Expanding higher education systems in low- and middle-income countries: the challenges of equity and quality

Abstract

Higher education systems worldwide are faced with an intractable tension between the demands of quality, equity and funding (Unterhalter and Carpentier 2010). On the one hand, there are strong pressures for equitable expansion of enrolments, driven by both supply-side factors-principally the perceived importance of higher education for the knowledge economy-and demand-side factors, namely the increasing number of secondary leavers seeing university degrees as the primary means of economic betterment and social mobility. On the other hand, universities are grappling with the challenges of maintaining quality in the face of rapid expansion, particularly as massification implies both a rise in sheer numbers of students and an increasing diversity of incoming students, including in terms of academic preparation for university. The conundrum is further deepened by constraints on public funding and the uncertainties associated with alternative private sources.While all countries struggle to reconcile the competing demands of budgetary constraints and high levels of university participation, the issues faced in low-and middleincome countries (LIMCs) are distinctive for a number of reasons. First, resource constraints (particularly in low-income countries) present severe limitations, both in terms of available public funding for the higher education system and with regard to the possibilities of cost-sharing with students and their families. Second, as a result of public resource constraints, higher education systems in lower-income contexts have traditionally been restricted to a small elite population and, as a result, rapid expansion represents a significant and destabilising shock. Third, even when funding is in place, such systems have limited capacity to expand, due to the insufficient number of qualified academic faculty able to staff institutions. Fourth, quality challenges at the primary and secondary levels in such contexts tend to lead to a high proportion of under-prepared students entering & Rebecca Schendel

Review of published evidence on knowledge translation capacity, practice and support among researchers and research institutions in low- and middle-income countries

“…Notably, a few publications recommended strategic partnerships between LMIC and international research institutions as an approach for transferring knowledge and skills and sharing resources in areas where capacity gaps exist. Gaps in tertiary education systems in LMICs are widely documented and include insufficient numbers of qualified academic faculty and budgetary constraints [111]. This limits the capacity of LMIC academic institutions to provide high quality graduate education.…”

Medición del conocimiento adquirido en tecnología de la madera por industriales forestales en Costa Rica

“…Finalmente, con la temática de la norma de calidad la alta heterogeneidad de los datos no permite visualizar una tendencia clara, si bien la sección práctica tiende a ser mejor calificada que la teórica, no es significativa (r 2 de 0,39), lo que implica que el sistema utilizado no se adecua completamente a este tipo de temática, requiriendo ajustes significativos en la sección práctica y en menor medida en la teórica. El tercer factor mencionado por [11], [13], [15] es la relación funcionalidad-tiempo, este concepto se basa en la capacidad de desarrollar el conocimiento adquirido en el tiempo [2], conforme el tema sea funcional y no solo permita al usuario implementarlo sino incentivarlo a aumentar su conocimiento, con el tiempo el manejo de la temática será mejor y presentará mayor fluidez neuronal en el momento de aplicar el conocimiento. La poca relación de funcionalidad-tiempo genera que el conocimiento se pierda en el tiempo y su potencialidad de uso disminuya, [1]- [3] destacan en este aspecto que temas complicados o de percepción compleja (cuadro 1) deben ser explotados en funcionalidad para mantenerse en el tiempo, de lo contrario la retención será mínima, razón por la cual el tema de la norma de calidad muestra menores valores de aprendizaje, menor retención y mayor pérdida de retención y expectativa de aprendizaje, el sistema empleado en conjunto a su poca implementación laboral generan funcionalidad baja en el tiempo provocando no ser recordado de forma adecuada por los usuarios, caso contrario mostraron los temas de secado y preservado de la madera, los cuales por su impacto y uso constante en sus actividades laborales tienden a ser funcionales en el tiempo.…”

Predicting the Participation in Social Science under Expanding System by Using ARIMAX

“…Higher education systems have formatted a rational process of expansion in the last decades. Like Marginson's argument, the expansion process has extended to most middle-income countries and to a significant number of low-income ones [7][8][9]. According to data from the UNESCO Institute for Statistics (2018), the gross entrance ratio (GER) in high income countries has moved to a universal stage in 1993.…”