Announcement of Tunisia Strengthens Higher Education System on April 2, 1992

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W., Washington, D.C. 20433, U.S.A. * Telephone: (202) 477-1234 BANK NEWS RELEASE NO. 92/63 MENA Contact: Fawzi Rihane Tel: (202) 473-2675 TUNISIA STRENGTHENS HIGHER EDUCATION SYSTEM WAsHINGTON, April 2, 1992 -- Tunisia will strengthen its higher education system and make it more cost-effective and relevant to the country's development goals. The World Bank is supporting the program with a $75 million loan. Since independence, Tunisia has made considerable progress in developing higher education. University enrollment has grown from 2,000, in 1960, to nearly 69i000 today. In 1990, nearly 6,000 students graduated from six universities. The project supports the government's strategy of modernizing and diversifying higher education programs so au to enhance labor market relevance and student choice. More specifically, the project wills (a) diversity the higher education system in order to improve the output of a trained technical and managerial labor force; (b) provide incentives to universities to revise curricula to enhance the quality of teaching and learning, increase the relevance of teacher training programs, reduce the average duration of study, and improve internal efficiency; (c) strengthen the planning and managerial capacities of the higher education system and implement a normative system for resource allocation across and within decentralized higher education institutions. The three main components of the project ares The creation of a new generation of Higher Institutes of Technology (ISZT). These institutes will be geared towards labor market needs and will offer short programs aimed at training techniclans and middle managers at a lower cost per graduate. Five ISETs will be developed in the main economic and industrial regions (Tunis, Nabeul, Gabes, Dfax and Sousse). The ISETs legal status will allow for increased financial and administrative autonomy, participation of employers in the management board, ability to charge fees for services, recruitment of professorm under fixed-term contracts and offering of training contracts to enterprises. To reduce the dramatic shortage of technical teachers and minimize the "brain drain" of overseas-educated post- graduates, a permanent training capacity will be developed in Tunisia to train the required technioal teaching staff for the 8STs. The second project component consists in the creation of a National Program for University Improvement (PNRU). This program will channel funds, through a competitive and transparent process, towards existing universities with a view to increasing their internal and external efficLenoy and improving the quality of instruction and learning. These resources will be used as an incentive for universities to reform their programs and curricula. The third project component aims at strengthening the planning and managerial capacities of the higher education system. Planning and management will be improved at both the Ministry of Education and Sciences (MES) and at higher education institutions. The project is expected to make higher education more consistent with the country's needs and resources and more responsive to the demands of the economy, i.e. producing graduates with the appropriate skills at a lower cost. It would Lead to increased productivity and growth. The design of the project benefited from extensive government consultations with the academic community since 1990 to ensure participation of all parties in elaborating the objectives of reform and the measures to be implemented. The World Bank loan i. for 17 years, including five years of grace, with a variable interest rate, currently 7.73 percent, linked to the cost of the Bank's borrowings. It also carries an annual commitment charge of 0.25 percent on the undisbursed balance. Notes Money figures are in U.S. dollar equivalents.