Côte d’Ivoire

Authorities recently shut down universities throughout the country following violent skirmishes between students representing rival political parties. The clashes occurred between supporters of the ruling FPI (Front Populaire Ivoirien and the leading opposition party. Opposition supporters backed Allasane Ouattara’s candidacy in recent parliamentary elections.

— Times Higher Education Supplement
Dec. 15, 2000

Ghana

Ghana faces a serious shortage of nurses. Many hospitals are now equipped with modern medical equipment, but much of it sits idle because not enough nurses are available to staff the machines. The state-operated hospitals used to assign six or seven nurses per shift. Now they have to manage with only three. As a result, many hospital wards are empty, and patients do not get the care they need.

At one time Ghana had plenty of nurses, but more than 500 of them left the country last year to seek better-paying jobs in wealthier nations. The majority of them headed for the United States, Britain and Australia. In 2000, the number of nurses that left the country was nearly triple the 1999 total. On average, nurses in Ghana make only US$75 a month.

Other countries are losing nurses as well. Many nurses leave Canada each year for the United States, forcing Canadian hospitals to recruit nurses from Britain, which in turn raids Ghana. Likewise, nursing shortages in the Netherlands force hospitals to hire nurses in South Africa, compelling the South Africans to look for replacements in Ghana.

On one hand, the globalization trend has increased the mobility of working professionals, allowing them to secure higher-paying jobs in rich countries. At the same time however, the exodus of nurses is harming healthcare systems in the poorer nations, which already suffer from overcrowded facilities and the AIDS epidemic.

Until recently, rich countries facing nursing shortages only recruited from other wealthy countries. But that has changed since the market for nurses went global and nursing demands have increased worldwide. Now recruiters even target poor countries where nurses are in short supply. The United States is currently experiencing a moderate shortage of nurses, but many predict a full-blown crisis to emerge in the next few years. The U.S. Congress, under pressure from big hospitals and nursing-home chains, is expected to pass new legislation this year that will ease visa restrictions for foreign nurses. According to the American Nurses Association, if these predictions prove correct, the outflow of nurses from poor countries will increase even more.

— The Wall Street Journal
Jan. 24, 2001

Kenya

The University of South Africa (UNISA) recently launched a distance-learning degree program in Kenya, offering courses in economics, management sciences, arts, law, education and theology.

UNISA hopes to enroll between 500 and 700 students by the end of 2001. The South African government has agreed to subsidize more than 60 percent of the program for each student. Average fees are estimated to be US$900 per student each semester. At present, students attending private universities in Kenya generally pay a minimum of US$1,500 per semester.

— EdInvest News
January 2001

South Africa

The word “equality” forms the cornerstone of the Ministry of Education’s ongoing reform initiatives and can be found on all MOE documents: equality in education and examinations, equality between blacks and whites, and equality in teacher qualifications and salaries. Following the 1994 elections, the education system was desegregated on all levels, and the school-starting age for all children was set at seven years.

Among the reforms introduced during the first Mandela government was the Curriculum-2005 program (C-2005), which gained the immediate support of teachers nationwide. Each year, C-2005 surveys one elementary and one secondary school grade to implement the necessary reforms for teacher training and curricula.

Despite the 1994 reform measures, some white-only schools resisted integration. In the most extreme circumstances, teachers and parents of students actually resorted to violence to prevent blacks from enrolling. Other schools took a more discreet approach: raising tuition fees beyond the reach of most blacks. In South Africa, education is not free and, therefore, not mandatory. It is within this context that current Minister of Education Kader Asmal must fight against entrenched inequalities.

After the new government came to power, the number of private schools jumped from 290 in 1995 to 986 by the end of 1999. Many middle-and lower-income white parents chose to have their children take classes on the Internet rather than having them enroll in the newly integrated schools.

Just six years after apartheid, the number of black university students has almost doubled. Today they represent 73 percent of the total enrollment, a ratio that closely matches the total percentage of blacks within the country. Many university administrators and professors complain that the massive enrollment of black students after 1994 has led to the decline of university standards, especially since matriculation requirements were relaxed that year. The Ministry of Education does not dispute these claims but maintains that the changes were necessary to redress the imbalances that existed in the universities.

— Le Monde de l’éducation
January 2001