Educational Policy Borrowing in the Cameroonian Higher Education System: A debatable Paradigm from Stakeholders

Abstract

<jats:p>Educational policy borrowing is almost the norm in today</jats:p>

Advancing Transnational Higher Education in Ethiopia: Policy Promises and Realities

“…In fact, the portrayal of TNHE as a purely development tool is far from a true representation of the reality since it often takes place within a complex layered environment of power structures, identities and subjectivities (Djerasimovic, 2014). Hence, a critical appraisal of TNHE policies—both borrowed and externally generated—is mandatory; otherwise “there is a greater likelihood that a second generation of problems will crop up at the level of implementation with high potential for creating further issues in the system, leading to mismatches” (Eta & Vuban, 2018, p. 91).…”

The Mobility of Education Policy in the 21st Century: Lessons from Other Fields

“…In the economic and social development literature there are references to coercive policy transfer where practices are to be adopted as a prerequisite for the grant or release of loan funds (Eta & Vuban, 2018). It is distinguished from persuasive policy transfer, which is associated with technical assistance, training programs, and advisory services offered by various lending and grant making agencies (Bazbauers, 2017).…”

“…This apparently voluntary act is shaped by a desire to increase job opportunities for its citizens, as in the case of Tunis and its adoption of the main elements of the Bologna Process (Jules & Bouhlila, 2018). Or it can be influenced by the decisions of supra-national groups like the regular meeting of the heads of states of Central Africa, which led Cameroon to adopt, for at least part of the country, a three-degree structure which was comparable and comprehensible nationally and regionally (Eta & Vuban, 2018) Others talk of policy mimesis where a policy or form of words used by one entity is imitated or mimicked by another. Imitation may be a product of competition, where like organizations act in identical ways, replicating the innovations or decisions of others (Strang & Soule, 1998).…”

Higher Education’s Curriculum and Challenges of the 21st Century: The Case Study of Cameroonian Public Universities

“…The discourse regarding the return of investment in the education sector has changed. Despite the criticism of some existing literature regarding the current discourse contradicting the one in the late 1980s which seemed to highlight that investment in tertiary education yields a smaller return than that of lower sectors of education (Eta & Vuban, 2018;Schendel & Mccowan, 2014), higher education has become the sector, which has the biggest return. Since the publication in 2000 of the report "Higher Education in Developing Countries: Peril and Promise" which pointed out the actual and potential contribution of quality higher education to social, economic and political development, higher education has become the sector per excellence in shaping human capital instead of basic education sector as it has been proved in the 1990s by many international organisations and economists (Bloom, Altbach, & Rosovsky 2016).…”