Serious challenges await higher education in Post-Referendum South Sudan
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By John A. Akec
March 23, 2011 — In post-referendum Sudan, we can be sure of three
things. The Nile water will continue to flow from Uganda in Great
Lakes through the Republic of South Sudan to sustain livelihood in the
North. South Sudan’s oil will continue to economically benefit the two
neighborly countries of the North and the South. North Sudanese nomads
in the border areas will continue to cross into the South in search
for water and pastures for their livestock as they have done for
centuries. However, what kind of relationships will exist between the
higher education institutions in the South and those in the North
remain uncertain. This is in light of recent repatriation of three
main Southern universities (Juba, Upper Nile, and Bahr El Ghazal) to
their original campuses in South Sudan and the reluctance of majority
of students, and Northern academics, who form the greater bulk of
teaching staff in these universities, to relocate with them as the
region prepares itself for independence in July 2011. This situation
is particularly aggravated by the absence of a middle-way formula that
will allow South Sudan universities to continue to benefit from
Northern Sudanese academics while providing job security to the
Northern academics and their families.
As of time of writing, there are 9 public and 16 private universities
in South Sudan. Of 9 public universities, only 5 are functioning while
the remaining 4 are newly instituted and have neither infrastructure
nor capacity to admit students in the near future. Between them, the
functioning 5 Southern universities host over 25,000 regular students,
about 18,000 of which study at University of Juba. Amongst the total
student population, approximately 12,000 are from Northern Sudan.
Moreover, there are about 956 North Sudanese academics in 5 Southern
Universities, of which 451 are based at University of Juba alone where
they form 73% of the estimated 620 academic staff’s total head count
at that university. Nearly 700 Northerners are employed in
administrative, technical, and support roles. In majority of colleges
and schools in Southern universities, the number of Northern academics
average 65% in all universities. In colleges such as veterinary and
medicine, the percentage of Northern academics is higher and may
exceed 90% or reach 100%.
On the other hand, the number of South Sudanese students studying in
Northern universities is 33,000. About 5,000 of these are studying at
Bachelor level; 8,000 are studying for intermediate diploma; while
20,000 are registered on postgraduate and distance education
programmes. In South Sudan, about 30,000 students are sitting
university entrance exams this year and an estimated 30,000 others are
taking the exams in the North. Add to this an approximately 8,000
students sitting equivalent university entrance exams in East Africa,
and the figure will soar to around 70,000 students who will be looking
for university places in fall of 2011.
The Implications for Future of Higher Education in South Sudan
What does all this amount to? Simply put, there are more teaching
staff members from the North in Southern universities than local South
Sudanese academics. There are also more South Sudanese students
studying in Northern universities than North Sudanese studying in the
South. That means, without securing the continuation of North Sudanese
academics at Southern universities in short to medium term, these
universities will struggle to deliver on their mission adequately and
their reopening time may be seriously affected.
Repatriation of three main Southern universities to their bases was
initiated as far as 2002. However, the process has been slow due to
lack of infrastructure (labs, lecture halls, staff and students
residence) and scarcity of funding. The Southern universities received
only meager grants from federal government in form of staff salaries
and operating costs which is hardly sufficient to rebuild the needed
infrastructure. As the referendum approached, the repatriation efforts
intensified in 2009 to reach climax by the end of 2010 when the last
colleges were expected to have repatriated. However, the process was
not smooth as it was not accompanied by provision of needed financial
resources, neither from the federal government nor from the government
of South Sudan. Vice chancellors did their best within the available
limited resources.
The Future of Northern Sudanese Academics and Students in Southern Universities
Until recently, no ready solutions were agreed upon between the
federal government and the government of South Sudan regarding the
future of Northern Sudanese academic staff members and students in
Southern universities after July 2011 when South will become an
independent state. Concerned about the uncertain future of the
Northern Sudanese citizens in Southern universities and after a hard
campaign and lobbying by those affected, the central Ministry of
Higher Education and Scientific Research has recently confirmed that
it is now in advanced planning stage of instituting a new university
to be called the University of Khartoum North (as reported in Al
Sahafa newspaper, 22 March 2011). This university will provide
education for students from the North who are currently registered at
Southern universities as well as provide employment opportunities for
the academic and administrative staff that used to be employed by
Southern universities. At the end of their study, students will be
awarded degrees that bear the names of their mother universities in
the South. A bill is said to have been enacted to form the new
university and applications by students to join the University has
begun in earnest. South Sudanese students who would like to join the
new university are also welcomed, according to the information
received by this author. It is worth noting that what appear as a
significant gain for Northern Sudanese students and academics may be a
loss for South Sudan higher education sector. A win-win solution is
yet to be crafted.
There were proposals earlier on to allow all those colleges of South
Sudanese universities that have no ready facilities to accommodate
students and staff in the South to continue to operate from their
Northern bases and then gradually be phased out by mutual agreement
between the two governments in the South and the North. In the mean
time, any new admissions should start their academic programmes in the
South. The advantage of this solution was that in the next five years
or so, Southern universities will continue to benefit from Northern
academic staff who will continue to commute between campuses in the
North and the South, encouraged by an agreed financial package
(possibly to be shared by two governments). This could be cheaper than
hiring international expatriate staff. This way, the proponents of the
idea believed, the institutions of higher education in South Sudan
could undergo a smoother transition to self-reliance, just as the
North continues to draw benefits from Nile water, South Sudan
pastures, and the export of Southern oil through its soil after South
Sudan’s independence.
However, those proposals were in contradiction with the decision
passed by South Sudan Council of Ministers that obliged all the
colleges of South Sudan universities to complete repatriation by the
end of December 2010, and hence were not pursued by the vice
chancellors. If those proposals were pursued, they would have formed
the basis for determining a viable solution to some of the negative
impacts of secession on higher education institutions in South Sudan.
Moreover, the decision to implement an immediate repatriation of all
the colleges created tensions between the top administrations of these
universities and the Northern academics staff who favored a phased out
approach and a clearer vision about their future in relation to South
Sudan referendum vote outcome which has come out overwhelmingly in
favor of independence. The academic staff from the North had
complained about inadequacy of accommodation provisions for them and
their families in the South, thus justifying their call for finding
alternative solution for their future from their government. Recent
decision by the Chairman of University of Juba Council to relief all
Northern Sudanese deans from their positions helped only to reinforce
the belief amongst North Sudanese academics that they will not fare in
South Sudan universities on the same footing as their Southern
Sudanese colleagues.
In this author’s view, it is not too late for South Sudan government
to review their current hands-off policy on higher education during
the transition to independence. For example, it can negotiate to own
or have stake in the new entity being established in Khartoum North.
This is because if the mountain does not come to the wise, the wise
should go to the mountain, to paraphrase an old adage.
Promises and More Promises in the Land of Great Promises Against this
backdrop, the new Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research
in the government of South Sudan organized a two-day conference
between 18 and 19 February 2011 in order to discuss the challenges and
recommend solutions. The conference was attended by the vice
chancellors of 8 public Southern universities and the minister of
Higher Education and Scientific Research in the federal government.
According to the reports given by the vice chancellors, South Sudan
universities suffer from acute lack of infrastructure, understaffing,
lack of adequate funding, and high dependency on academic staff from
the North. In order to close the huge resource deficit and staffing,
and make a significant impact, the federal minister of Higher
Education, Professor Peter Adwok Nyaba, estimates that the government
of South Sudan needs to pump large sums of money into higher education
institutions that may be in the region of US $ 500 million.
The conference made a number of recommendations that were presented as
a memo signed by vice chancellors of Southern Universities and handed
to the President of the government of South Sudan, Salva Kiir
Mayardit. The recommendations included the request for urgent release
of impounded assets of Southern universities in Khartoum and Kosti,
provision of urgent funds for infrastructure development, and
financial support for newly instituted universities.
The conference was also informed about government’s plans to set up
Higher Education Council in South Sudan as well as South Sudan
Research Council. There was also a mention of the plans to improve pay
structure at Southern universities and to raise the level of funding
in order to improve the quality of education in higher educational
institutions and attract high qualified teaching staff. In addition,
there are plans to set up legal framework and higher education bill
that will regulate public and private institutions of higher education
in the new country. As of time of writing, any real progress on this
front is yet to be reported.
The vice chancellors of 5 operating universities in South Sudan are
planning to reopen their universities in mid-May 2011. It is, however,
unclear if the newly instituted universities will also begin admitting
students any time soon as this depends on timely availability of
resources such as academic staff, lecture halls, labs, and
accommodation.
Concluding Remarks
While there is no reason to doubt the ability of the government of
South Sudan to overcome some of the challenges enumerated above; given
the time left until July, 9th 2011, and the fact that no visible
progress is being made by these universities in areas such as
acquisition of necessary finances for putting up the needed
infrastructure, cast great shadows of uncertainty over the future of
higher education in South Sudan. In addition to securing funding for
building of the infrastructure, plans should be in place to fill in
the gap that will be vacated when academic staff members from North
Sudan pull out of Southern universities and setup their own university
in the North.
It is also worth pointing out that when the future of higher education
should have featured prominently in the frequent negotiations between
the two ruling partners (SPLM and NCP) on post referendum arrangements
on the same par as sharing of oil, Abyei, border demarcation, and Nile
water; it is not even on the agenda and probably has never been the
subject of discussion between the Sudan’s ruling partners. High
education is also not on the list of the 60 important issues
identified for planning by South Sudan 2011 Taskforce Sub-Committee 3:
Preparing the GOSS, under the chairmanship of Dr. Riek Machar, the
Vice President of government of South Sudan. It is possible that a
vital barometer of a successful state has been overlooked, and hence
has not received the attention it rightly deserves; yet this may come
to catch up with the new Republic in a manner akin to that of a city
whose dwellers knew about an impending tsunami and yet chose to do
nothing to fend themselves from its destructive force.
Far from waiting for the storm to hit us unprepared, this situation
demands an urgent action from our political system.
The author is vice chancellor of University of Northern Bahr El Ghazal
in South Sudan, and chairperson of Academics and Researchers Forum for
Development, a think-tank and advocacy group formed by the South
Sudanese academics and researchers. The writer edits a blog:
www.JohnAkecSouthSudan.blogs.... To get in touch, write to:
[email protected].
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