Wachira Kigotho18 April 2014 Issue No:316
Non-university technical programmes are the fastest growing forms of
post-secondary education, according to UNESCO's International Institute
for Educational Planning, or IIEP.
Tracer studies coordinated by the IIEP in five countries – Azerbaijan, Chile, Malaysia, Nigeria and South Korea – indicated that increasing job market demand for varied skills is the primary driver of the emerging trend.
The abridged studies published this month by the IIEP in the volume The Diversification of Post-secondary Education, edited by NV Varghese, highlight how non-degree programmes are challenging traditional university systems.
IIEP Director Khalil Mahshi observed in a statement: “The non-university segment of post-secondary education is becoming a credible alternative to degree courses, especially in developing countries, when it comes to expanding access to employment-related study programmes.”
The research for the five country studies was initiated by the IIEP in 2010. According to the book: “These countries are at varied levels of higher education development, as reflected in their gross enrolment ratios for higher education in 2008. The expansion of post-secondary education is common to all of them and is in line with global trends.”
It continues: “The growing demand for varied skills in the job market necessitates various different modes of delivery, a multiplicity of providers and proliferation of study programmes. Diversification of post-secondary education can be seen as a drift towards vocational or employment-relevant courses, allowing for flexibility of study programmes.”
Faring in the job market
According to Professor NV Varghese, coordinator of the five-country tracer studies and director of the Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education at the National University of Educational Planning and Administration in New Delhi, non-university post-secondary education can offer robust job market opportunities.
For instance, in South Korea the overall employment rate of post-secondary education graduates was 76.7% – but it was 64.5% among junior college graduates and 48.5% among university graduates.
In Malaysia, according to a 2008 government tracer study, 53% of non-university graduates found employment within one year of graduating, against 50% of university graduates. Researchers also found better employment rates among non-university graduates in Nigeria and Azerbaijan.
It was only in Chile that university graduates fared better in the job market: it was estimated that the probability of being unemployed one year following graduation was 0.17 among university graduates and 0.33 among technical graduates.
Enrolment dynamics
Despite the upswing in non-university post-secondary education students in most countries, the researchers noted that in many countries the university sector still accounts for the major share of enrolments.
Available statistics from the IIEP indicate that currently, enrolments in the non-university sector represent between 20% and 40% of all students in tertiary education in many countries.
But enrolment dynamics are changing quickly in most developing countries, for example in Azerbaijan and especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, as a result of insufficient university places.
“Azerbaijan has experienced tremendous growth in demand for post-secondary education. This was more visible in terms of applicants than intake since the government regulates and fixes enrolment targets,” according to the study. “Nearly 40% of all students enrolled in higher education in Azerbaijan attend non-university institutions.”
Korea has reached universal levels of enrolment in higher education, and so possibilities of further expanding the system are limited. In Malaysia and Nigeria, enrolments in post-secondary education increased in different categories of institutions.
Potential in Sub-Saharan Africa
In Sub-Saharan Africa there is tremendous potential for growth of non-university post-secondary education.
While university enrolment in the region has been growing faster than anywhere else, still only about 7% of the tertiary education age cohort is currently enrolled in universities, according to UNESCO.
Secondary school graduates unable to be absorbed in universities are increasingly seeking alternatives in non-university institutions.
The over-expansion of universities – which have been growing at the rate of about 8.6% a year since 1970 in order to satisfy social demands – has resulted in a lack of adequately qualified staff and over-crowded and over-stretched learning facilities.
Also, graduates from polytechnics are deemed to have hands-on practice and experience, and they are often absorbed into the labour market more quickly than university counterparts with degrees in conventional subjects.
According to Ebele Okoka Amali, professor of economics at the University of Jos in Nigeria and one of the IIEP's tracer study researchers, over 50% of university graduates in Nigeria are still unemployed three years after graduating while the proportion is much lower for polytechnic graduates.
“This trend is noticeable in many industrial sectors that prefer to recruit polytechnic graduates rather than university graduates, because of their hands-on skills,” said Amali.
Contrary to expectations, challenges are expected to emerge in Nigeria's non-university post-secondary education programmes in polytechnics as enrolment has become highly skewed in favour of business education courses.
In his study, Amali noted that 70% of students in polytechnics were studying business courses such as accounting, banking and finance and business management while only 22% were enrolled in core technology courses.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, many households are ready to invest in the expectation that non-university post-secondary education qualifications, especially in technical areas, will offer better employment prospects than university degrees in conventional academic subjects.
In addition, the Malaysian government has noticed that non-university post-secondary education is a cheaper way of expanding tertiary education in the country.
“All in all, the diversification of non-university education programmes results in cost savings for the government, improves employment opportunities for students, and reduces pressure on the university system to expand,” said Professor Morshidi bin Sirat of the National University of Malaysia.
Game-changer
Most researchers pointed out that diversification of post-secondary education was also increasingly becoming a game-changer in higher education by creating more space for women, mature students and groups from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“It is still part of the shift towards 'massification' of higher education, where traditionally under-privileged students view tertiary education as a passport to a good job in a progressive modern sector,” said Varghese.
Quoting Professor Philip G Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, Varghese noted that relevance to employment had become a crucial consideration in making study choices in most countries.
The growing demand for different skills from those produced by traditional university degree courses, it seems, has encouraged alternative modes of delivery and has led to many different kinds of education providers in non-university post-secondary institutions and platforms.
Further, according to the study, diversification has helped to expand post-secondary education, often with resource support from sources other than government – especially in non-university institutions.
The case studies indicate that the pressure from both expanding secondary education and the employment market demand for relevant skills resulted in a more diversified system of post-secondary education, consisting of universities and non-university institutions.
“Thus the expansion and multiplicity of post-secondary education providers pose challenges to planning and managing this particular segment of the education sector.”
Tracer studies coordinated by the IIEP in five countries – Azerbaijan, Chile, Malaysia, Nigeria and South Korea – indicated that increasing job market demand for varied skills is the primary driver of the emerging trend.
The abridged studies published this month by the IIEP in the volume The Diversification of Post-secondary Education, edited by NV Varghese, highlight how non-degree programmes are challenging traditional university systems.
IIEP Director Khalil Mahshi observed in a statement: “The non-university segment of post-secondary education is becoming a credible alternative to degree courses, especially in developing countries, when it comes to expanding access to employment-related study programmes.”
The research for the five country studies was initiated by the IIEP in 2010. According to the book: “These countries are at varied levels of higher education development, as reflected in their gross enrolment ratios for higher education in 2008. The expansion of post-secondary education is common to all of them and is in line with global trends.”
It continues: “The growing demand for varied skills in the job market necessitates various different modes of delivery, a multiplicity of providers and proliferation of study programmes. Diversification of post-secondary education can be seen as a drift towards vocational or employment-relevant courses, allowing for flexibility of study programmes.”
Faring in the job market
According to Professor NV Varghese, coordinator of the five-country tracer studies and director of the Centre for Policy Research in Higher Education at the National University of Educational Planning and Administration in New Delhi, non-university post-secondary education can offer robust job market opportunities.
For instance, in South Korea the overall employment rate of post-secondary education graduates was 76.7% – but it was 64.5% among junior college graduates and 48.5% among university graduates.
In Malaysia, according to a 2008 government tracer study, 53% of non-university graduates found employment within one year of graduating, against 50% of university graduates. Researchers also found better employment rates among non-university graduates in Nigeria and Azerbaijan.
It was only in Chile that university graduates fared better in the job market: it was estimated that the probability of being unemployed one year following graduation was 0.17 among university graduates and 0.33 among technical graduates.
Enrolment dynamics
Despite the upswing in non-university post-secondary education students in most countries, the researchers noted that in many countries the university sector still accounts for the major share of enrolments.
Available statistics from the IIEP indicate that currently, enrolments in the non-university sector represent between 20% and 40% of all students in tertiary education in many countries.
But enrolment dynamics are changing quickly in most developing countries, for example in Azerbaijan and especially in Sub-Saharan Africa, as a result of insufficient university places.
“Azerbaijan has experienced tremendous growth in demand for post-secondary education. This was more visible in terms of applicants than intake since the government regulates and fixes enrolment targets,” according to the study. “Nearly 40% of all students enrolled in higher education in Azerbaijan attend non-university institutions.”
Korea has reached universal levels of enrolment in higher education, and so possibilities of further expanding the system are limited. In Malaysia and Nigeria, enrolments in post-secondary education increased in different categories of institutions.
Potential in Sub-Saharan Africa
In Sub-Saharan Africa there is tremendous potential for growth of non-university post-secondary education.
While university enrolment in the region has been growing faster than anywhere else, still only about 7% of the tertiary education age cohort is currently enrolled in universities, according to UNESCO.
Secondary school graduates unable to be absorbed in universities are increasingly seeking alternatives in non-university institutions.
The over-expansion of universities – which have been growing at the rate of about 8.6% a year since 1970 in order to satisfy social demands – has resulted in a lack of adequately qualified staff and over-crowded and over-stretched learning facilities.
Also, graduates from polytechnics are deemed to have hands-on practice and experience, and they are often absorbed into the labour market more quickly than university counterparts with degrees in conventional subjects.
According to Ebele Okoka Amali, professor of economics at the University of Jos in Nigeria and one of the IIEP's tracer study researchers, over 50% of university graduates in Nigeria are still unemployed three years after graduating while the proportion is much lower for polytechnic graduates.
“This trend is noticeable in many industrial sectors that prefer to recruit polytechnic graduates rather than university graduates, because of their hands-on skills,” said Amali.
Contrary to expectations, challenges are expected to emerge in Nigeria's non-university post-secondary education programmes in polytechnics as enrolment has become highly skewed in favour of business education courses.
In his study, Amali noted that 70% of students in polytechnics were studying business courses such as accounting, banking and finance and business management while only 22% were enrolled in core technology courses.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, many households are ready to invest in the expectation that non-university post-secondary education qualifications, especially in technical areas, will offer better employment prospects than university degrees in conventional academic subjects.
In addition, the Malaysian government has noticed that non-university post-secondary education is a cheaper way of expanding tertiary education in the country.
“All in all, the diversification of non-university education programmes results in cost savings for the government, improves employment opportunities for students, and reduces pressure on the university system to expand,” said Professor Morshidi bin Sirat of the National University of Malaysia.
Game-changer
Most researchers pointed out that diversification of post-secondary education was also increasingly becoming a game-changer in higher education by creating more space for women, mature students and groups from disadvantaged backgrounds.
“It is still part of the shift towards 'massification' of higher education, where traditionally under-privileged students view tertiary education as a passport to a good job in a progressive modern sector,” said Varghese.
Quoting Professor Philip G Altbach, director of the Center for International Higher Education at Boston College, Varghese noted that relevance to employment had become a crucial consideration in making study choices in most countries.
The growing demand for different skills from those produced by traditional university degree courses, it seems, has encouraged alternative modes of delivery and has led to many different kinds of education providers in non-university post-secondary institutions and platforms.
Further, according to the study, diversification has helped to expand post-secondary education, often with resource support from sources other than government – especially in non-university institutions.
The case studies indicate that the pressure from both expanding secondary education and the employment market demand for relevant skills resulted in a more diversified system of post-secondary education, consisting of universities and non-university institutions.
“Thus the expansion and multiplicity of post-secondary education providers pose challenges to planning and managing this particular segment of the education sector.”
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