Should the Mauritian public higher education sector be harmonised?

Kiran S Bhujun

This thesis examines stakeholders’ views on harmonising the public higher education in Mauritius. Harmonisation of higher education has had different meanings for different parties. While for the European countries, harmonisation meant different programmes of studies to allow for students’ mobility, the Latin Americas and Caribbean countries considered the harmonisation of higher education to be the development or alignment of national and institutional policies, along with the interregional mobility of students and staff. The Mauritian government adopted a definition of harmonisation that refers to the creation of common policies and procedures for the operations of public higher education institutions, along with the non-duplication of programmes of studies for enhanced marketing and enrolment of local and international students. The Mauritian definition used the term harmonisation and rationalisation interchangeably and aims at making the Mauritian public higher education sector more efficient through the optimal use of resources. This proposed improving the effectiveness and accountability of public universities to enable the country to become a regional higher education hub. However, discussions on harmonisation met with resistance, and research on harmonisation approaches is limited. This thesis examines the challenges and opportunities of harmonising the Mauritian public higher education institutions to contribute to the body of knowledge on the topic of harmonisation and inform higher education policy in Mauritius. Drawing on the perspectives of key stakeholders, it analyses the conditions for creating a harmonised sector. The thesis interviews 11 higher education senior leaders: one each from the five degree-awarding public universities, the three largest private higher education institutions, and the three higher education regulatory bodies respectively. Several challenges related to regulatory matters, institutional identity, and human resources were identified, with specific ones relating to the statutory autonomy of public universities, small local student base, reliance on governmental funding, governance and compliance issues, and the sector’s inability to adequately market competing public universities on the international scene. Based on the findings, the thesis proposes a series of measures for consideration by policymakers as steps toward harmonising the higher education sector in Mauritius. These are the development of a common admission platform; joint or shared programmes of studies, micro-credentials, and a credit transfer system; harmonisation of administrative operations; a common marketing strategy; the strengthening of regulatory frameworks; the implementation of open education resources; and common teaching and learning management information system. While recognising the multi-stakeholder nature of the topic, this thesis finally proposes an alternative model to harmonisation with the public universities being members of a national awarding body for higher education.

Should the Mauritian public higher education sector be harmonised?

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