Why invest into Higher Education

1
Why invest into Higher Education?

• Stefan Bienefeld
• University of Bielefeld
• Faculty of Sports Science and Psychology
• Department for Educational Psychology
• Presentation for the Meeting of National Students
  Unions from Northern and South Eastern Europe,
  Ljubljana, April 27th 2004

2
Perspectives on investment into HE

• The Human Rights perspective
• The societal perspective
• The sociocultural perspective
• The economic perspective

3
The Human Rights Perspective

• Higher Education is a Human Right and should be
  freely accessible to anyone on the basis of merit
  (UN Declaration on HR, Article 26, UN Covenant of
  Social Cultural and Economic Rights, Article
  14,3)
• World Declaration on Higher Education, Article 3

4
The societal perspective

• Avant de définir un modèle duniversité, il faut
  se mettre daccord sur le type de société quon
  veut construire
• - Marco Antonio R. Dias
• ancien directeur de la Division de
  lÉducation Supérieur et la
• recherche à lUNESCO et Consultant
  international auprès de
• lUniversité des Nations Unies

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The societal perspective (ctd.)

• Higher Education as a means of advancing society
  at large, promoting sustainable development
• Bridging social gaps and fostering social
  inclusion
• Fostering employment
• Fostering societal health and well-being
• Coping with experiences of the past
• Contribution of HE to the education as a whole

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Example 1 South Africa

• Strategic plan of the Government of the Republic
  of South Africa
• HEIs to include students in a similar percentage
  than their share in the population of the country
  (African, White, Indian, mixed)
• Therefore overall increase of education
  spending, founding of new HEIs
• GOAL coping with Apartheid experiences,
  increasing equality of chances, establishing a
  truly democratic education system

7
Other examples

• Ghana AIDS awareness campaigns at universities
• Jordan volunteer programme for students in
  summer breaks to teach in geographically remote
  areas (similar programs exist e.g. in Vietnam)
• Scholarship programs to increase access of
  students from socioeconomic weak backgrounds (US,
  Namibia, Germany......)
• Rwanda project bringing together Hutu and Tutsi
  students in an effort to promote a culture of
  peace

8
The sociocultural perspective

• HE as a means of protecting and preserving
  national culture, language, heritage
• Education for democracy and tolerance, human
  rights, peace, etc.
• HE as a means of building an identity (national,
  European (cf. Bologna Process), global)

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Examples

• Initiatives in Research by and on indigenous
  groups to protect and preserve their culture
  (e.g. Ecuador, Sweden, PR China)
• Joint degree programs in the Bologna context
• School of European ...
• HR education programs (Argentina)

10
The economic perspective

• Human capital as a key factor for economic growth
• Move towards a knowledge based society (cf.
  Lisbon Objectives), necessitates higher enrolment
  rates
• Cost/benefit analysis clearly evidence positive
  impact of increased investment into HE on GDP
  (World Bank, OECD)

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The economic perspective (ctd.)

• Changing demands of labour markets (education is
  more productive the more volatile the state of
  technology)
• Rates of return differ by levels of education and
  country, with the highest return in all regions
  coming from primary education. Furthermore,
  private returns have risen, social returns have
  slightly fallen in recent years (World Bank
  figures)
• Education reduces the risk of unemployment

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Unemployment by educational attainment level
13
Differences in per-student expenditure by level
of education (relatio relative to primary level
100)
14
Social returns to education, regional averages
15
Private returns to education, regional averages
16
Knowledge as a Factor in Income Differences
between Countries Ghana and Korea, 1958-1990
Republic of Korea
Ghana
17
Gross Enrollment Ratios in Tertiary Education
between 1970-1997
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Who should pay?

• Governments
• Students/graduates
• Economy
• Others

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Why should they pay?

• Governments
• legal obligation under international law
• Promoting economic competitiveness of their
  country
• Increasing social cohesion
• Stimulating active citizenship
• Policy objectives such as Combating exclusion,
  unemployment, economic decline etc.

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Why should they pay?

• 2. Students
• High private returns of education
• Not the entire population enrols into HE (ergo
  government funding of HE would result in
  regressive financing)
• Beneficiaries should share part of the cost
• To increase the overall funding for HE

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Why should they pay?

• 3. Economy
• Investing into human capital and future
  labourforce
• Human ressource development within enterprises
• Use of LLL facilities
• Beneficiaries should share part of the cost
• PPPs in research funding
• Outsourcing of service provision in HEIs

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How should they pay?

• Governments direct subsidies? contract funding?
  indirect funding for research? Output based
  funding? Funding per student unit?
• Students tuition fees? Graduate tax? General
  income tax? Alumni donations?
• Economy direct subsidies? Contract funding for
  comissioned research? Taxes? Foundations?

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References

• Psacharopoulos, G., Patrinos, H.A. Returns to
  Investment in Education A further update, World
  Bank Policy Research Working Paper 2881,
  Washington D.C., 2002
• OECD/UNESCO Financing Education- Investments and
  Returns, An analysis of the World Education
  Indicators 2002 Edition, Paris 2002
• Dias, M.A.R. Année 2003- le temps pour une
  université qui participe à lexclusion de
  lexclusion, Papier presenté à la 8ème
  consultation collective des ONGS sur
  lenseignement superieur à lUNESCO, Paris, 2003
• UNESCO Higher Education in the Twenty-first
  century- Vision and Action, Final Report, World
  Declaration and Regional Declarations, Paris,
  1998
• World Bank Constructing knowledge societies New
  challenges for tertiary education, Washington
  D.C. 2002

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References (ctd.)

• UNHCHR Universal Declaration of Human Rights,
  1946
• UNHCHR UN Covenant on Social, Cultural and
  Economic Rights, 1966
• Task Force on Higher Education and Society
  Higher Education in Developing Countries Peril
  and Promise, Washington D.C. 2000
• French, N. External Funding and University
  Autonomy, Report on NUS-NUAS-IMHE(OECD) Seminar
  at the University of Oslo, June 2003, Paris, 2003
• De la Fuente, A., Ciccone, A. Human Capital in a
  global and knowledge- based economy, Brussels,
  2002
• European Commission, DGEFC Investing in human
  capital The efficiency of public expenditure and
  other policies, note for the Economic Policy
  Committee, Brussels, 2002