Roberta Malee Bassett

Transforming higher education in developing countries: the role of the World Bank

The World Bank has actively supported tertiary education reform efforts in a number of countries. Nevertheless, there is a perception that the Bank has not been fully responsive to the growing demand by clients for tertiary education interventions and that, especially in the poorest countries, lending for the subsector has not matched the importance of tertiary education systems for economic and social development. Given these perceptions, the rapid changes taking place in the global environment, and the persistence of the traditions problems of tertiary education in developing and transition countries, reexamining the World Banks policies and experiences in tertiary education has become a matter of urgency.

Nix the BRICs—At Least for Higher Education Scholarship

A lthough the “BRIC” moniker for the group of emerging economic powers—Brazil, Russia, India, and China—has become ubiquitous among financial analysts, it was actually coined by former Goldman Sachs economist Jim O’Neill as much for its clear imagery as for any actual commonalities amongst the countries (O’Neill, 2001). The bloc is even less relevant in understanding the complex higher education environments in these or other emerging economic powers such as Mexico, Indonesia, Nigeria, and Turkey (for which O’Neill has coined another clever acronym: the MINTs). But the higher education community has been grouping them for analytic purposes for a number of years. A few books and many journal articles have been published that do so, more than one international conference on higher education in the BRICs has taken place, and there is talk of setting up a network of BRIC-country universities. Thus, it is useful to take a look at what can be learned from examining the BRICs as an analytic group. In our view: not much. While grouping the BRIC countries might arguably be somewhat illuminating for economists, it makes little sense to lump them together for analytical purposes in higher education research. And, the capital “S” that was added to the original BRIC collective in 2010 in order to admit South Africa into the grouping further weakened the similarities within this multinational bloc (South Africa and its economy are significantly smaller than the other BRIC nations). Variations but Few themes In vitally relevant respects, the four BRIC nations differ greatly from each other across the spectrum of higher education measurement norms. The four come from different academic traditions (albeit with some similarities between China and Russia), use different languages, have employed quite different academic strategies, and have no history of academic cooperation or competition. Neither students nor professors from these countries engage in regular or systematic exchanges or partnerships. Of the four, only two—China and Russia—have ambitions to break into the “world-class” league tables. China alone has a significant national strategy to build up its research universities, in which it has invested heavily and with considerable success; Russia is only now beginning its efforts, while India trails far behind. China has been effective in building a differentiated academic system that serves a range of national needs and students. Particularly important now, China has the world’s largest student population, with 24 percent of its age cohort enrolled in postsecondary education. This is similar to the gross enrollment rate of Brazil, which is approximately 25 percent (World Bank, 2014). Two of the four BRICs, China and India, are major “sending” countries in terms of international students, with China alone accounting for 17 percent of the world’s overseas student population (UIS, 2012). Students from these two countries go mainly to the major English-speaking universities. Brazil, which only recently began a major overseas scholarship program, focuses more on Europe, and Russia is not a significant contributor to global academic mobility. Unlike China, with its politically powerful and embedded strategy for higher education expansion, India has had no higher education strategy per se, although the recently promulgated 12th five-year plan articulates elements of a policy. Perspectives

International Higher Education: Bridging Academia and Global Policy Development at the World Bank

It is not unusual, regardless of field or issue, for research done by academics not to make an impression or impact on global policy development. This challenge is particularly relevant in examining higher education as a sphere of international development policy. This chapter utilizes the experience of the World Bank to illustrate the links between academic research and international higher education policy and concludes by highlighting how the work of Philip Altbach has been relevant to the higher education efforts of the World Bank, most notably in the past decade, illustrating the genuine influence Altbach has had on higher education around the world.