Enough cosmetic reforms. If it is to meet the twin challenges of a rapidly changing world and a revolutionised job market, the Egyptian education system is in need of a total overhaul, argues Talaat Abdel-Malek* The problems bedevilling public educational systems in many developing countries, including Egypt, are well known -- whether we refer to primary, secondary or university education. In fact, each stage has its own problems, though some common features are evident. Three major causes and contributors to the difficulties encountered are the large-size classes at all levels, deteriorating quality of teaching staff and poor administration of educational institutions. These are difficulties that are having serious adverse consequences on the educational process and its outcome. To say that well educated and qualified manpower is the most critical ingredient for enlightened development is to repeat a globally recognised truth. No longer do nations boast their natural advantages like a good climate and a strategic geographic location for example; nor do they achieve competitive strength by building huge industrial bases. In this age of technology and instant access to information, the engine of development is driven by the power of a nation's human resources. To quote an over-used example in support of this statement one can only refer to the Asian Tigers. While several reasons lie behind the consistent success of these countries in upgrading their economies at a rapid pace, early investment in quality education at all levels, with an eye on the demands of the development process, must occupy first place among these reasons. The impact of the revolution in technology in all its aspects has raised doubts about many established dogmas and has revised many of what we thought were hard facts in science. This revolution has also added new tools and approaches for tackling a wide range of problems. We now realise that this is an ongoing process that is likely -- if anything -- to accelerate in pace as a result of new discoveries. TWO TRACKS FOR REFORM: It is against this context that educational reform has become a most urgent challenge. In addressing reform issues, we should distinguish between two tracks. The first, and easier, track is to upgrade the quality of the components that make up the existing educational system. This usually requires the introduction of curriculum revisions, improvements in the quality of teachers and the learning environment, the use of modern technology in the educational process, and so on. The objective of this approach is to improve the effectiveness of the existing system, by working on its various components without altering its structure. Recent actions by the minister of education are examples of efforts along this important track. The difficulties are many, if only because of limited resources and resistance to change on the part of school administrators, teachers and others involved. But accomplishments are feasible with persistence, firm direction from the top and an incentive system that rewards positive participation in this process. Those who are close to the educational scene are only too aware of how demanding some of these challenges are. The other track is much more difficult, administratively and politically. It requires a restructuring of the educational system itself. This is not something that is undertaken frequently or haphazardly. It is usually necessitated by the need to bring the educational system into balance with the changing requirements and priorities of society, especially after many decades of neglect and incremental changes. In a non-industrial economy for example, there is little need for industrial engineers, chemists, technologists, and other specialists who man and service the industrial sector. As society becomes more industrialised and adds more and more commercial services to its activities, the demand for specialists in these fields grows not only to fill immediate job vacancies but also in anticipation of future expansion. This has been the unmistakable trend observed in virtually all societies, whether advanced or developing. How are we responding to this important shift in the demand pattern? As we assess our educational system in the early years of the 21st century, two developments in particular are worth noting: greater emphasis is being placed on vocational/ technical education than before, and a number of private institutions of higher education have emerged and more are in the planning stage. Both developments are relatively recent. A similar but earlier trend indicates an increase in private schools below university level. PRIVATE FOREIGN EDUCATION IN EGYPT: While, in principle, these are welcome developments, the main rationale behind their emergence is dissatisfaction with the quality of public higher education, though other motives may be present, such as filling a need for foreign-language education for instance. The track record of most of these new private institutions is quite limited to-date. However, quality standards seem mixed, and some institutions have come under criticism regarding the adequacy of laboratories, rigour of curricula or calibre of teaching staff. Of the foreign universities that appear to have the potential to contribute to Egypt's educational infrastructure in some significant way are the relatively new French University and the planned German University. Announcements about the two institutions indicate their intention to abide by the standards observed in quality French and German counterparts. Furthermore, the French University is said to be making arrangements with French companies for student internships as part of their education -- a practice that will greatly facilitate their employment in a way that is compatible with the skills and knowledge learned. The American University in Cairo, of course, has had its placement service for many years that, together with the Employment Fair, provide an effective link with employers. These practices, however, are exceptions to the rule. The government has an obvious responsibility to ensure that all private educational institutions adopt adequate standards and consistently adhere to established academic and professional practices. The key question is whether the government has the resources necessary to perform this important role and the determination to do so. Assuming for the moment that the overall impact of private higher education is positive, what can be done about public higher education? It is evident that private institutions cannot meet Egypt's demand for higher education, no matter how fast they expand. Will the upgrading of the existing system's components do the job? Or is a more drastic strategy called for? The current system can no longer deal with the overwhelming negative impact of increasing student numbers and the serious deterioration in teaching standards and educational facilities, despite increased budget allocations. This is what is called a systemic breakdown. SYSTEMIC BREAKDOWN: It is argued here that without a restructuring of the whole system of higher education the current ill effects will persist. No such restructuring has taken place yet, apart from modest modifications in secondary schooling structure. Our public education has retained essentially the same structure for half a century if not longer. The current system can no longer deal with the overwhelming negative impact of increasing student numbers and the serious deterioration in teaching standards and educational facilities, despite increased budget allocations. This is what is called a systemic breakdown. The most important indicators of such a breakdown are a persistent surplus of university graduates in most disciplines, coupled with a rising shortage of many technical and vocational skills. Another indicator, arguably even more important, is the very serious drop in the quality of graduates almost across the board. Even in schools like medicine and engineering, where Egyptian graduates had had a noteworthy repute, quality has suffered for the reasons stated earlier. Suffice it here to refer to the many reports on the poor and careless attention given to patients in public hospitals, lack of humane treatment and professionalism by doctors, overuse of expensive hi-tech diagnostic tools at the expense of proven more traditional methods, lack of proper nursing services and other negative attributes that have severely tarnished a once shining reputation of Egyptian medicine. Some people may be inclined to blame the recent recession for the rise in unemployment, especially among the educated youth. But it is very doubtful if this fully explains the unacceptably persistent high and still rising level of unemployment among graduates. The government's recent measures to employ nearly two hundred thousand graduates in civil service and public sector enterprises is a classic example of a band aid solution; it is an ill- advised step for at least two reasons: first, both sectors are already suffering from bulging disguised unemployment (which, in fact, is no longer disguised; a visit to any government department or public enterprise will provide ample proof of glaring un- and under-employment). Second, the government is doing these graduates a disservice by initiating their careers in bureaucracies and enterprises known for their inefficiencies. Added to this is that the performance of the Social Fund for Development (SFD) in creating lasting jobs is very mixed, to put it mildly. Optimistic statements have been made repeatedly about job creation and nurturing of micro enterprises. Yet, no objective assessment has been made public, and one suspects that the results are much less rosy than what has been announced. The recent change in top leadership of the SFD, the rescheduling of debts owed by thousands of so-called "young entrepreneurs" and the announcements promising strategic policy changes are indications that the experiment is far less successful than we have been led to believe. In a nutshell, the systemic breakdown has led to a serious mismatch between supply and demand in the labour market and a drop in quality across the board. As a result, many engineers are employed to perform technicians' functions, many architects act as draftsmen, many commerce graduates are happy to work as accounting clerks and so on. These practices have led to higher costs and the misuse of available skills. Meanwhile, surplus labour skills either seek work in the informal or underground sector (how many university graduates have ended up as taxi drivers for example? Incidentally, there is nothing wrong with being a taxi driver, but you do not have to spend four or five years at a university to become one!) or join the expanding pool of unemployed educated youth. Every year more graduates face the same difficulties in finding a job -- let alone a meaningful job -- and the vicious circle continues. A recent estimate by the International Monetary Fund has put the size of the underground sector in Egypt to 69 per cent of total national product, second in Africa only to Nigeria (77 per cent). The only remaining outlet is labour immigration. This option has become less accessible in recent years for a number of reasons but mainly due to increased competition from other countries such as Bangladesh, India, Pakistan, the Philippines and Sri Lanka. Their immigrant workers seem to have the edge over Egyptian applicants in educational standards and dedication to work, in addition to their willingness to accept lower wages. Other reasons may be political in nature, depending on the host Arab country in question. Western countries like Canada, Australia and others have, meanwhile, tightened immigration laws and imposed more demanding eligibility conditions. Thus, labour immigration has ceased to be as useful a shock absorber as it used to be for many decades. This situation is unlikely to change in the foreseeable future because of the political and economic factors referred to above. It is also worth noting that it is the more qualified workers (in all disciplines) who are more marketable in regional and international labour markets. Since this category of workers represents a minority today, immigration causes some sort of a mini brain drain, diminishing Egypt's pool of the relatively more qualified workforce. The foregoing analysis leads to the conclusion that incremental improvements in the existing system cannot deal with this deteriorating situation, though they have a positive role to play -- but in a properly restructured system. THE RESTRUCTURING OPTION: What does such restructuring entail? To identify viable options, we must first enquire about the causes that have led to the systemic breakdown. There are factors on the supply side and others that affect the demand side of the equation. Supply side culprits include the policy of free higher public education and its consequences that have led to the creation of new universities and institutes that are poorly equipped, the loosening of standards in all the meanings of this term and a weak administration at various levels of responsibility. On the demand side, the major culprits are the continued rapid growth of population, the powerful impact of deeply imbedded socio-cultural biases toward certain professions and against many others, the numerous rigidities in the labour market, the dominance of public sector employment and limited private sector role in the economy for many decades until recently. Many of us still remember the days when graduates were assigned jobs in the government and public sector through administrative orders, disregarding real needs and proper matching of skills with job requirements. The results are only too well known. This practice of what we will call "forced employment" has done a great deal of damage to the system as a whole. By imposing recruitment lists on both employees and employers, the positive influence of supply and demand factors was neutralised, to the disadvantage of both sides. However, we will not dwell into these causes in any detail. Their effects on the problem at hand are largely self-explanatory. But a comment on free higher education is in order. Free education is more of an ideal we cannot afford, unless we want to fool ourselves. For one thing, higher education is not really free but low-cost. While its intent is noble, namely giving everyone that meets admission requirements the right of access, we have to ask if this policy is the best way to use our scarce resources. Leading our sons and daughters down the university route only to offer them precious few meaningful jobs on graduation is not exactly a positive outcome. Don't they become social and economic liabilities instead of adding to society's productive labour force? Although this is not an argument against subsidised higher education, it calls into question the wisdom of pursuing it indiscriminately as a doctrine. This very policy has had other negative consequences. In order to meet the annual flood of increasing numbers of new applicants, new institutions of higher education have been set up as stated earlier. Experience shows that many of these are lacking in the essential elements necessary to sustain a viable stature. Accordingly, many suffer from lower calibre staff, inadequate facilities of all kinds (from classrooms to laboratories to libraries, etc), increasing indiscipline among professors and students alike and a noticeable drop in ethical standards. These sad features are no longer exclusive to the new institutions but have become fairly common in our world of higher education, apart from some refreshing exceptions that are lost in a sea of mediocrity. A more economic pricing of education is called for as part of the formula to reform the system. This principle, incidentally, has absolutely nothing to do with globalisation or market orientation, contrary to what some naïve idealists may counter. It is simply a common sense approach to handling a very difficult and persistent problem that threatens to get even worse unless more appropriate policies are put in place soon. There are various ways of translating the economic pricing principle into operational measures. Its essence, however, is to allow supply and demand for various skills to exert greater influence in setting wages and supplementary pay allowances, and to exercise more control over admission to universities as a whole and to different fields of study specifically by using a more restricted quota system if necessary and easing admission requirements for disciplines for which there is an obvious market shortage. These measures have to be guided by a clear policy framework if they are not to be abused and in order to avoid haphazard decisions. The most difficult challenge is the downsizing of universities to levels not exceeding maximum limits for efficient operation, academically and administratively. Some of the newer universities might also benefit from merging to form a viable entity, avoiding unnecessary proliferation of colleges (especially those requiring capital funds to equip labs and similar facilities). This suggestion is most likely to be viciously attacked by those with vested interest in the status quo (and they are both powerful and numerous!). But a more reasoned analysis would most probably reaffirm the validity of the suggestion put forward here. Talking about administrative efficiency, we have to stop adopting the archaic practice of appointing senior doctors to manage hospitals, renounced professors to head up universities, experienced engineers to preside over engineering companies, and so on. Instead, it is time we put priority on the managerial skills of people nominated for senior management posts. This is not a novelty but a proven practice in countries, developed and developing, that take advantage of available managerial talents as a means of rationalising the use of scarce resources. We also need to develop more of these talents since they constitute another acute shortage at present. In parallel with the downsizing of universities, recent efforts to expand technical and vocational institutes should be given a big boost. This is in response to the current imbalance of a short supply and strong demand for the skills in question. Admission need not be any less rigorous than for university education but can be supported through scholarships and other means of financial support to attract the right students. Meanwhile, a publicity and educational campaign needs to be launched to improve the less-than-flattering image of technical graduates' social and professional status. It is an image based more on ignorance and unjustified bias against non-university graduates, but it is deeply rooted in our minds and will take time to change. ESSENTIAL REFORM INGREDIENTS: Neither university downsizing nor establishment of more technical institutes per se will be sufficient to achieve the educational leap forward urgently needed. Educationists will point out that we must go beyond creating the proper structure -- important this as it is -- and ensure that inside these new structures exist the fundamental elements of modern education and learning. We draw attention to three major elements: curriculum development, learning methods and administration of educational institutions. It has become almost redundant to stress the importance of developing an up-to- date curriculum in various disciplines, if only to catch up with the dramatic changes in our knowledge in most fields during the past few decades. This is a tremendously challenging task that calls for mobilising the cream of our scientists and researchers. As a think tank, they should be given a free hand to propose what drastic surgery is needed to rid existing curricula of outdated materials and dogmas and replace them with the new body of knowledge. This development process should institute two elements that a rapidly changing world demands, namely placing more emphasis on independent thinking and analysis instead of memorising, and expanding students' horizons to learn more about the shrinking global village in which we live today. Such international perspective has become a necessity if Egypt is to prepare future generations for earning their appropriate place in tomorrow's world. The introduction of new curricula, in turn, requires suitably qualified teaching staff to implement them. They have to be equipped with the right learning methods and the attitudes conducive for making the difficult shifts from old to new, from requiring memorisation to promoting enquiry and research, and from relying on professors' texts to encouraging search and systematic analysis. These skills do not come without effort and direction. Teacher training has become more critical than ever as a means of upgrading quality of education in any discipline. Many foreign universities have introduced pedagogy workshops to improve teaching effectiveness of both senior and junior faculty. The third element focuses on administration of educational institutions. This is a specialty taught at most departments of education abroad. It is a function that has drawn much attention from boards of education and teachers' federations. Much depends on the quality of administration that it has become an integrated part of any serious educational development project. While administrators must observe regulations and procedures governing the work of educational institutions, they generally also enjoy a good deal of professional independence and flexibility to take actions without having to continuously refer to higher authorities first. They are evaluated on performance rather than on merely following the rules. The success of higher education in many advanced countries has also had the active involvement of the community of employers. This takes several forms including participation in boards of governors and advisory councils, membership of task forces, undertaking part-time teaching, providing internship opportunities, leading and contributing to funding campaigns, funding applied research, and -- occasionally -- assuming university/institute presidential positions or deanships of business schools. These various roles have been instrumental in accomplishing two objectives: providing additional support to supplement stagnant (and sometimes declining) government financial allocations, and adding a practical perspective to future plans and a real world input in the classroom. These involvements have ensured ongoing institutional upgrading and produced better-equipped graduates. Such involvement, however, does not happen automatically. It is triggered by the community's sense of responsibility and right to influence education, and encouraged by tax and other incentives that reduce the cost of financial contributions to donors. Egypt has thousands of well-qualified Egyptians in many countries, including the most advanced. They represent a rich pool of resources, many of whom are anxious to lend a hand in their fields of expertise to push Egypt's development wagon forward. Have we made use of these talents? By and large, the answer is negative. We have made lots of rosy statements about collaboration prospects but when it came to translating these into plans and actions, efforts have stumbled badly. This is partly due to lack of an enlightened vision and partly due to bureaucratic hurdles. Isn't it time we tapped this invaluable resource to assist in educational reform? How effective is it to rely almost entirely on products of the current system to propose, let alone carry out, drastic surgery? There is an urgent need for fresh thinking and for involving not just a few foreign consultants but a large number of specialists not committed to retaining the existing system at any cost. No one is suggesting that these specialists' views be accepted blindly; that would be irresponsible. What is crucial is that we listen to different scenarios and suggestions, ask tough questions and engage in a rigorous professional discussion until we find the most suitable remedies. The weaknesses pointed out above have caused educational systems, not only in Egypt but also, in many developing countries to be highly inflexible. Over-concern with accommodating ever increasing numbers, use of traditional methods of administration, persistence of cultural biases in favour of certain disciplines relative to others, and lack of long-term vision by those in charge of educational policies are major causes of this rigidity. One might add the lack of attention to real human development as opposed to economic growth, and to human resource upgrading as the most important single ingredient for genuine development. But this narrow scope seems to be gradually giving way to a more enlightened vision. The key challenge does not seem to be that of persuading authorities on the need for change but on helping them find a politically palatable approach for implementing it. This is where the leadership comes in. Its responsibility is to take tough decisions and draw up a framework for guiding the process and pace of change. Once this courageous action is taken, it provides the legitimate foundation for more detailed planning (specific objectives, strategies, resources, incentives) to institute the desired change over a set period of time. This is the challenge we face as a developing country seeking our rightful place under the sun. The longer we wait, the more difficult the task. Finally, to make future educational reform less difficult, and to generate more tangible results from our development efforts generally, we have to find more effective ways of containing population growth. Without this, we stand the risk of having to keep running to avoid falling behind. In the meanwhile, we must shift our focus away from sheer numbers and toward educational outcomes and quality. Easier said than done? Yes, but over-concern with numbers has cost us a great deal already. * The writer is professor of economics at the American University in Cairo and a former senior adviser to the International Trade Centre UNCTAD/ GATT, Geneva.
