Higher education obsession ‘holds back developing countries’

Excessive reverence for universities is holding developing countries back, as their governments fight losing battles to shepherd young people into vocational education, a conference has heard.

South African higher education and training minister Naledi Pandor said that a preference for academically focused education is keeping young people out of employment. “Parents and communities believe their children should go to university and get degrees,” she told the Yidan Prize summit in Hong Kong.

“We’re trying to shift that interest toward technical and vocational because that’s where the jobs are. That’s where opportunities lie.”

Ms Pandor said that the bias against vocational education is particularly pronounced in her country, because black South Africans had been barred from technical colleges during the apartheid era.

“Now, with freedom, the gates are open. But we have a real shortage of technical and vocational students, because the majority were excluded from that stream,” she said. “We are shifting the attention of young people towards the sector.”

Former Colombian education minister Yaneth Giha said that the situation in her country is similar. “There is big prestige around professions and universities. People don’t want to go to technical institutions,” she said.

“We have been developing several programmes to start calling the attention of young people and industry to work together. We need to change the mindset.”

Ms Giha held two ministerial posts in the government of Juan Manuel Santos before he lost office in August. She said that Mr Santos, as president, had decided seven years ago to construct Colombia’s development around education, as the country began to emerge from its long civil war.

Education has replaced defence as the biggest area of budget spending, she said. But Colombia needs to learn from countries such as Germany, where only around 30 per cent of people opt for academic education.

“In Colombia it’s exactly the opposite. Seventy per cent of our young men and women want to go to universities for professional careers,” she said. “There’s a big challenge there. We need to change the culture.”

Hong Kong property developer and philanthropist Ronnie Chan said that nations where vocational education has remained a popular choice for young people, such as Germany and Switzerland, boast the strongest economies in Europe.

“In East Asia, face is more important. ‘If I don’t get into a proper university, my whole family is shamed’ – that kind of thing has to be addressed. It’s the fault of the Chinese mothers,” he said.

Mr Chan said that China produces about 7 million graduates with bachelor’s degrees every year. “Many of them never find a job, and yet people are saying that there’s a tremendous shortage of talent and human resources in China.

“How come these university graduates are not finding jobs? Nobody wants to go for vocational education and training, but that’s really where the need is in China today.”

john.ross@timeshighereducation.com