The value of elite education in higher learning

Given an environment where educators compete to see who can do the shoddiest job possible, I am not surprised that some people think of elite education as just another program. But elite education is not just a buzzword: it’s a game-changer for cultivating the next generation of leaders, innovators, and change-makers. If the point of education is to open graduates to the opportunities ahead of them, elite education is education on steroids.

The past two articles have shown how crucial elite education is as a foundation for economic growth. But it is in higher learning where that becomes the ultimate investment. Indeed, it is in college and university that students begin to specialise in specific fields of study, thus allowing for deeper exploration of complex topics. And this is where education produces its maximum value.

Whatever we say about our education system, the failure to develop human capital the most at the university level is possibly our biggest failure as people.

As an alumnus of the University of Dar es Salaam, I saw how not to do higher learning there. The university destroyed my confidence, I had to go study abroad to rediscover who I was. Given my extremely weak foundation, I had to put in two years of work to get something out of a one-year master’s program. The day my supervisor, the toughest we had, looked at my project and said, “This is a master’s piece of work,” I knew I still had it.

All schools are not created equal. Given the same material, one school produces an awful graduate, while another produces a confident one. In my case, I learnt nothing in the UK that I couldn’t have learnt at UDSM. Absolutely nothing. The difference is that one school, despite its limitations, strives to make the most of its opportunities, while another, despite its privileges, is attempting to get away with the lowest standards possible.

I understand that UDSM is currently reviewing its programs and curriculums, a fact that has made headlines in local tabloids. But it’s not worth the fuss: the outcome will be programs fit for the 2000s and 2010s, not the 2020s and 2030s as needed. We saw it firsthand: even as Facebook, YouTube, and PayPal were emerging, our university was teaching us programming using the archaic Pascal programming language. While others were studying how the Asian tigers had turned around their economies, we were discussing How Europe Underdeveloped Africa. When you can’t differentiate between educating and indoctrinating, you stand no chance in this world.

Our youth deserve better. They deserve to be under the tutelage of people who understand the importance of shaping the future through university students. They deserve schools that understand that universities should test academic excellence, not physical endurance. Our students should not have to compete for lecture hall seats, meals, adequate housing, access to computers in labs, transportation, or basic sanitation. These issues have no place in a university.

Leaders of elite higher-level institutions would understand that.

Earlier last week, I asked Justine Njau, a Tanzanian who holds Cisco’s CCIE certification, the most prestigious of its kind in the world, how many Tanzanians have CCIE. Justine informed me that there are fewer than 10 of them. I wasn’t surprised—ten years ago, when Kenya had almost 100 CCIEs, Tanzania probably had none. Today, with about 65,000 CCIEs in the world, we still have a handful.

As a nation, we have failed to contribute significantly to civilisation beyond increasing the world population. We have wasted the potential of our people and their aspirations. In almost every field, we have allowed mediocrity to prevail. Instead of encouraging each other to reach for the stars, we keep lowering the bar daily. We now call bodaboda riders ‘transport officers’!

However, I am confident that the hundreds of students who excel in their studies today can obtain the CCIE certification within a year or two of graduating from a university that offers them the tools and direction to aim for such lofty objectives. At Cisco, graduate-level consultants are expected to achieve the CCIE within a year. These consultants are just like any other human being, but they have been fortunate enough to work in an environment that brings out the best in them. We might not have Cisco around, but this is what elite higher-learning institutions will be all about.

The hallmark of elite higher education institutions will be their ability to understand the global markets and tailor their curriculums accordingly. These institutions will provide their students with the resources and guidance they need to achieve exceptional performance levels. The instructors will have strong connections to their respective industries, both locally and globally, and will do the same for their students.

The purpose of higher education is to highlight opportunities that are open to students. Elite education takes this a step further by producing graduates who are so talented that borders, resources, and other constraints that limit others will not hinder them. Within a decade, we will have created a new class of operators surpassing anything the nation has seen.

If you look deeply into children’s eyes, you will see the future. It is our job to shape it today.