Ministry unveils plans to position country as global HE hub

The Tunisian Ministry of Higher Education and Scientific Research is working to lay the foundations to position Tunisia as a higher education hub and scientific research destination at international and regional levels as a means to develop education quality and enhance research and innovation.

The key measures to achieve this were outlined by Tunisia’s Minister of Higher Education and Scientific Research, Mondher Belaid, at a forum on international openness of higher education in Tunisia held from 14 to 15 November.

Speaking at the forum, Belaid said: “The international openness of higher education has become a topic of great importance to universities and research systems throughout the world, as there is a consensus on its benefits, whether in terms of developing the quality of education or enhancing research and innovation.”

He indicated that “the ministry is working to lay the foundations for positioning Tunisia as a selected and distinguished university and scientific destination at international and regional levels based on its important competitive advantages in the field”.

Belaid said the strategy “takes into account the specificity of the national context and makes international openness a means of achieving the main tasks of Tunisian universities, which are to provide a high level of teaching and learning that will ensure high employability while providing good environment for effective scientific research that is consistent with the needs of the labour market and compatible with new forms of professions”.

Student mobility

Belaid said the international openness strategy is based, in part, on attracting international students to study in Tunisia and providing more scope for the mobility of Tunisian students.

According to a 2024 study on international students in the Arab World, Tunisia ranked first, followed by Algeria, United Arab Emirates, Egypt and Saudi Arabia among Arab countries hosting international students in their educational institutions.

The total number of mobile Tunisian students abroad is 23,704, according to the UNESCO report, Global Flow of Tertiary-Level Students.

The Tunisian internationalisation strategy will also focus on formulating joint programmes between Tunisian universities and their international and regional counterparts, and strengthen international partnerships in scientific research.

Tunisia is a moderate performer in terms of its knowledge infrastructure, as it ranks 75th out of 123 countries in the Global Knowledge Index (GKI) 2021, which measures knowledge performance worldwide, using seven main sectoral indices, including higher education alongside research, development and innovation.

The announcement of the strategy comes about a year after students, in particular black Africans, many of them from countries in the Sub-Saharan region, were targeted in incidents of racial discrimination and violence against migrants.

In a 31 March 2023 statement, the United Nations Committee on the Elimination of Racial Discrimination, under its early warning and urgent action procedure, voiced its concern about reports that a “campaign”, focusing on those who are illegally in Tunisia, was allegedly leading to arbitrary arrests of migrants, including students.

A Tunisian academic who spoke to University World News under condition of anonymity, said the new strategy was not in response to those events which portrayed Tunisia as unwelcoming to foreign students.

“To my knowledge, this [past] event did not concern students, but rather illegal immigrants who came via Libya and who are victims of organised smuggling and human trafficking networks in Africa,” the academic said.

“In the case of students, apart from a few isolated incidents, which can arise in any country, the problem does not arise.

“There are political undercurrents in this case and pressures on Tunisia, particularly from Europe, to accept illegal African immigrants turned away from Europe … something that the country refuses.

“The statements of the UN experts are not always neutral or objective or without political undercurrents,” the academic said.

Quality improvement

Béchir Allouch, a technology professor at the Virtual University of Tunis, welcomed the internationalisation strategy.

“This national strategy will enhance competitiveness and help in attracting more students from Sub-Saharan countries to both public and private universities, which will help in positioning Tunisia as a key player in higher education and scientific research in Africa,” he told University World News.

“This national strategy must encourage quality improvement,” added Allouch, who is also the former president of the Tunisian Association of e-Learning.

International accreditation at engineering schools and faculties of medicine for better international recognition would also lead to higher standards in teaching and research, Allouch argued.

“This is important to attract more foreign students, but also to encourage international collaborations and exchanges with Tunisian universities beyond the usual French and EU partners.

“The national strategy must also support proactive initiatives leading to diversification of international collaboration at Tunisian universities with opportunities to tackle new issues such as climate change and technological advancements,” Allouch said.

Professor Sami Hammami, former vice-president of the University of Sfax in Tunisia, told University World News that the new strategy should focus on enhancing international visibility for universities and higher education institutions through the internet and social media.

Internationalisation should also focus on scientific research through equitable, sustainable and inclusive partnerships with foreign researchers, he said.

Equity and inclusion issues

Allouch said some stakeholders may resist the changes required for higher education internationalisation.

“Attracting more foreign students who will pay higher fees than national students, which is one of the major objectives of the strategy, may be considered as not beneficial for Tunisian students,” Allouch said.

“Most attractive programmes and institutions, which are mainly in medical and engineering domains, are very selective due to limited capacity compared to local demand.

“Equity and inclusivity are still issues,” he said. “Offering places to foreign students beyond the limited number of beneficiaries of scholarships of bilateral cooperation may raise a challenge … [making] it important to create an attractive and supportive environment for international students,” Allouch suggested.

“It’s not sufficient to increase capacity and quality at higher education institutions; but [we also need] better conditions for hosting international students,” Allouch said.

He argued that efforts need to be made to improve retention of university teachers.

“In the past decade, the emigration of university teachers became a major issue. Promoting collaborations and joint programmes or research projects and attracting more international students may become easier to achieve by offering competitive salaries and incentives to university teachers, better career development opportunities and a better quality of life to keep talent in the country,” Allouch added.