Global Access News

Access to Higher Education in Morocco: Can ‘Cost-Sharing’ Preserve Equity & Improve Quality?
 
Despite the Moroccan government’s decision to provide free access to higher education as a social right, its open access policy has led to a more competitive and restricted system. A huge increase in enrollment has led government officials to impose stringent selection processes and restrict choice, streaming students into a dual system of higher education. This has led to the rise of private technical and PSE institutions and has largely destabilized public higher education in Morocco. Unable to fully finance the public sector, Morocco has moved to ‘cost-share’ higher education by shifting fees to students and families and reducing access to financial aid.

Nigerian Government to Provide Free Education For Science, Technology and Education Students
 
In his recent budget speech, Nigerian President Muhammadu Buhari has announced that post-secondary education in the fields of science, technology, and education will now be free. Buhari also stated that his government is currently working on how to provide free education for Nigeria’s poorest citizens. The new policy is seen to stem from the government’s realization that it must reduce its reliance on oil and a desire to halt the country’s brain drain with investments in STEM.

 

The Struggle of the Marginalized Student
 
John Jacobson, a student at Ithaca College in New York State, writes of the identity struggles of student minority groups on campus, as well as of minority staff and faculty. While acknowledging the significant progress made in recent decades, Jacobsen believes that ‘diversity’ policies are masking the need for more systemic changes to end the marginalization of minorities in an American higher education system created with one demographic group in mind; privileged, white, straight men.
 

Degree-Holding Indigenous Women Out Earn Their Non-Indigenous Counterparts
 
The current indigenous education situation in Canada is bleak, with dropout rates consistently around 60%. However, a recent study from Statistics Canada has revealed just how important education can be in terms of improving the socio-economic situation of the country’s indigenous population. The government agency reported that indigenous women with a university degree actually earn slightly more than other women with the same level of education. For years, the Canadian government has been criticized for limiting the funding increase for indigenous education to 2% yearly. The news provides activists with new leverage in seeking to remove the funding cap for the approximately 10,000 indigenous students on wait lists for higher education funding.

Ontario Government Introduces Full Tuition Grants for Low-Income Students
 
The Ontario government announced in its 2016 budget that students with family incomes of $50,00 or less will receive grants to cover tuition at the Canadian province’s post-secondary institutions and that it will move to simplify its student aid system. Experts point out that, while this is a positive first step, having a family income of $50,000 is associated with only a 2% difference in post-secondary attendance rates and more emphasis on student preparation in the pathway to PSE is required to make a real difference for disadvantaged students.

Lack of Institutional Preparedness Major Obstacle for Disability Students Going on Exchange
 
Thousands of students go on exchange yearly and reap the benefits of gaining exposure to another culture and academic setting. However, as reported by the European Association for International Education, only about 1% of students with disabilities participate in student exchange programs. Although finding the necessary accommodations away from home can be challenging, institutions must play their part by reaching out to students with disabilities, providing students with guidance and support and making sure that students know that resources are available.

How Britain’s Open University Can Serve as a Model of MOOCs
 
One of the world’s first providers of publicly available university-level courses, the Open University is showing the way in MOOCs. First broadcast on the BBC 45 years ago, the Open University has grown exponentially and enrollment is now in the hundreds of thousands. Among its key strategies, OU continually expands the number of platforms it is available on, allowing people to access their lectures regardless of their socioeconomic situation and the technology at their disposal. Making sure that their material is accessible via any medium has also been crucial in maintaining their part-time student body. There is no formal enrolment and there are numerous points of entry. Perhaps the aspect where the OU has excelled the most, however, is their ability to personalize student experience via the use of tutors and other tools, despite the fact that they have such a high volume of students.

Diversity Not the Solution for Inequality 
 
According to Zoe Samudi, writer for Harlot magazine, the inclusion of minorities in higher education and the implementation of diversity quotas will not solve the issue of social and racial inequality. Samudi argues that the whole concept of intelligence, learning, and knowledge in a university setting has been centered around traditional Caucasian values and leaves no space for interpretation of these concepts by people originating from other cultural backgrounds: the education system must be ‘decolonized’ to provide students of all backgrounds with an appropriate place to learn.

Japanese Students Report Exchange Opportunities Helped Advance Their Career

In a recent survey of approximately 5600 Japanese students, it was found that those who had studied abroad were ahead of their peers on several dimensions, including language skills, perseverance, career standing and general attitude. Stress management and perseverance were also found to be more highly developed in students who had studied outside of Japan, who were also more content with their relationships and with their careers.

Free Education in United States a Potential Saviour for Economic Future
 
Higher education in the United States has become increasingly unaffordable over the course of the past few decades. The amount of student debt has risen above $1.3 trillion, with no clear end in sight. With the emergence of the tech industry on the west coast and an increase in the overall demands of employers country-wide, the demand for skilled workers will only increase in the coming years. The author of the article suggests that tuition should be stratified, with those financially capable of paying full tuition doing so, while those who are less affluent would pay progressively lower rates. Taxes on Wall Street transactions is another solution proposed.

 
David Cameron has recently taken to the media to discuss the issues plaguing access to higher education in Britain and the lack of socioeconomic diversity in British universities. He has focused largely on minority access to higher education, however, overlooking the important misrepresentation of white men in UK institutions. When compared with male Chinese students in the same income bracket, white male British citizens were 10% less likely to attend university. Research has found that poor white boys start to underperform in educational settings starting at the age of 4.