Academic leads presidential race but HE debate is absent

A university professor has come out on top in the first round of presidential elections, the results of which were announced on 17 September, but despite being one of four academics among a field of 24 candidates, higher education issues have not formed a key part of the presidential debates.

The electoral commission announced on 17 September that constitutional law professor and political outsider Kais Saied (61) was in the lead with 18.4% of the vote, with Nabil Karoui (56), an incarcerated TV mogul and businessman, in second place with 15.58%.

The two candidates will now likely head to a runoff vote within the next month. The elections are the second democratic elections since the 2011 revolution that toppled autocratic leader Zine El Abidine Ben Ali and unleashed the ‘Arab Spring’ uprising across the region.

The other academics include Moncef Marzouki, Néji Jalloul and Abdelkrim Zbidi.

Observers say the success of the politically conservative Saied, a professor at the University of Tunis and visiting professor at several Arab universities, is testament to the respect of Tunisians for the higher education sector.

Respected place in society

"I think it is wonderful to see a professor, and of constitutional law no less, in the lead right now," said Elizabeth Buckner, assistant professor at Ontario Institute for Studies in Education at the University of Toronto in Canada.

A former Fulbright scholar to Morocco, Buckner said: "Despite some recent concerns including large-scale strikes by university professors, Tunisia has a long history of high-quality higher education, and a legacy of professors who are politically and socially engaged. Professor Saied’s current lead speaks to their respected place in society," she said.

Attempts to draw the candidates on higher education issues have thus far not been successful. A Tunisian youth platform, Chnowa Barnemjek?, posed questions to candidates which went unanswered, according to the platform.

They were: ‘Should we remove the LMD system?’ (known in French as the licence-master-doctorate); ‘Should we increase the allowance for students abroad?’ and ‘Should we allow the creation of a private faculty of medicine in Tunisia?’

Buckner said it was “disappointing” the candidates had not not responded.

No chance for populism

Khaled Ben Driss, executive director at Tunisia-based Wevioo, international consulting and digital services group, told University World News the subject of higher education in Tunisia was complex and did not offer candidates the opportunity for “populist or imprecise messages”.

"This partly explains the lack of debate," Ben Driss said.

Buckner said the questions did not beg “simple yes or no” answers. “I think the focus has to be on who would benefit from any of these proposed reforms?" she said.

"Aligning credentials to the LMD system facilitates mobility to Europe, increasing allowances for students abroad likely benefits the select students who are already able to go, and a private faculty of medicine would allow students to pay for one of the most prestigious degrees in the country," Buckner said.

"The last two in particular would likely benefit the upper classes. It doesn’t mean they are bad policy — Tunisia as a country might benefit from them if it needs more doctors or wants more Tunisians trained abroad, but I would urge candidates to think about these policy issues as neither black or white – instead, think about who is being affected most by these policies, and if this is where resources should be spent."

Graduate unemployment

According to a 2018 report by the Economic Research Forum entitled The Tunisian Labor Market in an Era of Transition, 40% of unemployed Tunisians are university graduates.

Against this backdrop, Buckner suggested that the incumbent president should “look to the labour market to deal with problems of graduate unemployment as I don’t think that the higher education system should be blamed entirely".

Ben Driss argued that the candidates were missing a vital opportunity by not talking about higher education.

"In my opinion, as part of their diplomatic prerogatives, the 2019 presidential candidates should have proposed concrete actions in the context of facilitating the arrival of African students and increasing their numbers.

"They should have even offered more free scholarships to the best students in African countries to study in the best public schools,” he said.

"Indeed, this could become an excellent way to boost Tunisia's soft power in Africa,” he added.