Different Strategies for Increasing Higher education Access
*Dr. Mohammed A. Al Saleh
Asst. Professor Department of Higher Education
& President of the Department of Curriculam & Teaching Methods, College
of Education Al Jouf University, KSA.
Introduction
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Morley,
Leach and Lugg (2009) argued that value to the society is added by higher
education as they both serve as ‘‘both a public and private good – public
because it contributes to society and private because it has potential to
benefit the individual.” The importance of higher education with respect to the
society cannot be assumed as it acts as an economically developed feature for
the community and provides the individual with personal benefits. Higher
education is needed in order to generate and produce productive citizens (Giroux,
2002). Higher education enables individual and communal development and
provides an individual awareness of social issues and is considered to be an
effective source in order to address the related issues of nation-states.
There is an article related to the enhancement of
higher studies in the 24th Report of the Investment Climate in Arab
Countries (2008), which explains the significance of higher studies of Arab
citizens. It identifies that there were only two hundred and thirty three
universities in 2003 which have been raised to three hundred eighty five in
2008. This figure includes one hundred and fifteen private universities which
is 4. 4 times greater than the number of private institutions in 1993. It is
understood that the private institutions have been developed and their figure
is equivalent to that of government institutions. But this growth can’t
represent their facilities, as most of these institutions have low facilities.
The report suggested that the enhancement of employment in the private
institutions will increase the number of pupil in the private higher
institutions equivalent to that of government institutes. This decision is
based on the idea of many Arab countries, which would like to reduce the
expenditure on higher studies and to reduce the number of pupil enrolled in
government institutes.
This paper delves into aspects which identify
possible measures associated with provision of strategic access to higher
education in Arab countries in general and Saudi Arabia in particular.
Need for better strategies in Saudi Arabia
Saudi Arabia is a nation which was established in
1932 by King Abdul Aziz. It has an area of 900,000 square miles. The country is
inhabited by 26 million people and is today sending more than 80,000 students to
different countries like Australia, Europe and United States in order to pursue
their higher education. They are investing more than 50 billion in order to
completely revamp their higher education system and their currently existing 25
universities.
Saudi Arabia has invested more than one fourth of its
budget during 2009 for education and training. This was done in order to
highlight the investment made on the human resource development to be a key
aspect for the knowledge based development in the country. Saudi Arabia has
been estimated to be investing rapidly on higher education for past few years
under the control of King Abdullah. From the yearly budget one fourth of the
investment are made for education and training. In 2010 the investment was estimated
to be increased to 36.5 billion USD which represents a 12.4% increase when
compared to that of 2009. Under the influence of King Abdullah
Scholarship Program, more than 90,000 Saudis were presented with opportunities
to pursue their graduate studies abroad.
The main objective of the development plan is to
increase the number of university students from 860,000 to 1.7 million within
2014. The king and his fellowmen provide high importance to the higher
education to be provided to the students of Saudi Arabia. Most of the students
of Saudi universities pursue their graduate studies in various fields like
social studies, religious, history, and literature regardless of the labor
market being saturated with social science and humanities majors.
Importance Of Identifying Strategies For Higher Education
In recent years, the stratification researchers are
attracted towards understanding the impact of structural characteristics of
educational system on outcomes and results of students (Kerckhoff,
1995; Treiman & Ganzeboom, 2000). Most of the studies and research
consider for the cross-national studies that deals with relation between
educational system and labor market. There are studies that compare the
educational system of Japan and America that reveals that students’ job
attainment and obtaining features are influenced by separate relationship with
respect to labor market (Rosenbaum & Kariya, 1989; Rosenbaum, Kariya,
Settersten, & Maier, 1990).
From the comparative research conducted by Shavit and
Muller (1998) it is evident that there is variation in educational
qualification based on occupational outcomes based on countries. The variation
is detailed by the characteristics features of educational system. For
instance, the magnitude of educational effects on occupational outcomes is
influenced by stratification and vocational specificity of educational system
in Arab countries. At the same time these effects are overcome by the number of
students in tertiary education. Shavit and Blossfeld (1993) made an analysis
in 13 different countries in order to determine if the expansion of educational
system reduces the gap in educational achievement of students from different
socioeconomic context. The study of Shavit, Arumand Gamoran (2007) analyzed the
impact of characteristics of educational system on higher education entrance
and particular types of institutions in it. By analyzing 15 countries Arum,
Gamoran and Shavit (2007) concluded variation in distinct educational
structures based on access to higher education that is determined as binary,
stratified and unitary. The study also emphasizes the importance of
differentiation and privatization in structuring access to higher education.
Thus it can be established that there is a definitive gap in access to higher
education. The following sections detail the main challenges which Saudi Arabia
currently face in order to implement strategies which improve access to higher
education.
Relevance of the study
Education has been represented as a drive to speed up
the alterations, improvement and advancement and it is responsible for ‘‘a
radical revision of education systems in Arab countries” (United Nations
Development Program’s Arab Human Development Report, 2002). This report
represents the deprived value as ‘‘the Achilles heel of education in the Arab
world”. This article also insists to implement the remedies like ‘‘enhancing
human capabilities, creating strong synergy between education and the
socio-economic system, and formulating a programme for education reform at
the pan-Arab level.” Though there is an elevated proportion of spending on
education, many of the higher education institutes are running out of money.
There is a relationship between the inadequate facilities in the higher
education institutes of Saudi Arabia and restricted expenditures of government.
As the country is found to have one of the largest youth population and
because of the enduring technical rebellion around the globe the problems in
higher education are becoming worse. As the number of youngsters is high, the
necessity to focus on higher studies is also high.
Challenges faced in identifying access to higher education Quality
Over the years it is observed that a large number of
students who have identified the need to enter the higher education system have
faced a large amount of pressure. This is because the system is absorbing a
large number of students into their folds when compared to the previous decade.
This has therefore resulted in increasing pressure across all universities
across the country to focus on improving the number of seats available. However
this had strained the availability of resources for focusing on measures
related to promotion of quality. There has been effort made which help in
improving the overall rates of higher education enrollment there is a big gap
in the development of life skills among personnel. Hence one big challenge
which needs to be acknowledged and dealt with in terms of promotion of
strategies is to identify measures which help in increasing the quality of
education which when compared to standards at an international level are not up
to the mark.
The large number of students who
have sought entry into the tertiary system in the last decade has put
incredible pressure on higher education systems across the region. Efforts to
absorb these students and to widen overall access have strained government resources
and led to a focus on expanding quantity rather than quality. Despite
successful efforts to increase higher education enrollment, enrollment ratios
are still low in Saudi, and the regional average is still low by international
standards.
There is a great deal of need for better information
with regards to the actual process which happens in education. This involves
identifying possible methods of data collection by which information from
different institutions across the country is collected. This involves starting
and identifying possible profiles of students who are graduating in a manner
that progress can be assessed. There should also be measures implemented in
order to benchmark the results which are arrived at. These results should be
taken into account when future education strategies are implemented and arrived
while promoting higher education.
The second aspect which needs to be concentrated on
is identifying strategic measures to improve the method of evaluation among
universities. When higher education is considered it can be seen that
monitoring and evaluation of higher education should be presented in a manner
that outcome measures can be identified. It is important for faculty to be
evaluated by peers as well as students.
The most important challenge which institutions would
face is to identify the possible impact quality would have on cost. If the
higher education providing institutions are public institutions then
governmental funding becomes vital to promote internal quality assurance.
Governance
One challenge which prevents
access to higher education is related to structures of governance. The higher
education institutions in this country are run as extensions of governmental
organizations. There is lack of autonomy and transparency in educational
institutions in the country. The governance measures associated with regulation
of public sector institutions is found to highly rigid in nature. This makes it
difficult for universities to present measures which respond to the needs of students,
faculties as well as those desiring access to higher education.
Another problem associated with implementing better
access to higher education is related to lack of measures to implement changes.
The government run bureaucracies are in control of instructional and curriculum
design, increasing the availability of seats, teacher certification,
examination patterns and approving new degrees.
Opportunities in the job market:
Perhaps the biggest challenge any country faces
identifies with possible outcomes of the higher education. It is well
established that the linkage between higher education access and the subsequent
availability of possible employment in the local employment market is very
important. Despite the growing attention given in Arab higher education system
on importance of relevance of education in improving real life skills and
knowledge and research to be implemented in labour market, there is still a
gap. If this challenge is addressed then it becomes possible to ensure access
to more students who are willing to wait to get into better jobs.
Strategies to improve access to higher education:
Strategies to improve faculty:
Traditional faculty roles are shifting or ‘‘unbundling’’
There is huge variation in the task completed by the
faculty of modern world and professors of past years. Instead of assigning the
task to particular person or employee, the universities are attempting to
segment the task to certain specialized groups or team (Paulson, 2002). The
process of segmentation of employees or labor makes use of non tenure track in
order to determine the positions in different methods. Generally graduates are
determined to occupy the position and in some cases undergraduate assistants
enabling the highly trained faculty to increase their focus on areas of
research (Paulson, 2002). In order to satisfy the responsibility of their
roles, distance education faculty are considered to be involved with
instructional designers, assistants, technologists, graphic and media artists,
and other faculty (Miller, 2001). Hence the professors should be able to
adapt to a more industrialized, educational model. If this happens there is
availability of greater number of qualified personnel to teach making it easier
for universities to increase the number of seats available.
The need for faculty development, support, and training is growing
In order to promote access to higher education there
is a need for faculty development, support and training. The adaptation from a
traditional to a modernized instructional method would definitely promote ease
of access. Therefore it is vital for faculty to identify and develop new
competencies. This can be carried out by ensuring that there is extensive and
continuous training. One effective measure in this regard would be the
integration of technology with the instructions presented. Green (2002)
identified that the promotion of strategic education access to students is
strongly dependent on the integration of technology into instructional design.
He further adds that this is the largest disadvantage which is currently faced
by different universities.
Another study by the Educause Current Issues
Committee (2003) identified that to improve the degree of education and the
accessibility of students faculty support is vital. The support and training of
faculty in IT related issues was found to be one of the highest strategic
concerns for universities. There has been reluctance among faculty in a number
of regions across the world with regards to use of these modern tools. Dasher-Alston
and Patton (1998) identified that most faculty in developing and developed
regions across the world preferred methods of teaching involving traditional
face to face measures. This has made a number of them feel distance education
training is unnecessary. This is not true. Today if better access needs to be
provided to more number of students for higher education modern day tools and
technologies need to promote in order to reach students in remote corners of
the country.
Campus strategies
The following strategies can be adopted to promote
better access to higher education:
• Academic/Instructional
strategies: A number of academic strategies can be promoted by using measures
promoting peer tutoring and mentoring. Apart from this the colleges can make an
effort to present educational coaching by promoting implementation of universal
design for learning. It is also important to provide support in the form of
advisory functions related to the product. It is also vital to present measures
to share information using databases which would help promote better
professional development (Hart & Grigal, 2010).
• Employment/Career
strategies: This is an important strategic maneuver to be adopted. When
students are aware that practicum and internships are available it would raise
awareness of available career options and will also ensure that students are
willing to present better efforts towards improving their grades. There should
be a system maintained which presents access and roles for employers, business
leaders and others in the business arena (Hart & Grigal, 2010).
• Social
Strategies: This revolves around identification of measures to inform existing
students and potential students about information on campus clubs and social
activities. This will motivate students to join universities to gain the
experience (Rose & Meyer, 2002). There should also be promotion of students
to serve in leadership positions in clubs and organizations. These students can
then make academic outreach programs and arrive at possible measures to invite
diverse range of students to participate in academic programs.
• Transitional
program related strategies: For academically challenged students who enter the
university there should be promotion of transitional programs. These programs
will ensure that the students do not feel out of place at universities. This
should be presented in a social and academically integrated manner (Zeff,
2007). It should also be done by providing students with possible choice of
enrollment in classes which are organized at time which enables them to work.
The presence of possible methods like presentation of educational support by
including universal course design, academic and social mentoring and peer
tutoring will help in facilitation of student retention and advancement (Thoma
et al.، 2009).
Conclusion
Hence from the discussion one can arrive at the
conclusion that there is a need for greater autonomy and independence among
institutions to react more rapidly and effectively to demands of the market and
enhance new and strategic thinking that are important to high quality
institutions. Limited public policies and management practices suppress
autonomous thinking and limit the significant involvement of higher education
to the public. Systematic factors involve public policy and governance issues.
When these are considered together with assessment, accreditation and
regulation, and facilitation of quality and access to higher education reform
efforts can be increased or obstructed by how governments support policies to
present better access.
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