Higher Education in Mauritius since 1968: Impressive

progress, impending challenges

A Mooznah Auleear Owodally University of Mauritius

June 2016

Education in Mauritius

The Mauritian Education System Modelled after the British education system:

2 years: Pre-school education 6 years: Primary school education 7 years: Secondary school education Post-secondary education in tertiary education

institutions: Academic Technical

Education: Compulsory till age of 16 In principle, education is free (with free transport):

Government pre-primary, primary and secondary schools are free

Fees for publicly-funded TEI varies from TEI to TEI

Enrolment figures: March 2011 and March 2015

March 2011 March 2015

Pre-school 33 901 29 832

Primary school 116 068 103 642

Secondary: General

115 289 114 311

Tertiary education

44 334 50 608

Expenditure Total Budget on Education

% to Tertiary Education

Institutions

Year 2013 Rs 104 784m 5%

Year 2014 Rs 113 712m 6%

July 2015 - 2016 Rs 120 645 m 8%

Higher Education Landscape

Higher Education Landscape Significant transformation of TEI since

independence 1968: one TEI – the University of Mauritius 2016: 10 publicly funded TEIs and around 55 privately

funded TEIs Year 2000

Government vision to develop Mauritius into a Knowledge Hub

“The objective of having one graduate per family by 2020 fits with the philosophy of the government to democratise access to tertiary education and significantly raise the gross tertiary enrolment rate.” (The Minister of Education, 2011, http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20111001152158418)

Publicly-funded TEIs These are:

The University of Mauritius (set up in 1965 as a developmental university)

The University of Technology (set up in 2000) The Mauritius Institute of Education (set up in 1973) The Mahatma Gandhi Institute (inaugurated in 1976) The Rabindranath Tagore Institute (set up in 2002) Open University of Mauritius (set up in 2012) Université de Mascareignes (set up in 2012) The Mauritius Institute of Training and Development (operational in

2009) Mauritius Institute of Health (established in 1989) The Fashion and Design Institute(launched in 2009)

Public funded TEIs offer accounted for some 440 programmes in 2012 (http://tec.intnet.mu/review)

TEC allocates funds to these TEIs Funds are released in accordance with terms and conditions of the

Financial Memorandum signed between the TEC and each of the TEIs

Private TEIs Around 55 institutions (http://tec.intnet.mu/review)

Examples: Amity Global Business School, Rushmore Ltd, Surrey Management & Business School Ltd

Most of them offer programmes, mostly part-time, under franchise agreement with overseas institutions (Mohamedbhai, 2011) using a variety of mode (face-to-face and/or distance learning)

Exams are, in general, conducted by the MES Private TEIs offer accounted for some 338

programmes in 2012 (http://tec.intnet.mu/review) Three of them have a strong regional/international

focus: The SSR Medical School The Mauras College of Dentistry The Institut de la Francophonie pour L’Entrepreneuriat

The Regulatory Framework The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is

responsible for: Fostering, planning, developing and coordinating public

TEIs Allocating government funds to public TEIs

Through the Quality Assurance and Accreditation Division (QAAD), TEC is responsible (since 2005) for: Implementing a regulatory framework for ensuring quality

of post-secondary education Registering of private institutions, accreditation of

programmes and regularly paying quality assurance visits Determining recognition and equivalence of post-

secondary qualifications

The Regulatory Framework Regulatory framework

Need for a regulatory framework with the rapid growth of private TEIs since 2000

The aim of the regulatory framework: to help TEIs adapt to changing knowledge environment

In line with the vision and mission of TEC which is to position Mauritius in the region as a world-class knowledge hub and the gateway for post secondary education.

Regulatory framework comprises, among others, of: Guidelines for the establishment and registration of post-

secondary educational institutions, Criteria and guidelines for quality assurance and

accreditation Criteria for awarding status and the grant of university title Criteria for setting up of degree awarding institutions

Qualifications Framework Mauritius Qualifications Authority

Set up in 2001 under the Ministry of Training and HRCD

Aims of the MQA Develop, implement and maintain the National

Qualifications Framework Ensure compliance with provisions for registration

and accreditation of training institutions Ensure that standards and registered

qualifications are internationally comparable Recognise and validate competencies acquired

outside the formal education and training systems

Qualifications Framework Under its Quality Assurance Services,:

Registration and accreditation of Training Institutions Monitoring and evaluation of training institutions Accreditation of award programmes Approval of non-award courses Update of databases with regard to training institutions

and trainers Policies in relation to regulation of training

Registration of Managers Registration of Programme Officers Registration of Trainers

Comments In the past 5 years,

an decrease in the number of students enrolled in pre-primary, primary and secondary schools

an increase in the number of students enrolled in the tertiary education sector

an increase in the budget allocated to tertiary education institutions

In the past 15 years, A growth in the number of TEIs – and that especially after the year 2000 A growing variety of courses being offered to students in both publicly

funded and private TEIs Increased flexibility in access to courses – part time courses, mixed

mode delivery (face to face and online) Internationalisation of Higher Education

Franchised institutions International students in some TEIs (eg. SSR Meical school)

Comments This reveals

increased access to post-secondary education more choice at the level of institutions available (publicly-

funded, private) more choice at the level courses locally available (nearly 800

courses) post-secondary education is less and less the privilege for

the social and economic elites post-secondary education is more and more accessible to the

people democratisation of access to post-secondary education

This might be related to the ‘one-graduate per family by 2020’ governmental action/mission in 2011.

Comments With a significant increase in the number of TEIs

(from one in 1968 to almost 65 in 2016), and a peak at the turn of the century, Government has intervened to regulate the tertiary

education sector Regulating in terms of the setting up of TEC and MQA

Some overlap between the two Regulating in terms of criteria and guidelines Regulating in terms of quality assurance procedures

Documents show that the wheel of administrative paperwork is in place What about reality? The practice of it?

Conclusion The post-secondary education sector has come a

long way since independence

However, hasn’t the expansion of the tertiary education sector

been too rapid and too drastic – competition amongst local TEIs on a limited market?

will the expansion of the TEIs survive the decreasing number of Mauritian children entering the education system?

will the local TEIs be competitive enough to attract international students, despite its regulatory framework?

will the expanded TEIs survive the test of time?

Reference List Mauritius Qualifications Authority,

http://www.mqa.mu/English/Pages/default.aspx Mohamedbhai, G. (2011). Internationalisation

of Tertiary Education in Mauritius – Current state, future plans and challenges. http://tec.intnet.mu/pdf_downloads/confpaper/conference2011/confpaper3.pdf

Statistics, Mauritius, Education, http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/English/StatsbySubj/Pages/Education.aspx

Tertiary Education Commission, Mauritius, http://tec.intnet.mu/