Students unite to raise concerns about HE quality

A new student-centred ‘diagnosis’ of higher education in Mauritania depicts a system defined by inadequate infrastructure, poor opportunities for postgraduate study, threats to academic freedom and unilateral decision-making by the ministry – all of which are having a negative impact on the students’ experience.

The report entitled National Higher Education and the Harvest of the Unilateral Pathways was prepared by the Students' Front for the Defence of Rights and Acquisitions, which includes several students organisations such as the National Union of Mauritanian Students, the Independent Union of Mauritanian Students, the National Student Union, Al-Wava Student Union and the Liberal Union of Mauritanian Students.

The report received television coverage when the secretary general of the National Union of Mauritanian students presented it on 6 March on the Al-Mashhad programme produced by Elmourabiton TV channel.

Among the students’ complaints is the lack of a proper review of the LMD system – a uniform structure of tertiary study known in French as the licence-master-doctorate that came into effect in 2008 and was designed to align Mauritanian higher education with international systems and standards.

According to the report, there is a shortage of qualified staff and a lack of masters and doctoral programmes at institutions, poor library facilities and a general lack of support for scientific research.

While the report notes that several legal framework improvements made in higher education administration have regulated the work of different sectors of national higher education and encouraged its democratisation and decentralisation, the current Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research – Sidi Ould Salem, a former political activist and physics professor – has stymied these developments. The report accuses the minister of “putting all the power in his hands by disrupting most of the councils and bodies”.

"National higher education is in dire need of the efforts of all the actors, including students, professors and workers, to emerge from the cycle of problems created by the unilateral policies of the minister of higher education and scientific research and his random decisions that produced deep imbalances," the report notes.

According to the report, the ministry has replaced the election of faculty deans and heads of departments with an appointment-based system. It also contends that the work of the Educational and Scientific Council of the University of Nouakchott and the educational and scientific councils of faculties and institutes has been disrupted by intervention by the ministry, either through direct instructions or ministerial circulars.

Students say they are also unhappy with the fact that their representation on university administrative structures, such as boards of both faculties and the National Center for University Services, as well as the national committee for grants, has been curtailed.

Students' financial assistance and the criteria for grants and scholarships has also been unilaterally altered, they say. The report points to a decrease in the number of grants for students at home and abroad as a result of changed selection criteria, which has led to more than 60% of students becoming ineligible.

Services for students are also inadequate. "Despite the development of the National Centre for University Services to create a climate suitable for students to study in better conditions, several declines in its performance were observed, especially during the current higher education administration," the report notes.

The report highlights problems with student transport, eating facilities and student housing.

Furthermore, student freedoms are also being curtailed, the report claims.

"Students have recently suffered from an unprecedented wave of restricting individual and collective freedoms on campus, transforming it from a space of freedom and innovation and a forum of ideas and dialogue into security cantons controlled by security companies and full of surveillance cameras," the report says.

Students argue that student activism is being suppressed as activists have been threatened with expulsion and have suffered harassment, beatings, arrest and torture.

Higher education experts have called for more dialogue between stakeholders in the sector.

"This report provides a student centred-diagnostic picture for the ministry of higher education to act upon by opening dialogue with student organisations to formulate real solutions on the ground," higher education, science and technology expert Magdi Tawfik Abdelhamid told University World News.

Mohamed Yeslem Elbagher, a former Mauritanian researcher at the University of Nouakchott and member of the Islamic Development Bank Alumni and Science Development Network, said: "The Mauritania higher education system has serious gaps, including infrastructure, staff and materials. There is also discord between the Arabic and French systems – all of which impacts the students."

Elbagher highlighted the problem of a disjuncture between university programmes and labour market needs.

"University educational programmes have no relation with the labour market, so the ministry must have a serious dialogue with the actors to find a systematic plan to close this vast gap," he said. "In my view, the creation of a good and flexible environment for students will be enough to solve the problem."

University World News received no response from Mauritania's Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research regarding the report’s claims.