Opinion - tertiary education : need for a General Reform?

Electoral measure or not, the recent unexpected New Year announcement by the Prime Minister to grant free access to tertiary education in public-funded institutions rightly deserves to be welcomed. But we do not know whether this laudable measure is the result of an in-depth study on the tertiary education sector in general or the beginning of reforms. Moreover, the electoral programme of the ruling alliance did not promise any free tertiary education, but only mentioned the review of the functioning of the Tertiary Education Commission and the vision to make Mauritius an 'Education Hub' by allowing the setting up of renowned universities here to offer quality education with internationally recognised diplomas and degrees.

The decision has been warmly welcomed by the population as a new ray of hope, especially by those youths whose families could not afford tertiary education fees and who are now looking forward to stepping into university. But do our public institutions have enough seats for all those who would like to take advantage of free tertiary education? What will happen to a needy and deserving student whose parents do not have the means to pay for his studies and who fails to get admission at the University of Mauritius but still wants to go to university? And how will he feel when he sees those who have the means to pay have secured admission?
All children of Mauritius have a reserved seat in our free school system at primary and secondary levels.

Those with the means are free to choose private fee-paying schools. But for tertiary education, will the government invest further to increase the capacity of public institutions to meet demand? And will ‘investing’ means simply increasing the number of buildings?  The country already has a vast network of modern school infrastructure at primary and secondary levels that remain unused after classes are over in the afternoon, during weekends and during holidays. These buildings could have been used to host evening and weekend schools to satisfy demand, thus decentralising the University of Mauritius.

So, if we want to make tertiary education accessible, we must ensure that we do not create two categories of Mauritian students: those who will enjoy free education and those who will be forced to pay elsewhere because of limited seats. The Prime Minister, who has so many times demonstrated his due concern over equal opportunities, will surely find a solution to issues this historic decision might give rise to.

With the decision to make public universities free, is it not also time to review State scholarships and laureateship? Should the State continue to spend huge amounts of taxpayers’ money to send HSC toppers abroad to learn what is already taught in our own local 'Education Hub'? Is it not more cost-effective to rather send our top achievers study abroad only for fields of studies not available in Mauritius or those fields that really require international exposure? And more importantly, to ensure that they do come back to serve the country?

While the budget of the University of Mauritius is around Rs 675 million for a population of 9,672 students, that of the UTM Rs 28 million and Rs 122 million for the Université des Mascareignes, State scholarships cost nearly Rs 238 million annually, for the benefit of less than a hundred students! Compare this with the budget of only Rs 15 million allocated to Polytechnics Mauritius!
Democratising access to tertiary education is highly commendable, but we must ensure that the system does not churn out unemployed graduates. And to foster job creation, we must continue to iron out administrative barriers to doing business.

Does the Prime Minister know that, despite all his huge efforts in successive annual Budgets to improve the business climate, some municipal councils still take up to three months to approve a simple Trade Licence application? Investors have to wait weeks to open a bank account in this country that aspires to be an international financial centre while the Bank of Mauritius looks on? Permit applications are unjustly turned down by useless committees whose members may have no notion of entrepreneurship or are completely cut off from the ground realities of the business world. When a frustrated investor leaves the country, dozens of young people are deprived of a job, while bureaucrats will still be entitled to their PRB wage adjustment, irrespective of performance appraisal!

And while we are on the education sector, will the Prime Minister and the Minister of Education find out why almost every year, school textbooks are being revised, (sometimes only slight changes?), thus forcing parents to buy new books, as old books can no longer be passed on to other students?