Critical Issues Influencing Higher Education Systems in Emerging Countries

Introduction

Human capital plays a key role in the development of all economies. A decade ago, discussions of education and development tended to be categorized by focusing on the importance of primary and secondary services. For example, it was thought more important to teach large amounts of people to read and write rather than to teach or provide higher education to a small cadre higher and professional level of education in arts, commerce, management and sciences. In an egalitarian sense, support for higher education’s systems be it universities or institutions was seen as biased against poorer elements of society. These arguments have a degree of merit and, certainly, primary and secondary education are both important elements of the sector—not least because they feed directly into the quality of higher levels of education. But the lessons of recent economic history also highlight both the importance of strong higher educational outcomes obtained through universities and the need for delivering substantial economic support (Sony, Karingada, & Baporikar, 2020; Baporikar, & Sony, 2020; Baporikar, 2018; Baporikar, 2017a; Baporikar, 2017b; Baporikar, 2014).

The growth of western countries in particular UK and USA can be attributed largely to the success of their universities. These knowledge-based economies require high levels of human capital, which influences a large number of economic outcomes and boosts long-term productivity (Ordóñez de Pablos, & Tennyson, 2016). The current world economy is going to be increasingly dominated by knowledge-based industries over the coming decades. Agricultural, industrial and technical revolutions will all give way to increases in knowledge. Manufactures will continue to be displaced by services, and salary differences between knowledge-based and non-knowledge-based industries will continue to rise (Baporikar, 2018). The widening of these economic differentials highlights the importance of investing in knowledge and getting the fundamentals of each country’s higher education sector right. These developments are also placing increasing pressure on governments across the globe as citizens increase their demand for higher levels of human capital so that they can benefit from the growing knowledge-based economy. In addition, the constraints on investment in higher education within the region are in nearly all cases large. As such, the benefits must be weighed carefully against the large costs associated with a quality higher education sector—particularly in developing countries with tight fiscal constraints.

According to Newman (1996), the purpose of a university is to educate, and he puts his ideal against the development of a professional skill, or a utilitarian end to education as the main purpose. Newman contrasts the higher purpose with the major reason given for the formation of every university; that is, to provide education for the professions and the economy. The statistics attesting to the economic benefit of a university education to the individual are strong and the related benefits of greater health, longer life, greater social volunteering and less incarceration, are equally strong. The broader economic benefits: higher levels of workforce participation and productivity, export earnings, and returns from innovation, add to the utilitarian case. The purpose of higher education therefore has two aspects: purpose for the individual and purpose for the community. Hence the simple answer is that the purpose of higher education is to prepare and inspire new generations, giving them the capabilities to shape a better future for themselves and the world. This is a less poetic, with the recognition that we might also individually and collectively care about the economic benefits, as well as the non-economic ones. Most important is to recognize that the way in which purpose might be described shifts with individual, societal and historical context. It is also important to emphasize that, without research and scholarship, the range of possibilities and capabilities for which we will be able to educate will be impoverished, not least because we end up repeating ourselves. According to Masterman (1952), the characteristics that make Oxford education great is because it sees as each of us sees when young because they believe that it is right that every generation should live its own life and worship its own gods. Thus, the purpose of higher education, then, is found and created anew by each person within a particular time and place.