RESEARCHER LOOKS AT INNOVATIVE IDEAS FOR FINANCING STATE UNIVERSITIES IN AFRICA

FAYETTEVILLE, Ark. - A University of Arkansas researcher uses an economic model to examine how African universities are advancing educational opportunities and looking at future directions that will help higher education prosper.

Fredrick Nafukho, assistant professor of vocational and adult education, will present his findings at an international symposium on African Universities in the 21st Century, held jointly at the University of Illinois in Urbana, Ill., and Dakar, Senegal. His paper, "The Market Model of financing State Universities in Africa: Some Innovative Lessons From Kenya," will be presented on Saturday, April 27. The conference is sponsored by the Ford Foundation, the Carnegie Corporation of New York, the Association of African Universities and the U.S. Department of Education and involves scholars from all over the world.

Nafukho examines the university system in Kenya, pointing out some of the ways the country has bolstered higher education. Governments worldwide face the difficulty of allocating resources to various public efforts, and consequently education often gets minimal government funding.

Nafukho works from a model that applies economic tools of analysis to education.

"Education is a most durable investment," Nafukho said. "Once you have the knowledge, it remains with you and does not depreciate."

Indeed, studies in developing countries commissioned by the World Bank demonstrate that education has an effect on everything from purchasing power to health and longevity.

Until recently, most African universities used a traditional British approach in their university system: The universities took only the government-sponsored students that qualified through a centralized examination process. However, because of the government’s limited financial resources, only a fraction of qualified students were admitted to universities.

"Brilliant people were getting wasted along the way," Nafukho said.

Recently, however, the universities have opened their doors to qualified, self-paying students. This not only has allowed more students to attend universities, but has enabled the institutions to expand their educational programs. For instance, the dentistry program at the University of Nairobi was limited to 15 students by the number of dentist chairs available for practical experience. Now, thanks to the self-pay initiative, 200 people are studying in the same program, Nafukho said.

"Universities thought their work was solely education," Nafukho said, but now the institutions have set up programs to educate people while making a profit that can then be re-invested in education.

Kenyan universities also have expanded beyond the traditional four-year, full-time student experience. They now offer evening courses, international programs and summer programs to enable non-traditional students to work toward degrees. Universities own farms and natural forests and teaching hospitals and earn money from these even as students use them as living laboratories. University of Nairobi started a distance education program in 1997-98 that now generates 46 percent of the institution’s faculty income.

"They are making people literate technology-wise, and they are making a profit," Nafukho said.

Although he sees the move to free market enterprise as a positive one, Nafukho warns that such reforms can have drawbacks if not closely monitored.

"Quality can be sacrificed," if universities are careless with their newfound income, he said. "We need to invest the profits into facilities and faculty salaries."

Africa still has a problem with "brain drain," where professors leave the country for better pay. Re-investing money from educational profits into faculty salaries and improved facilities will allow African universities to continue to improve and attract students in the world market.

In addition, African universities need to learn some lessons from U.S. institutions on fund raising activities, according to Nafukho. There exist African billionaires who have never invested their money in higher education. Fund-raising campaigns like the one currently underway at the University of Arkansas are excellent examples that universities in Africa must try if they are to meet the private and social demand for higher education, Nafukho said.