Investment in Higher Education in the Developing Countries: Why Don’t We Learn our Lessons?!
Ali Mansouri Writer, Researcher, Consultant Published on December 13, 2016 Investment, by definition, should bring back good return (money) and be successful; otherwise there is no need to invest and waste your money. This is true to some extent but there are other considerations to be taken into account. This general rule of investment has been undergoing many restrictions throughout the human history. This is why we have “regulators” to look into how companies, firms, corporations and all the other sorts of institutions conduct their business. There are now very detailed laws and regulations in the developed countries in order to prevent cheating, dishonesty and corruption. And in spite of all these “regulators”, “regulations” and “laws”, we hear of scandals here and there. But businesses do not feel they have “immunity” to operate as they wish, against the law and against the genuine interests of customers and the society. They are caught from time to time and are penalized; sometimes with very hefty fines. Page 1 of 5
They tell you, “Nobody is above the law.” This has been enforced by a great level of freedom of expression and free press. If a company or an institution misuses its power and legal authorization, you will hear about it immediately; the “cover up” does not work most of the time. This situation has been mainly associated with the Western developed countries which have developed a great atmosphere of openness, free enterprise and freedom of expression. This is one of the reasons for the success, and spread, of many Western values all over the world even in the countries where we hear the “empty rhetoric” of attacking the West all the time! This is also one of the reasons for the success of investments in higher education. I am lucky to have had a firsthand experience of higher education in one of these Western countries. I spent many, many years in different universities the UK which has one of the best higher education systems in the world. I completed my higher studies at London University, Leeds University and Sheffield University. These three universities have a very long and rich history of excellent research and teaching and they are, without doubt, among the best international higher educational institutions. They are the outcome of private investment in higher education; so are many other excellent private universities in other parts of the globe. When you go to a university on the West, you find all the facilities you need to do and excel in your studies. You meet “genuine” academics, senior managers and administrators and they are “real” human beings. They are very friendly and polite. They treat you with humility, courtesy and full respect. They are very understanding people. This is the general rule though there may be few exceptions You never regret your stay with them and you wish you could never leave the country. These were my real feelings when I was in the UK. These academics, senior managers and administrators have been picked up and recruited through a very rigorous and objective process whereby qualifications, competence and history of performance play the vital role in their appointments. The investors are well- educated and well-informed people and organisations. They believe in quality education first, profit second. After I had worked in many colleges and universities in different countries, some of them are in developing countries, I can say now, with great bitterness, that when we come down to the private higher education sector in the developing countries, we find, regrettably, that in most countries things are upside down and they are going from bad to worse to an unbelievable degree. Facilities are non-existent and if they exist, they are of a very poor quality. Many senior Page 2 of 5
managers, teachers and staff members are “recruited” through personal relationships which is called in the Middle East “Wasttah” meaning that somebody has intervened illegally for your appointment even if you do not have the qualifications for the job. By the way, this word “Wasttah” does not exist in the English language! There is hardly any freedom of expression, academic or non-academic, of any sort. The moment you disagree or you give a different opinion, you should expect your contract to be terminated or not renewed even if you are right and your opinions are in line with the official standards and guidelines set up by the educational authorities and the organization itself. You find out, to your astonishment, that the senior managers “are the guidelines” and they are “above the law”!! They are given a blank cheque to represent the college and the university even if they are completely wrong and against the official educational policy and they are destroying the university. It does not matter as long as they are able to persuade the “investors” that what they do will make profits, which is completely untrue. They themselves know and we all know that any higher education institution which does not have a good academic reputation can never make profits in the long run and will certainly go, one day, down the drain! What makes things more than worse, many investors have nothing to do with higher education. They do not possess the slightest information about how a higher education institution is to be run and conduct business. They are ignorant though wealthy. They have spent their lives as owners of factories that produce cement and bricks; they have never been involved in educating and “producing” human beings. This is why many unqualified, incompetent and “corrupt” senior managers able to, illegally, creep into higher education institutions in some developing countries to live like parasites! Because they are unqualified, incompetent and corrupt, you find them very impolite, vulgar and uncivilized. They cannot stand any disagreement or argument. They treat you like a “slave” or a “puppet”!! They, mistakenly, think that they “own” you as long as they pay you a salary. You feel humiliated and insulted when you talk to them or deal with them. They should be ashamed of themselves. You wish you would never have met such monsters in your life, anywhere in the world. They pretend to forget that teachers and other employees give them their lives in return for trivial pieces of paper called “money” which loses its value outside of the border of their countries!! And because they are academically and morally bankrupt, they spread a very Page 3 of 5
disgusting culture of fear and hypocrisy in the institution. Because they are tyrants and dictators, they do not offer you any human dignity or respect. Of course, they cannot offer these values as they themselves have no dignity and no self-respect. All they offer you is “take it or leave it” policies which cannot be tolerated by any respectable human being. In a test of competence and confidence, these “senior managers” deserve less than zero! One wonders how they have crept into high positions in this disgusting way and how they continue to be “covered up” to be so negative and destructive. This explains the failure of many higher education institutions in achieving their strategic educational and national goals and explains also the high rate of turnover in many colleges and universities in different developing regions in the world, including the Middle East. The vital role of regulators, regulations and official educational policies is non-existent. The human and corporate values of openness, fairness, objectivity and transparency are non-existent, either. There is no educational planning and no link or connections with the job market. They offer the students worthless pieces of paper that are, mistakenly, called “degrees” and “certificates”. Instead of graduating qualified and skilled human resources badly needed for the development of the country, they add more unemployable young men and women. The real purpose of investment in higher education has been defeated. This is a real disaster! Why don’t we learn our lessons?! Why do investors keep on ignoring their national responsibilities when they invest their money in higher education? Why don’t they do their job properly and professionally as is the case in reputed international institutions? Until when does the investment in higher education in many developing countries continue to be a curse rather than a blessing?! There is a simple solution. We need to be honest with ourselves and our societies and change the whole philosophy of investment in higher education which must be the development of society through quality higher education rather than through chasing illegitimate profits. The first step in this direction is to get rid of all the senior managers who are narrow-minded, unqualified and corrupt. They are the source of all problems and all disasters in higher education.
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