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Revitalizing Education in Afghanistan Revitalizing Education in Afghanistan OVERCOMING DECADES OF DEVASTATION Higher education in Afghanistan suffered in the aftermath of many years of war and strife, but colleges and universities are developing partnerships to help rebuild opportunities for Afghan students. AUAF COMMUNICATIONS OFFICE 22 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR JULY+AUG.14 OVERCOMING DECADES OF DEVASTATION EDITOR’S NOTE: This article is the second in a two-part series about partnerships with Iraq and Afghanistan to help revitalize higher education in those nations after U.S. military presence. The first article, “Reawakening Higher Education in Iraq,” was published in the November/December 2013 issue of International Educator. JULY+AUG.14 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR 23 BY DAVID TOBENKIN DEVASTATION But there are many challenges and limitations. On- going violence places restrictions on the type of student IS RAMPANT— exchanges that can occur and limits travel in Afghanistan. Afghanistan has suffered “You can’t have student exchanges; even though we have sent faculty to Afghanistan, we haven’t sent our students from decades of isolation to institutions in this country,” says Kenneth Holland, di- and war, capped by the U.S.-led invasions and rector of Ball State University’s Center for International control that began in 2001. Higher education Development who has led Ball State partnerships with Af- ghan institutions. “That’s a disappointment for me. I was has been among the major casualties in the walking down the hall in Kabul University, and I ran into country, with higher education personnel, an American student and I asked who are you and why are you here. He was a PhD student doing a dissertation on infrastructure, and budgets depleted by the something regarding Afghanistan. But you rarely see that.” ongoing conflicts. With the drawdown of U.S. forces expected by the end of 2016 in Afghanistan, and with political turmoil and vio- But partnerships between higher education lence continuing to roil the nation, the question remains as institutions and organizations and their to whether seeds planted by exchanges will blossom into counterparts in Afghanistan formed in the long-lasting partnerships and, significantly, whether U.S. government bodies will continue to fund them. last decade have proven a lifeline of support for their beleaguered academies. Where There Are Challenges, Opportunities Await The partnerships tend to be workshops or Afghanistan is an Asian country, primarily Muslim, has exchange programs between institutions in a population of roughly 30 million, and is fractured into the United States or other Western nations sectarian groups with strong resentment of central gov- ernment control. It has instituted a new constitution in and administrators, academics, and students the last decade, and views education as a key component from Afghanistan, many heavily subsidized of a national renaissance. Resources in Afghanistan remain far lower than in the SMITH OF PAUL COURTESY by government organizations. Some aspects West. Internet access is spotty, books are often old, fa- of the exchange programs are mostly one- cilities are frequently dilapidated, and class sizes are often large. Afghanistan also suffers from relatively low penetra- way, with students and professors from tion of English, curtailing their ability to fully benefit from Afghanistan tending to visit the United States partnerships with U.S. institutions, gain accreditation, and far more than visits in the other direction, access free online materials. While there was considerable higher education for example. U.S. academics have also been penetration into Afghanistan in the 1970s, the sheer dev- heavily involved in staffing and supporting astation and anti-education ethos faced by Afghan higher education during the Taliban regime present a challenge some of the new higher education institutions for educational rehabilitation. that have been created in recent years in A Pressing Need for both countries. In addition, scholarships to Revamping Higher Education educate graduate students abroad funded by “I can’t think of anywhere I have been where the need for Afghanistan's government organizations are higher education restoration is greater,” says Paul Smith, director of the British Council USA, the United Kingdom’s ramping up some exchanges. official organization for international education and cul- ture. Smith formerly held a similar position in Afghanistan until 2012. “In the 1970s, the higher education situation there was not bad, compared to other Asian countries,” SHUTTERSTOCK 24 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR JULY+AUG.14 In Afghanistan, under-capacity is a serious problem Paul Smith, director of the in higher education institutions. According to the 10- British Council year strategic plan developed by the Ministry of Higher USA, the United Kingdom’s official Education, existing institutions have the capacity to ac- organization for commodate no more than 150,000 students, which could international leave as many as 85 percent of applicants unable to attend. education and culture There is a severe lack of qualified faculty as well. “In Af- ghanistan, 85 percent of the faculty have a bachelor’s degree,” Ball State’s Holland says. “The level of academic quality is very, very low. In Afghanistan, most of the professors have two or three jobs. We’ve tried to get the universities to force professors to come to class and teach but were never success- ful. We were told that the salaries are so low that they must have a second job. That limits the quality of the instruction.” A host of new universities are stepping into the breach. “A major development is an explosion of new private high- er education institutions,” says Quadir Amiryar, who until recently headed the Central Asia Research and Develop- ment Center, and is a former faculty member at George Washington University. Amiryar previously served in various roles in the Afghan government, including as a senior legal and policy adviser to Afghan President Ha- mid Karzai, as well as senior adviser to the Ministry of Fred Hayward, senior education Smith says. “Kabul and Herat were relatively liberal met- Higher Education, where he assisted in writing Afghani- adviser for the ropolitan cities. What happened is that under the Taliban, stan’s higher education strategic plan. “There are 17 public Higher Education institutions of higher education and, as of this month, 74 Project and the there was a complete collapse of the university system and Afghan Ministry a reduction in the belief of their values such that even now, private institutions, most of them not more than five years of Education (in 10 to 12 years after attempts at restoration began, less than old. Their quality of education varies, but they are provid- the middle) with (from left to right) COURTESY OF PAUL SMITH OF PAUL COURTESY five percent of the faculties of universities have PhDs.” ing competition with the public universities.” former Minister During the late 1970s, before the turmoil commenc- U.S.-Afghan higher education institution partnerships Muhammad Azam Dadfur (2009). ing with the country’s invasion by the Soviet Union, and are occurring at the highest levels, notes Fred Hayward, Deputy Minister continued by the rise of the Taliban and the current U.S. currently senior higher education adviser for the Higher M. O. Babury and two other two war against the Taliban, Al-Queda, and extremists, there Education Project and the Afghan Ministry of Higher deputy ministers was a period when the country was making considerable Education and a former professor of political science at (finance and progress in developing higher education institutions. the University of Wisconsin, Madison. transformation). SHUTTERSTOCK COURTESY OF FRED HAYWARD JULY+AUG.14 INTERNATIONAL EDUCATOR 25 and Turkey,” Hayward says. “On the administrative level, “You need to develop a large cohort we have had a great deal of assistance from the University of Afghans who can solve their own problems of Massachusetts, Amherst, through the Higher Educa- by using tradition and history, but also tion Project funded by USAID. [U. Mass., Amherst] has analytic skills and legal reasoning.” helped us with the National Higher Education Strategic Plan: 2010–2014, the establishment of an accreditation system, major revision, and upgrading of the curriculum (50 faculties have completed reviews and upgrading of “I work with the Deputy Minister [of Higher Education their curricula). We have had help in computer science for Academic Affairs Osman Babury], directors, chancel- from Germany and UC San Diego, in English from In- lors, deans, and other senior education leaders (as well as diana University, and in economics from Kansas State senior managers in the Ministries of Finance, Women’s Af- University. We also have links with Purdue University, fairs, Labor, and Education),” Hayward says. “I have helped the University of Arizona, and several others. These links in the development of the National Higher Education have been especially important in helping us build capac- Strategic Plan and in establishing a system of accredita- ity in several areas, especially teacher education with the tion—though everything I have worked on, and all our help of the Higher Education Project (U. Mass., Amherst), work in the Ministry, has been very much a collective effort public policy, and currently with the development of an with our Afghan colleagues led by Deputy Minister Babury, undergraduate program in social work (Hunter College who has been the
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