NEW MECHANISM FOR FINANCING HIGHER EDUCATION

The method of financing public higher education institutions in Mozambique is going to be changed to reflect the real cost of educating students.Currently, the level of state support is a matter for negotiation between each institution and the Ministry of Finance, without any involvement of the Ministry of Education (MINED).However, this method of allocating finance is considered to be unsustainable because of the gap between the rate of growth of the economy and the rate of growth of the demand for higher education.According to MINED’s Director of Higher Education, Denise Malauene, the new mechanism will allocate 10 per cent of funds to meet institutional needs, 60 per cent of funds based on the number of students and the remaining 30 per cent of funds through negotiations between the institutions and the Ministry of Finance.The funding of students will be administered by the Institute for Scholarships (Instituto de Bolsas de Estudo, IBE), and will be based on need and merit.Speaking during the Ministry of Education’s Coordination Council, which was held in Niassa’s provincial capital Lichinga, Malauene said that “access to scholarships will be based on the financial situation of each student”.He added that the funding aims to encourage more student mobility in choosing institutions and study programmes. It also has the objective of improving the capacity of the higher education institutions to respond to the needs of students.The negotiated funding from the Ministry of Finance is intended to provide institutional stability, improved results and higher graduation rates.It is hoped that the institutional funding will encourage research and innovation, and improve infrastructure, good management and governance.The objective of this new funding mechanism is to promote sustainability in higher education, ensuring that it meets the needs of students, higher education institutions and society.The proposals have already been sent to the Council of Ministers (Cabinet) for analysis and approval.According to Malauene, “if approved by the Council of Ministers, the model will begin being implemented next year”. He explained that the implementation will be stretched over a five or six year period.