Kabul University, Afghanistan

For more than four decades since its establishment in 1931, Kabul University played a major role in the development of the Afghan society. Since the late 1970s, however, the standard and the performance of the university have declined severely, mainly because of political instability, foreign invasions, and civil war. Most scholars have left the country, and for those who remained, the isolation from the outside world meant that the development in research stopped completely. Consequently, during the last two decades, research capacity at the university has been ‘actively destroyed’.

In the spring of 2004, a new constitution for Afghanistan was promulgated with a series of provisions on citizenship rights. According to the university, however, Afghanistan is a country emerging from conflict and ‘suffers from a deficit of trust and lack of human capital’. The university thus believes that, to realize the values enshrined in the constitution, a transformation in the organization and culture of educational institutions is required. Most of the higher education institutions in the country have not embarked on the process of transformation, but the university has started formulating strategies that will enable it to implement its mission.

Students of the university demand that the learning environment provide them with the skills needed to lead the country out of poverty and its current lack of prosperity. This demand from the students is coupled with pressure from community leaders who require the university to produce men and women who are committed to a vision of social responsibility that would prevent the country from descending into conflict once more. The university has received very little assistance thus far, but is actively engaged in forging relations with external organizations both nationally and globally.

Approach to civic engagement

Civic engagement at the institution is defined as adhering to the principle of shared institutional governance to produce skilled people and good citizens who will actively contribute to good governance in various fields. The university’s mission statement translates this definition into a strategy that focuses on training disciplined men and women, capable of tailoring global knowledge to Afghanistan’s economic, cultural, and historical context; contributing to the creation of new knowledge; and committed to the Islamic democratic values embodied in the Constitution of Afghanistan.

The university describes Afghanistan as ‘an economy dominated by criminalized activities and a polity suffering from a deficit of good governance and rule of law’. The values that drive the university’s civic engagement initiatives are: the promotion of ethics, social responsibility, generation of trust, and the acquisition of skills. The university hopes that these values will contribute to the socioeconomic transformation of the country.

Kabul University has a civic engagement policy that is based on a process of intensive consultation with the faculty and the students. The consultation process emphasizes the principles of shared governance, mutual rights and responsibilities, national development and global engagement. Environmental issues within the university have emerged as a strong concern for the university’s community.

In December 2004, the university’s president launched the consultation process with three rounds of intensive discussions in schools and departments, focusing on the needs of major segments of the faculty. Since the beginning of the academic year in March 2005, the president has also devoted at least 20 hours a week to a systematic process of consultation with the students. In groups of up to 20, students have been asked to identify what they see as the five major problems at the university and at the level of the school and department, and report their findings, through a representative, to a plenary session. Thus far, interaction with about 4,500 students has provided the leadership of the university with a ‘very good’ sense of their needs and aspirations.

The dialogue between the students and the leadership of the university has become the vehicle for formation of a series of student-run organizations that are likely to benefit the university community and the public at large. The university leadership intends to use other opportunities, such as the preparation of the university’s physical plan, as forums for further engagement with the students.

Resources

At the moment, Kabul University lacks the funds needed to augment its vision for civic engagement, and, in particular, to develop the capacity of its students to manage public resources.

Challenges

Lack of financial support, pressures on the students for paid employment, and the absence of national policy on the engagement of higher education institutions in community and national development constitute the main challenges facing the university in its efforts to expand civic engagement programs.

Another challenge lies in the prevalence of certain interest groups among the faculty, students, and some political movements who promote sectional interests along ethnic, regional, and sectarian lines. These groups perceive the emergence of civil society with wide-ranging cross-cutting ties as a direct threat to their interests, and are thus resistant to activities that encourage the development of civil society in Afghanistan.

Conclusion

Kabul University is currently preparing its long-term strategic plan on the basis of wide- ranging consultations with the faculty and students. The university is operationalizing its vision of shared governance by including in the rules for university governance specifications of the rights and responsibilities of each of the stakeholders in the university community – to each other and to the society at large. The university sees great potential for promoting civic engagement in Afghanistan, although this will require sustained attention. Through his expertise and as a participant in the continuing discussions about development issues in the country, the president of the university is advocating for the growth of civic engagement in Afghanistan.

At a glance

Name of institution Kabul University Country Afghanistan Type of institution Public Total number of undergraduate students in 8,800 2005 Total number of graduate students in 2005 0 Extent of students participating in civic N/A engagement activities Extent of faculty participating in civic 25-50% engagement activities National, regional, and international  Association of Rectors of Afghan affiliations Universities