Political Adviser Knut Arild Hareide

Higher Education and Research Co-operation with Institutions in the South: Back to International Solidarity??

Det nordiske universitetsadminisrator-samarbeidet a.o.
Nordic Challenges in North South Co-operation

University of Bergen 15. 04.99

Ladies and gentlemen!

I am happy to be here with you and to have this opportunity to talk to you on a matter that is very close to my heart, and to the heart of my minister, Jon Lilletun.

My message to you will be that:

• Education systems in any part of the world must be developed in a holistic way – not piece by piece and not isolated from other sectors
• Norwegian institutions for higher education and research already are substantially involved in international development

· International development should be an integral part of the institutions’ own strategy

· The Ministry of Education Research and Church Affairs have a role to play in this connection

· Nordic co-operation might not be a bad idea, even when it comes to international development efforts.

A holistic approach within the education sector

Last year UNESCO organized a World Conference on Higher Education, which adopted a World Declaration on Higher Education for the twenty-first century and a Framework for Priority Action for Change and Development in Higher Education. From the preamble of the declaration I Quote:

The second half of this century will go down in history of higher education as the period of its most spectacular expansion: an over sixfold increase in student enrolment worldwide, ….But it is also the period which has seen the gap between industrially developed, the developing countries and in particular the least developed countries with regard to access and resources for higher learning and research, already enormous, becoming wider.

The World Bank Report on Development 1998/99, Knowledge for Development, says “…developing countries must institute policies that will enable them to narrow the knowledge gaps that separate them from the rich countries”. The Report advocates a holistic approach to education and development and does consider other factors than the narrowly economic ones. The Report continues: “…developing-country governments, bilateral donors, multilateral institutions, non-governmental organisations, and the private sector must work together to strengthen the institutions needed to address information problems.” This year’s report is encouraging reading for those of us who believe that a well functioning education system is a precondition for development, not only in the North, but also in developing countries.

For many years the World Bank and international development agencies have emphasised primary education, and have to some extent done so to the exclusion of the other levels of education. This one-sidedness has come in for increased criticism, not the least from developing countries that have experienced the value of a cohesive three-tier education system to secure their present and their future.

In spite of World Bank’s reluctance to prioritise support to higher education, already its Report of 1994 states that higher education is of paramount importance for economic and social development. Higher education produces the advanced knowledge and the highly skilled professionals required by any nation state in government and businesses. The Report goes on to state that ”These institutions produce new knowledge through research, serve as conduits for transfer, adaptation, and dissemination of knowledge generated elsewhere in the world, and support government and business with advice and consultant services. In most countries, higher education institutions also play important social roles by forging the national identity of the country and offering a forum for pluralistic debate. The development of higher education is correlated with economic growth…”

I bring these quotations from World Bank reports not to indicate that higher education and research is more important than basic education, but to point to a growing international understanding of the importance of an holistic approach to the education sector as a total, from bottom to top.

A holistic approach to development

Within our Nordic countries we have for a long time seen a strengthened continuity between educational levels and a process of integration between different strands of education. At the same timewe can see a growing inter-linking between education and other areas of society. In Norway a deliberate policy of conceiving education in a broader social, professional and identity creating perspective, has increased collaboration between the various ministries and between national agencies in different sectors. The same conception will will influence will influence Norway’s coming Competence Reform.

As part of that general picture, collaboration between the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs and its education and research institutions on one hand with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and NORAD on the other hand has developed considerably over the last few years. As an example I will mention that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs this year has produced a new development strategy for research and higher education which fits hand in glove with the more holistic vision of development aid and the role of these sectors. The strategy document will be presented to you by my colleague Olav Kjørven in the Ministry of foreign affairs later during this conference. Let me just say that our Ministry will take on the challenge and take the strategy seriously.

Globalisation and solidarity

Within the international development sector one can observe an ongoing shift of emphasis from transfer of technology to human development, and a shift of approach from projects to sector programs. One implication of those shifts is a growing need among our authorities and agencies for international development for co-operation to utilise and develop further the competencies among our authorities and institutions of education and some other public services.

At the same timethere is a globalisation process going on within the world of education and research, making the education and research sectors increasingly open to international co-operation and to participation in international development programs. This coincidence in time with the growing demand for such participation is most fortunate.

In the program for this conference, a question is added to the title of my speech: Back to international solidarity – question mark. I shall not to in any comprehensive way try to draw the lines of history from ideals of solidarity in the 1960-es and 70-es, through allegedly more emphasis on co-operation as investment in future trade relations in the 1980-es, to a possible return to more solidarity today.

However, the development co-operation system has indeed been able to mature since its childhood more than a generation ago. I dare say that in today’s growing and globalized engagement, we can trace solidarity again. The solidarity of the nineties is more complex and more pragmatic, but also more realistic, than the somewhat unipolar solidarity of the sixties and the seventies. The revived quality needs to be strengthened, as the process of globalisation carries in itself strong elements of competition and market forces that may be very tough to developing countries, if not counterbalanced by solidarity.

Here I would like to return to UNESCO and the World Declaration. In Article 16 it is stated:

The ‘brain drain’ has yet to be stemmed, since it continues to deprive the developing countries and those in transition, of the high-level expertice necessary to accelleratetheir socio-economic progress. …At the same time, efforts must be directed towards a process of ‘brain gain’ through collaboration programmes that, by virtue of their international dimension, enhance the building and strenghtening of institutions and facilitate full use of endogenous capcities.

Substantial involvement of Norwegian institutions

Today, the involvement of Norwegian higher education in collaboration with developing countries is substantial. It is reflected in administrative structures like the centres for environment and development at our four universities, centres for health and development at the universities in Bergen and Oslo, centre for agriculture and development the College of agriculture, the centre for international education at the State college of Oslo, and others. Within the individual institutions the international involvement is further reflected in the establishment of international units within the central administration of the universities, and not least in a variety of new master programs conducted in English.

Through co-operation of the Research Council and the Council of Universities with The Ministry of foreign affairs and NORAD, general programs as the NORAD Fellowship program and the NUFU agreement have been established for the whole sector. Directly under the Ministry we have the so-called Quota Program for financial support to students from countries in central and Eastern Europe and developing countries. In addition to these permanent arrangements, several of our institutions and staff are engaged in NORAD projects and evaluations abroad.

Considering the size and variety in the engagement of our higher education sector with developing countries, one could have expected the engagement to be more visible nationally and internationally than it actually is. I believe that some reasons for this lack of visibility are well described in the new Research Strategy of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. In the strategy document it is pointed to

• lack of dissemination of results
• lack of clarified roles

· lack of co-ordination between Norwegian agents

We do want to contribute to rectifying this.

International development as part of the institution’s own strategy

Universities have, in addition to what has been achieved at the practical level, included international development in their overall strategy. The University of Bergen did so already in the mid-80-es, and others have followed.

Some would say that a precondition for success in this field, is that higher education institutions in Norway make co-operation with sister institutions in developing countries, not merely seminal to, but part and parcel of, their own institutional strategies. Such strategies would have to take account of allocation of resources, use of earmarked and other positions, recruitment policies as well as international programs. In concerted efforts, I am convinced we can increase the efficiency of our assistance to developing countries and make it more relevant. But we can also make our studies more international, develop our knowledge of the developing world and make a better contribution to the international communities and to development aid.

However important, the quality of our contribution to international development aid should not be the only reason for including international development in the strategy of an institution for higher education. Equally important in this connection should be the impulses brought to our national students, teachers and researchers from outside through co-operation programs.

Professional, social and cultural interaction between foreign students and national students and staff should play an important role in the strategy. In some cases, considerations of the type that Norway and other Nordic countries only can provide limited material for the study of e.g. tropical diseases and tropical forestry, may even be relevant.

When relating international development co-operation to our own strategic planning in the education and research fields, it may be useful to remind ourselves that this is part of a general globalisation process of these sectors. In that broader context, it is a question of making studies more international and of participating in the development of international knowledge.

The role of the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs

The Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs is concerned about the need for co-ordinated and concerted action among the national and international agents. I know that the ministry and NORAD play important roles on the international arena to establish new patterns of co-operation between themselves, their sister organisations, the World Bank and the developing countries.

At the national arena, the Foreign Ministry and NORAD have increased their co-operation with national bodies in positions to take on roles as initiators and co-ordinators. To be specific, I here think of The Norwegian Council of Universities, the National Research Council and the Ministry of Education, Research and Church Affairs. I have noticed that the Council of Universities and the Council of State Colleges are increasingly acting together in this field, hopefully creating channels even for state colleges to the structures established by the Council of Universities.

While the councils already have a long tradition in this field, the engagement of the Ministry as such is of recent date and still emerging. Based on a study commissioned by NORAD from the agency ”Statskonsult”, the ministries involved are just now considering some guidelines for the involvement of our ministry and a few others ministries in international development.

One role of the ministry will be to inspire institutions of education and research and relevant organisations to accept international development as part of their duties and to some extent co-ordinate between various levels of education and between education and research. As part of that role the Ministry may consider to make the institutions’ own contributions in the field more visible in budget documents.

A second role will be, to a larger extent than before, to act as advisor for the Foreign Ministry and NORAD in general matters.

A third role has recently been established to some extent: The ministry may provide consultants among its staff to be contracted by NORAD for specific tasks.

A fourth role that is being considered for the Ministry, is to enter into direct partnership with a sister ministry in a developing country for co-operation in a specific area specified in the relevant Country Agreement on development aid.

For the ministry as for the institutions this is a two-way interaction. The ministry will gain from the expansion of its field of international co-operation to include substantial co-operation with developing countries. The ministry and our institutions will also gain from being more active partners on international arenas with the World Bank, the UN agencies and others, in the current international openness and willingness to co-ordinate efforts.

Challenges to Nordic co-operation

The Nordic countries have, and are perceived as having, a certain common profile in their approach to aid. First, the Nordic contribution to development aid is substantial. A large part of the aid is state-directed and is not channelled through non-governmental organisations, but through public agencies, such as SIDA, FINNIDA, NORAD and DANIDA, organisations that are highly visible in many developing countries.

Probably they will also share a growing emphasis on education and health, the access to such services for particularly unfortunate groups, and the position of women and girls.

Within countries with that degree of common approach and priorities, we should be able to formulate common policies and co-ordinate our efforts for the benefit of our developing partners. A good example of such an effort is NOVA; the initiative of the Nordic schools of agriculture to co-ordinate their co-operation with developing countries. Another example is the informal co-operation that took place between Nordic delegation during the UNESCO World Conference last year.

Within the framework of Nordic Council of Ministers the Nordic Steering Group on Higher Education (Høgut) has put international development on its agenda.

To bring us a step forward from our current position, a reasonable first step would be to exchange information on what we do in our present engagement with developing countries and on our thinking about future changes. That is exactly what is happening here in Bergen during this conference.

A next step might be a simple system of mutual exchange of information on the matter. Universities are in the forefront of worldwide electronic information systems, and the Nordic universities have been able to find efficient ways of co-operation on the utilisation of the new possibilities offered by such systems. Would it be a relevant challenge for Nordic universities to develop a structure for the sharing information on their involvement in international development aid? If so, the challenge should be extended to sharing the information also with external partners, like developing countries, development agencies – and of course the Ministries.

I am looking forward to the contributions that this conference may bring to the pressing development issues.

Thank you for listening!

This page was last updated April 21 1999 by linkdoc099005-990096#docthe editors