Knowledge institutions in Africa and their development 1960-2020: Tunisia Knowledge Institutions in Africa and their development 1960-2020 Tunisia Introduction This report about the development of the knowledge institutions in Tunisia was made as part of the preparations for the AfricaKnows! Conference (2 December 2020 – 28 February 2021) in Leiden and elsewhere, see www.africaknows.eu. Reports like these can never be complete, and there might also be mistakes. Additions and corrections are welcome! Please send those to
[email protected] Highlights 1 Tunisia’s population has increased from 4.1 million in 1960, via 8.2 million in 1990 to 11.7 million in 2020. 2 The overall literacy rate was 79% in 2014, but for men much higher than for women. 3 The enrolment in education has increased a lot during the last few decades, and currently is 98% for primary (net), 93% for secondary (gross), and 32% for tertiary education (gross): a total of 256,000 students in tertiary institutions in the country. In addition 22,000 Tunisian students studied abroad in 2017. 4 The so-called education index (part of the human development index) improved from .406 in 1990 to .658 in 2018, with a low and stable regional inequality. 5 Mean years of schooling for adults also improved a lot and did so everywhere. On average from 3.4 years to 7.2 years of education and with a modest and diminishing level of regional inequality. Expected years of education for children improved from 10.5 years in 1990 to one of the highest in Africa, 15.1, with a very low regional inequality.