Page 62 - EducationWorld August 2022

International News

not read and understand a simple story has risen from 57
percent in 2019 to roughly 70 percent. If they lack such
elementary skills, they will struggle to earn a good living.
The bank estimates that $21 trillion (Rs.1,677 lakh crore)
will be wiped off their lifetime earnings — equivalent to
about 20 percent of the world’s GDP.
Scandalously, many governments spend more on rich
pupils than on poor ones. Moreover, too little development
aid goes to education, and some is self-interested. A chunk
goes to donor countries’ own universities to fund schol-
arships for the relatively well-to-do from poor countries.
Such exchanges are welcome, but funding primary schools
in poor countries does more good.
At present, a quarter of countries don’t have any plans
to help children regain learning lost during the pandemic, Primary children in Cameroon: learning very little
according to a survey carried out earlier this year by Unicef.
Another quarter have inadequate catch-up strategies. The thus become extra cautious and anxious – in the processes
same energy that was once poured into building schools of student admissions and development,” he says.
and filling up classrooms should now be used to improve Igor Chirikov, a senior researcher at the Center for Stud-
lessons that take place within them. At stake is the future ies in Higher Education at the University of California,
not only of the generation scarred by the pandemic, but of Berkeley, agrees that this initiative reflects a broader trend
all the pupils who will come after them. toward “re-Sovietisation of Russian universities”, with
institutions “resurrecting or reinventing” Soviet rhetoric.
RUSSIA “The Kremlin already has far-reaching influence,” agrees
Re-Sovietisation directive Maria Popova, associate professor in the department of po-
litical science at McGill University, Montreal, adding this
A NEW REQUIREMENT FOR RUSSIAN institu- is “a way to make the process of achieving political goals in
tions to appoint rectors for students’ moral devel- the university setting more efficient and more centralised”.
opment is being interpreted as another sign of a
country reverting to Soviet-style thought control. SAUDI ARABIA
Coined during the USSR era, the position of pro rector MBS' showpiece varsity
in charge of vosp itatel’ nay a rab ota — which roughly trans-
lates as ‘character-building’ — was once common in univer- A NEW UNIVERSITY AT THE HEART OF SAUDI
sities. Such individuals were tasked with benign activities, Arabia’s planned megacity on the banks of the Red
such as organising volunteering and student scholarships, Sea could soon emerge as the country’s premier
as well as more insidious ones, viz, inculcating state propa- scientific institution with the backing of its powerful crown
ganda in their young charges. prince.
The post still exists at many universities, but now, it will Billed as the sustainable city of the future and covering
be mandatory for all of them. Announcing this measure, an area the size of Belgium, the $500 billion (Rs.39 lakh
Russian’s deputy minister of education Petr Kucherenko crore) Neom project is set to boast improbable wonders
emphasised the importance of developing students not only such as ‘The Line’, a 177 km-long linear city housing 1 mil-
as specialists in their fields, but also as “fully-fledged citi- lion people without conventional cars, and ‘Oxagon’, an
zens of Russian society”, according to state media. eight-sided floating industrial city — as well as a flagship
Scholars say this initiative recalls times when Com- university, dubbed Neom U.
munist Russia intervened heavily to shape young people’s The institution, which last month (June) appointed a
worldview. “Given that the old system is gone, the Russian founding president, Andreas Cangellaris, currently provost
re-Sovietisers are looking for opportunities to recreate simi- of the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, intends
lar structures in their universities,” says Anatoly Oleksiy- to become a ‘pre-eminent knowledge institution’, attract-
enko, a scholar of post-Soviet studies in higher education ing students from across Saudi Arabia and overseas, and
policies based at the University of Hong Kong. offering on-site and online learning. It will initially focus
Dr. Oleksiyenko says that for now, it is uncertain whether on computer science, engineering and design, media, art
Moscow will hand-pick candidates for the job, but tasking and entertainment, and business studies.
rectors with selection could be a shrewd political manoeu- Christopher Davidson, an expert in Middle Eastern poli-
vre. “Most likely the Kremlin will give this responsibility to tics and fellow at the European Centre for International
rectors, so that they also feel greater responsibility – and Affairs, says the new university will benefit from the patron-

62 EDUCATIONWORLD AUGUST 2022