students (Jowi, 2003). Private institutions do have a major role to play in expanding the higher education sector and helping the country develop the required qualified human resource. They also have a role to play in enhancing and democratising access to higher education. The government will continue relying on them in stemming the outflow of revenue to foreign universities as they absorb the students who would otherwise have attended foreign universities.

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Summary

In the East and Central African region, Kenya’s higher education system is expanding, and has the highest number of institutions and students. It is likely to attract more foreign students and deliberate efforts have to be made towards this. Government policy favours trade in higher education. The government has underscored the earnings it made from higher education and the fact that the government supports the parallel degree programmes and the establishment of more private universities is an indication of this. There are currently still many more Kenyan students studying abroad than there are international students studying in Kenya. The government’s emphasis is on reducing the flow of revenues from Kenyan students to foreign universities and attracting more foreign students to enroll in Kenyan higher education, especially from the region.

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REFERENCES

Amaral, A., Meek, V.L. & Larsen, I.M. (eds). 2003. The Higher Education Managerial Revolution? Dordrecht: Kluwer Academic Publishers. Department of Education (DoE). 2001. Higher Education Management Information Systems (HEMIS) data. Pretoria: Department of Education. Edwards, L. & Shackleton, L. 2003. Benchmarking the returns to the South African economy from international students at South African universities and technikons. Cape Town: University of Cape Town. Irina, J. 2002 Role of Commission for Higher Education. Paper presented at the first exhibition by Kenyan Universities, 23 to 25 May 2002. Nairobi. Jowi, J.O. 2003. From Government to Governance: Responses by Kenyan universities to the changing role of the state in Kenya’s higher education. Masters thesis: University of Oslo. King, K. et al. 2001. Learning to Compete in Kenya: A challenge to education, training and enterprise. Synthesis report. Washington DC: World Bank. Knight, J. 2002. Trade in Higher Education Services: The Implications of GATS. The Observatory on borderless higher education. March edition. Kruss, G. 2002. ‘More, better, different? Understanding private higher education in South Africa.’ Perspectives in Education. Volume 20:4, pp.15–28.

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Okech, M.O. & Amutabi, M. 2002. Privatization of Higher Education in Kenya: Problems and Prospects. Paper presented at the International Symposium on African Universities in the 21st Century. April 2002. University of Illinois-Champaign. Pillay, P. 2003. The General Education on Trade in Services and Higher Education: What should South Africa do? Pretoria: CHET. Republic of Kenya. 1981. Second University in Kenya. Report of the Presidential Working Party. Nairobi: Government Printer. SADC Secretariat, SAPES, UNDP. 2000. SADC Regional Report 2000. Harare. Stiglitz, J. 2002. Globalization and its Discontents. New York: W.W. Norton & Co. Subotzky, G. 2003. ‘Private Higher Education and Training’, in HRSC Human Resource Development Review 2003: Education, Employment and Skills in South Africa. Cape Town: HSRC Press. UNDP. 2001. Human Development Report 2001. New York. United States International University-Kenya. 2002. USIU Prospectus for 2002. Nairobi: USIU. Wamahiu, M. 2000. The Vital Role of Education in Kenya’s Economy. Nairobi: IPAR. WTO. 2002. WTO News: 2002 Press Releases. ‘Services negotiations offer real opportunities for all WTO members and more so for developing countries.’ Press/300, 28 June 2002. (http://www.wto.org/english/news_e/pres02_e/pr300_e.htm).

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