Towards the Private Provision of a Public Good: Exploring the role of Higher Education as an instrument of European cultural and science diplomacy with reference to Africa. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2018/17 • May 2018

Higgott, Richard (2018) Towards the Private Provision of a Public Good: Exploring the role of Higher Education as an instrument of European cultural and science diplomacy with reference to Africa. EL-CSID Working Paper Issue 2018/17 • May 2018. [Working Paper]

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Abstract

The European Union’s (EU) universities and their provision of higher education (HE) to international students remains one of its most powerful, global cultural assets. They play an important and growing role in EU cultural and science diplomacy. This is due not only to the quality of EU HE but also to its role as a generator of export income and as a provider of a global public good—both of which are powerful indicators of prestige and international influence. Until now, the World Bank has been the leading supporter of HE in Africa, closely followed by the EU. The EU has developed a sophisticated and wide-ranging set of strategies to assist Africa in enhancing the quality and quantity of provision of its HE. These strategies are discussed in this study. The EU and its member states, through their interactions with Africa, have an established track record of supporting advancements in education. The 10th European Development Fund allocated €45 million to support the Nyerere African Union Scholarship Scheme for some 250 individuals per year and, since 2009, students and higher education institutions across the continent have benefited from the Erasmus Mundus Program. African higher education (HE) has recorded the highest growth rates of all the regions of the world since 2000. Universities in many African countries are experiencing a surge in their enrolments. Between 2000 and 2010, higher education enrolments more than doubled, increasing from 2.3 million to 5.2 million”1. But an 8% average enrolment rate (2014) across all sub-Saharan African nations is still much lower than the average of 20-40% for all other developing regions, including North Africa and the Middle East. Moreover, an ongoing brain drain and reduction in public financing for HE institutions in Africa continues to adversely impact quality. Resources have failed to match higher enrolment figures and public universities are under increasing pressure to deliver more with less. Currently, only one percent of total African GDP is spent on higher education.

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