Student and academic mobility under the spotlight

There is a pressing need for a transparent system of grants for students and academics to study abroad in order to raise quality in Algerian universities, which currently fail to meet international standards or the demands of the economy, a newspaper has revealed.

As bids of Erasmus Mundus El-Idrissi mobility grants were launched this month, and the University of Abderrahmane-Mira in Béjaïa reported success in forging exchange partnerships with European institutions, La Tribune of Algiers placed grants and partnerships to enable students and academics to study abroad under scrutiny.

Journalist Samir Azzoug wrote in La Tribune: “The quality of education is the new obsession of the Algerian university.”

“After always having justified the ‘success’ of higher education by the number of places available to students,” he said, the incompatibility of education on offer – in terms of the demands of the economy and the competencies of graduates produced – had forced the authorities to look again at higher education.

After reforms and the introduction of ‘LMD’ – the system based on the Bologna process of three, five and eight years’ higher studies – there was a glaring shortfall in numbers of university personnel, said Azzoug.

According to the CNES, the National Council of Teachers in Higher Education, there was a shortage of 27,000 teachers, especially in foreign languages and in senior posts.

Algerian universities were far from fulfilling global requirements; a recent Webometrics Ranking of World Universities placed the best institution, the University Mentouri in Constantine, in 1,837th place. “This ranking does not take account of the number of places at a university, but its visibility in the world and its production of knowledge,” said Azzoug.

The Algerian university, in spite of some attempts at international cooperation in recent years, remained isolated, he continued. “It is therefore vital to create an exchange movement of knowledge and education. One of the aspects of this process essential for raising the level of higher education is to send students abroad for residential studies.”

Although such a system existed in Algeria, it was inadequate and students either did not know about it or think much of it. “It suffers, in fact, from a lack of transparency,” said Azzoug, who described in detail the complex processes for students and academics to apply for grants to study or train abroad.

“The legal control for awarding study grants abroad for students and academics is substantial and exact. The texts are clear, demands are strict, but in practice there remains much to do regarding communication, first, and then clarity.”

Azzoug cited the case of five lecturers from the University of Algiers-3 who held a sit-in outside the higher education ministry to protest against what they called the “arbitrary and despicable” rejection of their applications. Others complained of favouritism and the “subjective” choice of course subjects that were given priority for grants.

Azzoug said it was rare to find postgraduate students who knew they could be entitled to a grant to study abroad, and called for a more democratic and transparent system.

“To avoid falling into traps of denigration and controversy, it’s useful to involve the students…in the process of selecting courses and applications. Even just as observers,” he advised.

Meanwhile, La Tribune reported that the Erasmus Mundus El-Idrissi academic mobility programme between Europe and North African countries had launched an appeal this month for grant applications from first-degree students, following its offer of about 40 grants in January 2012 for students at all degree levels as well as lecturers and administrative staff.

La Tribune explained that the programme, which is open to nationals of Tunisia and Morocco as well as Algeria, offers short- and long-term mobility grants focused on specific needs of the partner countries, such as social sciences, ICT, commercial and business studies, engineering and technology, geography and geology, languages, mathematics and computer science, medicine and natural sciences.

Algeria became a partner at the beginning of this year through its science and technology universities Mohamed-Boudiaf of Oran, Hassiba-Ben Bouali of Chlef and Badji-Mokhtar of Annaba, said La Tribune.

They were classified as ‘target 1’ institutions, entitling grant-holders to follow credit transfer (for first and masters degrees), and complete masters and doctorate study programmes and, for academic and administration personnel, short-term doctorate and postdoctoral programmes.

Other applicants, from universities classified as ‘targets 2 and 3’, were eligible for complete masters and doctorates, and short-term postdoctoral programmes.

Erasmus Mundus El-Idrissi aims to promote education and research capacity in the partner universities, ensuring transfers of knowledge and experience between Europe and the Maghreb. Grant-holders could follow studies in their chosen university from among about 20 located in Europe and North Africa, said the newspaper.

La Tribune also reported on cooperation agreements established by the University of Abderrahmane-Mira in Béjaïa with about 30, mostly European, universities.

These included student exchanges with some of them, the conditions of which were less rigorous than those of the state-sponsored mobility programme.

Under the Béjaïa initiative, France was the chief study destination, said La Tribune.

Particularly valuable was the Averroès project, which was integrated with the European Union‘s Erasmus Mundus and offered nearly 350 grants each year to students and academics from 10 North African partner universities – four Algerian, three Moroccan and three Tunisian – who were guaranteed places at nine European universities, including five in France.

“So tens of students from Béjaïa have been able to follow placements and courses at Aix-Marseille-2, Montpellier-1, Montpellier-3, Nice and Perpignan,” reported La Tribune. The other participating countries are Spain, Belgium, Italy and Sweden.

* This article is drawn from local media. University World News cannot vouch for the accuracy of the original report.