III Lessons Learned by Donors

Swedish Experiences of University Support and National Research Development in Developing Countries

by Tomas Kjellqvist, Head of Division for University Support and National Research Development Department for Research Cooperation, SIDA

Abstract

This paper describes the Swedish experience of research cooperation with developing countries. Sweden has been one of few donor countries that have acknowledged the need to strengthen research capacity at an institutional level, rather than granting training of individuals and research project support. Recently major actors in the donor community have rediscovered the significant role of science and technology for development. From the Swedish experience Sida (Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency) suggests three areas where universities and national knowledge systems need to be strengthened: Research Policy, Research Environments and Research Management. The first and the last require that donors cooperate to assist developing countries in their setting up of conducive mechanisms for research. External support for the strengthening of Research Environments should be aligned with National Policies and Research strategies both at national and University level. In Sida’s experience cooperation between universities in developing countries and Sweden has proved to strengthen both local research environments and international scientific information exchange.

Introduction

The Millennium Goals and the quest to combat poverty before the year 2015 are among the greatest challenges that humans have tried to meet. Meeting these challenges requires mobilization of all possible resources, both in society and nature, in rich countries as well as in the poorest countries. Fundamental to efficient and sustainable utilization of these resources is good governance. One of the foundations for good governance is qualified knowledge about the limitations and possibilities that nature, politics and technology could offer. Such qualified knowledge is lacking in poor countries, both regarding indigenous knowledge production and the ability to assess and adapt external knowledge to local conditions. This lack severely hampers the informed decision-making required to make viable strategies to combat poverty.

The major explanation to this lack of qualified knowledge is the past inability to construct coherent education systems in poor countries. Urgent needs to expand basic education have disfavoured secondary, vocational, tertiary and academic education. There are many constraints to education systems in developing countries, but generally speaking, quality could have been improved with a more holistic approach to the different levels of education. Instead skewed education efforts have led into vicious circles: without Higher Education to train teachers, primary education get low quality and poor output, leading to weak entrance rates to secondary schools and vocational training, which again makes it difficult to recruit students to universities with sufficient basic knowledge. Previous politics for education has created a deficit of skilled human resources in developing countries.

From the lack of academically qualified human resources has followed severe incapacity to conduct locally based research and to adapt international scientific findings. A national research capacity is a good and necessity for the nation, but it also makes it possible for the country to share and contribute to the stock of global public goods. Scientific communication facilitates such sharing of own research results, and validation of these through multiple trials and experiments by researchers in many countries (both developed and developing). It also makes it possible to test research results from abroad in a local context. This communication process safeguards academic scrutiny and quality which in turn makes it possible for local researchers to give valid and credible advice to policy makers. With research capacity built up at least at one university in poorer countries the curriculum of higher education and at secondary schools could be adapted to the country’s development strategies. Research based curriculum would at the same time bring in relevant international knowledge frontiers and to encompass local perspectives.

Experiences of Swedish research cooperation with developing countries

The arguments above were very much the motive to include knowledge as an essential part of development cooperation already when Sweden started Research Cooperation with Developing Countries in 1975. The two complementary objectives stated in the original policy for Research Cooperation are still valid:

• To facilitate research of relevance and utility for development
• To build capacity for research in developing countries

Research cooperation within the new aid architecture

The Government Bill 2002/03:122 Shared responsibilities – Sweden’s policy for global development passed the Parliament in December 2003. This Government Bill grasps the new opportunities provided by globalisation and strengthens Sweden’s international efforts in support of the Millennium Development Goals. The Bill encompasses all areas of policy and proposes a common objective: to contribute to an equitable and sustainable global development.

A new focus within Swedish development cooperation is presented, placing a greater emphasis on developing countries’ own responsibility for development. At the same time, the Bill underlines the responsibility of the richer countries to increase their transfer of resources and enhance the efficiency of cooperation activities. The proposed new objective for Swedish development cooperation is to help creating conditions that will enable the poor to improve their lives.

Two perspectives permeate all parts of the policy: a rights perspective based on international human rights conventions; and the perspectives of the poor. The content of the policy is formulated with respect to eight central thematic areas and component elements. These elements are:

• Sustainable Development
• Peace and Conflict Resolution
• Economic Growth
• Social Development
• Democracy
• Human Rights
• Equity
• Global Public Goods

• Perspectives on Poverty and Rights require that interventions are scrutinised in relation to their potential effects for poor people and for the spread of the UN conventions on Human Rights. The Swedish goal for development cooperation is to help creating conditions that will enable the poor to improve their lives. Research cooperation can only indirectly assist the poor themselves, it has only indirect connections to the UN conventions but it can directly assist a country to build up the foundations for knowledge that create the enabling conditions.
• Multidimensional explanation to causes of poverty requires multidimensional and contextually defined approach. In the Swedish Policy this is formulated in the eight central component elements. Research capacity building could be done in each of these areas, and gives access to some of the arenas where Global Public Goods are shared.
• Emphasising Ownership
• Alignment with national structures
• Joint Funding
• Harmonisation

Research cooperation as part of poverty reduction and development cooperation: demand for and supply of knowledge

The section below describes three aspects of the shift of demand for research in development cooperation, followed by a description of how Sida perceives that the domestic supply of research based knowledge could be strengthened.

Demands for knowledge

Describing Knowledge for poverty reduction is connected to a great risk of reducing knowledge to instantly demanded needs for know-how. Research based academic knowledge has a far greater potential than so. One of the main features is that it should always be subjected to quality control through peer review. Through this peer review domestic research links up with the international academic knowledge base, part of the Global Public Goods. A foundation for this body of knowledge is that it origins in the curiosity of researchers. Principles for academic freedom have been set up to safeguard that this curiosity should be allowed to work regardless of political conditions. In reality governance of research always puts number of restrictions and guidelines, of which some are derived from the situation in which a country finds it self. The following three aspects try to summarise some generalities that pertains to knowledge for poverty reduction in developing countries.

Knowledge for empowerment

The lack of a domestic research based knowledge means that developing countries are badly equipped in international negotiations, which maintains a situation of dependency. Agreements within international bodies may pass without the effects or preconditions for developing countries are analysed. Major investments that need foreign technology may be done without sufficient knowledge to assess if the procured products meet the requirements. Domestic research has a potential for national empowerment in this respect. The development of domestic knowledge could also empower the poor through various mechanisms by the development of new procedures and products derived from research results. Also dissemination of research results through the educational system and other channels provide a general increase in knowledge that may benefit the poor.

A sustainable knowledge economy

Globalisation has led to an increased emphasis on knowledge as one of the major factors in international economic competition. The previous neglect of domestic research from governments and the donor community has postponed the possibilities for developing countries to enter into such competition. Most developing countries have natural resources that could be refined to high-value products with knowledge and innovation, thereby contributing to economic growth. Unfortunately, most developing countries also has harder natural conditions than developed countries which means that knowledge is needed to safeguard that exploitation of the potential products is made environmentally sustainable.

Increased demand for higher education

Population growth in developing countries has created an increased demand for higher education. Most countries show an increased number in the age cohorts that are potential university students. With economic liberalisation and increased democracy higher education has become seen as a lever for social mobility. This demand manifest itself in an increased number of students applying for university and the growing interest in establishing private universities to cater for this demand. Governments are now faced with the necessity to come up with regulatory mechanisms and innovative funding strategies. Research and research training at the public universities also get a new role as provider of academic staff, not only for their own faculty but also for the entire university system.

Supply of knowledge

Each country has its own system for the supply of knowledge. These are products of different types of interventions throughout history and rarely a result of a comprehensive strategy. Reforms are often called for but diverging interests within the system and ignorance from external stakeholders contribute to a status quo. In this situation that has persisted for a number of years, Sida has assessed some interventions as crucial and to be of a kind that contributes regardless of future changes in the system. A focus on strengthening universities as the main bodies for research and research training provides a good foundation for the development of knowledge, human resources and experiences of knowledge strategies on a larger scale than a single research institute could provide.

At least one research university in a country

The combination of research, research training and undergraduate education makes the university stronger and more sustainable than individual research institutes and researching NGOs. Supporting the university to strengthen good research environments in many subject areas provides a foundation for future research and research training. Doing this within one university could facilitate multidisciplinary research as well as interdisciplinary. Dependent of the strength of the national university system, Sida choose different strategies to focus research funding. In a weak system funding would go to one university rather than diluting it to many weak universities. In countries with stronger systems, resources could be spent on the research environments with best potential. The idea is that each country should establish at least one researching university that could cater for the needs of the country and eventually become a resource for the creation of a more extended university system and for national innovation systems.

Links to the international academic community

No university is stronger than its links to the international academic community. Sida has chosen interventions that contribute to strengthen such links, both to international research institutes and through regional cooperation in networks and organisations. Research training could be conducted in collaboration with other universities, in the north or with more developed university departments in neighbouring countries. Collaborative projects between researchers interested in the same topic form another opportunity. Other interventions link up universities to the Internet for communication and access to international scientific journals and databases. Support that facilitates for researchers in developing countries to participate in international scientific conferences makes other links available. Also support to international and regional organisations that promote issues of higher education and research contributes to involve collaborating university in wider networks.

Curiosity driven and basic research as foundations for innovation and policy-formulation

Sida’s opinion is that a researching university must have the ability to conduct curiosity driven, basic research to be able to respond to demands and strategies. Without this ability the university loose possibilities to act pro-actively and strategically. Instead it gets restrained to react to current funding opportunities which risk reducing the quality of research. Interest for research in the Development aid community is by tradition focused on demand-driven applied research of direct value for policy-making or project implementation. Recent trends focusing on innovation tend to emphasise the same end of the research spectrum, though with a more strategic and systemic approach. Sida’s support combines support for basic research as well as applied, and has mechanisms to promote curiosity driven research as well as capacity to respond to demands.

Research cooperation as capacity building

Sida’s strategy to fund the basic prerequisites for research at universities has produced a number of research environments over the world that could contribute to development and poverty reduction. However, to realize this potential much more need to be done by governments and the development aid community.

Sida is active in various types of capacity development, where research capacity building is one. To analyse and compare different types and modalities of capacity development Sida has established a policy including definitions and a common language. The diagram below shows to the left a summary of the thinking in Sida’s policy for capacity development in respect of target levels. In a certain, given external environment there is capacity in the form of

• Individuals/professions
• Organisational units
• Organisations
• Systems of organisations, and
• Institutional frameworks.

Donor Experiences from Capacity Building Proposals Related to Knowledge Society Construction

by Finn Normann Christensen, Secretary-General, DANIDA/ENRECA

Abstract

The Danish Bilateral Programme for Enhancement of Research Capacity in Developing Countries (ENRECA) has achieved good results in building public sector research capacity in developing countries at the project level. The experiences have also shown that it is difficult to integrate support for research capacity with the other parts of the Danish bilateral assistance programme and that the programme for capacity building predispose initiative by the Danish partner. It is also difficult to maintain the interest of Danish research institutions if the projects focus on capacity building rather than research.

Danish assistance to research capacity in developing countries constitutes only a small share of the development assistance programme and a minor component of the brain drain phenomenon. The Danish support for research capacity in developing countries is based on the idea that the mastery of technology and innovation provides a comparative advantage and leads to economic growth and development. In that respect the original idea of the programme is based more on traditional development theory than the concept of the international knowledge based economy and information society. As far as the “brain drain” is concerned the projects of the programme has led to positive results and many of the challenges faced by the programme reflect that Danish development assistance is directed towards the LDCs.

International Academic Exchange between Capacity Building and Brain Drain – the Case of the German Academic Exchange Service

by Michael Harms, Head of Section Postgraduate Courses for Professionals from Developing Countries, DAAD

Abstract

Academic exchange requires mobility. For many generations, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has enabled young and qualified students, graduates and scientists to leave their home country in order to spend some time at foreign institutions of Higher Education. Literally hundreds of thousands academics have been invited in the past six decades to study and to do research in Germany, many of them from Developing Countries. Although the very idea of “exchange” suggests a two-way traffic and possibly also a limited stay in the host country, there can be no doubt about the very real danger of a long term “skimming off” the academic and cultural cream especially of poor countries.

The German Academic Exchange Service finds itself in a potentially awkward position. On the one hand, it is a self-administrative body of the German institutions of Higher Education, which have their own interest in talented foreign graduates and promising researchers. On the other hand, however, it is an intermediary organisation with the explicit goal to promote the academic, scientific, economic and democratic advancement of developing and transition countries. Over the years, DAAD has developed several strategies in order to counterbalance the possible danger of brain drain; the speaker will introduce several approaches like the “sandwich” PhD-scheme with partner universities in the south, examples of “cross-border education” in Master Courses and in-country fellowships.

International academic exchange between capacity building and brain drain – the case of the German academic exchange service

Academic exchange requires mobility. For many generations, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) has enabled young and qualified students, graduates and scientists to leave their home country in order to spend some time at foreign institutions of Higher Education. Literally hundreds of thousands academics have been invited in the past decades to study and to do research in Germany, many of them from Developing Countries. At the same time the DAAD has been able to support generations of German students, researchers and scientists in their drive to study and work at a foreign university in almost every country on the planet. Most of the exchange programmes are open to all disciplines and all countries, to foreigners and Germans alike, academic excellence being the main criterion for the selection of participants. With its various scholarship programmes the DAAD can support around 50,000 people per year with an annual budget of approx. EUR 250 million. Although the very idea of “exchange” suggests a two-way traffic and also a limited stay in the host country, there can be no doubt about the very real danger of a long term “skimming off” the academic and cultural cream especially of poorer countries.

In this context, the German Academic Exchange Service finds itself in a potentially awkward position. On the one hand, it is a self-administrative body of the German institutions of Higher Education, which have their own interest in talented foreign graduates and promising researchers. On the other, however, it is an intermediary organisation with the explicit goal to promote the academic, scientific, economic and democratic advancement of developing and transition countries. To understand the framework under which the DAAD operates its funding guidelines and programme designs, a quick look into its structure is inevitable. Although the German Academic Exchange Service receives most of its funds from German ministries, it are not a governmental organisation, but a self-administrative body of the German institutions of Higher Education. Obviously, this is a significant difference as the members, the German Universities and Institutions of Higher Education, have a very important say in formulating policies and programmes. Notwithstanding, being provided with the necessary financial means almost solely by the federal state, the German Academic Exchange Service is also a semi-official intermediary organisation which has to take into account the priorities of German foreign cultural and academic policy, development co-operation policy and national higher education policy. In this construction, one may assume the idiomatic “squaring the circle”. Yet, the intermediary role of the DAAD has over the years proved to create a win-win-situation: For German institutions of higher education, DAAD-programmes offer an opportunity for involvement in international activities and funds, which would not otherwise be available. For government authorities, the programmes provide access to human resources and infrastructure of the whole German higher education system. Due to its „semi-governmental“ status (public institutional funding but independent decision making on schemes and programmes as a self-administrative academic organisation), the German Academic Exchange Service has not to compete with other agencies for public funds. It rather organises the competition of individuals and institutions for scholarships and funding of projects and an impartial decision making by selection committees. Fortunately, the DAAD is not tied to sectoral or regional priorities of national or international development policies or of the „donor community“ in designing its programmes.

To promote the academic, scientific, economic and democratic advancement of the developing and reform countries is actually one of the five strategic objectives of the German Academic Exchange Service. The DAAD strives to achieve this goal by educational co-operation with our partner countries in a variety of programmes. In 2004 forty-two per cent of all of the funds available for globally promoted programmes were used for the academic co-operation with developing countries. Nearly half of our foreign scholarship holders came from these countries while one quarter of German students went abroad to developing countries. The imminent danger of brain drain to the detriment of the developing world forms a very important impetus when it comes to programme design. Thus, over the years, the DAAD has developed several strategies in order to counterbalance the possible danger of brain drain; some of which will be presented in this article.

“In-country” scholarships

Universities in the South have successfully established regional centres of excellence, dealing with prominent issues of development in teaching and research. The “in-country/neighbouring country” fellowship programme of the DAAD has been initiated as early as 1962 by African partners. It offers fellowships on Master’s and PhD levels which enable highly qualified local students and students from neighbouring countries to make use of these training opportunities. The programme is operating on a fee-paying basis and thus strengthens the host institutions. It stimulates south-south student mobility and the emergence of regional teaching and research networks. The total number of scholarships granted per year under the “in country” scheme amounts to approx. 350. Forty-six training institutions in Africa, Latin America and South Asia are involved.

An example of such a regional centre of excellence is the International Centre of Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) in Kenya, in which 11 countries participate. Scientists work in multi-disciplinary teams in insect science and on related issues of plant-, animal-, human and environmental health. ICIPE has established the African Regional Postgraduate Programme in Insect Science (ARPPIS) to support staff development at African institutions of higher education and research. The DAAD has supported ICIPE with more than 70 scholarships for Master or PhD candidates.

Keep the links with the home university alive – the “Sandwich”-scheme

A full PhD programme at a German university, including preliminary language training for foreign students, requires four years or even more. The formal requirements to obtain the degree in Germany (recognition of previous qualifications, compulsory additional subjects of study etc.), may extend the stay abroad without adding much value in scientific terms even further. Such a long absence from home can in some cases cause cultural and social alienation and reintegration problems and affect career prospects after return or – in the worst case – result in a somewhat long-term brain drain. The so-called “Sandwich” fellowship is offered as an alternative option of PhD training solely at a German university; students spend study phases both in Germany and in their home country. Their research is jointly tutored by German and local supervisors, the degree is awarded by the home university. As part of this co-operative scheme, funds are also made available for visits of the supervisors at each other’s university at various stages of the PhD-project, thus creating lasting personal and institutional links. A prominent alumna of this programme is the Nobel Peace Prize Laureate 2004, Professor Wangari Maathai of Kenya. She did part of her PhD-studies as a DAAD-fellow between 1967 and f69 in Gießen and Munich in Veterinary Medicine and subsequently earned her degree at her home university in Nairobi.

Study programmes with special relevance to developing countries: postgraduate courses for professionals

For almost 20 years now, the German Academic Exchange Service has been supporting professionals from Developing Countries with an exclusive scholarship scheme. This fellowship programme enables young executives from southern (and in fact eastern) partner countries to obtain a master’s degree at a German university in courses with special relevance to the needs of developing and transition countries. The primary concern of the scheme is to further qualify junior management staff from various sectors – ministries and other government authorities, trade, commerce, industry, administration and NGO’s. Upon return, grantees are expected to go back to their home country and apply the knowledge they have acquired for the benefit of their countries development. In many cases, the participants go back to their established work-places and climb up the career ladder – becoming decision-makers and partners for future development co-operation. A recent tracer studies has revealed that the programme actually meets the high expectations; more than three out of four Alumni return at the end of their study in live and work in their native country or region; and out of these a high number hold senior management positions.

The core concept of the programme can be described as a long-term investment in the human capital of developing and transition countries. Moreover, it is demand-driven. The thematic subjects of the courses reflect needs and requirements of our partner countries – to a large extent the courses are designed to make a contribution towards achieving the Millennium Development Goals: a course in medicine to combat HIV/AIDS, malaria, and other diseases; studies in various environmental sciences to ensure ecological sustainability; courses with regards to good governance and economics in order to develop a global partnership for development to name but a few.

Support cross-border education

Almost all German universities on the aforementioned scheme work closely together with partner institutions in developing and transition countries. The DAAD has prompted and supported these close ties between institutions of higher education in the North and the South with a whole range of programmes (e.g. subject-related partnerships). As a consequence, many examples of cross-border education have evolved where modules or whole semesters are taught by one or several partners in the south. The DAAD regards these joint ventures as staff- and institution-building of a special kind; furthermore it is convinced that the importance and significance of cross-border education will constantly rise in the foreseeable future. Thus, it came not as a surprise, that one result of a recent conference on “Cross-border Education in Development Co-operation” organised by DAAD and HRK (German Rectors’ Conference) was the request of participants to position the topic of cross-border education and development co-operation more strongly also on the political agenda. By doing so, it is intended to create awareness and stimulate debates on the long-term implications of the new zeitgeist of the increasing market-orientation of higher education and research policy which is a potential hindrance of cross-border education. At the same time the conference participants agreed that joint ventures with partners at eye-level can be an effective tool against brain drain if all parties involved can agree on criteria of successful cross-border education by taking into account different approaches and goals in science and higher education.

From individual to institutional co-operation

Academic exchange creates personal ties and “informal” working contacts between individuals. The structural impact of these relationships can be increased by transferring them into institutionalised co-operations. Since 1997, the DAAD supports German universities which enter formal relations with partner institutions from the south and propose joint projects. Funding is granted for mobility costs and to a limited extent for equipment and staff. The programme encourages the establishment of multilateral networks and south-south co-operation. Most of the 235 projects which have so far been supported combine the development of joint curricula, training modules and degree programmes with applied research; some typical examples are flood protection (China), reform of teacher training (Mozambique), rehabilitation of Agent Orange-affected forest (Vietnam), labour law (South Africa), sustainable agriculture (Cuba and Mexico), integrated watershed management (Tanzania, Kenya, Ethiopia, Uganda), technomathematics (Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Ethiopia), regional planning (Myanmar), architecture of the tropics (Mali). Experiences and feedback show that institutional capacity building through subject-related partnerships can be a very effective way to open up a real perspective for returning researchers at their home institutions.

Alumni

Last but not least, the DAAD regards strong and lasting links to its Alumni as an efficacious antidote against brain drain. Continued support for former fellowship holders by equipment grants, scientific literature and invitations to seminars and conferences can be described as a standard feature of the fellowship programmes of the DAAD. Furthermore, all ex-grantees can apply for a re-invitation scheme which gives them the opportunity to return to their host universities for shorter periods of further training and research.

A wider approach, which is not limited to former DAAD-fellows, has been taken towards the support of Alumni from developing countries since 1999. It stimulates the German universities to “discover” the potential of their Alumni from developing countries as partners for further co-operation. At a first stage, assistance was rendered to establish a valid database. The second step was the launch of an “Alumni Programme”, which funds joint projects of universities and their Alumni. In workshops, expert training seminars and summer schools, usually held in developing countries, former students acquaint themselves with latest scientific developments in their fields and their application in the development context.

The most advanced projects have arrived at concepts of continuing education and life-long learning in virtual disciplinary networks, linking Alumni in a particular region or even creating global platforms for disciplinary and interdisciplinary networking. An example is the “Alumni.med.Live” initiative of Heidelberg University and a consortium of universities in Germany, China, Brazil, Syria and South Africa. It has drawn up a full content, constantly updated, web-based medical continuing training programme, to be combined with real-life training components and follow-up activities in the respective countries.

Academic exchange requires mobility. But mobility which fails to ensure the return of the well educated change agents who have been qualified in the North is worthless. Thus, efficient programmes and donor strategies need to be geared towards the ultimate objective of winning permanent partners who actually do return. More than five decades of academic co-operation with developing countries seem to indicate that the German Academic Exchange Service has found ways to achieve that goal – even if brain drain cannot be completely avoided.

This page is included in the publication "Capacity Building in Higher Education and Research on a Global Scale"
© The Ministry of Education 2006