Institutional Reforms In The Higher Education Sector Of Mozambique And Ethical Issues
The need to eradicate poverty through increased literacyOne of the central goals defined by the Government of Mozambique in its long-term development strategy is “poverty reduction through labour-intensive economic growth”. The highest priority is assigned to reduce poverty in rural areas, where 90 percent of poor Mozambicans live, and also in urban zones. The Government recognizes also that, for this development strategy on poverty eradication to succeed, expansion and improvement in the education system are critically important elements in both long-term and short-term perspectives.In the long term, universal access to education of acceptable quality is essential for the development
of Mozambique´s human resources, and the economic growth will depend to a significant extend on the education and training of the labour force. It is very important to develop a critical mass of well trained and highly qualified workforce which in turn will improve the overall literacy, intellectual development, training capacity and technical skills in various areas of the country’s economic and industrial development.In the short term, increased access and improved quality in basic education are powerful mechanisms for wealth redistribution and the promotion of social equity. This policy is consistent with the provisions of the new Constitution of Mozambique adopted on 16 November 2004, in its articles 113 and 114 which deal respectively with education and higher education. Around the year 1990, the Government of Mozambique decided to change its social, economic and political orientation system from the centrally-planned system inherited from the communist era and adopted a western-style of free market system. At the same time, it was also decided to adopt fundamental changes in the education programmes. Since drastic changes and wide ranging effects were resulting from the adoption of the new economic and political orientation, it was necessary to provide new guidelines and rules governing the management of institutions of higher education.The struggle continues: “a luta continua” ! The economic and political changes were progressively introduced with success through legislative and regulatory reforms. However, it has not been very easy to evenly change rules of social and cultural behaviour. In particular, vulnerable younger generations are the most affected by the rapid changes in society, while the reference model and values they expect from elder people in the modern Mozambican society seem to be shifting very fast. And in some instances, there seem to be no model at all. The new wave of economic liberalism in Mozambique, better defined by the popular concept of “deixa andar”, literally meaning “laisser-faire”, was mistakenly adopted as the guiding principle in the areas of social, cultural and education development.The “laisser-faire” principle is better understood by economists and entrepreneurs in a system of open market and free entrepreneurship, under which the Government’s intervention is reduced to exercising minimum regulatory agency. The recent considerable economic growth realized by the Government of Mozambique (10% of successive growth index over four years) is attributed mainly to this free market policy. This principle should be carefully differentiated from “laisser-aller” which, in French language, rather means lack of discipline in academic, economic, social and cultural environments.
Reforming higher education institutions represents a real challenge, both at the institutional and pedagogic levels, not only in Mozambique, but elsewhere and in particular in African countries faced with the problem of “acculturation”. The youth seeking knowledge opportunities in national universities, polytechnics and higher institutes, where students are somehow left on their own, having no longer any need to be under permanent supervision of their parents or teachers, are disoriented. Since reforms in higher education institutions take longer than in any other institutional environment, it is necessary indeed to adopt adequate transitional measures to respond to urgent need of the young generations.This essay reviews current trends and the recent historical background of higher education institutions of Mozambique. It argues against the adoption of the classical model of higher education from European and other western systems. In its final analysis, it finds that there is need to include ethical and deontology (social, cultural and moral education) components as priority sectors within the curriculum in higher education institutions, with a view to instill in the students and lecturers positive African values in general, and in particular, national Mozambican models. It is rejecting the neo-liberal thinking, which proposes that students in higher education institutions should be allowed to enjoy unlimited academic, social and intellectual uncontrolled independence, in conformity with western classical education and cultural orientation. It advocates for critical thinking and brainstorming on key issues towards the development of positive cultural and ethical models in higher education institutions which could be used to promote knowledge development and poverty eradication in the country’s rural areas and urban zones affected by unemployment, pandemics and economic precariousness.The colonial legacy and its cultural impact on higher education in Mozambique.Many experts have described the Mozambican mother of higher education as an institution for colonialists and “assimilados” . The first institution of higher education in Mozambique was established by the Portuguese government in 1962, soon after the start of the African wars of independence. It was called the General University Studies of Mozambique (Estudos Gerais Universitários de Moçambique EGUM). In 1968, it was renamed Lourenço Marques University. The university catered for the sons and daughters of Portuguese colonialists. Although the Portuguese government preached non-racism and advocated the assimilation of its African subjects to the Portuguese way of life, the notorious deficiencies of the colonial education system established under the Portuguese rule ensured that very few Africans would ever succeed in reaching university level. However, many educated African were led to adopt the colonial lifestyle.In spite of Portugal’s attempts to expand African educational opportunities in the late 1960s and early 1970s, only about 40 black Mozambican students – less than 2 per cent of the student body -had entered the University of Lourenço Marques by the time of independence in 1975. The state and the university continued to depend heavily on the Portuguese and their descendants. Even the academic curriculum was defined according to the needs and policies defined long ago by the colonial power.
Soon after Independence in June 1975, the Government of Mozambique, from the FRELIMO party, adopted a Marxist-Leninist orientation and a centrally planned economy. The educational system was nationalized, and the university was renamed after Dr. Eduardo Mondlane, the first president of FRELIMO.Many cadres trained in Portugal and other European and American universities came also with their own educational and cultural background. Apart from the Eduardo Mondlane University, new public and private universities and institutes were established. These include the Pedagogic University, the ISRI, the Catholic University, ISPU, ISCTEM and ISUTC. Most of these institutions adopted a curriculum clearly modeled on the classical European model. There is still need to integrate African traditional values in the course profiles offered and research programmes developed by these institutions.The traditional role of a university is to enlighten and serve as a reference within the society: “illuminatio et salus populi”. Today, Mozambique is one of the most culturally and racially diversified society of Africa. This diversity should be considered as a cultural treasure for the nation. It has become however apparent that it’s more a “Babel Tower case”, as no unified Mozambican values appear to develop from this wide variety. With the creation of new public and private universities and new faculties, it would become easier to increase a critical mass of university lecturers and academic professionals, who would in their turn, influence the society, creating and instilling national positive values and ethical principles of conduct in the younger generations. According to many lecturers and students contacted at UEM, Universidade Pedagogica UP and UDM, the impact of higher education on the development of positive academic, scientific, social and cultural values in Mozambique is yet to be felt.It is however necessary to acknowledge the importance of newly introduced community-based education programmes in some institutions. For instance the emphasis on community and service has guided curriculum development at the Catholic University; its course in agronomy (Cuamba) concentrates on peasant and family farming systems and leans heavily on research and outreach within local farming communities. The CU course in medicine (developed in collaboration with the University of Maastricht) which concentrates on teaching medicine, was particularly deemed appropriate for the rural and urban poor populations of Mozambique, as it is more based on problem-solving and focuses much more on traditional issues.New Reforms in higher education institutions with a more participative approachMozambique is one of few countries in Africa where a new generation of leadership has stepped forward to articulate a vision for their institutions, inspiring confidence among those involved in higher education development and the modernization of their universities. In a series of case studies sponsored and published by the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa , it was confirmed that African universities covered by the studies have widely varying contexts and traditions. They are engaged in broad reform, examining and revising their planning processes, introducing new techniques of financial management, adopting new technologies, reshaping course structures and pedagogy, and more important, reforming practices of governance based in particular on their own contexts and traditions.Important institutional reforms concerning the strategic planning experiences of the Eduardo Mondlane University (UEM) were initiated and implemented so far. Two strategic planning cycles were developed, the first in 1990 and the second one in 1996 / 97. The second one was meant to adapting to the impacts of newly adopted multi-party democracy, market competition, and globalization. Whereas the first reform cycle was the result of high level officials at the University, the second one was generated using a participatory methodology deemed to be more effective in involving the university staff in the process.It is important to listen to everyone, and to be seen as listening. We are also convinced that various components of the population in Mozambique should be involved in the next phases of the process with a view to define what kind of education orientation the population would wish to have for their children.
There is important progress but yet limited academic impact on the development of the society
Considerable progress has been so far made in post-independence Mozambique. After the initial problems caused by the long years of civil war and then the long efforts necessitated by the adjustment to a market-driven economy and a multi-party democratic political order, Mozambique is now considered to have a higher education system that offers a wide variety of course options and extensive research opportunities. However, a major weakness highlighted by many observers is that all the institutions remain basically concentrated in the capital city of Maputo and its neighboring provinces. It is argued that they serve only a limited fraction of the Mozambican population, and are destined to train the elite of prominent people in government and in the professions, industry and commerce. It is also alleged that the majority of the students who succeed in entering public and private institutions of higher education are from relatively rich families.It is finally emphasized that nearly 80 per cent of university students in Mozambique use Portuguese as their principal means of communication, thus strengthening the perception of establishing, reproducing and consolidating a hereditary elite, with model values copied on western societies. In response to this challenge, it was suggested that the government should encourage the emergence of new and non-traditional HEIs closer to the local communities, able to respond more rapidly and flexibly to the demands and expectations of the public and private sectors for a high quality trained workforce, while addressing both regional and socioeconomic imbalances in the country.In our final analysis, we find that the impact of higher education institutions on the development and dissemination of traditional African social and cultural values would be very limited for a long period. As long as the access and feed-back from all levels of the society and regions will be left out of the core interaction with the highly educated elite and higher education institutions mainly concentrated in Maputo, the role of universities in promoting African positive values, a culture of academic ethics and deontology in the entire national society will be very limited.The process of “Nation building” needs to rely on a strong academic support. One of the Government’s main constitutional commitments is to promote the development of the national culture and identity (article 115 of the 2004 Constitution). It is clear that many institutions, for instance the television, are actively promoting cultural diversity through various means. Institutions of higher education should be seen doing more, in particular starting with the students themselves and the academic community members, who are expected to be the light of the society. Such actions would include the integration of courses on ethics and deontology, and develop a wide-ranging variety of education models that reprove negative behavior and promote positive values. Our recommendation is that the Government should for example instruct public universities and other higher education institutions, to appoint “Ethics and Deontology Committees” at the level of their University Councils and within all autonomous faculties.Bibliography-Fry, Peter and Utui, Rogéro (1999), The Strategic Planning Experience at Eduardo Mondlane University, ADEA Working Paper on Higher Education, ADEA, Association for the Development of Education in Africa, Paris.-Mouzinho, Mário ; Fry, Peter ; Levey, Lisbeth and Chilundo, Arlindo (2001), Higher Education in Mozambique: A Case study, The Partnership for Higher Education in Africa, New York University, New York
Student Loan: Loan Magician
Loans.Loans, loans, loans that’s what everyone is talking about, on internet, on radio, on, television in news we see advertisement for loans everyday, everywhere. “You want to buy a hat, a cat, a house, a car, you can get a loan”. “Getting loan was never easier”. “Live life the way you want”. These are all the sentences that are clouding the media nowadays. And of course this has increased the ratio of people borrowing loans from banks and other lending organizations. A number of people are making their dreams come true due to these loans, which was otherwise impossible. You can get loans for multiple things like for starting a business, purchasing a house, or getting a car so on and so for. You can simply apply for the loan, buy your desired object and keep on paying small installments for years without even noticing it. Instead of waiting for long years of tough work to buy a house or establish a business of your own you can get some help from one of the diverse kinds of loans and benefit yourself from this golden opportunity.Fantasies, dreams have no end. But in order to actualize them you need enough resources, now you have several opportunities to do what you always wanted. For different reasons or things you have varied kinds of loans. Be careful about the interest rates and other specifications of a loan. That will help you in generating the best results financially. You can get loan on really low rates if you play safe, I mean pay your installments on time and if you manage to pay it before time that would be more than good that will drag you in the line of good borrower, which will be very useful if ever in future you need to get the loan again. Unsecured loans are the most fascinating and tempting loan kind that has ever come across my knowledge. You are at minimum risk especially you are simply free from any possibility of repossession of your home or any other asset.Whereas on the other hand the creditors are at high risk by giving you an unsecured loan as they provide you loan just on the assessment of your income and repayment capacity and therefore the monthly installments are a bit higher and the repayment duration is also shorter as compared to secured loans. But for everything you have to pay a price, there is nothing free and of course you are getting money without giving any of your owned possession’s guarantees, which is a very big thing? This doesn’t stop here; you have other benefits too of unsecured loans that can’t be overlooked. First you can find a number of companies who are offering unsecured loans and thus get it on a very competitive rate. As for an unsecured loan you are not to provide a number of documents with the loan application the process of the approval are much faster than that of secured loans. It can be obtained in the time span of as short as 72 hours.Besides this there are other loans you can think of like secured loans but of course you should be dead sure that you’ll pay the loan before the deadline, as for secured loans you have to put any of your asset as a guarantee to bank, there are cheap home improvement loans, house buying loans, small and big business loans, personal loans, bad credit loans, pay day loans, car loans etc… there are just few things to keep in mind while applying or before applying a loan such as the interest rate, type of rate (fixed or variable), terms and conditions (repayment time in months or years), deposit (down payment), associated fees (broker, origination, prepayment etc.), insurance required by the lender. For best financial results see all the terms and conditions and be crystal clear about the things and then apply. This will give you ample tendency to work out your way out victoriously.Loans are never (most of the times) an effectual, result-oriented solution for your long term monetary needs! Taking loans is becoming a fashion, I think more then 50% of advertisement on media is directly or indirectly about loans. But frankly speaking I believe loans are not more than debt traps. There are so many alluring names as payday loans; cash advance loans, check advance loans, post-dated check loans or deferred deposit check loans. But beware! Don’t charmed by such attractive offers, think twice about borrowing a loan before you go ahead with this and honestly realize, do you really need a loan? Is it inevitable? Is this loan for frivolous, like a holiday? Or for something real serious an urgent need, Can you borrow money by a more traditional way, I mean from a relative, maybe a part-time job or you can think of selling an asset. Try to convince your creditors for some more time to pay your bills. Find out what they will charge you for that service – as a late charge, an additional finance charge or a higher interest rate. Don’t put your foot into a trap yourself if you can avoid it.Did you ever think why you drag your self in to a situation where you are left with no money and need loan desperately? Strive to mend this; if you are a lavish spender and you always spend more than you earn then it is a terrible practice. To overcome this condition, if you opt for a payday loan, it will be a “chancy solution”. Payday loan companies often take the advantages of your need and lead you in debt ensnare. Try to make a more realistic and practical budget, and figure out your monthly and daily expenses. Avoid superfluous purchases even undersized every day items. Their costs add up and may become a huge amount at times that makes real big difference. Also, put aside some savings, even small amounts will do to avoid borrowing for emergencies, unexpected expenses or other such instances. I know it’s simply impossible to write your requirements in black and white and consume money according to that but one should make a strict line that you are not spending more than this and this is only for your own advantage.Check out if you can go for overdraft protection on your checking account? If you are a regular most or all of the funds in your account user so then if you make a mistake in your checking (or savings) account ledger or records, overdraft protection can assist in protecting you from further credit problems. Do find out the terms of overdraft protection. Want any help or working out a debt repayment plan with creditors or developing a budget, contact your local consumer credit counseling service. Almost in every state there are non-profit groups that offer credit guidance to consumers. These services are available at very little or no cost. Don’t forget to check with your employer, credit union or housing authority for no- or low-cost credit counseling programs. If you decide that a payday loan is inevitable, borrow only as much as you can afford to pay with your next paycheck and still have enough to make it to the next payday.While taking a loan it’s never only the interest rate to take care of it’s only a part, there are a whole lot of other inevitable expenses that makes it really, really expensive. The rate on a payday loan may be 500% per year or even more. Borrowing 200 dollar for 2 weeks at 500% will cost you 38.36 dollar. Just compare this to borrowing 200 dollar for 2 weeks at 36% (2.76 dollar) or 12% (.92 dollar). Suppose if this loan is refinanced four times, the cost difference increases dramatically! In actuality, it will cost you nearly 200 dollar to borrow 200 dollar for ten weeks. Gosh! It’s a lot. Besides the insurance rate there are also arrangement fees and prepayment penalties to consider. And many ‘no fee’ credit lines have a pre-payment penalty. This is the way broker and lenders make their money. Do work out the total cost of your loan before committing? Compare the APR and the finance charge (which includes loan fees, interest and other types of credit costs) of credit offers to get the lowest cost.Borrowing loans can be helpful when you are having temporary cash flow crisis or are facing a financial emergency and need money on a short-term basis. Don’t rely on loan or don’t make long-term planning depending on loans only. If you already have one loan outstanding, then you should avoid taking out another such loan. Also think about the aggravations if you can’t be able to repay the loan at specific date to the payday lender!! I hope you are getting my point. Now this was what I call a bird’s eye view about the loans advantages and disadvantages. But if still you are not satisfied and wants to dig in more to know minute details about different types of loans, I’ll give you some info about it as after all you are the best judge for your own problems and needs. Doesn’t matter what someone says it’s always you who know what you need to do?I have already given you a transparent idea about secured and unsecured loans. Now else than this there are home loans, bad credit loan, bad credit auto loan, personal loan, debt consolidation, payday loan, mortgage loan, auto loan, student consolidation loan, business loan, home equity loan and pay day advance. See you can get loan for anything and everything. There are so many different kinds of flexible and non-flexible loans that help you to keep going ahead in life.
Loan products.Pay day loan.Hmmm…! The dead line of paying the installment of a credit card is coming near. And still didn’t get your pay. Well laugh your worries away. The payday loan will help you to pay on time. After you get your salary you can pay off your payday loan, but don’t make it a habit? For short-term loan this is the best sort of loan you can go for.Home loan.Everyone either he is a prince or a commoner want to own a home of his own, in old days people use to work whole their lives to buy their own house. But in this struggle the best boom period of life flies away. Now enjoy your life to the fullest, get a home loan and build the house of your dreams and live in it like a king. You can buy, build or renovate a house by acquiring various types of loans that suits you the most. There are mostly three kinds of it:o You already own a house and want to renovate it. You can get a loan for renovating your house by putting your house for collateral security to the bank for the loan.o Secondly you have a plot and want to build your house on it. Then again the place will be the collateral security and you’ll be provided loan to build the structure of the house on it.o The third type is that you neither have a house nor a plot and you want to buy a house in that case you will get the loan to build your house but the house will be on bank’s name till you pay the loan fully.
Else than this there are different rules and flexibilities for diverse home loans. Like:o The mark-up rate will vary for a salaried person or a businessman. It can start from 11% for a salaried person and 12% for a businessman though different banks and other companies may differ from this rate.o For construction, purchase & balance transfer you can have 3 to 20 years times to pay back the loan.o For renovation it can be from 2-20 years.o For home purchase you can get the amount of loan that can vary from – 0.5M to 20M.o Whereas for home renovation approximate loan can be form – 0.5M to 7M.o For home construction you can get up to – 0.5M to 10M.
This could be the approximate loan to value ratio you can get for these different home loans.o For Home Purchase – 80:20 for salaried employees, businessmen and self-employed professionals who maybe in the business for five years and 75:25 for businessmen and self-employed professionals who can be in the business for last 3 Years.o For Home Construction – 70:30 for salaried employees, 70:30 for businessmen and self-employed professionals who maybe doing business for last five years and 65:35 for businessmen and self-employed professionals who are in the business for last three years.o For Home Equity- 70:30 for salaried employees, 70:30 for businessmen and self-employed professionals who can be in the business for last five years and 65:35 for businessmen and self-employed professionals who are in the business for last three years.o For Balance Transfer Facility – 80:20.Car loan.Car is not luxury anymore it’s a necessity; you are handicap without a car. If you cannot afford a car with your salary and trying desperately to save some money for buying a car but unfortunately every month something new comes up to eat up all your savings then get a car loan and make your life easy and you can use your savings in paying the installment of your loan every month. For car loans the rules are almost same as house loans. The payment will vary with the difference of new or used car, car model or price.Bad credit car loan.Happy news for the bad credit raters, now you can also enjoy the pleasure of shopping the way you want; there is high competition in those who are ready to give loan to those who have bad credit rating for car and even for house. Or if you are doing a business you can still get a loan. Actually roughly all sorts of loans are open to bad credit rater now. Though they’ll charge more interest rate and other charges but still you have a facility of loan to enjoy.Student loan.Learning is a weapon no one can steal. Education is of no comparison with anything, I think it’s a must get thing for everyone. But sometimes due to monitory resources one has to discontinue his or her education but now you can freely get education as much as you want, you just have to get a loan and study to your fill. Student loans for the benefit of students are on quite competitive rates and are much more flexible than other loans to provide maximum chance to a student to be carefree and get education as easily as possible.Business loan.Doesn’t matter how much good salary you are taking? A business (of course here I am talking about your own business) is a blessing. There is no tension of getting deadlines from your boss. No pressing for reaching office at so and so time. And there are definitely more chances of growth. Now if you want to start a business or re-establish it on a small platform or on a bigger level there are all different sorts of loans to benefit you in your goal. Your business may have helped you construct your home, now your home can assist you build your business. A business loan is normally against Residential Property. It is an evergreen credit line that the customer can use for his/her business expansion.o Business loan can be for business expansion.o Or for staring a new business.o You can get loan for a small business set-up as well as fro a bigger business project.o Business loan offers you the facility of availing a financing up to 70 % of your property value. So that now you can have a chance to avail a higher amount against your assets, you can plan your growth and expansion exactly the way you want to.o There is another kind of loan you can get for business purpose, you can give a business plan to a bank and make the bank a sort of business partner. In this way you are saved the worry of putting your house or any other asset as collateral. This type of loan is very useful for heavy industry.Personal loan.We all dream, but there are few who dare to put the power gear of their life to make their dreams come true. It’s much easier to fulfill your most dear fantasies now with the prospect of personal loan. The most interesting part in going for personal loan is you’ll be not asked the reason for getting loan.o Personal installment loan is extremely flexible. You can borrow any amount ranging from 50,000 to 500,000 for 12, 18, 24, 30, 36, 42, 48, 54 and 60 months. Whatever suits you! Isn’t awesome, what else you need for a good start? Although there can be pre-payment penalty if you desire to pay the loan before the agreed tenure.Other Loans.Besides these chief and main objects there are other prospects for which you can get loan. Those may not be as important for all but you can still avail the chance to do other things with loan like if you desire to redecorate your house but you are short of money for that you can get branded or non branded furniture of your choice besides this you can also buy other home appliances on installment.So now you can see how many options are open for you to make your next move. You can easily choose to do what suits you the most. Loans are almost for everything you are thinking of doing in your life. Due to high competition in market the rates are also quite flexible and in addition you are allowed to choose from a lot of flexibilities to relax you for paying back any loan. From a business to petty thing for your personal use you can get loan.