LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - UNESCOunesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104691e.pdfto draw attention specifically to poultry power plants. Poultry litter is traditionally used as fertilizer.

L E T T E R S T O T H E E D I T O R

U N E S C O S O U R C E S N o . 8 5 / D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 6

2 . . . . . .

AN ONGOINGDEBATEG. Ferone de la SelvaNational President of Écologie Énergie Survie(Ecology Energy Survival)Angé (France)

Permit me to continuethe debate raised by one of your Nigerianreaders in issue No. 83 concerning the use(and export) of hydrocarbons, which wasthe subject of a previous dossier (No. 81)on renewable energies.

For more than 20 years, numerous in-ternational conferences, including the RioSummit, have provided the opportunity topresent the best reasons available foreconomizing an important product whichis ridiculously wasted: oil. It deserves morethan just a stupid transformation intochemically and “thermodynamically” dan-gerous heat.

Personally, I suggest not just reducingoil revenues but reasonably stabilizingthem by raising barrel prices to a more re-alistic level, three to five times that of thecurrent rate, while reducing production.

Shareholders investing in solar renew-able energies, which generate many morejobs, would do well, and the quality of lifeeverywhere would improve.

CHANGING THECHICKIE LITTERDr. A. JagadeeshRenewable energy consultantNellore, Andhra Pradesh (India)

I read with interest theexcellent coverage on renewable energiesin your issue No. 81. While many industri-alized countries, notably in Europe, havecaught on to the power of offshore windplants, developing countries can take theircue from the prairie of Inner Mongolia,where 100,000 small wind turbines havebrightened the tents of herders with elec-tric light and television.

While solar energy and traditionalbiogas installations offer great promise forless industrialized countries, I would liketo draw attention specifically to poultrypower plants. Poultry litter is traditionallyused as fertilizer. However, growing aware-ness of the associated risks of nitrate con-tamination of groundwater is helping todrive forward a new use for this litter - itsexploitation as fuel.

With about half the calorific value ofcoal, it has obvious energy potential, andsignificant environmental advantages overtraditional methods of electricity genera-tion. Due to the litter’s chemical composi-tion, the levels of noxious gases released,such as sulphur and nitrogen oxides, are asmall fraction of those emitted by coal-firedgeneration. The plant is also virtuallysmoke-free and overall emissions of car-bon dioxide and equivalent greenhousegases are a quarter of those produced by asimilar sized coal-fired plant. The by-prod-uct from the process is a nitrogen-free ashwhich makes a better fertilizer than theoriginal litter as its phosphate and potashcontent is more concentrated with the addedadvantage of being sterile.

A 12.5 MW output commercial powerstation fuelled by poultry litter has beenworking at Eye in Suffolk, UK. Develop-ing countries can also use this technologyto their advantage.

UNESCO Sourcesis available on

Internet

under the headings:new or publications

at our address:http://www.unesco. org

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WHERE IS THAT NOISECOMING FROM?Pierre LiénardRetired engineerGif-sur-Yvette (France)

I was particularly inter-ested in your dossier on renewable ener-gies (Sources, No. 81), but would like tomake several comments.

With regards to its contents, I wouldlike to draw attention to the inconvenienceof many wind turbines: the extremely

annoying noise, like the hoot of an owl,resulting from the wind’s variations. Awind turbine’s rotor is capable of emittinga sound as powerful as that of a helicop-ter, provided that it turns as fast. Fortu-nately, we now know how to produce tur-bines which turn slowly while still gather-ing a little of the wind’s energy - which isgood news considering that it comes free...

The Dutch have been remarkable infinding ways to use wind mills to silentlypump water to keep rivers at sea-level. Itis unfortunate that they have abandonedthis for electric pumps.

With regards to solar energy, let’s turnto Israel where many houses are equippedwith roof-top water heaters. Elsewhere -although still in the testing phase - thereare the solar stoves of Montlouis in thePyrenees (France) which can reach fusingtemperatures with normally “refractory”products.

It would also be interesting (but expen-sive in terms of initial investment) to equipthe Sahara (or other deserts) with solarpumps: there is plenty of space to installthe large panels to reach the water foundunder the sand and rocks... Wouldn’t this bemore useful than sending up yet anothersatellite?

http://www.unesco

I N S I G H T

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PAGE AND SCREEN . . . . . . . . . . 4

PEOPLE . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 5

C O N T E N T S

F O C U S

A l l a r t i c l e s a r e f r e e o f c opy r i gh tres t r i c t ions and can be reproduced,i n wh i c h c a s e t h e ed i t o r s wou l dapprec ia te a copy. Pho to s ca rr y ingno copyright mark © may be obtainedb y t h e m e d i a o n d e m a n d .

U N E S C O S O U R C E S

Editorial and Distribution Services:UNESCOSOURCES, 7 place de Fontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP. Tel.(+33 1) 45 68 16 73. Fax. (+33 1) 45 68 56 54.This magazine is destined for use as an infor-mation source and is not an official UNESCOdocument. ISSN 1014-6989.

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Pages 6 to 16

PLANET:

Biosphere reserve• POACHERS, LOGGERS& NOMADS. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 18

Tolerance• ALL TOGETHER . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 20

Communication• BACK TO BASICS . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 21

Press freedom• NOT NEGOTIABLE . . . . . . . . . . . 22

Culture• SUN, SAND AND SOCIETY . . . 23

LOOKING AHEAD . . . . . . . . . . 24

René L E FORT

Cover photo: ©Pierre MICHAUD

Rebuilding Rwanda.

Struggling to keepits faculties.

Free and Independent.

THE KING’S NUDITY

THE UNIVERSITY:WHICH WAYDO WE GO ?

U N E S C O S O U R C E S N o 8 5 / D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 6

T he pa ck o f j ou rna l i s t s t ha t a s s a i l e d F i d e l Ca s t r o du r i ng

t he r e c en t Wo r l d F ood Summi t i n Rome show t ha t , 27

yea r s a f t e r s e i z i ng powe r, h e rema in s a l e genda r y f i gu r e .

Th i s i s l a r ge l y due t o h i s ho l d o ve r Cuba , h i s i n t e r ven t i on s

e l s ewhe re , and above a l l , t h e ab so l u t e ha t r ed o r adu l a t i on

t ha t h e i n c i t e s . Bu t i t i s a l s o a r e su l t o f h i s un canny ab i l i t y,

t h r ough c e r t a i n o f h i s ana l y s e s and c ommen ta r i e s on i n t e r na -

t i ona l a f f a i r s and e s pe c i a l l y on No r t h - Sou th r e l a t i on s , t o

r evea l t ha t wh i c h i s obv i ou s bu t wh i c h ha s r ema ined b l i nd

f o r t h e dom inan t s c hoo l o f t hough t . I n o t he r wo rd s , h e c an

ex ce l a t expo s i ng t h e k i ng ’s nud i t y.

Deba t e s a t t h e Food Summi t f o cu s ed on how t o a t t a i n t h e

goa l o f c u t t i ng t h e numbe r o f p eop l e who go hung r y i n t h e

wo r l d f r om 800 m i l l i o n t o 400 m i l l i o n w i t h i n 20 yea r s . A

cho ru s o f v o i c e s s t r e s s ed t ha t t h i s wa s ex t r eme l y amb i t i ou s ,

g i v en t ha t i t wou l d mean r e ve r s i ng p r e s en t t r end s . “ Shame !”

sho t ba ck Ca s t r o , f o r whom t h i s t a r ge t wa s woe fu l l y mode s t ,

i n v i ew o f t h e f a c t t ha t we a l r eady have t he mean s t o pu t

an end t o hunge r i f we s o c hoo se . “ The be l l t ha t t o l l s f o r

t ho s e who d i e o f s t a r va t i on e ve r y day w i l l r i ng t omor r ow f o r

t he who l e o f human i t y i f i t r e f u s e s o r c anno t do t ha t wh i c h

i s n e c e s s a r y t o s ave i t s e l f , ” h e c on c l uded .

Fo r t h e ma in s t r eam vo i c e s , p o l i t i c s i s abou t a ch i e v i ng t h e

po s s i b l e and no t c ha s i ng r a i nbows . T hey wou l d appea r t o

have c ommon s en s e on t he i r s i d e . Bu t t h ey avo i ded d i s c u s s -

i ng wha t amoun t s t o a f undamen ta l p r e c ond i t i on f o r t h e i r

r ea son i ng : t ha t t h e r ange o f t h e po s s i b l e i s l im i t ed by t h e

r u l e s and r egu l a t i on s o f a s up r eme , immu tab l e o rde r, o f

wh i c h t h e e c onomy - o r mo re p r e c i s e l y i t s l i b e r a l v e r s i on - i s

t h e f ounda t i on . F o r Ca s t r o , on t h e o t he r hand , t h e po s s i b l e

i s l im i t ed on l y by t h e r e s ou r c e s a va i l ab l e . And a c c omp l i s h i ng

i t r equ i r e s on l y t h e w i l l - p owe r t o o r gan i z e t h e u s e o f t h e s e

r e s ou r c e s a c c o rd i ng t o a c c ep t ed goa l s . Bu t p e rhap s , a s F r en ch

e s s ay i s t Reg i s Deb ray pu t s i t , human be i ng s a r e , a f t e r a l l ,

d e s t i n ed t o be bu t “ a t oo l o f t h e i r t o o l s ” ?

P A G E A N D S C R E E N


4. . . . .

BOOKS

UNESCO publications andperiodicals can be purchased atUNESCO Publishing bookstoresat Headquarters and throughnational distributors in mostcountries. In each Member State,books and periodicals can beconsulted at a UNESCOdepositary library.For further information or directorders by mail, fax or Internet:UNESCO Publishing, 7 place deFontenoy, 75352 Paris 07 SP(France), tel.: (+33 1) 01 45 6843 00, fax: (+33 1) 01 45 6857 41, Internet:http://www.UNESCO.org/publishing.

SOURCEBOOK OF KOREANCIVILIZATIONAn indispensable tool forscholars, specialists and anyoneinterested in Korean civilization,this is the most comprehensiveEnglish-language anthology ofprimary source material, withcontemporary histories, Buddhistscripture, philosophical treatisesand popular literature. Thesecond volume begins with theclassical civilization, the LateChoson - a time before theincursion of the modern West,

when Confucian patriarchy andpolitical culture coalesced intosymbolic factionalism as artsand literature blossomed.Moving to the Modern periods(1860-1945) in which Westernpowers gained influence, thebook explores events leading upto and beyond 1910, whenimperial Japan forcibly annexedthe country. Selections exploredomestic unrest, foreign threats;the rise of Enlightenmentthought; the Tonghak Uprisingsand the Kabo Reforms; theIndependence Club and thePeople’s Assembly. The bookalso includes an extensiveglossary, bibliography, indexand list of contributors.

• Sourcebook of KoreanCivilization - Volume 2: Fromthe Seventeenth Century to theModern Period, edited by PeterH. Lee, UNESCO Collection ofRepresentative Works, ColumbiaUniversity Press/UNESCO1996, 574 pp., 300 FF.

MEDIA AND DEMOCRACYIN LATIN AMERICAAND THE CARIBBEANThe relative political calmprevailing in Latin America andthe Caribbean has given aneeded boost to press freedom.However, government censorsand paramilitary groupscontinue to make their presenceknown to journalists, with‘friendly’ advice, harassmentand even murder. New threatsalso emerge in the form offoreign, namely American,programmes flooding thealready fragile market viasatellite.Shedding light on these trendsand their impact on the freeflow of information, this bookpresents papers submitted to theSantiago Meeting in 1994 (fromwhich the book owes its title),part of the series of regionalconsultations started in 1991 inWindhoek (Namibia). Far fromjust doom and gloom, the bookalso highlights positive trends.As journalist Cissie Chávez Coyexplains, “the voices of womenand minorities are only lowmurmurs in the media of LatinAmerica, but these are signifi-cant sounds when compared thesilence of the past.”

• Media and democracyin Latin America and theCaribbean, Communication anddevelopment series, UNESCO1996, 250 pp., 130 FF.

create instruments whose soundssuit the emotional quality of theirmusic. Many of the earlyinstruments, however, have beenforgotten in time. The musicianDr. Lalmani Misra (1924 - 1979)revived one of these, the VicitraVina, which almost disappearedin the Middle Ages. Stringsstretch across the intricatelydecorated rosewood or teakstem sitting horizontally on twolarge gourds. This disc presentstwo versions of Raga music,generally performed in theevening to evoke a pervasivesense of peace.

• India - The Music of PanditLalmani Misra. Anthology ofTraditional Music. UNESCO/AUVIDIS. Price: 145 FF.

present the latest issue(No. 192) on maritime museumsin looking ahead to 1998, Inter-national Year of the Ocean.Dive in to the underwater worldof a Neolithic village in Israel’sAthlit Bay and explore ancienthistory via a Hellenistic batteringram, hoards of coins andcopper ingots. We find theNational Museum in Antwerpconjuring up the past in a 16thcentury prison, while the NavalMuseum in Genoa gives a senseof life at sea from the recon-structed deck of a wooden brig.Not just looking at the sea’spast, the issue focuses on its lifewith the “giant white crab”,Oceanopolis, housing aquari-ums, documentation centres andlabs in serving as a touristattraction, research centre and adrop-in clinic for stranded sealson France’s Brittany coast. Theissue closes with a smorgasbordof features - from Namibia’sMobile Museum Service toArizona’s Titan Missile Museum.

PERIODICALS

COMPACT DISCS

INDIA - THE MUSIC OFPANDIT LALMANI MISRASince ancient times, Indianmusicians and instrument-makers have endeavoured to

REPRESENTATIVEWORKS

THE UNESCO COURIERThe December issue delves intoephemeral art - found in tradi-tion and religion as well as incontemporary art. These worksdefy time: women in Indiacreate murals to disappear themoment they come into contactwith the divinities; North Ameri-can Indians craft masks forspecific ceremonies; AustralianAborigines draw in the tracks oftheir ancestors; and bodypainting encapsulates a myriadof cultural meanings inCameroon and in Brazil with theKaiapo Indians.The issues also turns to contem-porary artists expressing theirsense of the ephemeral through“installations”, temporarycreations demanding theviewer‘s active participation inbreaking down traditionalrelations to space and time. LikeAlice in Wonderland, virtualimages takes us to the other sideof the mirror in the electronicworld of art in which buyers canpurchase the exclusive accesscode to a computerized work.

MUSEUM INTERNATIONAL“Source of life, cradle of godsand spirits, bridge linking themost far-flung and ancienthuman settlements, the sea hasalways played a singular part inhuman imagination.” With thisintroduction, the editorialist

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P E O P L E


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THE YOUNG BURCS:FIGHTING THE OLD ROUTINE

THE SOSSO-BALA: AFRICA'SLIVING ENCYCLOPEDIA

(Ph

oto

UN

ES

CO

/Mic

he

l Cla

ud

e).

How do you make a young international civil servant

squirm? Let them show enthusi-asm, passion and a little frustra-tion with a project before takingthem aside with a smile and an oh-so-understanding voice insisting,“you must be new to UNESCO!”Top it off with a wink and confide:“I was young - once.”

Intelligent, dedicated and of-ten polyglot, we find the ‘youngburcs’ (bureaucrats) striving tomake a difference in the worldfrom the confines of an interna-tional organization marking its50th anniversary. With reason tocelebrate and reflect on past suc-cesses and failures, Headquartersstaff and consultants took time out

on 4 November to offer construc-tive criticism while touring boothsand roundtables highlighting thevarious sectors’ activities.

“How can UNESCO grow asan organization if newcomers arenot encouraged to share theirimpressions on how to work moreeffectively? New ideas should bewelcomed, not feared,” says Aus-tralian Saurenne Deleuil, 26, whoorganizes youth educational activi-ties at the World Heritage Centre.Like others interviewed, Deleuildescribes an institutionalized

‘father knows best’ attitude inwhich resignation pushes initia-tive to the Organization’s backbenches. “At first, I was struck bythe rigid administrative structureand constantly asking ‘can’t wedo things differently,’” she says.“Now, I see how easy it is to say,‘that’s the way it is’.”

“ It all comes down to moti-vation,” says Benedict Faccini,29, a consultant of Italian and Brit-ish origins working on educationpublications. “You can getswamped by the routine unlessyou know that you’re here out of asense of commitment. What fright-ens me is that I think most peoplestart out that way, but somethingchanges with time.”

Possible frustration on the partof Deleuil and Faccini does notsignify doubts. Both relish thesense of purpose and exposure tonew ideas linked to their workwhich they maintain could only bedone at UNESCO. Encouraged bytheir working environment andmotivated by close contact withthe field, they love what they do.They would just like to skip someof the hurdles in getting to it.

Applying the private sector’sefficiency and flexibility toUNESCO’s goals, “that’s thechallenge,” says Marcellin Dallyof Côte d’Ivoire, 34. Working atthe Division of Youth and SportsActivities, he maintains that bu-reaucracy is inevitable but hedoes not intend to become thecaricatural lethargic bureaucrat.“ If you show too much enthusi-asm for your work, some consideryou to be naive. That’s not thecase ... But you have to be realis-tic about what you can achieve.”

Far from your western civili-zation and customs, I was

born on the red pure land of Af-rica in about 1205. The good spir-its gave me to Soumaoro Kanté,King of the Sosso people...I washis oracle... So it was me whoKeita chose as a trophy of war for

the battle (defeating Kanté atKirina in 1235) which wouldchange the life of the Mandingpeople.” Michel Kamano, Guin-ea’s Minister of Culture, recountsthe story of the Sosso-Bala, a leg-endary figure in Africa living forthe past eight centuries under thecare and protection of the de-scendants of the griot BalaFasseké Kouyaté. For the firsttime, the “ancestor of the xylo-phone” left the village, Niagas-sola in Guinea, on 29 October totake part in the 90th birthdaycelebrations at UNESCO ofLéopold Sédar Senghor, Sen-egal’s “poet-president” (seeSources, No. 84).

About a metre and a half longand a third across, the world’soldest balafon has a greyish-black bamboo skeleton, with 20laths each attached to resonatinggourds, calebasses. The Bélein-Tigui (patriarch) of the Kouyatefamily has the sole right to playthe instrument on Monday and

Friday evenings with the exceptionof certain holidays and funerals.

But the instrument’s longe-vity cannot simply be ascribed tothe scrupulous care. Rather itstems from the spirit of the instru-ment: recounting the past throughmusic, the Sosso-Bala plays a key

role in forging cultural identity.West African griots or diely con-sider it a rite of passage to visitthe instrument in Niagassola.

So it came as no surprise thatan excited and curious crowd ofabout 200 gathered at Headquar-ters on 29 October for a concertand round-table on this“enclyclopedia of (Africa’s) oraltradition” led by NamankoumbaKouyaté, a historian and chargéed’affaires at Guinea’s embassy inFrance. One man in the audienceasked if the panel wasn’t worriedthat the instrument would end upin an American or European mu-seum. Absolutely not, assured thepanel. When asked whether awoman might someday playSosso-Bala, an equally decisive‘no’ was met by applause, in clos-ing the discussions. After all, thecrowd had not gathered to hearthe ‘experts’. They came to lis-ten to the authority - the Sosso-Bala.

A.O.

● “He was always ready tomake sure that scientificprogress served to improve thelives of people everywhere andto reduce the gap between therichest and the most deprived,”stated UNESCO’s Director-

General paying his respects toABDUS SALAM, the 1979Nobel Prize winning physicistfrom Pakistan who died on 21November at the age of 70.With a long history of closecollaboration with the Organi-

zation, Prof Salam directed theInternational Centre for Theoreti-cal Physics in Trieste (Italy),which he founded in 1964 andwhich is co-managed byUNESCO and the InternationalAtomic Energy Agency.

“Throughout his tenure at thecentre, Prof Salam remainedfaithful to the double ideal ofcarrying out theoretical workand making sure that it resultedin concrete action,” saidFederico Mayor.

M A R C E L L I N D A L LY(Photo UNESCO/Michel Claude).

Amy OTCHET

Enrolment dayat a Parisian university(Photo © GAMMA/F. Reglain).

ALL

ARTI

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U N E S C O S 0 U R C E S N o . 8 5 / D E C E M B E R 1 9 9 6

F O C U S

7. . . . . .

THE UNIVERSITY:WHICH WAY DO WE GO?

T h i s m o n t h ’s d o s s i e r

They’re trying to make us into bananarepublics,” said biologist Judith Sutz

from Uruguay. The “we” meant those LatinAmerican countries which had sent thecream of their academic elite to Havanafrom November 18 to 22 for the RegionalConference on Policies and Strategies forthe Transformation of Higher Education inLatin America and the Caribbean (althoughthese latter were hardly present). The“they” was aimed at a nebulous but omni-present entity, motivated by a single goal:- profit - and of which large local indus-tries and most governments have becomejust so many tentacles, reaching out to suf-focate countries in the region, pushing themaway from the great centres of production,from ideas, learning, and finally from theseat of power.

The participants, therefore, consideredthat their first responsibility was to warnoff the disaster, mainly as citizens but alsoas academics, convinced that if they don’thelp each other they will go down together.“The university IS the country,” insistedArgentine chancellor Juan CarlosGottifredi.

“Before we decide what kind of univer-sity we want, we must decide what kind ofsociety to build,” said Marco Antonio Dias,Director of UNESCO’s Division of HigherEducation, in his opening address. And thatsociety is diametrically opposed to the LatinAmerica of today. After the “lost decade”

of the 1980s, the end of most of the dicta-torships, a stop to hyper-inflation, and areturn to economic growth, the 1990s havebeen qualified as a “decade of hope”.However for most of the participants, LatinAmerica has, on the contrary, moved intothe “decade of increasing exclusion andpoverty”.

AN OCEAN OF POVERTYPer capita GDP is at best the same as 13years ago. Nearly half the population livesin poverty, some 20% in extreme poverty.Inequality is the highest in the world: rev-enues of the richest 20% are 10 to 15 timeshigher than the poorest 20%, as against sixor seven times respectively in the industri-alized countries and in Asia. Foreign debtis still a heavy burden. The region’s shareof world trade is in constant decline, fall-ing from 11% of world exports in 1959 to3.6% in 1990. In short, under the impact ofglobalization, Latin America is sufferingfrom “marginalization” and “fragmenta-tion” with only a few “islands of moder-nity” floating in an “ocean of poverty”.

Since “the university is the country”,how can it escape this dilemma? To itscredit, and just as universities elsewhere,its population has massively increased,swelling from 1.6 million students in 1970to about eight million today, enrolled insome 800 universities (of which 60% areprivate) and some 6,000 institutes of higher

education; the gross enrolment rate (totalnumber of students enrolled divided by thepopulation of the age group at this level oflearning), reaches 17.7%, or nearly threetimes the average for developing countries.Since this proportion is a long way fromthe 48% in the industrialized countries, thesituation in the region is still far fromdemocratic, either in numbers or in the “so-cial class” of students. And the figuresdon’t tell the full story: the multiplicationof specialized institutions, largely the re-sult of private initiative, is indispensable,but it has led to a kind of social apartheid,with excellent schools for the affluent andmediocre ones for the poor.

Who is to blame? For those on the in-side, “fortress university” is under seigefrom “external forces”, upon whom theHavana participants initially opened fire.These forces call into question the “rel-evance” of the university - or its capacityto respond to society’s needs. They believeit dispenses too many diplomas, that itsteaching is inadequate and quality gener-ally weak. They also believe that it is badlymanaged and swallows too much public ex-penditure to the detriment of primary andsecondary education.

This responds to the “World Bank doc-trine” , singled out in the manifesto ren-dered public by student organizations at theend of the meeting. In the name of this eco-nomics-only vision, governments in the

Universities are in a bind, caught between a flood of students in quest of a useful degree, and oftensavage budget cuts imposed in the name of less government involvement, too many graduates, a realor imagined fall in standards, and the inability of universities themselves to cope. In this context, whatmission can be assigned to the university, and how will it overcome the crisis into which it has beenplunged? This question will be at the heart of a UNESCO-organized world conference to be held in 1998.Preparatory work has just kicked off with a meeting on the Latin American region (see below), whichrevealed an identity crisis at least as critical as the funding problems. As the following dossier shows,this is also apparent in other regions, illustrated by examples in a country undergoing major politicaland economic transition (Russia, p.9), an emerging economy (Philippines, p.11), and a society seekinga new vision of itself (South Africa, p.14). Students leaders give their opinions (p.10), while a World Bankexpert and the chancellor of a Latin American university outline possible solutions (pp.15-16).

F O C U S


D o s s i e r

8. . . . . .

region have cut funds and thrown the gateswide open to privatization.

Carlos Tünnerman, head of CRESALC(UNESCO’s regional centre for higher edu-cation in Latin America and the Caribbean)pointed out that the share of GNP devotedto education stands at 4.1% in LatinAmerica, against a world average of 6%;that expenditure per student is three timesless than in Africa, four times less than inAsia, and 14 times lower than in the UnitedStates. Money, it seems is the heart of theproblem.

production; and higher education shouldalso “play a positive role in the criticalstudy of changes in an effort to predict andinfluence these changes”. In short, saidGottifredi “create another choice for re-building state and society”.

This “historic task” argued the partici-pants, can only fall to public universitiessince they assume the bulk of research anddevelopment in Latin America: between75% and 90%. This demands “full autonomyand academic liberty” as well as a “perma-nent dialogue” with governments, industryand the workforce. In exchange, the univer-sity must logically “be accountable” to theseforces, notably through procedure of exter-nal evaluation of its relevance which mayeven result in a refusal of accreditation.

As its functions become more demo-cratic, so must recruitment. Increasingnumbers and quality are not incompatibleif pedagogical methods keep step and mod-ern technologies are called into play.

University free of charge is a right. Toguarantee this right, adequate financialmeans must be provided mainly by theState - the supreme arbiter of public inter-est - which should allocate at least 7% ofGDP to the entire education system. Thus,refinancing higher education would not pe-nalize primary or secondary schooling. Onthe other hand, the university needs to betotally reformed, “without fear, and notabous”. Its success should be based on man-agement and structure so efficient that the“university enterprise” would become a ref-erence for all sectors through its agility, flex-ibility, rapidity of response and anticipation.

Finally, unity is indispensable for agreater symbiosis between Latin Ameri-can nations and to attain a critical massin a large range of disciplines:UNESCO’s Regional Office in Caracasshould be responsible for the creation and

management of cooperative networks amonghigher education institutions in the region.

About 4,000 people took part in prepa-rations for the Havana conference, andthere were nearly twice as many partici-pants than expected: 658, of which 106were chancellors . Their conclusions werenot reached rashly but were the “culmina-tion” of a two-year long process.

A few conservatives considered thatreform had gone too far: nothing shouldmar the sacrosanct autonomy of universi-ties which must continue to serve as light-houses of human thought in a kind of Re-public of Scholars. Others, more rare, ex-pressed the same opinion but for oppositereasons. They preferred banking on the“possible” rather than “utopian ideas andabstractions”: reality is intangible, and theuniversity will only reform itself by accept-ing this. But the majority of participants feltotherwise. “ We must accept reality, but withthe aim of changing it, ” affirmed Gottifredi.

A culmination therefore, but also thepoint of departure for a movement, thattakes on the same if not greater proportionsin the eyes of the Latin Americans as theCordoba Movement. The citizen-academ-ics who came to Havana hoped also toserve as a launching pad for preparationsin other regions for the World Conference in1998. They defined for their respective coun-tries and their profession, a contemporaryversion of the paradox reputedly at the heartof Latin America: magic realism. Were theybeing complacent? Luis Yarzabal, Directorof UNESCO’s Caracas Bureau doesn’tthink so. He retorts: “Utopia is a horizonwhich we can never attain but towardswhich we must untiringly strive for one,and only one reason - to go forward.”

René LEFORTHavana

The World Conference on Higher Education will take place at UNESCO Head-quarters in the latter part of 1998. Its immediate task will be to approve aworld-wide action plan aiming to reinforce the contribution of tertiary educa-tion to economic and social development and democracy. It is also hoped thatthis plan will open the way for the much needed reform of national systems ofhigher education.Over the next two years, a series of regional meetings, like the one in Havanafor Latin America, will be organized for Africa (Dakar, 31 March to 3 April1997), the Arab States (Beirut, 7-11 April), Asia and the Pacific (Tokyo, 8-10July), and Europe (Palermo, 25-27 September and Bucarest early in 1998).Two other meetings covering the Mediterranean basin and the Caribbean arealso on the drawing board.

THE WAY TO RE FORM

BUCKL ING ON THE INS IDEAll well and good, but...The chancellor ofthe Centroamerican University (Nicaragua),the Jesuit Xabier Gorostiaga, voiced aloudwhat many were murmuring under theirbreaths: “universities are part of the prob-lem and not in a position to solve it yet”.

If the fortress has been shaken by at-tacks from outside, it is also buckling onthe inside. In the wake of the CordobaMovement (1918), Latin American univer-sities freed themselves from the hold of theChurch and the latifundia, and opened out-wards to the needs and aspirations of themiddle classes. This hard-won autonomywas vital for the survival of an independ-ent intellectual force even during the worstdictatorships. But the price paid was isola-tion from rapidly changing societies andconsequent failure to adapt to the aspira-tions of these societies. This has led to agrowing “reciprocal mistrust”, accordingto Tünnerman, between universities anddifferent sectors of civil society as well asbusiness and industry.

Paradoxically, the conjunction of thesetwo crises - of universities and civilizations- while intensifying the difficulties, may,at the same time, help to resolve them bycompelling all the actors who suffer underthe same burden to join forces: this is themain thrust of the Declaration and ActionPlan adopted in Havana.

The supreme and common goal is “so-cial development, higher production andeconomic growth, the reinforcement of cul-tural identity and the maintenance of so-cial cohesion, the struggle against povertyand the promotion of a culture of peace”.To attain this objective requires not onlythat higher education “form citizens capa-ble of building a more open and just soci-ety, based on solidarity”, but that it ensuresthat the fruit of its labours is shared by all:for the key to economic competitiveness isthe marriage of science and technology to

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F O C U S

FIGHTING FOR SURVIVALKazan University, one of Russia's most renowned centres of learning, can no longer even payits water and electricity bills.

D o s s i e r

9. . . . . .

Universities, more than any other institu-tion, reflect the historic evolution of a

country; its political and social upheavals,its periods of glory. Russia provides a strik-ing example of this. During the 19th cen-tury, the university was the cradle of theempire’s intellectual and scientific elite.Under the Communists, it became a cog inthe huge party machine and remained thusup until the collapse of the Soviet Union.Currently, it is in crisis, a victim, along withall those previously dependent on the state,of withering public funds.

Eight hundred kilometres east of Mos-cow, Kazan University (KSU) has followedthe historical development of the tiny Re-public of Tatarstan for almost 200 years.Known in its heyday as “the eastern gate-way of Russian academia” in Europe,Kazan is the oldest and most prestigiousof the Russian Federation’s universities,counting amongst its alumni such illustri-ous figures as Vladimir Lenin, writer LevTolstoy and composer Mikhail Balakirev.

A renowned intellectual centre since itscreation in 1804 under the reign of theEmperor Alexander Pavlovich, it has alsobeen considered a centre of world impor-tance for scientific research. NikolaiLobachevsky founded non-Euclidean ge-ometry there in the first half of the last cen-tury, overturning traditional ideas about thenature of lines and the laws of space. Inthe second half of that same century, thechemist genius Aleksandr Butlerovworked out the theory of the structure oforganic matter. In the 1940s, the eminentphysicist Evgeny Zavoisky discoveredparamagnetic resonance at Kazan.

SAVAGELY H I TToday, the vast university complex houses14 faculties, including the high-poweredscientific schools which have developedthere in mathematics, chemistry, physics,history and astronomy, 10,000 students and900 lecturers. It’s a gigantic structure, which,as with most of the Federation’s universities,and despite its recognition as one of thecountry’s top 10, has been hit savagely bythe state’s bankruptcy. To the point whereits very survival is in doubt.

“Kazan has everything except money,”recognizes the Rector of KSU, Academician

Yuri Konoplev. “The situation is dramatic,as is the case for all of Russia’s scientificactivities. We have stopped all purchasesof new equipment or teaching materials.We are even having difficulty finding thefunds to pay the salaries of our lecturers,not to mention student grants.”

Even when they are paid, lecturers’salaries amount to a meagre $127 monthly.This amount has remained unchanged foryears despite deregulation of the economy,high inflation and the suppression of nu-merous professional advantages datingfrom the Soviet era. As a result, their living

standards have suffered considerably.Many have taken on private tutoring tomake ends meet. Some have even openedtheir own establishments. While these op-tions may solve a certain number of prob-lems, they have also led to the rise of nu-merous private institutes of doubtful qual-ity.

Apart from the drying up of state funds,the demand from state-run businesses thatonce commissioned research from the uni-versity, has also shrivelled. The budget isnow so tight that the administration canno longer pay its water and electricity bills,and local authorities have threatened to cutsupplies. “If the situation doesn’t changesoon, we will find ourselves back in theconditions of a century ago, where lectur-ers had only a blackboard and a piece ofchalk to work with,” fears Konoplev.

Despite the difficulties though, neitherthe teaching staff nor the students wouldturn back the clock to the days of commu-nist rule. The freedoms that have comewith democratization are more important.

“At the university now, students come upagainst different approaches to educationas well as the very essence of the subjectsthey are studying” explains history studentDmitri Nomanov. “This is especially no-ticeable in the humanities - for historians,political scientists, lawyers, specialists ininternational affairs, journalists and thelike. At one lecture we are offered a Marx-ist approach and analysis of events, whileat another the democratic outlook prevails.I think that in one sense we are lucky:through the clash of ideas between lectur-ers, students can find their own position.”

The fall of the Soviet Union has alsoallowed lecturers and students to multiplytheir contacts with universities elsewhere.In this way, some 300 students attendcourses in higher education establishmentsin Europe, the USA and Canada each year.External contact has also allowed KSU torevive former traditions of oriental andTurkic studies, and at the same time, saysAcademician Mirkasim Usmanov, rebuildits reputation as the keeper of the key tothe enigma of eastern culture; a link be-tween the academic worlds of Europe andthe Muslim East.

At Kazan, post-communism rhymesuncontestably with a certain freedom. Theuniversity is no longer cast in the mould ofthe party in power. But without new fund-ing sources, this historical place of learn-ing and science in Russia is facing the pros-pect of entering the 21st century armed onlywith the memories and respectability of itsdistinguished past.

Artem KARAPETYANKazan

W H A T W I L LT H E Y D O

I F T H E L I G H T SG O O U T ?( P h o t o ©

I M A - P r e s s / A .K a r a p e t y a n ) .

F O C U S


A NOSE IN THE BOOK AND A FOOT ON THE GROUND

D o s s i e r

10. . . . . .

While sit-ins and rallies may now be few and far between, the expectations of today's studentsare no less demanding than those of previous generations.

Well, what exactly is politics?” Thequestion came without a trace of

cynicism or irony. Yet its author, univer-sity student Leslie Mosler, a leader of theFrench branch of the International Associa-tion of Students in Economics and Busi-ness Studies, shouldn’t have needed to askit. But Mosler spends a lot of time beingwhat used to be called an “activist”.

Does this word, like “politics”, haveany place in today’s student world? Andin which direction and for what reasons arestudent leaders moving these days in pur-suit of change? “They’re totally absorbedby their studies, getting a degree and land-ing a job,” repeat all the leaders of inter-national student organizations interviewedat a seminar UNESCO organized last Sep-tember with the aim of finding out theirviews on higher education.

Once upon a time, all you needed wasa degree for the state to guarantee you ajob you were qualified for. Those days aregone, with the job market shrinking in richand poor countries alike. And yet, we find“ business school students usually justthinking about jobs, money and what kindof house they’re going to buy,” complainsSatu Kreula, a Finnish leader of the asso-ciation. This is why “we have this prob-lem, like many similar organizations, ofgetting students involved and participat-ing in our activities. But we try to moti-vate them,” says Kangwa Mabuluki, theZambian secretary-general of the WorldStudent Christian Federation.

However, not everybody is focusedsolely on this money obsession. Accord-ing to these student leaders, most studentsare bogged down by their studies, but manyof them still manage to look up from theirbooks to critically scrutinize the universityand, beyond that, the world in general.

The major criticism levelled at the uni-versity is the monolithic approach it gen-erally takes and a certain isolation from thesurrounding world. Monolithic because“ the curriculum isn’t really developed forthe individual learner but for a mass of stu-dents,” says Kreula. With the walls of theivory tower still standing, isolation is seenin two ways. First, teaching is too theoreti-cal and therefore too far removed from therealities of the world of work. “A univer-sity must put us in contact with the realworld so we can combine thought and ac-

tion,” saysWalter Prysthon,the Braziliansecretary-gen-eral of the Inter-national Move-ment of Catho-lic Students.Above all, thereis an ignoranceof the outsideworld, be itclose-by or faraway.

“ The uni-versity musthelp students tothink about this

globalization aspect, but at the same timeput down roots in their own societies,” saysPrysthon. “They must both open up andfind their feet.”

“As the world gets smaller, educationshould convey the idea that you are not justworking alone on local challenges, but arepart of something bigger,” adds Kreula.Feeling part of something bigger can beunderstood in a spatial sense, and evenmore so in an existential way.

Universities are also criticized for fo-cusing too narrowly on professional train-ing. The fear is that the move towards priva-tization will increase this tendency, just as itsharpens social inequalities concerning

access to the universities. The students, orat least their most active representatives,expect far more in other areas. “The uni-versities should not only focus on trainingstudents so they can get jobs but also teachthem to become responsible individuals vis-à-vis the society,” says Mabuluki. “We mustlearn how to be useful to society,” saysPrysthon. “What role must I play in soci-ety to become a citizen of the 21st century?”asks Kreula. And the big question univer-sities must help a student answer is:“What’s the point of my studies and beyondthat, my life?” says Prysthon.

The gaps to be filled are very clear. “Basi-cally, moral and ethical issues have beenovershadowed in our educational system,”says Mabuluki. To Prysthon, “the univer-sity turns its back on the poor and the mar-ginal. As far as one can make out in theidentity crisis it’s going through, it’s head-ing in the direction of making money.”

All the student leaders interviewedwere clear as to where universities shouldbe heading. But being reformers and prag-matists, they say that, “a framework hasbeen set and we have to be realistic. Wherecan we complement, where can we change,where are we able to offer support?” asMabuluki puts it.

They also admit that they alone cannotdefine the process or the means to bringabout the needed changes. Hence the pri-ority of discussing the problem democrati-cally, “by opening up the debate to all so-cial sectors, to companies, workers and ofcourse students,” says Prysthon. As fortheir personal contribution to this, theyaren’t faceless soldiers in a great mono-lithic army. “We need to see ourselves asindividuals and the role we can play as in-dividuals,” says Kreula. “Our plans are basedmore on the individual,“ says Prysthon. “Wewant to start from the needs and realitiesof people so they can become instrumentsof change. Our goal is happy people.”

Nothing less than that? Maybe - withdifferent words, different aims and differ-ent behaviour - this generation is morerevolutionary than its predecessor.

R.L.

T H E I N D I V I D U A L

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F O C U S

11. . . . . .

D o s s i e r

SEEKING THE PERFECT FITPhilippine business leaders are generally happy with the country's graduate crop, but regretthat universities aren't yet turning out students to fit the needs of a growing economy.

A round the world, institutes of higherlearning often get a bad name, with

critics contending that ivory towers mightnourish the minds of students, but don’tnecessarily teach them to put dinner on thetable in the world of business. But in thePhilippines, where an emerging economyis aspiring to join the ranks of South-EastAsia’s “dragons”, universities are scoringdecent marks from financial leaders.

“We get graduates from our target uni-versities who are qualified and equippedwith good analytical discipline,” saysElvira Macabuag, Director of Human Re-sources at IBM. “The graduates joining uscorrespond well to our requirements.”From large multinationals to local enter-prises, recruiters seem content to fill theirranks with the cream of the graduate cropof leading Filipino universities, fromwhich some 230,000 students graduateeach year.

“As a whole, the educational systemhas provided some edge over our competi-tors abroad,” according to the Socio-Eco-nomic Planning Secretary Cielito Habito,who is also the Director-General of the Na-tional Economic and Development Author-ity (Neda). “We can be proud of our localuniversities,” he says pointing to the 5,284foreign students from China, India, Indo-nesia, Korea and the United States whohave come to the Philippines to continuetheir studies. “For me, this is a clear affir-mation of the trust in the quality of ourhigher education.”

EXPORT ING GRADUATESNot only are foreign students flocking tothe nation of isles, but graduates are find-ing doors open in and outside the country.Miriam Felix, for example, took her di-ploma from the University of the East toNew York where she worked as an account-ant for a hotel beginning in 1987. A coupleof years ago, she returned home to open adriving school. A core of Philippine jour-nalists fill the pages of the Hong KongStandard, computer engineers dot the Aus-tralian landscape, and the list continues...

However, while prospects look good inthe Philippines on both educational andeconomic fronts (GNP growth rates risingfrom 5.5% in 1995 to 7.1% in this year’s

first semester), there remain some seriousgaps in the university system that couldeventually compromise the country's de-velopment.

“Right now we still don’t have a per-fect fit between the needs of the economy,and the graduates produced by our highereducation system,” says Habito. Whilejobs may be heading to the science andtechnology sectors, the students are not, hesays.

Information technology is consideredto be an extremely promising market,withmore than 200 companies already engagedin computer software and services. Yet thedemand for graduating computer program-mers far exceeds the supply. While some60,000 people receive short-term trainingfrom specialized centres or computer ven-dors each year, only 3,000 students actu-ally graduate from the universities withcomputer-related degrees and many ofthese seek higher paid work abroad. Presi-dent Fidel Ramos went so far two yearsago as to prod Manuel Aldana, a compu-ter engineer with his own firm composedmostly of fellow Filipinos in the UnitedStates, to return home with his staff to workwith the local firm Infocom Technologies.

“Most schools in the Philippines are of-fering oversubscribed courses like com-merce, liberal arts and education,” accord-ing to Roger Perez, director of the Com-mission on Higher Education (CHED).“This is the reason why not enough students

are majoring in science and technologystudies.” He explains that only the statecolleges offer these studies. So not only isenrolment limited, but the facilities offeredoften suffer from inadequate funding, asituation which CHED is anxious to cor-rect. IBM’s Macabuag, couldn’t agreemore, saying that “it is a sad fact that uni-versities are suffering from a lack of ad-equate financial resources to improve theirfacilities and courses offered”. Accordingto Habito of Neda, “many people are rais-ing the alarm that if the country doesn’tfurther intensify investments in education,we may be overtaken by our neighbours.”

QUEST IONABLE QUAL I TYBudgetary allocations have not kept up withthe skyrocketing number of higher educa-tion students. In the 1994-95 school year,the National Statistics Office reports thatabout 2.2 million students enrolled in col-leges, a 10% increase from the previousyear. To meet the demand, private institu-tions have mushroomed, heralding the eraof education’s commercialization. Thesecolleges are usually run by fiercely com-petitive private groups motivated by prof-its rather than broadening access to qualityeducation. As a result, teachers are not em-ployed on the basis of their skills, but ontheir willingness to work for little.

Low salaries may mean more profitsfor the owners, but they may also contri-bute to education of doubtful quality. Ac-cording to Willie Melaya, a psychologygraduate now working as a personnel man-ager at the country’s largest food and bev-erage conglomerate, San Miguel Corp.,quality teaching is needed to produce notjust efficient professional employees butalso caring and concerned members of so-ciety. “Rounding out” students is not justa nice idea, but a key to the Philippinessocio-economic development. “We are pre-paring students as best as we can but whenthey step out of school,” according to thechief economist of the Bankers Associa-tion of the Philippines, Dr. Johnny NoeRavalo, “they are virtually unprepared tohandle real life problems.”

Olive MELAYAManila

I N D E M A N D ( P h o t o © D e p a r t m e n to f T r a d e a n d I n d u s t r y, P h i l i p p i n e s ) .


F A C T S I N F I G U R E S

12. . . . . .

TAKING OFF TO HIT A FINANCIAL CEILINGDespite growing student enrolment and the corresponding rise in recruited professors in developingcountries, the North-South divide is as wide as ever in the public higher education sector.

YET ACCESS IS FAR FROM FAIR,

EVOLUTION OF THE NUMBER OF STUDENTS ENROLLED IN HIGHER EDUCATION.Source: UNESCO Statistics Division.

STUDENT ENROLMENT EXPLODES

GROSS STUDENT ENROLMENT IN HIGHER EDUCATION. Source: idem

Around the world, higher educationenrolment has skyrocketed in the last fewdecades.This rise has been particularlyrapid in developing countries, where in thepast 14 years, the number of students hasdoubled, from 17 million to nearly 35.

This rise stems from population growth,an increasing number of young peopleable to continue their studies, thanks partlyto the spread of primary and secondaryeducation, and the growing demand forgraduates. We must also take into accountthe very low starting base of highereducation in these countries. However,enrolment rates have slowed-down since1985 due to budgetary constraints andother consequences of structuraladjustment policies, notably in sub-SaharanAfrica, Latin American and the Caribbean.

Gross enrolment rates (number of studentsenrolled divided by the total population ofthis age group) are a telling indicator of aregion’s overall level of higher educationdevelopment. Statistics confirm thecorrelation between the priority given tothis sector and a region’s level of socialand economic development.

The rates also underscore majordisparities between industrialized anddeveloping countries, even though the pro-portion of students has grown faster in thelatter. A young person is six times morelikely to pursue his or her studies in anindustrialized country than in a developingone. And this factor reaches 13 in sub-Saharan Africa and 18 for the leastdeveloped countries. There, as well as inAsia and Oceania, low gross enrolmentrates reveal the elitest nature of theuniversity system.

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F A C T S I N F I G U R E S S

13. . . . . .

EVEN WITH MASSIVE TEACHER RECRUITMENT

AS PUBLIC FUNDING FALLS

STUDENT/TEACHER RATIO. Source: idem.

PUBLIC SPENDING PER STUDENT CALCULATED AS A PERCENTAGE OF PER CAPITA GNP. Source: World education report, UNESCO, 1995.

This student boom must continue even though it has already stretched the budgetary limits whichpublic authorities can - or are willing - to accept.

Despite the enrolment explosion andserious financial constraints, student-teacher ratios have, for the most part,maintained relatively acceptable levels.Aside from rare exceptions, universitieshave managed to recruit enough teachersto meet student demand since 1980.

The disparities between developing anddeveloped countries are not as gaping asmight be expected, indicating a commoncommitment, both in private and publicinstitutions, to this critical sector, even incountries with modest revenues. However,it remains to be seen how the massiverecruitment of teachers and the overalldeclining status of the profession will af-fect the quality of education. Moreover,the student-teacher ratio is not the onlyfactor involved. The availability of teachingfacilities and materials are also key to thesuccess of a university.

“In the majority of cases, the growth in thenumber of higher education students hasnot been accompanied by increases in theallocation or resources in real terms,”affirms UNESCO’s Policy Paper forChange and Development in Higher Edu-cation. In general, public spending perstudent, measured as a percentage of GNPper capita, has fallen slightly and willprobably continue to do so.

As seen in the case of the world’spoorest region, sub-Saharan Africa,developing countries spend a greater pro-portion of their GNP on public highereducation than industrialized countries.Yet, they still cannot allocate the supportneeded. Average expenditure per studentin absolute terms is ten times lower thanthat of the industrialized world. Thisunderscores a major policy dilemma: thepoorer the region, the higher the relativecost per student.Infographie: Alexandre Darmon

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F O C U S


WHAT'S A SOUTH AFRICAN ?South Africa is in search of a new identity, but its universities are still too marked by the divisionsof apartheid to play a constructive role in this quest.

D o s s i e r

14 . . . . . .

What we have in this country are threetypes of universities: the historically

black universities which are trying to pre-serve and promote an African ethos ofscholarship, the Afrikaans universitieswhich are citadels of Afrikaner culture, andthe so-called liberal universities which are‘Euro-centric’ in their orientation.” For out-spoken black academic and former DeputyVice-Chancellor of the University ofWitwatersrand, Professor WilliamMakgoba, South Africa’s universities stilllargely reflect the apartheid system underwhich most of them were founded.

Despite a substantial increase in thenumbers of black students over the pastdecade, for example (an average annualgrowth rate of 14% between 1986 and1993, compared to 0.4% for whites), themajority of them have gone to the his-torically black universities (HBUs) whilethe white students have stayed in the his-torically white ones (HWUs). Neither hasthe disparity in resources changed. The“white” ones remain well-funded, whilethe “black” ones are barely making it,which means that the new influx of blackstudents are going into those universitiesand institutes that do not have the neces-sary resources. This is clearly reflectedin achievement rates. In 1993, for exam-ple, HWUs produced 7.5 honours gradu-ates for each HBU graduate and 17.2 mas-ters and doctors graduates for each HBUgraduate in the same category.

A National Commission on HigherEducation (NCHE) was set up by Presi-dent Nelson Mandela in 1995 to review

these problems. It has recommended acomplete overhaul of the university sys-tem. But before any changes can take place,South Africa needs to know what it expectsfrom its universities.

“At the moment,” says Makgoba, “ournation is like a chameleon that keepschanging colour. The universities them-selves are not helping the situation. Theproblem they are grappling with is whetherthey are going to become imitations ofEurope or Africa.”

Some would argue that though it is easyto blame South African universities for

failing to shape a new national identity,the buck should actually be passed on topolitical leaders who are failing to articu-late their expectations of new citizens andthe role universities should play in mould-ing them. A valid criticism?

“Not so,” says Dr. Blade Nzimande,an African National Congress (ANC)Member of Parliament and chairman of theEducation Joint Standing Committee inSouth Africa’s National Assembly, whopoints to a government Green Paper onHigher Education which states that:“Higher education is responsible for thesocialization of enlightened responsibleand constructively critical citizens. Citizen-ship of this nature presupposes a commit-ment to the common good; but it also im-plies a reflective capacity and a willing-ness to review and renew prevailingideas.”

Unfortunately, says Dr. Nzimande, lo-cal universities have not “on the whole”,started focusing their efforts on producing

that kind of citizen, although he predictsthis will change with the implementationof the NCHE’s recommendations.

The Commission’s report, for example,urges greater democracy in universitiesand, to achieve this, proposes a co-opera-tive model of institutional governance that“will combine, in a particular South Afri-can way, more democracy with more mod-ern management”. Essentially this entailsgetting more blacks, women and students intoexisting university governance structures.

AFR ICAN IZAT IONThe “Africanization” of universities is an-other much talked about goal. The moreserious definition of this new catchwordrelates to curriculum transformation, ormaking curricula more responsive to theproblems and needs of South Africa as anAfrican country.

For Dr. Mamphela Ramphela the Uni-versity of Cape Town’s Vice-Chancellor(and the first black woman to be appointedhead of an HWU), this means reposition-ing the university to adapt to the socio-eco-nomic realities of the African continent anddirecting it to develop empathy for the localcommunity. For Dr. Makaziwe Mandela, af-firmative action watchdog at the Universityof Witwatersrand, Africanization means“using our African experiences as a pointof departure in our quest for scholarship”.

However, warns Dr. Nzimande, “thisshould not be understood as believing thatauthentic African culture lies in the past,while contemporary culture belongs to theWest”. The Africanization that will work,he says, is the kind that will enable univer-sities to “define South Africa’s relationshipto the world on her own terms”.

The debate is “fraught with many com-plexities”, says Professor Makgoba. “Thefact is that universities in South Africa havenever attempted to play a role in promot-ing a common national identity.” But thebottom line, he says, is “that if we look atuniversities as centres where principles areformulated to create order out of chaos,then it is incumbent upon them to deciphertheir role, and to start building.”

Vusi MONA in Johannesburgand S.W.

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F O C U S

15. . . . . . .

DIVERSIFY, DIFFERENTIATE, BE ACCOUNTABLE

D o s s i e r

The World Bank's recipe to guide universities - especially those in developing countries - out ofa crisis situation of too many students and too few resources.

How can the quality of higher educa-tion be maintained, or better still im-

proved, on a limited budget?A few years ago, the World Bank,

which is heavily involved in the economicreforms underway in many Third Worldcountries, began to think about this ques-tion of paramount importance for the eco-nomic and social development of its “cli-ent-states”. It recently pub-lished a document entitled“Higher Education: The Les-sons of Experience”, which be-gins with a widely accepted di-agnosis: universities havefewer and fewer resources butstudent numbers are continuingto swell; they are unable to pro-vide quality education for themany and thus remain the pre-serve of a chosen few.

The Bank’s experts put for-ward solutions which combinepragmatism with the “liberal”tradition of this international fi-nancial institution. “To sumup,” explains Jamil Salmi, whooversaw the preparation of thestudy, “wherever the sourcesallocated to it come from, andwhatever the type of institu-tion, higher education must be cost ef-fective, of high quality and responsive todemand.”

B IG BUS INESSIf there is a way out of the current crisis, itmust reside, as he sees it, in better manage-ment of resources. That does not necessar-ily mean privatizing public institutions - theBank’s usual credo - but it does mean uni-versities taking on board standard private-sector practices. “Universities are like bigbusinesses. We cannot continue runningthem without being accountable to the Stateand society for the use of public funds,” heexplains.

Like a business, the university mustalso comply with market needs and - as theWorld Bank study points out - that neces-sity could even be one way of ensuring thequality of education. It stresses in particu-lar that changes in the labour market mustbe taken into consideration and suggests

that the governing bodies of universitiesshould include representatives of manufac-turing and service sectors. Broadly speak-ing, the Bank’s experts would like to see astrengthening of ties between industry andhigher education. “There is a shift awayfrom the traditional idea of the universityas an ivory tower completely aloof fromthe economic and social development

requirements of society. I think that inmany countries this has to be taken fullyinto account.”

Another major theme addressed by theWorld Bank is the boom in student num-bers. It has a two-track approach to the is-sue. On the one hand, it advocates greater“differentiation” in the sector. “The mythof the monolithic university open to all isa thing of the past - that is why we talk ofdiversifying types of education,” saysSalmi. “The traditional research universitystill has its place but the development ofother places of learning must be encour-aged and incentives for private institutionsmust be stepped up.” The development ofpublic and private specialized institutions,offering short vocational and technicaltraining courses, would be a better way ofresponding to the diversity of demand, ex-plains the report.

On the other hand, the Bank’s expertsconsider that public institutions, which will

retain a key role in higher education nomatter what solutions are contemplated,must diversify their funding sources, sincebudgetary constraints mean that the Statecan no longer shoulder this burden alone.This diversification includes an increase inenrolment fees, a measure which, inSalmi’s view, must go hand in hand with asystem of grants ensuring equal access for

all. “It must be a scheme targetedat those who deserve it and genu-inely need it, and enrolment feesshould be proportional to familyincome.” It is an ambition that theBank itself acknowledges to belargely belied by experience.

QUAL I TY CONTROLLastly, Jamil Salmi does not as-sume that private institutions areabove criticism. Their proliferationin some countries raises doubtsabout the quality of education.“Many private institutions are ofvery poor standard, as in the Phil-ippines for instance,” he acknowl-edges. “So there have to be safe-guards, for example, an inspectionsystem and machinery for accredi-tation which would provide a sortof mark of quality.” For this, the

World Bank suggests the establishment ofindependent bodies to lay down guidelinesand supervise higher education, and to as-sess the results achieved by institutions,whether they be in the public or the privatesector.

In short, the World Bank’s approachimplies a certain grading of institutions andgreater selectivity, two inevitable shifts ofemphasis according to Jamil Salmi. “Wehave to take into account the fact that thequality of education is deteriorating, es-pecially in developing countries,” he ex-plains. “The question is: should we con-tinue to make education available for all,even at the cost of poor quality , or shouldwe halt the process and try to consolidatewhat we already have?” The Bank’s re-port signposts certain directions that maybe taken, but, insists Salmi “the debate isstill open.”

Christophe CHAMPIN

F O C U S


D o s s i e r

FIRST AND FOREMOST A SOCIAL CRITICFor Jorge Brovetto, Rector of Uruguay's University of the Republic, the closer the universityis to society, the better it will do its job.

16. . . . . .

Sources: Has the mission of higher edu-cation remained the same, despite the dis-ruptions witnessed this century?

Jorge Brovetto: Before I answer the ques-tion, let me make clear that although I willspeak of Latin America, I am convinced thatthe analysis and proposals made for thiscontinent are valid for the majority of de-veloping countries.

It is impossible to imagine the futureof higher education separately from that ofthe countries themselves. Their institutionscan only be conceived as intimately linkedto a specific culture and to the society outof which they have grown. A great numberof universities have implemented this con-ception of their role to the point where theirintellectual resources have become a realfactor for change and progress in their so-cieties.

Profound political and social changes,along with the globalization process stem-ming from the technical and scientific ex-plosion, have had a big impact on highereducation. While the vertiginous growth ofknowledge and increasing demand for ac-cess to higher education have severelystrained national treasuries.

This process of expansion which wethink is healthy in that it aims to reducethe profound gap dividing us from the de-veloped countries, clashes with the poli-cies being adopted by the majority of gov-ernments to downsize their state institu-tions, and more specifically, to limit theirparticipation in areas such as higher edu-cation, science and technological develop-ment. This is one of the main causes of theacute crisis in our higher education system.

Sources: In what direction does highereducation need to evolve in order to re-main, or become again, a relevant, equi-table and quality system .

J.B.: Higher education institutions, by na-ture, are at the centre of a dynamic conflictof fundamental values: quality, relevanceand equity. Finding a balance between thesevalues requires, in my opinion, managinguniversities with maximum social effi-ciency. This requires some basic changesto provide universities with the flexibility

to respond promptly and efficiently to de-mands, shortages and social inequalities.

In terms of structure, lifelong educa-tion needs to be introduced. As Miguel A.Escotet (a Spanish researcher at the FloridaInternational University in the U.S.A.)stated, “scientific and technological knowl-edge cannot be included in academic cur-ricula of universities at the same pace asthey occur. Therefore, the knowledge be-ing taught in higher education institutionsrefers to the past rather than the present,to history rather than to the future”.

In this vision, graduate studies and life-long education are complementary in a dia-lectical manner: together they form an in-dissoluble unity. Higher education is a cy-cle, a continuity made up of steps, each withits own objectives and strategies.

In terms of content, graduate studiesshould encompass not only basic knowl-edge about the subject matter concerned,but also knowledge of the social context.Higher education institutions create, pre-serve and disseminate knowledge, but theyalso have an undisputable role as society’scritical conscience, defending its moral andcultural values. This is certainly far fromthe model being pushed today as efficientand modern, in which higher education isonly perceived as a mechanical responseto market demands.

In terms of financing, bearing in mindthe role higher education plays in scientificand technological development, especiallyin Latin American countries, sustainableand increasing public funding of educationat all levels would seem an obvious prior-ity, for autonomous and endogenous devel-opment. The state still has an irreplaceablerole in this field. Its financial participationis the only guarantee that higher educationwill continue to develop in Latin America.

Sources: Would opening up the universityprovide a solution?J.B.: Equity doesn’t only mean equal op-portunity in matters of access. It demandsthat knowledge be put at the disposal of allsectors of society, without discrimination.This aim could be partly achieved if uni-versities made social inequalities and defi-ciencies a subject of their research. Anyopening-up of universities in the service of

public or private institutions should not losesight of this goal.

Undeniably on our continent, univer-sities that have developed a policy of openrelationships with all social sectors havegained a lot. Their graduates are able to ob-tain a much broader range of knowledge anda more coherent critical approach.

Exploration of the outside world hasundoubtedly transformed academia inmany ways, not least through the creationof new funding sources. But, the approachis not risk-free, especially during times ofeconomic difficulty. Specifically, researchpolicy can become too narrow or toofocalized. However, these new directionshave unquestionably had a mobilizing im-pact in areas such as relevance, which is fun-damental in evaluating the quality of highereducation.

This usually begins in research andthen spreads into the pedagogical sphere,thus reinforcing the university’s functionof participant and critical observer betterarmed to detect the profound deficienciesthat remain deeply rooted in society.

Interview by René LEFORT

TO FIND OUT MORE.. .

WORLD GUIDE TO HIGHER EDUCA-TION, a comparative survey of sys-tems, degrees and qualifications.Third edition. UNESCO Publishing,1996.

HIGHER EDUCATION IN THE 21STCENTURY, a student perspective:UNESCO, Division of Higher Educa-tion, 1996.

THE UNIVERSITY AS AN INSTITUTIONTODAY: by Alfonso Borrero. Interna-tional Development Research Centre/UNESCO, 1994.

INNOVATIONS IN UNIVERSITY MAN-AGEMENT: by Bikas C. Sanyal.UNESCO Publishing, 1995.

Continueyour education overseas,

and seek financial support,

STUDYABROAD

presents 3,082 possibilitiesin 134 countries for 1996-1997.

Trilingual English, Spanish, French,1,333 pages, 120 FF.UNESCO Publishing,7 place de Fontenoy,75352 Paris 07 SP, France.

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A l l a r t i c l e s a r e f r e e o f c o p y r i g h tr e s t r i c t i o n s a n d c a n b e r e p r o d u c e d .



P L A N E T

B i o s p h e r e r e s e r v e

18. . . . . .

POACHERS, LOGGERS & NOMADSIn Mongolia, rangers restore the sacred Bogd Khan Mountain afterthe ravages of communism and despite the onslaught of capitalism.

( P h o t o “ L e s A m i s d e l a H a u t e - É g y p t e " ) .

“What are they doing here?” asks Ch.Hayanharvaa, getting out of his jeep. De-spite the awkward moment, Dachdulamwelcomes him with Mongolian hospitalityinto her ger, a white circular felt tent, shecalls home. Passing bowls of fermentedmare’s milk, she tries to explain, “my hus-band and I came just a couple of days ago.We only have 10 cows, 70 sheep and ahorse.” Hayanhyarvaa asks, “but do youhave permission?” She looks to the floor,and he continues. “This is the protected zoneof Bogd Khan - a biosphere reserve. Do youknow what that means?” Yes, she says qui-etly. “It is a place where we must keep na-ture clean and where we mustn’t hunt. Aspecial place.” Not a place for grazingsheep, he adds, offering directions to somenearby pastures. Dachdulam nods. The nextday, this nomad will head for the hills.

Hayanhyarvaa directs the administration ofthe Bogd Khan Mountain Strictly ProtectedArea, part of UNESCO’s Man and the Bio-sphere Programme (MAB) created lastApril. Bordering Mongolia’s capital,Ulaanbaatar, Hayanhyarvaa and his teamof 21 rangers have their hands full in pro-tecting the zone’s 41,600 hectares from aflux of poachers, loggers and nomadicherders. These men and one woman con-sider it an honour to patrol their assignedvalleys on foot and horseback about eighthours daily, rain, snow or shine. In exchange,they receive 14,000 tugrik ($21.50) permonth, grazing rights for their animals, andthe chance to set up a ger on the reserve.

Their dedication is admirable, but couldseem misplaced. This is a country with apopulation of only 2.4 million living on 1.6million km2 of mostly virgin land endowedwith an extraordinary diversity of ecosys-tems. The Ministry of Nature and the En-vironment aims to create biosphere re-serves on at least 30% of the territory, ac-cording to D. Myagmarsuren, chairman ofthe national MAB Committee. So with allthat to choose from, why select the smalland problematic Bogd Khan to follow theGreat Gobi as the country’s second reserve?After all, 25% of Mongolia’s populationlives beside the mountain, forcing rangersto battle an urban sprawl of ger camps

which have already claimed the neighbour-ing hills. And then there is the pollution.The thick winter smog blanketing the cityblackens the snowy peaks, with coal-fedplants generating all the capital’s electric-ity, including that for the noxious array ofleather, wool and meat processing plantslining the Tov River which surrounds partof the reserve.

Granted, Bogd Khan’s picturesque steppe,coniferous forests and boulder fields arehome to a wealth of animal and plant di-versity, including 20 bird and 16 plant spe-cies on the endangered lists in addition tomammals like musk and roe deer. How-ever, this same wildlife is likely to be foundon any of the sister Khentii Mountains. Sowhy Bogd Khan?

A trek through the mountain’s past re-veals an impressive history. Formally rec-ognized as a protected zone in 1778, thereserve predates the creation of what hasgenerally been considered the world’s old-est national park, Yellowstone in the UnitedStates, says R. Enkhtuul, a biologist direct-ing the local rangers. According to her ar-chival research, Bogd Khan has been a holysite where logging and hunting have beenprohibited since the end of the 12th cen-tury. The adoptive father of none other thanGhenghis Khan regularly sent his warriorsto the mountain to give thanks to themighty “blue sky”, with celebrations(which continue) held every three years topray for good weather, atop the highestpeak, Tsetseegun, reaching 2,268 metres,where ovoos - piles of stones, branches, andanimal bones strewn with scraps of bluesilk - are still visited. Shamanism gave wayto Buddhism with the Manzhir Hiid mon-astery built in 1750 housing 350 monks and20 temples.

Almost two centuries later, the moun-tain attracted yet another major force: theSoviet-backed communist regime which“ liberated” Mongolia in 1921. Razing tem-ples and killing monks in the 1930s, theparty turned the holy site into an exclusiveresort, with dachas and summer camps forabout 25,000 people mushrooming in the1960s. Rangers protected the hunting andlogging interests of apparatchiks, while

●

“WOMEN AND THREADS OF EGYPT ”wa s t h e t h eme o f an exh i b i t i o n o r gan -i z ed a t UNESCO f rom 13 t o 22 Novembe r.The s how p r e s en t ed t h e wo rk o f f ou rp rodu c t i on s t ud i o s w i t h t ape s t r i e s ,embro i de r i e s i n s p i r ed by t r ad i t i ona lBedou i n r obe s , pa t c hwo rk s made f r omre cy c l ed ma t e r i a l s , and c anva se sembro i de r ed i n t h e t r ad i t i ona l C op t i c andI s l am i c s t y l e s . Hund red s o f womenp rodu ced t he s e wo rk s t h r ough t hecommun i t y - ba s ed s t ud i o s wh i c h o f f e r edt hem t he c han ce t o l e a rn new sk i l l s anda cqu i r e e c onom i c i ndependen ce .

S H A M A N S A N D B U D D H I S T S

S P R AW L I N G G E R C A M P S

▼

Composed of 68 ethnic groups, theLao People’s Democratic Republic is acultural mosaic. However, the INTAN-GIBLE CULTURAL HERITAGE of theseminorities - language, music, literatureand tradition - is at risk. To helpnational authorities set-up a nationalplan to safeguard and promote thisimmaterial wealth, experts from 11countries met in the capital Vientianefrom 7 to 11 October. They identifiedseveral priorities, stressing in particu-lar the need to inventory this heritageand to train local authorities on waysof getting communities to valorizetheir own cultures and customs. Theparticipants also recommendedcreating an ethnology and linguisticsdepartment at the national universityas well as a related museum.


P L A N E T

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19. . . . . .

B i o s p h e r e r e s e r v e

workers caught pursuing the same lost theirjobs. But in an unprecedented break withpress censorship, a state newspaper de-nounced the scandal in 1987, three yearsbefore the first multi-party elections, ac-cording to Hayanharvaa. “It was revolu-tionary to make such criticism.”

cash. Some poach deer and marmots, whileothers collect pine-nuts, timber and fallendeer antlers which earn $66 per kilo, mostlyfrom Korean pharmaceutical companieswhich use them to produce supposed aph-rodisiacs.

F I R E A N D M U S K E T S

▼

The 1996 UNESCO ARCHITECTUREPRIZE was awarded to Peter Abt, aSwiss student at the Federal School ofTechnology of Zurich during aceremony at Headquarters on 25October. His project focused onrenovating housing and public areasin a disadvantaged neighbourhood ofBarcelona’s historic centre (Spain).The plan proposes modular buildingswhich could be adapted to theinhabitants’ needs.

●

An ag r eemen t o f c oope ra t i on s i gned on8 Novembe r be tween AZERBA I JAN andUNESCO c ove r s a r ange o f f i e l d s : t h eedu ca t i on s y s t em ’s r e f o rm , t h e t r an s f e rand s ha r i ng o f s c i en t i f i c and t e chno l og i -c a l know l edge , s u s t a i nab l e e c o s y s t emmanagemen t , i n s c r i p t i on o f h i s t o r i c s i t e son UNESCO ’s Wo r l d He r i t age L i s t andmed i a t r a i n i ng .P r e s i d en t Ga i da r A l i e v and D i re c t o r-Gene ra l F ede r i c o Mayo r s i gned t heag reemen t du r i ng an o f f i c i a l v i s i t b y Mr.M a y o r t o t h e c a p i t a l B a k u .

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Pa r t ne r s h i p - bu i l d i ng wa s t h e c en t r a lt h eme d i s c u s s ed by t h e I n t e rna t i ona l C o -o rd i na t i ng Coun c i l o f t h e MAN ANDTHE B IOSPHERE P r og ramme (MAB) ,wh i c h me t a t Headqua r t e r s f r om 19 t o22 Novembe r. Pa r t i c i p an t s f o cu s ed on t hep l e t ho ra o f l o c a l and r eg i ona l i n i t i a t i v e s- tw i nn i ng p r og rammes , r eg i ona l n e two rk s ,i n f o rma t i on ex change s and j o i n t - r e s ea r chp r o j e c t s .S eek i ng t o i n t eg ra t e env i r onmen ta l andso c i o - e c onom i c c on c e rn s , t h e p r o j e c t s a r ea l l b a s ed on t he de c i s i v e r o l e wh i c h l o c a lc ommun i t i e s mu s t and wan t t o p l ay i nf o rmu l a t i ng and p r omo t i ng app roa che s t osu s t a i nab l e deve l opmen t . T he d i s c u s s i on sa l s o t u rned t o way s o f p r omo t i ng pub l i cawa rene s s o f t h e s e c on c e rn s , pa r t i c u l a r l yamong young peop l e .A demons t r a t i on o f t h e UNESCO/MAB -ne ts howed t he on - l i n e po s s i b i l i t i e s o f g l oba li n f o rma t i on ex change s .

P A T R O L L I N G W I T H T U V A N N S U R E N( P h o t o U N E S C O / A m y O t c h e t ) .

For the rangers, these intrusions spell disas-ter. Voracious forest fires which sweptthrough Mongolia last spring also hit BogdKhan, when sparks from a passing train ig-nited dry grass. Some rangers think thatembers from a poacher’s campfire were alsoresponsible. For two months, they spent dayand night beating the flames with carpetstrips attached to branches. Heated con-frontations of another kind are all too com-mon. For example, Norovsuren’s brother, aformer ranger, was almost killed when hetried to disarm a poacher. Norovsurendoesn’t carry a gun seeing it more as a provo-cation than a deterrent. A telephone wouldbe more effective than a musket, accordingto the ranger D. Sharaa, 52. “Now we’re cut-off from one another,” he says. “If I seepoachers or a smouldering fire, I’m on myown.”

Better equipping and training the rang-ers requires a budget which the environmentministry doesn’t have - for the moment. Thefact that the ministry is still standing aftermajor governmental restructuring leftonly nine out of an original 16 ministries“ is the first victory” for Myagmarsuren ofthe ministry’s MAB committee, referringto the sweeping structural changes of thenew democratic coalition which over-turned the communist party in last sum-mer’s elections. In the meanwhile, thebudget should get a boost with Mongo-lian visitors paying entrance fees of 100tugrik and foreigners 1000 ($1.50), pro-vided that the short-handed rangers can col-lect the money. With busloads of Japaneseand Korean tourists making their way toBogd Khan, eco-tourism seems like a prom-ising possibility. “We have travelled to learnabout this in other countries,” saysMyagmarsuren. “And we’ve seen some veryadverse effects. We must be very careful notto make the same mistakes as Kenya, orcertain Asian countries or even the UnitedStates.”

Amy OTCHETBogd Khan Mtn.

Today, the dachas have given way to astrictly protected core area of pristine for-ests with buffer and transition zones offer-ing limited grazing rights to local herders,accommodation for about 520 tourists, vis-its to a restored temple of Manzhir Hiid andan ecological museum. However, the greencurrents responsible for these policy changes,have not yet reached the general public.

“I see Japanese tourists not leaving somuch as a candy wrapper,” says the rangerNorovsuren, 27, “while Mongolians dosuch bad things, like killing deer for theirantlers, leaving smouldering camp firesand destroying berry-patches.” Accordingto S. Dashdavaa of the reserve’s adminis-tration, “in the beginning of the century,Mongolians were different - they wouldeven pick up the horse dung at a holy place.But the economic transition has changedpeople’s mentalities. Now all they careabout is money.”

While the national economy is improv-ing after a free fall in the wake of 1989’s cutsin Soviet subsidies, droves of Ulaanbaatar’sunemployed are still desperate to earn scarce

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P L A N E T

“Many of them - wives in mixed marriages,where the children’s ethnic group is con-sidered the same as the father’s - saw hus-bands and babies massacred by their ownfamily. In some cases, fathers slaughteredtheir children because they resembled theirHutu or Tutsi mother too closely... Amongthe orphans we look after children whohave killed other children - perhaps ourown.

“The mothers, widows and wives aban-doned by their men or whose partners arein prison for genocide are trying to go be-yond this, to overcome the trauma andbuild a better life for the children who re-main. This means fighting against the false‘hutu-ization’ and the ‘tutsi-ization’ of thepopulation promoted by the former govern-ment and reinforced by the local and for-eign media. It means rebuilding theeconomy. It means feeding everybody de-spite a situation of extreme poverty. It re-quires a superhuman effort, both mentaland physical - but the future of Rwandadepends upon it. ”

M A K I N G A D I F F E R E N C EAt the award ceremony, Ms Nzambaza-mariya called upon UNESCO’s Director-General, Federico Mayor to serve as theirambassador to the world.“We need the helpof organizations like UNESCO - whichserves as the world’s conscience - to healthe terrible wounds and help us overcomethe obstacles that block our path, such asthe chronic lack of funds, and thepersistance of the media to see Rwandansociety as divided purely along ethnic lines.It’s a deadly cliché that only twists the knifein the wound.”

Women make up between 60% and70% of Rwanda’s population. Some 60%of households are headed by women. Tra-ditionally, and despite a social status in-ferior to that of men, Rwandan womenhave been seen as the educators of theyoung, and a symbol of peace and unity.“We are known at home as ‘Nyampinga’ ,which means ‘peaceful haven’ or ‘refugefor tired travellers and those in need’. Whobetter to pick up the pieces and startagain?”

Sue WILLIAMS

T o l e r a n c e

20. . . . . .

ALL TOGETHERUNESCO awards first tolerance prize to Rwandan womenworking to rebuild the country and heal its terrible wounds.“Like Martin Luther King, the women ofRwanda have a dream: that the nightmarewill never happen again, in Rwanda or any-where else.” Veneranda Nzambazamariyais president of a collective of 32 women’sorganizations in Rwanda working to givethat dream some solid foundations. On No-vember 18, at UNESCO’s Paris headquar-ters, this collective was awarded the firstever $40,000 UNESCO-Madanjeet SinghPrize for the Promotion of Tolerance andNon-Violence in recognition of its mem-bers unswerving efforts and dedication.

T H E S E C H I L D R E N D E S E R V E A B E T T E R L I F E( P h o t o © S i p a P r e s s / N a n z e r ) .

●

Wi th Ph i l ade l ph i a ’s I ndependen ce Ha l l a sa ba ckd rop , UNESCO ' s D i r e c t o r-Gene ra lF ede r i c o Mayo r and t he Amer i c an c i v i lr i gh t s a c t i v i s t R ev. L eon H . Su l l i v ans i gned a COOPERAT ION AGREEMENTo n 2 6 O c t o b e r.Unde r t h e a c c o rd , UNESCO w i l l wo rk w i t ht h r e e A f r o - A m e r i c a n o r g a n i z a t i o n sf ounded by Rev. Su l l i v an no t ab l y t op romo te ba s i c e du ca t i on and l i t e r a c y i nA f r i c a . A s t h e Reve r end exp l a i ned , “ i fyou c an ’ t r ead , you c an ’ t l e ad ” .

▼

“Learning to participate, learning toshare, learning to communicate andlearning to anticipate” - these are thefour “pillars” which African expertshave advised adding to those put forthby the International Commission onEducation for the 21st Century (learn-ing to know, learning to do, learningto live together and learning to be).The experts were part of the Consulta-tive Committee on Regional AfricanCOOPERATION IN EDUCATION whichmet in Dakar (Senegal) from 12 to 15November to prepare the next Ministe-rial Conference of Education Ministersand Planning Officials (1998) whichwill focus on “quality education forsustainable development”.

Pro-femmes Twese Hamwe (“All To-gether”) was formed shortly after the 1994massacre in the central African nation thatclaimed up to one million lives, forced an-other two million to flee their homes anddevastated the country’s economy and in-frastructure. The women’s groups, Hutusand Tutsis together, launched the “ActionCampaign for Peace” to fight for social jus-tice and respect for women’s rights, andagainst impunity for those responsible forthe mass killings.

The collective attempts to improve theliving conditions of Rwandans, espe-cially women and children, through micro-actions to ensure adequate food and gener-ate income. They are also working to ana-lyse and publicize the history of Rwandaand the causes of conflict there.

“The women of Rwanda have doublysuffered” explains Ms Nzambazamariya.

●

A f t e r d e cade s o f i n exo rab l e g r ow th , t h enumbe r o f ou t - o f - s c hoo l c h i l d r en i s ont he de c l i n e , w i t h 20 m i l l i o n f ewe r a tp r ima ry age t han a t t h e s t a r t o f t h e1990s . H i gh l i gh t i ng ma j o r t r end s ,a ch i e vemen t s and ob s t a c l e s i n o f f e r i ngp r ima ry edu ca t i on f o r a l l c h i l d r en wh i l er edu c i ng i l l i t e r a c y a t a l l a ge s , t h e F i na lRepo r t o f t h e M i d -De cade Mee t i ng o f t h eI n t e rna t i ona l C on su l t a t i v e F o rum f o rEDUCAT ION FOR AL L p r e s en t s f i nd i ng so f t h e wo r l d -w i de exe r c i s e wh i c h ga t he r ed250 pa r t i c i p an t s f r om 73 c oun t r i e s i nAmman ( J o rdan ) f r om 16 t o 19 June .

☛ EFA Fo r um Se c r e t a r i a t


P L A N E T

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21. . . . . .

C o m m u n i c a t i o n

“The politicization of Burundi's press has been magnifiedby unqualified journalists..."Burundi’s privately-owned media has de-veloped since 1992, alongside the growthof democracy. Until then, the only inde-pendent press was the fortnightly Catho-lic paper Ndongozi Y’Uburindi. But whileenriching the media scene, the non-gov-ernment media has also brought with itintense sociological conflicts.

“Many journalists react according totheir ethnic origin,” says Jean Nzeyimana,a journalist at the state-run newspaper LeRenouveau. “But that’s not the real prob-lem. You can’t say definitely there are Hutujournalists or Tutsi journalists. The prob-lem is elsewhere. Journalists are some-times obliged to follow public opinion, andthose who want to sit on the fence haverisked their lives, and sometimes beenkilled, even by their own side.”

The basic problem, explains AntoineNtamwikevyo, former head of the stateradio, is that the first journalists in the in-dependent media were civil servants, stu-dents or just people looking for a job.There were few who had any journalistictraining. This was the core of the problem.If the new press is now dying,Ntamwikevyo says, it is because of theamateurism of the people in it. “Thepoliticization of the press has been magni-fied by unqualified journalists in both pri-vate and public media.”

On top of not being properly trained,Burundian journalists also have to grap-ple with difficult access to information.

Though most of them have had higher edu-cation, their first contact with journalisticprinciples has been through training organ-ized by UNESCO or other aid agencies.

“I’ve been working in television forthree years, but this is the first time I’vebeen to a training seminar for journalists,”said television producer Moise Gahunguafter a workshop on “Ethics, Principles andHandling of Information,” organized fromNovember 4-16 by a UNESCO Burundi/Rwanda Media Help project.

The workshop, he said, “taught methings about my profession and also helpedme understand the mistakes I was makingwithout realizing.”

“I’ve always had trouble choosing theinformation in a story, so during a pro-gramme I just let it all through, even if ittook 10 minutes when two minutes wouldbe enough to convey the point,” says tele-vision reporter, Josee Ntabahungu. “It’s be-cause I don’t want to be accused of bias bycutting out some of an interview. But withthe training I’ve had now, I’ll be able toseparate the facts from the commentary.”

If the profession had been properly organ-ized, this training deficiency would havebeen reduced. But the 260-strong BurundianJournalists’ Association (ABJ) has beenstruggling to get on its feet. However, ajournalists’ centre backed by UNESCO isslowly being set up, and the Burundian As-sociation of Women Journalists’ (AFBJ) isabout to launch its own newspaper.

Apart from training and organizationalproblems, the media also has to face a dif-ficult economic situation. “Working con-ditions don’t help journalists to act in a pro-fessional manner,” says journalist AndreBirabuza. “Equipment is old or inexistent,”and the pay is meagre. People are increas-ingly leaving journalism for other jobs.”

But journalists are acknowledged ascrucial actors in Burundi, where literacy isstill low and where people need balancedand non-divisive news. Bogus quarrels butreal problems. Burundian journalists andmedia must make up for lost time.

Bruno MPONDO EPOBujumbura

BACK TO BASICS●

As pa r t o f UNESCO ’s a c t i v i t i e s t o r e c on -s t r u c t Bo sn i a and He r zegov i na ’s c u l t u r a li n s t i t u t i on s , a CONCERT FOR PEACEwas g i v en on 11 O c t obe r by t h e Ph i l ha r-mon i c O r che s t r a o f S a ra j e vo , unde r t h ed i r e c t i on o f S i r Yehud i Menuh i n , Goodw i l lAmba s sado r o f t h e O rgan i za t i on .The r enowned mus i c i an a l s o v i s i t e d aspe c i a l wo rk shop r e s t o r i ng s t r i nged -i n s t r umen t s damaged i n t h e wa r. UNESCOf i nan ced t he wo rk shop , h e l d a t S a ra -j e vo ’s Mu s i c A cademy, wh i c h ga t he red ana r r ay o f expe r t s s p e c i a l i z i ng i n mak i ngand r epa i r i ng t h e s e i n s t r umen t s .

( P h o t o U N E S C O / A . S c h i s c h l i k ) .

“ T H E Y D E S T R O Y ! L E T ' S B U I L D O NR E G A R D L E S S ” . A C A R T O O N F R O M O N E O F

B U R U N D I ' S B I - M O N T H LY N E W S P A P E R S .

S T R U G G L I N G

▼

More than 100 hours of documenta-ries and feature films have beenshown on television in Bosnia andHerzegovina thanks to the UNESCOPROGRAMME BANK. Operating sinceSeptember, the Bank aims to providequality programming to independentand state-run broadcasting companieswith limited resources. Amounting tomore than $550,000, most of theprogrammes come from ten NorthAmerican and European televisionstations, while UNESCO has providedfor the shipping, translating and sub-titling costs. Czech, Danish, Norwe-gian and Swedish stations have alsoannounced plans to participate.

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P L A N E T

P r e s s f r e e d o m

22. . . . . .

NOT NEGOTIABLEJournalists in Trinidad and Tobago stand united in a showdownover press freedom.The southern Caribbean twin island stateof Trinidad and Tobago got its fourth dailynewspaper this month. But The Independ-ent is not just another commercial mediaventure: it is the child of a bruising battlewith the government over press freedom.

The conflict erupted last February af-ter the Trinidad Guardian published an edi-torial critical of the newly-elected PrimeMinister. According to Jones P. Madeira,former Editor in Chief at the Guardian, “hewas so irate that he publicly announced hisintention to demand my removal. He evenurged a national boycott of the newspaperuntil I went.”

Despite the fact that Trinidad and To-bago’s constitution explicitly guaranteesnot only freedom of expression but pressfreedom as well, pressure mounted. Thejournalists dug their heels in as the gov-ernment offensive continued. The Attorney-General called for the establishment of aPress Compliants Authority. A former gov-ernment party MP was named “exclusiveparliament reporter” and host of a popularTV current affairs show which was subse-quently made less confrontational, withtopics prepared six weeks in advance.

S O L I D A R I T Y

a backhand method of gagging the media.They also emphasized the need for a Free-dom of Information Act to ensure accessto public information.

“The assistance given by UNESCO inthis important exercise has been invalu-able,” says Solomon “The Organization’spresence helped temper the attacks againstMATT and demonstrated international con-cern for the situation that was developingbetween the new government and the peo-ple’s fundamental rights.”

Despite the outcry the restrictions re-main, as has the journalists’ resolve. Thosewho lost their jobs at the Guardian pooledtheir savings, loans and pension entitle-ments to launch The Independent.

Initially a weekly, printed on a pressborrowed from a supportive competitor, thepaper has gone from strength to strength.“A number of sympathetic investors havesince thrown their weight into the venture,”says Madeira, “We now have new offices,computers, a scanner and photographicequipment, and our own press.”

On November 13, the daily Independ-ent hit the road, “midwifed” says Madeiraproudly, “by a country of 1.4 million peo-ple who have decided their press must re-main free.”

Sue WILLIAMS

T H E I N D E P E N D E N T I S B O R N( P h o t o © T h e I n d e p e n d e n t ) .

●

Abou t 200 o rgan i z e r s o f t h e va r i ou sg roup s f o r m ing t he Wo r l d F ede ra t i on o fUNESCO C l ub s , C en t r e s and A s s o c i a t i on s( FMACU) ga t he r ed a t Headqua r t e r s on 4Novembe r t o exp l o r e t h e t h eme “YOUTHAND UNESCO C LUBS - UNESCO ’sPa r t ne r s i n t h e 21 s t C en t u r y” . A s e r i e s o fwo rk shop s enab l ed t h em t o ex changei dea s abou t t h e O rgan i za t i on ’s a c t i v i t i e sw i t h i t s r ep r e s en t a t i v e s .T he FMACU a l s o c e l eb ra t ed UNESCO ’s 50 thann i ve r s a r y w i t h t h e pe rf o r man ce , “A s aTr ee L ove l y and F ree” , by s t uden t s o f t h eA cademy o f T hea t r e and Dan ce o fBu cha r e s t ( Roman i a ) r e c oun t i ng t h eO rgan i za t i on ’s h i s t o r y t h r ough poe t r y andcho r eog raphy.

▼

“Each time we teach a child some-thing, we prevent that child frominventing it,” said JEAN PIAGET, theSwiss psychologist and long-timecollaborator of UNESCO. With thisyear marking the centenary of hisbirth, Piaget is remembered for hisrevolutionary approach and methodsin uncovering and analysing the child’sperspective outside of the social normsand the preconceived ideas of sur-rounding adults.In paying tribute to the psychologist,an exhibition and round-table entitled,“Piaget and Education for the 21stCentury” were held at Headquartersand a documentary made in 1970 (14years before his death) was screened.

( P h o t o C . G a l l a u d / F M A C U ) .

Soon after, the situation reached a head atthe Guardian when Managing Editor AlwinChow was dismissed “for failing to complywith editorial direction,” explains ElizabethSolomon, Vice President of the Media As-sociation of Trinidad and Tobago (MATT).“He was followed by 13 other newsroomstaff members, including the senior edito-rial team, who walked out in solidarity.”

“Through MATT, the Guardian journal-ists enlisted UNESCO’s financial and moralsupport to organize a public forum on therole of the media in a democratic society,”says Madeira. This was held in two parts.The first meeting, on April 10, heard theviews of the public. Many criticized thepress for errors in reporting, but all con-firmed the need to uphold a free press vis-à-vis both political pressures and economicand financial interests. Two days later ajournalists’ symposium was held at whichthe participants stressed the need to safe-guard editorial independence, and urged therepeal of “antiquated” libel laws, used as


P L A N E T

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23. . . . . .

UNESCO SOURCES is a monthly magazine publishedby the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cul-tural Organization [tel: (+33 1) 45 68 16 73; fax:(+33 1) 45 68 56 54]. English and French editionsare produced at Paris Headquarters; the Spanish edi-tion in cooperation with the UNESCO Centre of Catalo-nia, Mallorca 285, 08037 Barcelona, Spain; the Chi-nese edition in cooperation with the Xinhua NewsAgency, 57 Xuanwumen Xidajie, Beijing, China; thePortuguese edition in cooperation with the PortugueseNational Commission for UNESCO, Avenida InfanteSanto, No. 42-5°, 1300 Lisbon, Portugal.

Editor-in-Chief: R. Lefort. Associate editors:S. Williams, S. Boukhari, A. Otchet, C. Champin. As-sistant Managing Editor: C. Mouillère. Spanishedition: E. Kouamou (Barcelona), L. Sampedro(Paris). Lay-out: G. Traiano, F. Ryan. Circulation andSecretariat: D. Maarek.

Photoengraving and printing in UNESCO Work-shops. Distribution by UNESCO's specialized services.

C u l t u r a l t o u r i s m

SUN, SAND AND SOCIETYTourism doesn't have to be a dirty word. In Latin Americaand the Caribbean, experts are exploring the alternatives.

●

Pa r t o f t h e S e r i e s o f L ea rn i ng Ma t e r i a l si n Eng i nee r i ng S c i en c e s , “ M A N A G E M E N TOF SOL ID WASTES ” o f f e r s a po s t g r adu -a t e c ou r s e on app roa che s t o c o l l e c t i ng ,d i s po s i ng and t rea t i ng a c ommun i t y ’swa s t e a t a m in imum co s t wh i l e p re s e r v i ngpub l i c h ea l t h and en su r i ng neg l i g i b l eenv i r onmen ta l impa c t . T he c on t en t s r unt he gamu t , f r om de s c r i b i ng how a l and f i l ls i t e i s s e l e c t ed t o t h e c ha ra c t e r i s t i c s o fo r gan i c wa s t e s u s ed f o r c ompo s t i ng andb i oga s p r odu c t i on . C on c i s e exp l ana t i on si n c l ude c a s e s t ud i e s , exe r c i s e s and s e l f -a s s e s s m e n t q u e s t i o n s .

☛ Eng i nee r i ng and Te chno l ogy D i v i s i on

Varadero, a 20-km long spit of white sandedged by palms and sapphire sea, is Cuba’sbest known beach. Writer José Marti (1853-1895) incarnates the uncompromising “pa-triotism” of the Caribbean’s largest island.“ When tourists come to discover bothVaradero and José Marti, then we will havereached the goal of creating a healthier tour-ism,” said Arnoldo Mora, Costa Rica’s Min-ister of Culture, at a meeting on cultural tour-ism in Latin America and the Caribbean or-ganized in Havana from 18 to 22 Novem-ber by UNESCO, Brazil, Cuba and Mexico.

Tourism is booming - with nearly 600million travellers world-wide this year andone billion expected by 2010. But in theregion, the industry tends to promote sun-worshipping over a sense of discovery onthe part of visitors. This can be devastat-ing for local people - “don’t disturb thetranquillity of foreigners by forcing theminto contact with reality which may be lessthan idyllic.” Yet, when an encounter is“organized”, it often becomes a pasticheof pseudo-craft displays or a performanceof traditional dance.

In the rush for tourist dollars, splendidnatural or cultural sites are often menacedby the hasty construction of hotel facili-ties. Tantamount to killing the goldengoose, this mass tourism turns its back onsustainable and human development, a toppriority in the region.

The meeting’s 180 participants from 30countries agreed on three certitudes. Firstly,tourism is not monolithic. There is roomto develop the still small proportion of a

different kind of tourism, one that is activeand open rather than consumer-oriented andclosed. After all, the region has far morethan just sunshine to offer, with flora andfauna among the richest in the world, ves-tiges of ancient cultures and cultural iden-tities proudly maintained by populationseager to share their history and traditions.

Secondly, cultural tourism does not im-ply culture conceived for tourism, but ratherdefines a form of tourism which adapts it-self to local cultural life. In other words,it advocates “interculturality” between

tourists and local people who should in-teract symetrically - each moving towardsthe other overcoming their respective bar-riers.

“Cultural identity,” said BrazilianEduardo Portella, “is conviviality. It is di-luted when it becomes incapable of estab-lishing contacts and of transforming itself.But the tourist market must protect culturalheritage and combat a kind of predatorytourism, which caters only to the exhorbitantdemands of lazy consumers.”

Finally, the issue is far from simple. TheHavane action plan, in addition to a seriesof cooperative activities aiming at develop-ing cultural tourism, begins by focusing onthe continuation of related research. It is truethat cultural tourism is only one aspect of amajor contradiction of our time: the needto multiply exchange and preserve one’sown identity. On the beach, as in business...

R.L. and Jorge SMITHHavana

▼

To promote and exchange memberstates’ experiences in offering“LEARNER-CENTRED EDUCATION”, aworkshop was held in Beijing (China),from 4 to 6 November, as part of afollow-up consultation of UNESCO’s“Monitoring Learning Achievement”project, launched four years ago. Thedebates highlighted the need toconsider gender-sensitive issues,individual learner aptitudes and theirsocio-economic backgrounds.

M A C H U - P I C C H U ,O N E O F P E R U ’ SB I G G E S TT O U R I S TD R A W C A R D S( P h o t o U N E S C O /L a u r e n z a ) .

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SOURCESU N E S C O

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Within the framework of the International Hydrological Programme, the steering committee of the

FRIEND/NILE (Flow Regimes from International Experimental and Network Data Sets) will meet for the

first time in Cairo (Egypt) from 6 to 8 January. The public is invited to a scientific seminar on SOLAR

ENERGY FOR SUSTAINABLE DEVELOPMENT scheduled at Headquarters on 14

January. At Headquarters from 20 to 21 January, the Scientific Advisory Committee composed of about 55

of the world’s leading scientists working in diverse fields will meet for the first time to make recommendations

concerning SCIENCE FOR THE FUTURE. The eighth session of the Scientific and Technical

Committee on the INTERNATIONAL DECADE FOR NATIONAL DISASTER

REDUCTION (1990 -1999) will meet at Headquarters from 20 to 24 January to discuss the decade’s

final years while looking beyond to possible future activities. The decade’s Inter-agency Steering Committee

will also meet on 24 January. ARCHAEOLOGICAL “REMOTE-SENSING”, a

remarkable technique using satellite images to identify world heritage sites, ruins and other indications of

historical significance will be the subject of a presentation at Headquarters, 30 January, focusing specifically

on Syria and Jordan. Transboundary WATERS: PROSPECTS FOR PEACE OR

CONFLICTS will be the theme of a scientific seminar held at Headquarters on 4 February. More than

200 representatives and observers from a broad range of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) are ex-

pected at Headquarters from 10 to 12 February for the fifth UNESCO/NGO COLLECTIVE

CONSULTATION on Higher Education. In Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso) from 12 to 17 February,

the African Regional Summit on the RIGHTS OF THE CHILD will focus on assuring gender

equality while working towards the goal of Education for All.

OUR NEXT DOSSIER will focus on Latin America where concerted efforts are being made at

every level of society, from schoolchildren to demobilized soldiers and government ministers, to consolidate

the gains of democracy and build a culture of peace.

LETTERS TO THE EDITOR - UNESCOunesdoc.unesco.org/images/0010/001046/104691e.pdfto draw attention specifically to poultry power plants. Poultry litter is traditionally used as fertilizer.

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