International education assistance to higher education development in Zambia: Problems, policy implications and future prospects

Sikwibele, Anne Lungowe

Permalink

https://hdl.handle.net/2142/23476 Copy

Description

Title

International education assistance to higher education development in Zambia: Problems, policy implications and future prospects

Author(s)

Sikwibele, Anne Lungowe

Issue Date

1989

Department of Study

Education

Discipline

Education

Degree Granting Institution

University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign

Degree Name

Ph.D.

Degree Level

Dissertation

Keyword(s)

• Education, Finance
• Education, Social Sciences
• Education, Higher

Language

eng

Abstract

• This is a study of international assistance to education from developed to developing countries during the past three decades. The purpose of this study was to analyze and evaluate the role of foreign aid to higher education in developing countries with particular reference to Zambia. The analysis aimed at examining the benefits, problems as well as policy implications and changes in the process of giving and receiving foreign aid. Emphasis was placed on the objectives, functions, consequences of foreign aid, and the best ways to utilize aid, considering the high costs and returns to educational investments in developing countries.
• Pertinent documents were received from donor agencies, government departments and higher education institutions. Conclusions were drawn on various issues related to the role of aid in the development and financing of higher education especially in relation to priorities and policy issues. The findings show that foreign aid has played a substantial role in higher education financing through money expended, technical assistance, fellowships, technology, and other aspects of aid.
• There are however problems associated with receiving and using aid funds due to the unequal relations between donors and recipients. In a country like Zambia, the economy is in crisis compounded by problems like high population growth rates, drop in copper prices (the sole foreign exchange earner), and problems associated with debt servicing. In view of these problems, alternative means of financing higher education are appropriate in order to reduce dependence on aid and to reduce the astronomical unit costs of financing higher education in Zambia. Alternatives include charging user fees, levying an education tax, provision of study loans to qualifying students and other measures aimed at efficient use of resources.
• As far as aid utilization in future is concerned, recommendations were made to make it more effective socially, politically, culturally and economically. Other recommendations include improved coordination, employing qualified Zambians on all foreign aid projects and emphasizing alternative means of financing higher education in order to reduce dependence on foreign aid. The study provides a critical review of aid, but cautions against the tendency to blame foreign aid for all the economic development problems and failures. In analyzing and evaluating the role of foreign aid, the problems, successes and failures should be viewed in relation to the internal structural problems as well as social and economic policies.
• Although most comments and implications in the study refer to the Zambian situation, the author thinks that they are a representative example of the pervasive issues and problems inherent in the aid process. It is therefore concluded that the findings, recommendations and conclusions are in many ways applicable to what one would find in many developing countries implementing a variety of foreign aid projects especially in sub-Saharan Africa.

Type of Resource

text

Permalink

http://hdl.handle.net/2142/23476

Copyright and License Information

Copyright 1989 Sikwibele, Anne Lungowe

Owning Collections