International News

Letter from London

Great expectations dampner

Fresh university graduates — as well as those about to graduate — have been cheered by a recent survey which indicates that graduates are experiencing the best chance of a decade for landing jobs with top corporates. In the Association of Graduate Recruiters summer survey, 235 of the association’s 680 members posted a 16.7 percent increase in vacancies, which is good news for this year’s batch of graduates. The association’s membership comprises the largest graduate recruiters among public and private sector companies in the UK.

According to Carl Gilleard, chief executive of the association, employers appreciate the value of fresh graduates. But he sounds a warning note that corporate needs change from time to time, which may require variable approaches to recruitment. Unsurprisingly, computer literacy was the skill most in evidence to employers, but a recurrent grouse is that most graduates lack project management skills, enterprise, leadership and commercial awareness. On the other hand, graduates crib about sky-high expectations. Grumbles a graduate interviewee: "Employers seem to want amazing people who are trilingual, can do quadratic equations and have every soft skill under the sun. Employers need to come down to earth and recognise that a university degree is proof of potential to learn. They need to be willing to invest in us to teach us the rest."

However Bill Rammel, the higher education minister, made the most of the good news on the employment front saying that the survey is evidence of the need to increase university enrollment. "It is vital to our economy that we continue to strive towards a target of 50 percent participation in higher education. Other countries have already exceeded this and we have to match them if we are to maintain our economic competitiveness."

Despite this ministerial optimism, the fact is that many employers insist that graduates lack key skills, while students accuse recruiters of ignoring work-life balance. Margaret Danes, chief executive of AGCAS (Association of Graduate Careers Advisory Services) believes the solution is for employers to provide more opportunities for work experience. "Corporate managements need to equip graduates with the commercial awareness they complain they lack. I don’t mean to be belligerent, but it really is only employers who can provide that," she says.

Surely this mismatch in expectations isn’t beyond resolution. According to Carl Gilleard graduates themselves need "more patience" and should "give employers a chance", rather than put in their papers at the first opportunity when a job does not turn out as they imagined. Both employers and graduate employees can learn from each other in the current positive environment.

(Jacqueline Thomas is a London-based academic)

Rising popularity of AP courses

Increasing numbers of us youngsters are enrolling in university-level classes while still in high school to save time and tuition fees later. The government proposes to take advantage of this situation to improve the nation’s international standings in maths and science.

The number of high school students who chose to take advanced placement (AP) courses, followed by proficiency exams, rose nearly 11 percent last year, according to the private organisation that administers the tests. AP credits earned in high school can contribute towards university credits that will spare students costly college introductory classes in the same subjects. AP students are also likely to graduate more quickly. Some universities grant as much as a full year of credits to students who earn qualifying grades on a number of AP tests.

Whatever their motives, US high school students who take the AP courses in maths and science do better in these subjects in general than students in any other nation, research has found. They are also more likely to choose careers in science, technology, engineering and mathematics than students who do not take AP courses in high school. Yet America’s ranking in these fields continues to decline.

President George W. Bush, as part of his competitiveness initiative, proposes training an additional 70,000 teachers at a cost of $122 million (Rs.549 crore) a year to direct AP courses in maths and science — especially in schools that serve students from low-income families.

Margaret Spellings, the education secretary, says there is a glaring disparity between rich and poor schools in the availability of university-level classes. High schools in wealthy Washington suburbs might offer more than 20 elective AP courses each, she says, while an inner-city school in the capital had only four. In all, about 14 percent of US students — 1.2 million — take AP exams. "Our challenge today is that nearly 40 percent of high schools offer no AP classes. And that must change," says Spellings.

The education department’s proposed new university tuition-grant programme meant to help academically gifted children from poor families requires these students to take at least two AP courses, among other criteria. "While we’re sleeping every night, accountants in India do our taxes; radiologists in Australia read our Cat scans; and technicians in China build our computers," Spellings told Congress recently. "As other nations race to catch up, there is mounting evidence that US students are falling behind."

Desperate demand for government jobs

Desperate Moroccan graduates have threatened to commit suicide en masse to force the government to find them jobs in the public sector. Groups representing unemployed graduates talk of their "collective suffering" and say that "martyrdom" remains an option. They believe that the denial of their "right" to a job in the public sector makes them objects of contempt.

In December 2005, six unemployed graduates belonging to the radical Groupe des Detenteurs de Lettres Royales tried to burn themselves alive. None was seriously hurt but the public was horrified by pictures of the incident.

In the past, the government attempted to solve the problem by offering jobs. But the more posts the then socialist government, led by Abderrahmane Youssoufi, made available, the more fervent those still out of work became.

In 1991, the government attempted to encourage the private sector to recruit graduates (at modest salaries) by offering tax breaks. At nearly 27 percent, graduate unemployment in Morocco is well above the 11.8 percent national average. The main cause is the wide gap between the programmes taught at university and the needs of local employers and industry.

On an almost daily basis, the militants organise sit-ins in front of the parliament building in Rabat. "We simply want the government to honour its commitments," they say in reference to a written promise previously signed by the ministry of employment.

Unqualified teachers scare

A new study has revealed that most 14 to 16-year-olds are being taught key subjects by unqualified teachers. In mathematics and English, on average, more than half of all teachers either do not have an accredited teacher-training certificate or the competence to teach their subject. In some parts of the country more than 80 percent do not have the required qualifications.

The study, conducted by Statistics Sweden, was commissioned by two teachers’ unions after doubts arose about the validity of the Swedish National Agency for Education’s claim that 84 percent of all teachers working in state schools are fully qualified. The government-funded agency study did not take into account those teachers who taught subjects outside their area of competence.

The biggest shortcomings are to be found in sciences and maths with only 56 percent of teachers fully qualified compared to 65 percent working in the humanities and social sciences. The study also reveals that Sweden’s state-funded independent schools are not doing enough to recruit qualified staff. On average almost one in three teachers in the independent sector lacks teacher training or formal education in the subject she teaches.

Comment Eva-Lis Preisz, chair of the Swedish Teachers’ Union and Metta Fjelkner, chair of the National Union of Teachers: "Our European colleagues will be appalled. Both state and independent schools are systematically breaking the law." Preisz and Fjelkner are calling for inspectors to take immediate action to safeguard the interests of pupils.

In comparative tests in 2003, Sweden came fifth in literacy, but its pupils performed just above the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development average in maths, coming 10th, and the country fell to 14th in science.

PTAs celebrate golden jubilee

Fifty years ago, the UK Parent Teachers’ Association was set up to support parents who were helping out in schools — from serving tea and coffee at evening events to funding the school mini-bus.

In early June what is now known as the National Confederation of Parent Teacher Associations (NCPTA) celebrated its half-century at Buckingham Palace in a ceremony hosted by the Duke of Edinburgh, a former president of the organisation. It has come a long way since 1956, when it was set up by an enterprising teacher with just a handful of members.

Today, the NCPTA has 13,000 member associations, a head office in Sevenoaks, Kent and six regional offices. It has a small full-time staff and its services include training and advice on fund-raising and legal matters. It has also carved out a role as the collective voice of parents of school-aged children.

But the organisation is wary of overstating the power of parents. "The one thing that upsets the relationship between us and teachers is when people talk about parent power," says Margaret Morrissey, an NCPTA spokeswoman who has been with the organisation for 25 years. "We have respect for our teachers — they are the experts. We always say to our associations that you need to be sure that you’re being helpful — and whether what you are proposing is going to be a benefit to the school."

For the first time, the organisation has given awards of £1,000 (Rs.85,000) to parents who have gone the extra mile and made a radical difference to the life of their schools. Winners of the Gold Star awards range from parents who saved a Welsh secondary from closure to those who set up breakfast and after-school clubs at a Plymouth primary.

A further 10 awards of £2,000 (Rs.170,000) have gone to schools that devised projects for greater parental involvement. Researchers at Warwick University will evaluate the impact of the projects on pupil attainment. "We know parental involvement is a — if not the — major contributor to pupil achievement and attainment," says Alma Harris, director of Warwick University’s institute of education. "This is one of the most important things you could invest time in. Just involving them in peripheral activities is not a great use of time. Parents get very unhappy with marginal involvement. Getting them involved in something very specific related to teaching and learning is a good use of time."

The awards have shown just how much PTAs contribute to schools. Yet even after 50 years, 20 percent of schools still have no PTA, and some heads are still hostile to the idea of parents’ involvement. "Some schools see parental involvement as a nuisance, but carefully guided involvement can have a massive impact on a school’s achievement," says Harris. "If schools were to recognise the extent to which simply involving parents more in meaningful activities could significantly contribute to achievement and attainment, they would look much more seriously at this."

Demand for national school system

Chilean secondary pupils say they have won "a huge victory" after their month-long campaign of strikes, sit-ins and violent demonstrations led to the government promising free school bus passes, free university entrance exams and reforms to the education system.

A total of 800,000 students in the country took part in the "penguin rebellion", the biggest pupil protests ever seen in Chile, named after their striking blue uniforms. During the demonstrations, more than 1,000 teenagers were arrested and dozens were injured by police armed with water cannon and tear gas. Aside from free bus passes and free entrance exams for all, the students were demanding a uniform national education system to ensure all schools are fairly funded. Currently there are wide disparities between the country’s 13 provinces.

But the students called off their strikes when the government agreed to free bus passes for the most needy pupils and free university entrance exams for around 80 percent of annual applicants. It will also set up a presidential advisory council for education to examine replacing the educational system — currently split between the 13 provinces — with a unified one.

High-school students will take six of 75 places on the advisory council, which includes many leading academics and educationists. The government will also provide free lunches and meals to 770,000 students by 2007, compared with 500,000 this year.

Pupils currently have to pay 12 p (Rs.10) a day for school transport and £23 (Rs.1,955) to take university entrance exams. The pupils were joined in their protests by 200,000 university students.

Return of retired faculty

Many of Nigeria’s retired academics are going back into the lecture theatre because of faculty shortages in the increasing number of private universities. Since private institutions were legalised in1993, the number of universities has risen from 47 to 76. But the brain drain of academics heading overseas continued.

Although the National Universities Commission has instructed the first-generation universities at Ibadan, Ile-Ife, Lagos, Benin City, Zaria and Enugu to concentrate on producing doctorates to fill academic positions, the effort does not seem to be having any significant impact. Together they produced 500 doctorates last year. The shortage of potential staff with doctorates meant universities had to entice retired professors back to campus.

At the private, not-for-profit Igbinedion University in Benin City, 12 professors have been lured out of retirement by its owner. Oyin Ogunab, who retired from the federal Obafemi Awolowo University aged 74, is now at the Olabise Onabanjo University in Ogun State, where he is helping the 23-year-old university to set up an English studies department. Fola Lasisi retired as vice-chancellor of the University of Uyo but was recruited by Prince Bola Ajibola, Nigeria’s former attorney-general and now proprietor of the Crescent University, to run the first Islamic university in the south of Nigeria.

Recently retired Akinjide Osuntokun, one of the founding fathers of the history department at the University of Lagos, joined the Redeemers’ University as dean of the faculty of humanities. The university is run by the Redeemed Christian Church of God.

Most professors at the Lagos State University College of Medicine (Lasucom) have been lured out of retirement. One of them, Henry Adewoye, left Unilorin in 1987 for Saudi Arabia, where he spent nine years before he returned to Lasucom as head of clinical pathology. "You cannot wish away experience in the teaching profession in universities," he says. "Before the National Universities Commission or professional associations such as the Nigerian Medical Association can give a university the go-ahead to run programmes in medicine, the academic staff list must be rich in renowned experts in various fields of medicine, otherwise the medical school won’t be accredited," he warns.

Status of Afrikaans row

Thirty years after the student uprising in Soweto, South Africa’s academics are hotly debating the issue that sparked the revolt — the use of Afrikaans as a medium of instruction. The uprising, which began on June 16, ultimately forced the apartheid government to back down over plans to require black schools to teach Afrikaans.

Afrikaans, which is widely viewed as the language of the oppressors, is a live issue at Stellenbosch University, a mostly Afrikaans-language institution that was once the intellectual hub of apartheid. Stellenbosch is now one of South Africa’s top research universities, and its own taaldebat (language debate) has pitted academics against alumni.

The university’s convocation has made a submission for a review of language policy at the university in support of a longstanding demand that all students and academics be compelled to become proficient in Afrikaans. Its proposals would require all students to take a proficiency test in Afrikaans or to follow language courses in Afrikaans and English. Lecturers who lacked language proficiency would have to take courses to enable them to "deal with both languages equally".

Chris Brink, the vice-chancellor, believes that the move would be exclusionary and would jeopardise the university’s academic goals. He argues that demanding Afrikaans proficiency would drastically reduce the university’s thousands-strong core of postgraduate and international students, many of whom operate in English. Moreover such a move would force the university to shed top research staff and to break contracts involving, for example, the South African military and key research and donor bodies.

In his most recent book, No Lesser Place — The Taaldebat at Stellenbosch, Brink explores the language debate, which he argues has been driven by a movement to rebuild Afrikaner identity. He says Afrikaans is the focus of a campaign to maintain the "higher functions" of Afrikaans and that the main battleground is in higher education — especially at Stellenbosch, which is in the heart of Afrikanerland. The book had with "notable exceptions, a very hostile reception in the Afrikaans press" and electronic publications such as Die Vrye Afrikaan (The Free African).

Brink suggests that most South Africans are unaware of the debate because it is being conducted exclusively in Afrikaans and that the discussions are overshadowed by a debate about identity when "Afrikaner nationalism is taking shape again".

He concludes that Stellenbosch should continue to use Afrikaans as a medium of instruction if the academic community decides freely to do so, but not as an obligation determined by history, Afrikanerdom or the state. He says it is not "the business of Stellenbosch University to save Afrikaans".

Rising tuition fees deterrent

Higher tuition fees and fears of incurring large debts could be deterring Australians from going to university. Figures from the Australian Vice-Chancellors Committee (AVCC), which met in early June, show that the number of Australians applying for a university place has fallen for the third consecutive year. Universities received nearly 220,000 applications for places this year, down by more than 3,000 in 2005 after falling sharply the year before.

But although more than 14,000 students failed to merit entry, this was less than half the number who missed out in 2004. While the Conservative coalition government and the vice-chancellors said the figures were good news because they meant fewer students are missing out, the opposition says the government’s decision to allow universities to increase Higher Education Contribution Scheme (Hecs) fees is driving students away. Jenny Macklin the opposition education spokeswoman says the figures are further evidence of the discouraging effects of the Howard government’s Hecs rise. "Students are being discouraged from applying to universities at a time of a national skills shortage," she says adding that the government has failed to create enough places for teachers, nurses and engineers, even as schools, hospitals and businesses need more qualified staff.

Under the Hecs scheme, students can defer paying tuition costs until they graduate and are earning more than A$35,000 (Rs.10.85 lakh) a year. They then begin to repay the debt through a tax surcharge.

Higher Hecs fees and loans for full-fee students have pushed the amount owed by students and graduates to more than A$11 billion (Rs.3,410 crore). The National Union of Students says many graduates will see a substantial portion of their disposable income "disappearing to the tax office" every week for years to come.

(Compiled from Times Educational Supplement and Times Higher Education Supplement)