在高等教育上尋求合作的可能

By Hilda Agyepong Asante 譯/史聰一 王梓寧

在高等教育上尋求合作的可能

By Hilda Agyepong Asante 譯/史聰一 王梓寧

POSSIBILITIES OF COLLABORATION IN HIGHER EDUCATION

本文作者Hilda Agyepong Asante

2015年5月12日到6月1日，中國政府發(fā)起了一屆為期三周，由商務(wù)部主辦關(guān)于“引進外國專業(yè)知識和發(fā)展全球?qū)I(yè)人才”的研討會，由國家外國專家局組織承辦。該研討會面向來自厄瓜多爾、埃及、埃塞俄比亞、加納、馬拉維、斯里蘭卡、東帝汶以及蘇丹等8個發(fā)展中國家的政府官員。會議在北京外國專家大廈舉辦，此外還在杭州有一周的會議時間。會議主題是“分享經(jīng)驗，促進交流”。主要目的是培訓(xùn)人才，支持和促進技術(shù)轉(zhuǎn)讓，為專業(yè)知識共享創(chuàng)造條件，為參會國家的文化交流提供機會。與會代表共計23人，這些代表，包括我在內(nèi)，都可以充分地交流想法，互相學(xué)習(xí)。

作為加納來華代表團的成員之一，這是我首次來到中國。在亞洲國家中，中國在基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施、技術(shù)和教育上的高度發(fā)展給我留下了深刻印象。在來中國前，我閱讀了有關(guān)中國的書籍，但是親歷中國

討會，聯(lián)合研究項目、書籍和論文的聯(lián)合出版、課程和項目的國際化等。杭州師范大學(xué)的留學(xué)生來自亞洲、歐洲、美洲、非洲和大洋洲，且數(shù)量驚人。

The three-week seminar on ‘introducing foreign expertise and global professionals development’ was organised by the State Administration of Foreign Experts Affairs (SAFEA) and sponsored by the Government of the People’s Republic of China through the Ministry of Commerce for government officials of eight developing countries namely: Ecuador, Egypt, Ethiopia, Ghana, Malawi, Sri Lanka, East Timor, and Sudan. It was held from May 12, 2015 to June 1, 2015 at the Foreign Experts Building in Beijing and there was also about a week’s stay in Hangzhou. The seminar was on the theme ‘’sharing experiences and promoting exchanges”. The main objectives of the seminar were: to train talents; step up efforts to support the transfer of technology; create opportunity for sharing of professional experience and opportunity for cultural exchange among countries. It was attended by twenty three delegates. We the delegates had a great opportunity to exchange ideas and to learn from each other.

Being one of the delegates from Ghana and a first time visitor to China and for that matter Asia I was so impressed with China’s high level of infrastructural, technological and educational development. I had read about China before the trip but experiencing China was beyond what Iimagined it to be. I was particularly impressed and also thought of areas of possible collaboration between China and the other developing countries. I work at the National Council for Tertiary Education, an agency of the Ministry of Education in Ghana, and the body that oversees the administration of tertiary education in Ghana and therefore thought of areas of possible collaboration between tertiary institutions in China and those from other developing countries. Higher education or tertiary education is formal learning that occurs after secondary education. It is one of the soundest investments any country can make because it provides the most cost effective and equitable strategies for long-term sustainable development. It generates the human capital for leadership and management and equips people with the knowledge and skills they need to gain employment, increase their incomes, and contribute to the socio-economic development of the country. Higher education offers an opportunity for people to escape ignorance, poverty and deprivation. The importance of higher education in development was emphasized by the Havana Declaration in 1996 when it noted, among others, that: ‘…without adequate education and research institutions, developing countries would be less able to adopt and apply the most recent developments or make contributions to their own development and close up the gap between them and the industrialized countries’ (IAUP 1999).

In China higher education is growing rapidly. There are over 2,000 universities and colleges with more than six million enrollments. China has set up a degree system, including Bachelors, Masters and Doctoral degrees that are also open to foreign students. China also offers non-degree programmes. According to the Ministry of Education of the People’s Republic of China, the government authority on all matters pertaining to education and language, higher education in China has played a significant part in economic growth, scientific progress and social development in the country “by bringing up large scale of advanced talents and experts for the construction of socialist modernization.” As of 2013, China has also become the most popular country in Asia for International students and ranks third among countries in the world. Developing countries have a lot to learn from China.

To be competitive in the modern world China is continuously investing in innovative talents and has various models in the pipeline for the future. China invests in its human resource by investing in foreign talents and combines talents both locally and internationally advanced ones for best results. It introduces high level expertise in all key sectors to meet international standards. An institution like Hangzhou Normal University is a fast growing comprehensive university with remarkable research strength today because it is active in internationalization and undertakes several forms of international exchanges and cooperation. The forms of international exchanges and cooperation that the Hangzhou Normal University undertakes include faculty and students exchanges; joint degree programmes; domestic students study-abroad programmes; international students’ education; international conferences, seminars and workshops; joint research; joint publication of books and papers; and internationalization of courses and programmes. The University has an impressive number of students from Asia, Europe, America, Africa and Oceania.

In Ghana, the tertiary education level consists of 10 universities, 10 polytechnics, 38 colleges of education and 3 specialised institutions offering courses leading to the award of diplomas and degrees. The enrollment figure is around three hundred thousand (NCTE, 2014). Ghana offers nondegree programmes too. The National Council for Tertiary Education (NCTE) was established by Act 454 of the Parliament of the Republic of Ghana in 1993 as the apex supervisory body for tertiary education. The vision of the NCTE is, “Leading tertiary education to greater heights”. As its mission, “the National Council for Tertiary Education is committed to providing leadership in tertiary education by advising government and all relevant institutions to enhance access, quality, equity, relevance and governance”. There are other supervisory institutions in Ghana established by legal instruments to collaborate with the National Council for Tertiary Education to coordinate and support the tertiary education institutions.

在加納，提供畢業(yè)文憑和學(xué)位的高等教育教學(xué)單位包括10所大學(xué)、10所理工學(xué)院、38所教育學(xué)院和3所專業(yè)機構(gòu)。入學(xué)人數(shù)大概30萬左右。加納同樣也有進修課程。加納共和國議會在1993年通過了454法案，建立了國家高等教育委員會（NCTE），這是高等教育的最高監(jiān)督單位。NCTE的目標是“引領(lǐng)高等教育走向更高”。國家高等教育委員會的使命是“作為領(lǐng)導(dǎo)者，促使政府和相關(guān)機構(gòu)加強高等教育的入學(xué)率、質(zhì)量、公平性、實用性和管理”。在加納，法律文獻還規(guī)定一些和國家高等教育委員會共同協(xié)調(diào)和支持高等教育單位的監(jiān)督機構(gòu)。

加納和大多數(shù)發(fā)展中國家一樣，有關(guān)高等教育的一些重要問題，需要相關(guān)國家的關(guān)注和合作，這些問題包括：

·缺乏合格的申請人

在20世紀50年代早期，加納的高等教育尚在建立時期，學(xué)生數(shù)量很少?，F(xiàn)在情況大不一樣。當代社會對高等教育的要求大大增加，但是高等教育在基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè)上卻沒有相應(yīng)的增加。小學(xué)和中學(xué)教育的入學(xué)率大大增加，但公共機構(gòu)卻無法進行良好的管理。這使得在加納私人的高等教育機構(gòu)在近年來飛速增長。

為了解決這一問題，國家高等教育委員會（NCTE）鼓勵加納高等教育機構(gòu)同世界其他機構(gòu)共同合作，提升高等教育的入學(xué)人數(shù)。這是一條正確的發(fā)展道路，發(fā)展中國家都應(yīng)和中國開展合作，錄取更多的外國學(xué)生，以促進發(fā)展中國家的高等教育的入學(xué)人數(shù)。

作為對高等教育在傳統(tǒng)校園教育的補充，遠程教育得到了世界范圍內(nèi)的認可。在許多國家，遠程教育都作為正式教育的進一步延伸。在加納，教育部已經(jīng)將通過遠程方式進行高等教育列為一項政策。加納經(jīng)濟中公共部門和私人部門中的勞動階級都很歡迎這項政策。在全球范圍內(nèi)，這種教育模式備受推崇，同時其他發(fā)展中國家也在應(yīng)用這種教育模式，并需要在這個領(lǐng)域繼續(xù)合作，提升高等教育的入學(xué)機會。

·研究與基礎(chǔ)設(shè)施建設(shè)在資金上的短缺

·對高等院校的教學(xué)質(zhì)量進行管理監(jiān)督

·向中國學(xué)習(xí)

發(fā)展中國家的高等院校應(yīng)和中國高校一樣，在教學(xué)國際化的問題上采取積極政策。發(fā)展中國家的大學(xué)和其他院校所面臨的絕大多數(shù)問題，都可以通過教育國際化來解決，但仍有很長的路要走。

The critical issues of the tertiary education sector in Ghana and most developing countries requiring attention and collaboration among nations relate to:

·Limited access to qualified applicants

In the early 1950’s tertiary education in Ghana was in its formative years, and student numbers was low. The situation is different now. There is now an increasing social demand for tertiary education without adequate corresponding increase in physical and academic infrastructure. There is also a high population growth and expanded enrolment at basic and secondary levels which exceeds the capacity of the public institutions to manage. This has resulted in the upsurge in private tertiary education institutions in Ghana in recent years.

To address this issue in Ghana, the NCTE is encouraging collaboration among tertiary institutions in Ghana and other institutions in the world to improve access to tertiary education. This is a move in the right direction and all developing countries need to collaborate with China and each other to admit more foreign students to improve access to tertiary institutions in developing countries.

Distance Education has also been globally acknowledged as a complement to the conventional campus mode of tertiary education. It has been a means by which many countries continue to expand access to formal education. In Ghana, provision of tertiary education through the distance mode has increasingly become a policy of the Ministry of Education. It has also appealed to the working class within both public and private sectors of Ghana’s economy. Globally, this mode of education is being encouraged and developing countries have embraced it and need to collaborate more with each other in this direction to improve access to tertiary education.

·Inadequate funding to support research and infrastructure development

·Regulating and monitoring tertiary institutions to ensure quality education

·Lessons from China

It is about time that tertiary institutions in developing countries undertake aggressive policies in internationalization as their counterparts in China. Internationalization will go a long way to solve most of the problems being faced by universities and other tertiary institutions in developing countries.