Capacity building for higher education in developing countries: a part of the western world university portfolio?

"Higher education is the modern world's basic education, but many countries are falling further and further behind". This quote from a recent World Bank publication indicates that the role of the universities as a key driver for societal development is now widely recognized and included in the donor policies. However, donor projects are not easy to organize in this area, and the role of the western universities in this area is not easy to identify.

The paper presents a case study from Mozambique dealing with a World Bank project in Higher Education. The project was focused on qualitative reforms in the teaching and learning process in selected faculties at three public universities in Mozambique. The objective was to increase the use of student centered, project-oriented approaches, integrated with computer use, and to provide measurable increase in the proportion of students that pass rather than fail the course.

A pilot project was carried out by a Danish university consortium with the purpose of developing a full scale project to be agreed and implemented as a part of the total World Bank project. However, in spite of the fact that the project was very well received and agreed by all parties, the funding problem was never solved due to a lack of cooperation and mutual understanding between the key stakeholders in both donor and recipient countries.

The paper presents the lessons learnt in this regard. There is a need to develop a crosssectoral understanding at national level in the donor countries in order to merge the interests of the universities, the Ministry of Science/Education and the national/international donor agencies.

It is argued that capacity building for higher education in developing countries should be a generally accepted part of the university strategy portfolio and be supported by the relevant stakeholders such as donor agencies, ministries and the trade and industries. It is important that such capacity building activities are seen as not only a key driver for societal development in the recipient countries, but also as a necessity for facilitating the building of relevant international capacity and institutional innovation in the donor countries. It is a process of mutual benefit for both recipient and donor countries.