by Rookaya KASENALLY

The last couple of weeks have been rather eventful ? starting with the public outcry concerning the proposed removal of government subsidies on the SC and HSC fees, the deficit faced by the University of Mauritius, the offered resignation of the minister of Finance and culminating in the latter?s decision to stay on in the ?interest of the nation?. This succession of events is rather meaningful as to the state in which our nation is. Those of us who understand or at least make the effort to understand that contemporary Mauritius is faced with a host of problems and a number of challenges, which require every Mauritian citizen to adopt a different mentality/mindset. In fact, as brutal as it may sound, ?no one owes us a living; instead it is high time that we earn our living?. Charles Dickens? opening lines in ?A Tale of Two Cities? offers apt food for thought when he wrote ?it was the best of times, it was the worst of times, it was the age of wisdom, it was the age of foolishness, it was the epoch of belief, it was the epoch of incredulity, it was the season of light, it was the season of darkness, it was the spring of hope, it was the winter of despair, we had everything before us, we had nothing before us.?

As the Mauritian nation celebrates its 39th independence anniversary, it is high time that we all take an introspective journey from where we came, where we are presently and where we wish to go. It is along this perspective that I would like to situate the debate about higher education in Mauritius. Education is viewed as a fundamental right as it can significantly contribute to bettering the livelihood of people, communities and the nation in general.

However, this fundamental right should not be understood or exercised along a one-sided approach but, on the contrary, citizens must be fully aware of their due involvement and responsibility in ensuring that the right to education (in the case of Mauritius, free education) does not become merely an acquired or taken for granted right!

Tertiary education has and will continue to be an important component of the Mauritian developmental model. It is a known fact that the only bankable resource that our small island possesses is its human resources. The idea of turning Mauritius into a knowledge hub was first mooted in the early 1990s but until today with a gross tertiary enrolment rate currently hovering around 19 percent, it is clear that Mauritius is still far from generating the critical mass required of knowledge hubs.

However, I am of those who do not solely measure higher education along quantifiable output but sincerely believe that ?world-class education? is achievable through appropriate qualitative indicators such as developing new epistemologies, innovative pedagogies of teaching and learning and encouraging alternative paradigms of thinking. This is clearly not possible if tertiary education is to remain free.

It is 30 years now that secondary and tertiary education has been free on the island. A decision, which for those of us who remember intervened on the eve of the 1976 general elections polling day! A political decision to ensure victory, which none of the successive governments has dared to touch or even alter in the slightest by ?fear? of political/electoral retribution.

In fact, Percy Mistry (in an interview in a local newspaper) was right to say that ?Mauritian politicians seem to put populist-pandering politics above good economics; as a result, they get both bad politics and bad economics?. This puts us directly into the debate about the politics of the welfare state and whether the state can genuinely continue to ?foot? the bill for everyone irrespective of the latter being super rich, rich, poor or in a state of absolute misery.

Throughout the world, welfare states face vigorous and mounting criticism in the wake of major global economic change, both because of concerns about competitiveness and because economic shifts have altered domestic balances of political power. However, the urgent acknowledgement and commitment towards readjusting, restructuring, retargeting and renegotiating existing welfare packages are crucial. Some countries have started travelling along the painful yet indispensable reform route.

To come back to the issue of free tertiary education, it is important to highlight the minimalist, parochial, closed and ?politically safe? manner in which the latter is treated. It might come as a surprise that there has never been any white paper discussing in a comprehensive and integrated manner the challenges facing tertiary education in Mauritius and this despite the fact that a highly skilled and trained workforce was identified as a necessary component of a knowledge hub, which Mauritius aspires to become.

?Why should the burden of free tertiary education be transferred onto the whole population when only a portion of that population will benefit from that free service??

In fact, the last decade has seen a significant change in the Mauritian tertiary landscape with the rise of commercially driven ?tertiary? organizations offering a palette of programmes of varying nature and quality. During that same period, the University of Mauritius? student population grew exponentially using more or less the same methods and means that were designed when the tertiary institution was first created. The question that should be asked is: Can the University of Mauritius dispense world-class knowledge and embark into cutting edge research if it is to be debarred from exploring new forms of financing? I think most of us know the answer but dare not pronounce ourselves on what has practically become a ?taboo? issue ? tuition fees.

The recent declared deficit of the University of Mauritius was indeed the ?ideal opportunity? for a mature and constructive debate concerning alternative methods/ mechanisms of financing to be initiated. Instead we got a frenzied response from the University Staff Union concerned that salaries will not be paid and the Student Union threatening to go on strike if tuition fees were contemplated! Any hope of engaging into some dialogue about tuition fees at the University of Mauritius were completely squashed when the current minister of Education gave the ?reassurance? that tuition fees is not an option that the government is considering.

Yet it must be considered as Mauritius remains one of the very few countries in the world where tertiary education remains free. Even the most affluent societies with the most comprehensive welfare packages have had to introduce university tuition fees creating a storm (which has now tempered down) among the student population. The rationale behind the introduction of university tuition fees has been substantiated by research indicating that university graduates, once in a job, earn significantly more than those who have not had any university training. Therefore the question is: why should the burden of free tertiary education be transferred onto the whole population when only a portion of that population will benefit from that free service?

The idea is not to introduce in a unilateral manner tuition fees but on the contrary to introduce it along a fair and equitable method. Several schemes have been tested and proven to work on campuses across the world and these have ranged from a targeted approach to subsidise the tuition fees of the most needy and deserving students to that of government soft loans (at no interest), which get repaid once the student has graduated, is in a job and earning a regular salary. Indeed best practices exist across the world and it is only by opening the debate that the most appropriate option can be adopted in an inclusive and mature manner. Maybe it would be worthwhile to start profiling the existing student population (an exercise that has never been done) on the Réduit Campus. This exercise will offer a clear and objective picture as to the financial situation that each student is and the latter?s ability/capacity to pay tuition fees.

The dividends of tuition fees at the University of Mauritius are multiple as it can usher a new culture between the students and the university. Instead of being at the receiving end only, students can demand greater levels of accountability and transparency in ensuring that programmes are delivered according to international standards, libraries are stocked with the latest books, journals and online subscriptions, and that the environment is conducive to higher teaching and learning.

In conclusion, it is important to note that the introduction of tuition fees will not constitute a panacea for the problems currently faced by the University of Mauritius. The onus is also on the university to engage and explore methods of self-financing/funding through innovative and lucrative exchanges with stakeholders from the corporate, industrial and social world. Therefore it is high time to think and act in a collective, consensual and mature manner and reduce our dependency syndrome on the state.