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Band 74



Programme Area Evaluation Band 74

– Educational Cooperation with Developing Countries –

Programme AreaDAAD-Programmbereichs Evaluation Evaluation des IV –„Förderung Educational Cooperation with Developing Countries – der Germanistik und der deutschen Sprache”

Band 74

Programme Area Evaluation – Educational Cooperation with Developing Countries –

Bibliographic Information published by the Deutsche Nationalbibliothek The Deutsche Nationalbibliothek lists this Publication in the Deutsche Nationalbibliografie; detailed bibliographic data are available in the Internet at http://dnb.d-nb.de

Publisher DAAD Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst German Academic Exchange Service Kennedyallee 50, D-53175 Bonn (Germany) www.daad.de Section „Evaluation, Statistics”

Editors Dr. Simone Burkhart (DAAD) Authors Lennart Raetzell, Tobias Stern, Katharina Plutta, Mathias Krämer Rambøll Management Consulting Chilehaus C – Burchardstraße 13, D-20095 Hamburg Layout (title) erbach-com, Cologne (Germany) Printed by ditges print+more gmbh, Siegburg (Germany) Circulation August 2013 – Print run 500 ISBN 978-3-87 192-907-6 © DAAD

The conduction of this report and this publication was funded by the German Federal Foreign Office and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

Federal Foreign Office

Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development

Foreword In this publication the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) presents the results of the evaluation of the “Higher Education Co-operation with Developing Countries” programme area. This programme area is one of five within which DAAD programmes are grouped. The DAAD evaluation strategy provides for a successive evaluation of all five areas. Following an open invitation to tender, the DAAD commissioned the company Ramboll Management to conduct the evaluation. Mr. Tobias Stern and Mr. Lennart Raetzell were responsible for the overall management of the evaluation. Support was provided by a working group made up of representatives of significant funding sponsors (the Federal Ministry for Economic Co-operation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Foreign Office), German and foreign experts in the field of higher education co-operation with developing countries and DAAD staff. The DAAD would like to thank in particular the external members of the working group, Prof. Dr. Ulrich Hiemenz (Center for Development Research, University of Bonn), Prof. Dr. Abdel Meguid Kassem (Cairo University), Dr. Klaus Schnitzer (formerly Higher Education Information System) and Dr. Imme Scholz (German Development Institute), for their valuable contribution. The overall goal of the evaluation was to investigate the level of success of the DAAD and its programmes in generating an added value for partner countries, development co-operation, German cultural and educational foreign policy (AKBP) and the institutions and individuals involved. How do the different approaches (support for individuals (i.e. scholarships) and project funding) influence the impact of the programme area? To what extent are the interests of different stakeholders taken into account? Which mix of programmes has a particularly positive or negative impact in the countries investigated and what influence do DAAD selection procedures have on the achievement of the goals of the programmes? What motivates German universities to take part in the programmes? The evaluation procedure was based on the methodology proposed by the OECD/DAC and BMZ for the measurement of the impact of intervention related to development policy. The evaluation report presents in the final analysis a very positive appraisal of the work of the DAAD. The relevance of the programmes for partner countries, sponsors, the universities involved and programme participants is rated as very high. The DAAD is successful in uniting different interests and thus contributing substantially to the achievement of the related goals. The effectiveness is all in all positively rated. The academic results achieved within the scholarship programmes and the strengthening of structures through projects and networking are very successful. A particularly positive effect is attributed here to DAAD selection procedures. In addition, programme diversity enables the DAAD to react flexibly to partners’ needs. Efficiency is also rated positively. With regard to the overall long term impact it is concluded that the DAAD and its programmes contribute to the modernisation strategies of the partners and that sustainable and long term partnerships result. For sustainability a different picture emerges. The high numbers of graduates returning to their home country, the change processes initiated and the strong networks provide the foundation for a lasting effect. Criticism is voiced mainly concerning the coordination and complementarity of the programmes. Here, the DAAD is recommended to improve the linkage between programmes in the programme area and to develop a systematic and results orientated monitoring procedure. In addition, further clarification is required regarding the relationship to the activities of other parties in development co-operation (GIZ, KfW, international donors). Finally it is noted that there is room for improvement in the co-operation with industry and commerce in order to achieve a more lasting effect without the higher education system.

The findings result in recommendations to the sponsors, the DAAD and German higher education institutions. The DAAD will take up the questions and challenges arising from the recommendations and has already initiated the first steps towards improving internal coordination and developing a more systematic monitoring process. The present study has laid an important empirical basis for these tasks. At the same time it provides an important insight into the work of the DAAD in the development co-operation area for sponsors, partners, higher education institutions and students. Our task for the future is to take up the challenges together, to broaden our activities and to improve the quality and impact of the programmes. I wish you an interesting read. Yours sincerely Dr. Dorothea Rüland Secretary General of DAAD

Deutscher Akademischer Austauschdienst / German Academic Exchange Service

Main Report

PROGRAMME AREA EVALUATION EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Contact partner: Lennart Raetzell Business Manager | Kompetenzzentrum Internationale Zusammenarbeit (Competence Centre for International Cooperation) Phone: Mobile: Fax: E-Mail:

+49 30 30 20 20 220 +49 151 580 15 220 +49 30 30 20 20 299 [email protected]

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

CONTENTS

1. 1.1 1.2 1.3 2. 3. 3.1 3.2 3.3 3.4 4. 4.1 4.2 4.3 4.4 4.5 4.6 5. 5.1. 5.2. 5.3.

Management Summary Background Main conclusions and statements Recommendations for action Introduction Overview of the programme area Targets of the programme area Target groups of the programme area Logical impact matrix of the programme area Structure and organisation of the programme area Evaluation findings Relevance of the programme area Effectiveness of the programme area Efficiency of the programme area Impacts of the programme area Sustainability of the programme area Complementarity and coordination of the programme area Addendum: Evaluation method Evaluation questions and aspects Methodical approach - Evaluation process Flowchart of the programme area

11 11 11 14 19 20 20 22 23 24 26 26 33 57 59 63 72 74 74 76 85

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1.

MANA AGEMEN NT SUM MMARY

1.1

Backgro ound

term links s to German ny at the level of (former) scho olarship hold ders and to gain g alumni as partne ers for Ge rman comp panies and higher edu ucation instittutions.

The DAAD programme area a “Educationa al Cooperation with Developing Countries” iis one of itts five programme area as. It is the e third largest area witth a budget of o approx. 7 8 million euros in 2011. 2 The programme area com mmanded fun nds of approx. 266 millio on euros altogether ffrom 2008 to o 2011. A to otal of 30 programmes s are cluste ered in this area, mainly funded by the Fed deral Ministrry for Econ nomic Cooperation an nd Develop pment (BM MZ), the Fed deral Foreign n Office (AA A) and international pa artners and implementted in all rregions of the t world. The T program mmes’ focu us is the deciding d fac ctor in assiigning them m to this programme p area. A com mmon factor of all th he programm mes is that their prim mary target is to focus on develop pment polic cy or conflict preventio on and thatt they ng inaim to go beyond the level of supportin divid duals, contriibuting to th he developm ent of each h partner co ountry or to transformattion in soutth-eastern Europe. E

The evalua ation of the programme e area comprised studies in Germ many and case studies in four co ountries: Co olombia, Ken nya, Serbia and Vietnam. Individ ual evaluations of the programm mes “Academ mic Recons struction in South Ea astern Eurrope”, “Developmentrelated Postgraduate C Courses”, “A Alumni Special Projec cts” and thre ee governme ent scholarship progrrammes in E Egypt, Kazakhstan and Mexico we ere carried out, providing sample on of the programme material for f evaluatio area. 1.2

The progrramme area a is very relevant r to German development cooperation n (DC) work and the Fe ederal Foreig gn Office’s cultural c and educationa al policy (AK KBP), as we ell as meeting clear needs of th hose supporrted and of German and partner country hig gher education institu utions (HEIs ). Its work reaches r relevant targ get groups iin developing countries and reactts appropria ately with a range of programm mes to the va aried interests of its external fun nding source es and targ get groups. The focus on training g highly edu ucated specialists in various dissciplines is therefore t in line with the develop ping countrie es’ requirements.

The programme e area aims s to contribu ute to mee or exeting the partner countrries’ needs fo pertts and man nagers and to offer fu urther hange qualifications and development to ‘ch agents’1 throug gh capacity developme ent at indiv vidual level. At the same time, it aiims to stre engthen higher education structurres in the partner countries c th hrough its program mmes and to support regional an d national knowledg ge and innov vation system ms. In this area, it focu uses on improving the q quality of tteaching and research and of ma anagemen nt at the parrtner countries’ institutio ons of high her education. Another of o the progra amme area a’s aims is to t develop networks n an nd cooperative structures, so contributin ng to soutth-south, north-south, south-north h and nortth-south-sou uth exchang ge and prom moting intercultural exc change to contribute c to o conflict prevention.. The progra amme area’ss work is also intended d to increas se the visibi lity of German scienc ce and rais se the proffile of Germany as a centre c for innovation. Th he active alumni worrk also aims to build up long-

1

Main conclusi ons and sta atements

The divers sity of the D DAAD’s instru uments, the on-going support s it p provides and its experience are particularly significant to t the programme area’s a effecctiveness an nd success. These elem ments, comb bined with targeted coordination of differen nt programm mes within the progra amme area,, enable the DAAD to organisation attain imp pacts at the o nal and systems leve el. Coordina ation of the different programm mes can how wever also be e increased in order to o generate ssynergies, so o increasing further th he effectiven ness and efficiency of the progra amme area. At the ind dividual leve l, the programme area ange agents successfully trains cha s by equipping them m with experrt knowledge, methodology and intercultura al competen nce through its program mmes. The ccompetencie es they gain from the programmess provided in i this programme area a are exttremely usefful to them

A ‘change agent’ is defined d for the pu urposes of this ev valua-

tion a as an expert who o is responsible fo or constructively bringing ab bout clarification in decision-making and conflict ssituad tions and introducing innovations or im mprovements and chang ges in personal, organizational, o economic / techno ological or political and social fields. 11

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in their professional lives, since they can apply these newly acquired competencies profitably in their professions. They can also use these skills to initiate change in their organisations in the higher education field. However, the change agents are rarely able to bring about changes to their organisations outside the higher education sector.

1.2.1

Strengthening the programme area

The programme area’s relevance lies in the improvement of higher education structures and the training of change agents, in order to provide expertise for solving development-related issues in the partner countries and to support them in implementing modernisation strategies. The diversity of the programme area involves a large number of local access points, partners and approaches which offer alternative approaches for German DC work and AKBP. For these reasons, the DAAD is perceived abroad as an attractive partner and is in great demand in developing countries.

The programme area’s alumni work enables the alumni to successfully update and deepen their knowledge and to build up networks with each other. The alumni work also gives significant impetus towards paving the way for research collaboration with German scientists and academics. At organisational level, the programme area effectively strengthens partner country HEIs by equipping higher education teachers and scientists with qualifications, thus improving the quality of teaching and research and supporting HEIs in keeping abreast of scientific standards. It also successfully enhances management structures in partner country HEIs, in particular through the DIES programme. Collaboration between HEIs is a particularly significant factor in bolstering north-south, south-north and north-southsouth exchange between German and partner country HEIs. This leads to the partner country HEIs establishing educational opportunities in the region for the region. German HEIs benefit from the programme in terms of competence development, profile-raising and development of their research networks.

The programme area’s effectiveness in training change agents in the higher education field is due in particular to the support the change agents receive in their efforts to initiate change in their organisations from other DAAD alumni, also from Programme Area 1 “Scholarships for international students” and through other DAAD programmes. Those who have been supported by DAAD in this programme area also have a large number of links to Germany which are maintained and deepened by the alumni work. This is clearly seen in the alumni’s many contacts to scientists and academics in Germany. At organisational level, the programme area is particularly effective where various funding instruments are combined and clustered and a multi-level approach is implemented. At this level, centres of excellence as well as national and regional systems for science and innovation with supra-regional significance have been established successfully. In addition, the programme area enables partner country HEIs to keep up more successfully with the knowledge society, and it contributes to conflict prevention in these countries through intercultural dialogue.

The DAAD has succeeded in recent years in increasing the efficiency of this programme area by supplementing BMZ and Foreign Office funding with funding from its partners in developing countries. In addition, it has been possible to integrate considerable amounts of the German HEIs’ own funds into the programmes carried out in this programme area. The programmes and measures within the programme area are shown by our study to be sustainable in almost all cases. The great majority of the trained change agents also return to their home country or region and use their newly acquired competencies to good effect in their professional lives. The changes to organisations brought about by the programme are also sustainable in that they have almost all become established as permanent processes and structures.

German HEIs also become more involved in international discourse through the promotion of networking and collaboration structures; this raises the profile of German science and of Germany as a centre for innovation in other parts of the world. Overall, the programme area’s efficiency was increased by the acquisition of cofunding from developing countries. The fact that German HEIs contribute their own fund-

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to a new place of work following their support period has a negative effect, because they must first regain an appropriate position in their new organisation in order to be able to initiate processes of change.

ing improves the programme area’s efficiency even further. The great majority of the changes initiated through the programme area are sustainable. Most of the trained change agents return to their home countries or regions and use what they have learnt in their everyday professional lives. The change agents whose position enables them to initiate alterations also promote sustainable changes in the organisations, since these changes are institutionalised in the processes, strategic planning and structures of the organisations. The HEIs which have been supported by the DAAD are also in a position to sustain the changes initiated even without the DAAD’s further financial support.

Further opportunities to increase the programme area’s effectiveness can be seen at the organisational level, where the programme area’s programmes could more frequently follow a holistic approach to organisational development, or several different programmes could be combined to form a holistic approach. In particular, the programmes in this programme area should focus more attention on the administrative level of the HEIs (e.g. accounting departments). Expanding the involvement of business in the programme area’s programmes could also increase the relevance of higher education curricula in developing countries.

The programmes’ selection process is one of the strongest points in the implementation of the programme area. In particular, international selection committees increase the transparency of the selection process and generate a sense of ownership of the programmes among the DAAD’s international partners. In addition, mechanisms for coordination and harmonization have been established outside the programme area with the GIZ (German association for international cooperation) and AKBP actors.

In terms of sustainability, the programme area is less successful in supporting partner country HEIs in the countries visited in the case studies in maintaining their own financially independent links to international academic debate. The programme area is not yet sufficiently successful in establishing structures and know-how for the acquisition of third-party funding in partner country HEIs, because its programmes concentrate primarily on supporting individual scientists and academics.

1.2.2 Weaknesses of the programme area

Currently, the programme area does not cover all areas of need in the developing countries. In particular, the need for didactic and teaching methods has not been sufficiently addressed so far by the programme area. In addition, the DAAD should reinforce its hinge function between developing countries, German HEIs and business, in order to make better use of the available potential for alternative approaches and access points for interested German businesses and German DC work and AKBP. At the same time, this process could also initiate long-term partnerships between alumni and the German business sector and German DC organisations.

In terms of implementation within the programme area, differences in selection procedures and in further quality assurance measures can be identified. Although all selection procedures complied with the DAAD’s quality standards, it was observed in one of the regional scholarship programmes we studied that the partner government exercised considerable influence. This partner government, which provided the larger part of the funding for this programme, undertook additional selection procedures for the candidates after the DAAD selection procedure. In relation to continuing quality assurance, some programmes have very elaborate measures such as tracer studies or monitoring systems while others implemented no further quality assurance measures to check the success of their programmes.

It would be possible to further increase the programme area’s effectiveness beyond the higher education sector. This is an area where change agents rarely initiate changes in their organisations, because they often receive no support from their managers or other colleagues. In addition, the increased readiness of programme graduates to move

More careful targeting of steering measures deliberately aimed at enabling the programmes to be combined and clustered could also generate synergies which would 13

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reinforce the effects of individual program mmes and increase the e efficiency o of the prog gramme area as a whole e. 1.3

an governme ent’s strateg gy on dealGerma ing witth fragile sta ates. 3. Funding provid ders shou uld make Germa an co-finan ncing funds s available for programmes s which are a partly funded by fore ign govern nments in accord dance with h demands. The evaluation clearly c show wed that thrrough these progra ammes in pa articular, fore eign cultural and developme ent policy co oncerns can be imp plemented b by the DAAD to a greater exttent (cf. reccommendations on cofunding for the DA AAD).

mendations for action Recomm

The following recommendations for a action are intended as s suggestion ns of how to o promotte the furth her developm ment of the e program mme area and a to incre ease its effe ectiveness s. They are e divided in nto recomm endations for action for the DAA AD’s funding g provide ers, the DAA AD itself an nd German HEIs. This s division is necessary because b the DAAD prog gramme area’s success is also depe endent on e external con nditions overr which the DAAD has no influence e. 1.3.1

4. The BMZ should work with the DAAD to det termine the e DAAD’s mandate m in Germa an develo opment co ooperation activit ty. This eva aluation concludes that the programme area is successful in bringin ng about ch hange at org ganisational level and a to some extent at system level within the higherr education n sector of each partner p coun ntry. Howev ver it is an obviou us and intternationally y acknowledged fact that ce entral devellopment issues in other area as of develo opment cooperattion can also o only be targeted with the participation o of science an nd research and in n the contex xt of collaboration between scientists and academics. HEIs play a central role e in this proc cess. Developmen nt issues of this “knowledgeintensiive” type in nclude for example climate change and global pop pulation developm ment as well as issues of o global security architecture e, the susta ainable use of reso ources and ffood security. The programm me area’s ccontributions s to these sectora al challenge es could de efinitely be expand ded. Howev ver, extendin ng the successful work of th he programm me area to other developmen nt cooperation sectors would touch on th he competen nce areas of technic cal cooperattion work. In this context, the BMZ and the DAAD should s work together with Germ man HEIs to o clarify the extent of the DA AAD’s mandate to address these t issuess and thus to o contribute to the developme ent of otherr sectors of technic cal coopera ation throug gh the instrume ents of qualiification of experts e and manag gers, coope eration betw ween HEIs and ex xchange of sscientists. The T findings of this s evaluation n could be a starting point for f this discu ussion.

Recomme endations forr action to fu unding providers s

1. Funding prroviders should enabl e the DAAD to fu und progra ammes and d projjects over an extend ded period d. The evaluation findings sh how that a long funding period for a project orr programme is a decisive factor f in succcessfully achieviing impacts at organisa ational level. Curre ently the usual practicce for achieving lo ong-term sup pport is to e extend the funding g duration in a random m, sequential manner; this should be rep placed by the poss sibility of lon nger-term fu unding duration at project or programme level. p Appropriate monitoring systems sshould be introduced so that the effectiv veness of longer fu unding perio ods can be monitored. 2. Funding providers p should s con ntinue to enable proe measur res and grammes aimed a at conflict c pre evention and re econstruction. The fin ndings on the effec ctiveness of the Academ ic Reconstruction n in South Eastern E Europe programme were basica ally positive,, suggesting tha at cross-border coope ration onflict between HE EIs in the context of co states, post-conflict situ uations and ffragilnstruity can in principle be a useful in ment for promoting p re econciliation n prod stacesses and safeguarding peace and bility. With this in mind, m the D DAAD’s funding pro oviders sho ould continu ue to provide the funding for initiatives o of this type. Addressing future e leadership elites through me easures of this kind can n also contribute tto the imple ementation o of the

5. The BMZ B should d extend th he DAAD’s fundin ng framew work for material goods s for parttner counttry higher educa ation instittutions in the least 14

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

grammes within the programme area generates synergies at the impacts level. However, the evaluation also revealed that the complementary implementation of DAAD programmes occurs more by chance than by conscious decision and the targeted application of a combination of instruments. In order for its programmes to achieve more synergies at impact level, the DAAD should consciously apply its programmes in the partner countries in well-thought-out combinations. To achieve this, the DAAD must develop strategies which specify which combination of programmes is effective in which contexts and these strategies should then be effectively communicated within the organisation. It must be taken into account however that efforts to achieve synergies at impact level may result in potential conflicts with the DAAD’s quality-based selection of scholarship holders, because the selection of the best scholarship holders does not always create synergies at impact level. The DAAD must face up to this conflict of aims and develop appropriate guidelines for the selection committee. The findings of this evaluation provide initial reference points for developing this strategy. In order to implement this strategy, however, the DAAD would need greater capacity, for example in its external structure, in order to take on the necessary steering tasks.

developed countries. The evaluation clearly shows that the need for technical equipment, e.g. in the form of individual items of laboratory equipment, is great in the least developed countries and this need cannot be addressed by the programme area’s existing instruments. The existing materials programme funded by the BMZ generally allows a maximum grant of only 20,000 euros, which is not sufficient for most laboratory equipment. For this reason the financial limit for material goods in the existing materials programme should be raised to 100,000 euros for laboratory equipment. 1.3.2

Recommendations DAAD

for

action

to

the

6. The positive trend in the acquisition of funding for co-funded programmes by the DAAD should be maintained and expanded in order to further increase the programme area’s efficiency. The level of demand in the partner countries for the government programmes we evaluated is high, because Germany is an attractive centre for study and teaching. The DAAD is popular among the partner countries because it is seen as a reliable and competent partner in programme implementation. The high level of financial contributions from the partner countries also ensures that they gain a great sense of ownership of the government programmes studied. The funding diversification in the programme area through the government scholarship programmes also increases the programme area’s efficiency, because the programmes operated by the DAAD are available to a wider range of people and/or institutions due to the additional funding. For this reason the DAAD should expand this business field in order to acquire more funding. The funds contributed by the DAAD should not come from its own institutional funding but should be additional funding acquired from funding providers. The DAAD should actively approach its financial sources as soon as an opportunity for a new government programme is identified.

8. The DAAD should improve the coordination of its programmes and instruments outside the programme area. Outside the programme area, the evaluation identified few coordination processes with external actors such as the GIZ and the KfW Bank (responsible for financial cooperation). The DAAD has already recognised this issue; it has signed a cooperation agreement with the GIZ and is in negotiations with the KfW on the subject of closer cooperation in future. Where programme content overlaps, the DAAD should accelerate this cooperation in future in order to generate synergies between programmes in the national development cooperation field and this programme area. One starting point for this would be the increased use of the BMZ’s economic cooperation (EC) experts in the partner countries, in order to boost the collaboration in financial and technical cooperation fields. It is however also essential

7. The DAAD should improve the coordination of its existing programmes and instruments within the programme area. The evaluation findings reveal that the coordination of pro15

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with German HEIs, in particular for BMZ programmes. Programmes which are primarily funded by the partner countries should also be involved in this development. A unified impacts-oriented steering system would define the targets of individual programmes more precisely and establishing common impacts indicators would enable success to be monitored at the impacts level. In addition, impacts-oriented monitoring would make it possible to carry out comparative efficiency observation in future. The unified impacts-oriented steering system should be integrated into the reporting system of the individual programmes, creating the basis for strategic programme steering. The necessary financial and personnel resources must be provided for this purpose.

that the BMZ and its EC experts also use their controlling facilities to further promote the process of information, coordination and harmonising the activities of the DAAD and the implementing organisations. 9. The DAAD should develop a competence centre for capacity development in the higher education sector, in order to contribute to concomitant scientific research. Currently, a lack of personnel and financial resources at the DAAD are making it difficult to improve the strategic and conceptual steering of the programme area. The DAAD or its funding providers should provide the resources to enable the DAAD to collect and process its existing knowledge in the context of higher education cooperation with developing countries, to carry out concomitant research on its programmes and on this basis, to advise and support German HEIs and funding providers in the design and development of strategies and programme approaches. The DAAD could also use the results of this kind of concept work and the appropriate concomitant research to improve and continually optimise existing programmes and to develop new formats. This would enable the DAAD to learn more quickly and would support it in its function as a think tank in the higher education field.

Taking the demands of other funding providers as a starting point, the DAAD should develop the steering system further and continually apply it to the other programmes in the programme area. 11. The individual support programmes of the DAAD programme area which we evaluated should be supplemented by a component to provide instruction in didactic and teaching methods. The evaluation findings reveal that the individuals supported in the partner countries urgently need to learn didactics and teaching methods during their scholarship period, because unlike the German system, they are required to teach students when they return to their home countries. This applies to Bachelor, Master and PhD students. It would therefore be sensible to develop differentiated modules for instruction in didactics and teaching methods for each specialist field which could be integrated into the individual support programmes within the programme area. In this context, it would be worth considering to what extent Universities of Applied Sciences could take on a greater role in the individual support programmes in this programme area, (e.g. by organising a cross-disciplinary module for didactic quality).

As a basic precondition for this, German HEIs should be equipped with the necessary knowledge and capacity for strategic steering and monitoring of the projects. In most German HEIs this is not the case at present. However, since the DAAD relies on German HEIs as sources for its data on programme steering and development, it should advise or train the German HEIs in developing these capacities and should provide them with the resources to do so. 10. The DAAD should develop and introduce an impacts-oriented steering instrument for the BMZ programmes. A wide variety of monitoring and steering systems are currently in use for the programmes in the programme area. Against the background of increasing demands on monitoring and steering systems in the development cooperation context, the DAAD should develop and introduce a unified impactsoriented steering system in collaboration

12. The DAAD should introduce a new programme within the programme area targeting modernisation of the administrative level of higher education institutions in its partner countries. The evaluation shows that with a 16

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cooperation (TC) project and supplement it with a higher education component on its own responsibility. Having designed the concept, the DAAD should approach the BMZ to acquire additional funding.

few exceptions, the programmes within the programme area do not target changes in the administration of HEIs in the partner countries. As a result, impacts of existing programmes are often unable to develop their full effects because the partner country HEIs lack the appropriate administrative structures and processes to support the changes. For this reason a new programme should be introduced to support existing programmes by targeting the modernisation of administrative structures of HEIs in the partner countries. New financial resources would be required for this, because the DAAD does not have adequate financial resources to design and implement a programme of this kind.

14. The DAAD should strengthen the interface between its programmes and German business. The evaluation clearly showed that German business has great interest in the DAAD’s programmes and that opportunities for cooperation exist. However, businesses often lack information on where their activities could tie in with DAAD programmes. German HEIs should foster stronger links to business in their programmes; at the same time, the DAAD should develop its hinge function between German HEIs and German business. The first step in this direction should be to establish in which programmes and countries successful cooperation with business is already taking place. The second step should be to expand the integration of the German Universities of Applied Sciences, which are highly practice-oriented and have close links with business, into the programmes within the programme area. The networking of DAAD alumni with business in each programme – such as the alumni special projects - should also be intensified. The DAAD has already taken an important step in the right direction with the support programme “Partners in Practice”, newly established in 2011.

13. The DAAD should develop a pilot project to support holistic collaboration with strategic actors in a cooperation system in a selected sector in a partner country. The evaluation reveals that the DAAD is less successful in achieving impacts on the organisational and system level outside the higher education sector. As a result, the DAAD is hardly present in the classical sectors which German development cooperation organisations focus on. However, complete reorientation of the DAAD’s support logic along the lines of the contract procedure usually applied to German state development cooperation work would result in losses of efficiency and a decline in German HEIs’ interest in DAAD programmes. For this reason, the DAAD should design a pilot project by coordinating its existing instruments, applying them strategically and attempting to achieve the intended impacts at organisational and system level in a selected sector of German development cooperation work. In this pilot project, the DAAD should test how far it can transfer its successes in the higher education sector to other thematic sectors in German development cooperation work through strategic steering and collaboration with carefully selected German HEIs. This project could be designed in one of two ways. In the first version, the DAAD designs a pilot project which concentrates on the higher education sector yet also aims to achieve impacts beyond that sector. This could also be carried out following the contracts procedure, if necessary. In the second version, the DAAD could support an existing technical

1.3.3

Recommendations for action for interested German higher education institutions

15. Interested German higher education institutions should strengthen the links between German business and the DAAD programmes. The evaluation findings show that the potential for involving business in the German HEIs’ programmes has rarely been utilised. When applying for DAAD funding, German HEIs should identify more opportunities to involve German business actively in the programmes. The success factors identified in this evaluation, such as involving representatives of business in lectures, compulsory internships and simulations or actual collaborative projects could provide an initial basis for this process.

17

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

16. Interested German higher education institutions should work with the DAAD to jointly develop a strategic perspective for the field of German development cooperation in order to make the best use of their potential. Due to restricted funds and lack of demand, German HEIs have so far rarely collaborated with German development cooperation organisations on concrete projects or teaching events. The collaborations that have taken place have been restricted to the participation of German development cooperation organisations on study programme advisory boards. Against this background, German HEIs should work with the DAAD to jointly develop a strategy to make the best use of their existing expertise and potential in future in the context of German development cooperation. This should also include discussing the role and function German HEIs would like to take in relation to the BMZ and the implementing organisations. 17. Interested German higher education institutions should investigate opportunities to coordinate and cluster their activities in development cooperation to a greater extent. Particularly in view of the very diverse forms of involvement of German HEIs in development cooperation, closer, possibly even institutionalised forms of cooperation and networking would release opportunities and synergy. This also applies to promoting the professionalism of HEIs in this field and to further improving the effectiveness of HEIs’ cooperation with developing countries.

18

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

2.

INTRODUCTION

Rambøll Management Consulting was commissioned by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) to carry out the evaluation of the DAAD programme area “Educational cooperation with developing countries”. The aim of the evaluation is to carry out an independent external inspection of the programme area in relation to relevance, effectiveness, programme implementation, efficiency, long-term impacts and sustainability. The analysis aims to examine the results of individual programmes and their support instruments in the context of the whole programme spectrum. This is intended to reveal the interplay of the individual measures and if possible, to identify potential opportunities for optimising its work and for developing synergies with other instruments of development, science and cultural policy. The evaluation findings are intended to provide a basis for recommendations for the future direction and further development of the programme area. The main beneficiaries of the information provided by this programme area evaluation (PAE) are the DAAD itself and the German and partner country HEIs involved in the programme area, current DAAD scholarship holders and alumni. The information will also be available to the general public as well as to the Federal Ministry of Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) and the Federal Foreign Office (AA) as funding providers. The DAAD is particularly interested in pointers the PAE may give to increasing the effectiveness of the programme area and its strategic development. The PAE was carried out from January 2011 to September 2012. During this period, the Rambøll Management Consulting team carried out four individual evaluations of programmes within the programme area: “Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe”, “Alumni Special Projects” and “Development-related Postgraduate Courses” and three government scholarship programmes in Egypt, Kazakhstan and Mexico. These individual evaluations included numerous in-depth interviews and quantitative surveys. Four case studies in Colombia, Kenya, Serbia and Vietnam comprised a further central component of the PAE. Rambøll Management Consulting developed recommendations for action for the strategic direction of the programme area, based on the information from these surveys. This evaluation report documents the evaluation findings. It is structured as follows: •

Chapter 3 gives an overview of the programme area.



Chapter 4 presents the evaluation findings. They concentrate on relevance, effectiveness, efficiency, impacts, sustainability, complementarity and coordination.

19

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

3.

OVER RVIEW OF O THE E PROGR RAMME AREA

The DAAD is a joint j institution of Germ an higher ed ducation institutions and d student bo odies whose task es, mainly through exch k is to promote academic links to otther countrie hanges of sttudents and acad demics. A ra ange of areas of suppo ort are deriv ved from this task defin nition, which h the DAAD pres sents in five programme e areas first d defined in 20 0022. •

Program mme area 1 – Scholarshiips for intern national stud dents



Program mme area 2 – Scholarshiips for Germ mans



Program mme area 3 – Internation nalising high her education institutionss



Program mme area 4 – Promoting German stu udies and the German la anguage



Program mme area 5 – Educationa al cooperatio on with deve eloping coun tries

The presentatio on of DAAD activities ass programme e areas mainly serves tthe DAAD as a form of exte ernal presentation of its programme es and as an n internal orientation aid d for locating g the DAAD instruments or its programmes. In oth her words, programme area a 5 does not describe organisational structures ans of exterrnal and internal communication rela s; it is a mea ating to the programme area a’s targets (see ( chapterr 3.1 and 3. 3). For this reason, pro ogrammes w whose main focus is on area. deve elopment po olicy or conflict preventio on are alloca ated to this programme p a

3.1

Targets of the prog gramme are ea

The DAAD is an n independent intermed iary agency which is orrganised as an associatiion by German es while also n HEIs and student s bodie o receiving funding f from m various fina ancial source es. In other words, as an in ntermediary organisation n it is not bo ound by instructions witth the aim of o receiving implementation contracts from fundin ng providers s or securin ng federal ffunding for HEIs. The DAA AD’s target in i its progra amme area ““Educationall Cooperation with Deve eloping Coun ntries” is to cove er the politic cal intentions of its main n funding prroviders and to represen nt the intere ests and requirrements of the HEIs, students, sciientists and academics.. 3 The targ ets of this DAAD program mme area th herefore reflect not only y the political aims of itts main fund ding provide ers (AA and BMZ Z) in foreign, cultural, ed ducational a and developm ment policy but also the e interests off higher educattion institutiions, studen nts and acad demics, plac cing differentt levels of e emphasis on n these elemen nts. This results in a com mplex combiination of aims in the fie elds of foreig gn, cultural, educational, h higher educa ational and developmen nt policy which characte erises the prrogramme area a and its prog grammes. The tension created c by t rying to add dress all these fields ma akes it neces ssary to ortargets professionallly in a continuous proce ganise and institutionalise the t ess in orderr to achieve the best combin nation of the e diverse intterests and areas of expertise in th he field of in nternational acad demic coope eration. This applies to tthe entire cy yclical proce ess of targett definition, programme desiign, impleme entation, ev valuation and d programm me modification. At each stage of this feedback cycle, the targe ets and interrests of the participating actors are e picked up in a discurs sive process and integrated in i the progra amme desig n (see fig. 1). 1

2

German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) (2011). Annual report 2011.

3

This s is also reflected d in the DAAD’s self-concept in itss annual report 2009: “Due to its links to politics, the DAAD functio ons as an in-

terme ediary in several directions: between the various ffederal departme ents, between the federal governm ment and the Länder (who fund the H HEIs), between HEIs and the state e and between th he fields of acade emia and politics” ”. (DAAD 2009: 1 16). 20

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 1: (Ideal) typical feedback cycle of DAAD programme development

programme modification

target definition

interests DAAD Federal Foreign office BMZ BMBF HEIs Students Academics Private interests Funding providers Etc.

evaluation

interests

programme design

implementation Source: DAAD Evaluationskonzept 2002

This made it necessary to define the programme area’s current targets for the purposes of the evaluation. Therefore a workshop was held on 14 April 2011 in which a logical impact matrix was developed which establishes the target dimensions for the programme area. The programme area currently pursues the following four target dimensions which are relevant to the evaluation (cf. also Chapter 3.3). (The order in which the target dimensions are listed does not reflect their priority.) •

In the first target dimension, the programme area carries out capacity development at individual level with the aim of contributing to meeting its partner countries’4 requirements for experts and managers and to develop and qualify change agents.



Within the second target dimension, the DAAD carries out capacity development at organisational level by strengthening higher education structures in its partner countries. The aim in doing this is to bolster regional and national systems of knowledge and innovation and to improve the quality of teaching, research and management, in order to strengthen the HEIs as transformative social powers in the partner countries and to enable them to keep abreast of scientific standards.



The third target dimension pursues the aim of promoting south-south, north-south, south-north and north-south-south exchange and intercultural exchange by developing cooperative structures and networks. One aim of this is to increase knowledge transfer and to raise the profile of German science and of Germany as a centre for innovation. This target dimension also focuses on creating joint structures between Germany and the partner countries in order to gain new cooperation partners in Germany for additional programmes.



In the fourth target dimension, active alumni work is aimed at developing long-term links to Germany at the level of (former) scholarship holders. The intention is also to support German companies and German DC work in investing in partner countries through the alumni.

The target dimensions are more precisely differentiated in chapter 3.3.

4

The term “partner country” in this evaluation report is not identical with the partner countries in bilateral DC work. It relates here to

all countries on the OECD-DAC list which are open to DAAD programmes. 21

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

3.2

Target groups g of th he program mme area

There are no DA AAD docume ents describ ing the prog gramme area a’s target grroups, so they can only be d derived from m the target group descr iptions in the programm me area’s 30 programme es.5 Some of the programme e area’s prog grammes di fferentiate in their target group de escriptions between b interm mediaries an nd direct targ get groups. For the purposes of the e evaluation the two cattegories are defined as follow ws: •

Interme ediaries: intermediaries are organiisations, ins stitutions, asssociations or persons who sta and as mediators betwe een the targ get groups and a targets of each indiividual programme e or the programme are ea; they are e intended to o facilitate tthe achievem ment of the targets. They includ de German o or partner co ountry HEIs and seconde ed German higher education e experts.



Direct target ta groups: target grroup is the name n given to those acctors to who om the programme e area’s prog grammes arre primarily addressed and a whom tthe programme intends alia German to impa act. This includes inter a n and partne er country llecturers, sttudents, researchers, future ex xperts and m managers and partner co ountry HEIs.

It is s noticeable across all the t program mme area’s programmes p s that interm mediaries in some program mmes are ca ategorised as direct targ get groups in n others. In this context,, the various s actors the prog gramme are ea intends to o reach can be allotted the following functions or divided into the followiing categorie es:

5



The German highe er educatio on institutio ons act prim marily as inttermediaries s within the program mme area in that they p pass on kno owledge to partner p coun ntry studentts, lecturers and researchers or apply their existing know-how in the t higher e education fie eld to carry out capa acity development in pa rtner countrry HEIs. They y are also a direct targe et group because th hrough the programme p area or indiividual progrrammes, the ey gain incre eased competence e through south-north d ialogue and are more closely linked d into international discourse and a network ks.



The parrtner counttry higher education institutions s are both a among the programme area’s direct d target groups and d its interme ediaries. They can be cla assed as the e direct target grou up when the eir higher ed ucation structures and/o or network sstructures arre strengthened by y the programme area. They can also be classe ed in the inttermediaries s group beer able to ed cause th hey are bette ducate partn ner country students, s forr example.



The parrtner counttry studentts, lecturer rs, research hers, experrts and man nagers are a directt target grou up of the prrogramme area; a the aim is to equ uip them witth (further) qualifica ations throug gh its progra ammes. A certain propo ortion of the em are also intended to become change age ents through h additional qualifications or develop pment. The intention is that the ese individua als should ta ke on leadin ng positions in politics, t he economy y or civil society (in ncluding HEIs) in the pa rtner countrries, where they can inittiate sustaina able changes.



The Alu umni are on ne of the pro ogramme arrea’s direct target t group ps. They are e defined as students s, graduates s, academicss or lecturerrs who have gained a de egree at a German G HEI or have studied, res searched or worked for at least three months a at an HEI an nd have returned to t work in a partner cou untry. The aim a is that th hrough the p programme area’s programme es these individuals sho ould be able to deepen, update or e expand their expertise, develop a long-term m partnersh ip with Germ many and act as contacct partners for f German business s and develo opment coop peration orga anisations.



The Gerrman stude ents, lecturrers and res searchers belong b to the e programme area’s direct targ get group because they y contribute to intercultu ural understtanding, kno owledge exchange and network king through h their partic cipation in th he programm mes.



The Gerrman highe er education n experts are a intermed diaries of the e programme e who carry out capa acity develop pment at pa rtner countrry HEIs.

This s figure does not include the indiv vidual governmen nt scholarships which w are contained in 51 program mmes altogether.. 22

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

3.3

Logical impact mattrix of the p programme e area

The logical impa act matrix of o the progra amme area comprises c various interd dependent and a autonomou us inputs (th he DAAD ins struments), outputs (th he interventions applied)), outcomes s (targets – ed on jointly susttainability) and a impacts (intended e effects). Base y developed evaluation criteria and the OECD-DAC (Developme ent Assistancce Committe ee)6 definitions, these arre defined as s follows for this programme e area: The OECD-DAC defines inpu uts as “the financial, hu uman, and material m reso ources used for the develo ng and implementing a opment interrvention”.7 These T can in nclude provid ding experts or organisin com mpetition-orie ented and qualitative se election proc cedure within the scope e of the prog gramme area. Outputs are e defined as “the produccts, capital goods g and services s whicch result fro om a developm ment interven ntion; may also a include changes res sulting from the interven ntion which are a relevant comes.”8 Th to tthe achievem ment of outc his may for example en ntail carrying g out summ mer schools, awa arding schola arships or de eveloping jo int study programmes within w the sccope of the programme area a. Outc comes are defined d by th he OECD-DA AC as “the likely or achie eved short-tterm and me edium-term effects of an in ntervention’s s outputs”.9 These may include alte erations in h higher educa ation structure es abroad orr training ch hange agentss within the e scope of th he programm mes in this programme area a. Impacts are a defined as a “the posittive and neg gative primarry and secon ndary long-tterm effects prod duced by a development d t interventio on, directly or o indirectly, intended orr unintended d”.10 An impactt could for example be effective h igher educa ation system ms and scien nce systems s developed with hin the scope e of the prog gramme area a. Against this bac ckground, th he programm ogical impac ct matrix wa as developed d in a joint me area’s lo workshop with DAAD D on 14 April 2011, in order to determine th he prevailing g comprehen nsion of the implicit assumptions (working hypothesses) on which the progra amme area iis based. 3.3.1

Descriptio on of the logical impact m matrix

The programme e area’s inpu uts reflect th e DAAD’s instruments and a comprise e the financial, material and human res sources applied by the DAAD to orrganise and implement a competition-oriented qualitative selection proces ss. They alsso ensure th hat the 30 individual prrogrammes in the program ail. mme area arre implemen nted with all the different interventio ons they enta The resulting ou utputs are the measure s applied by y the DAAD and its parttners in orde er to implemen nt the progra ammes in th he programm me area. The ese include research visitts, dialogue events, establishing partn nerships with h HEIs, trai ning course es and awarrding scholarrships to students and grad duates. At o outcome leve el, the progrrammes with hin the programme area a in the field of human capacity c develo opment are intended to o contribute to the qua alification an nd further d developmentt of change agents and the provision of o sufficient e experts and managers to cover req quirements. To achieve this, the programmes enable individual s, the next generation g of o scientists, experts and d managers to g gain qualifica ations, usually in accorda ance with the partner co ountries’ plan nning targets (more). The (further) qu ualification and a training of individua als in the field of human n capacity de evelopment is also intended d to strength hen higher e education strructures in the partner ccountries. Fo or example, deans and managers in hig gher educatio on managem ment may re eceive furthe er training. In I addition, the “strengthening higher education e strructures” field strengthens the HEIs in partner countries c as tran nsformative social powers and imprroves the qu uality of teaching, resea arch, manag gement and adm ministration, for example e by creatin ng research capacity. In n this field we also aim m to create

6

OEC CD-DAC (1991). DAC D Principles fo or the Evaluation of Developmentt Assistance. Paris s: OECD.

7

Ibid d.

8

Ibid d.

9

Ibid d.

10

Ibid d. 23

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

“bea acon instituttions” and establish besst practices, making a co ontribution tto enabling HEIs in the parttner countrie es to keep up with sci entific stand dards. Estab blishing regiional quality y assurance s one way o systtems is also intended as of strengthening the national and rregional knowledge and inno ovation syste ems. Netw working actiivities in the e networking g field of the e programme area also contribute to t strengthenin ng higher ed ducation stru uctures and to human capacity c development (a and vice verrsa). In this field d, the DAAD D aims to develop coop perative stru uctures to promote p sou uth-south, north-south, n soutth-north and d north-soutth-south dia logues, in which w for exa ample joint curricula can be developed d between HEIs H or train ning facilitiess developed in the region n for the reg gion. In setting up joint stud dy programm mes or imple ementing com mmon resea arch interests, it also aim ms to create joint strucetworking activities are ture es between the t partner countries c an d Germany. Within Germ many, the ne intended to incrrease the vis sibility of Ge erman scienc ce and draw w attention to Germany as a centre of in nnovation. It I is also inttended to sttrengthen German HEIs in compete ence-building g and raise their profile in developmen nt cooperatio on and in in nternational discourse. IIn this way,, the DAAD aims to gain and motivate new n coopera ation partnerrs in German ny. In the Alumni fiield, which also a shows cconsiderable interdepend dencies with h the other three t fields, the aim is to build b up long g-term linkss to German ny among scholarship-h holders and alumni. To achiieve this, th he DAAD pro omotes alum mni network ks (north-south, south-n north and north-southsoutth) and offers opportunities for alum mni to updatte, deepen and expand ttheir knowle edge. In additio on, it promo otes the coop peration of a alumni as partners for German G and d internation nal business and development cooperation, so that they can su upport Germ man and inte ernational co ompanies in inve esting in the partner cou untries. The short-term and medium m-term effeccts on the ou utcome level are also in ntended to co ontribute in the long term to t the follow wing impactss. On the on ne hand, the ese effects a are intended to support the partners’ m modernisation n strategies and to conttribute to the partner co ountries’ ability to keep abre east of the knowledge k society. s They y are also in ntended to build b up effe ective higher education and science sys stems and to o increase th he relevance e of higher education e cu urricula to bu usiness and the job market in the partner countriess. In addition n, they aim to t contribute e to strength hening governa ance capacitties, particula arly in relati on to democ cracy and the establishm ment of civil society and the rule of law, as well as contributing to conflict prevention through t inte ercultural dia alogue. This is allso intended d to enable the DAAD th rough its pro ogramme arrea 5 to conttribute to ac chieving the mille ennium deve elopment go oals (MDG) a and to the autonomous a developmen nt of the partner countries s. Further lo ong-term aim ms of this p programme field are to contribute tto establishing durable parttnerships with Germany y, to promotte the German language e abroad, to o promote good-will for Germany, to de evelop altern native meth ods of access, channels s and partne ers for dialo ogue and to esta ablish cooperrative approaches for Ge erman bilate eral developm ment cooperration.

3.4

Structurre and orga anisation off the progra amme area a

DAA AD programm me area 5 “E Educational Cooperation n with Developing Counttries” with its budget of approx. 78 million euros in n 2011 is th he DAAD’s th hird largest area. It com mprises a cluster of 30 prog grammes alttogether, mo ostly funded d by the BMZ Z, the Federral Foreign O Office and partner governm ments (cf. chapter 4.3.1 1). The prog grammes’ focus is the deciding facto or in assigning them to this programme e area. A co ommon facto or of all the programme es is that the eir primary target is to focu us on develo opment polic cy or conflicct prevention n and that they aim to go beyond the t level of supp porting indiv viduals, contributing to the develop pment of each partner ccountry or to t transformattion in south-eastern Europe. The BMZ progrrammes within the prog gramme are ea are locatted in Grou up 43 in org ganisational term ms. This grou up clusters the t BMZ pro ogrammes, carrying c out their steerin ng and imple ementation. Ove erall, howeve er, the progrramme area acts as a classification system for programmes s with similar a aims and thus does not as a whole reflect the DAAD’s orga anisational sstructure; in fact it cuts acro oss the existting departm mental structtures. For th his reason, various v otherr units and groups g outside e Group 43 also a have steering and iimplementattion respons sibilities for p programmes s within the prog gramme area. 24

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The programme area is indirectly managed within the DAAD; the major part of the responsibility for it lies with the head of Department 4. Because the programme area cuts across the structures, there are no content-based, organisational or monetary targets to provide direction for it. However, in principle we can differentiate between two basic forms of support in the programme area: individual support for people and institutional support for projects.

25

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

4.

EVAL LUATION N FIND DINGS

The programme e area evalu uation (PAE) comprised four individu ual evaluatio ons of the programmes “Aca ademic Reco onstruction in South Ea astern Europ pe”, “Alumn ni Special Prrojects” and d “Developmen nt-related po ostgraduate courses” a nd three go overnment scholarship s programmes in Egypt, Kaza akhstan and d Mexico. Fo our case stud dies were also carried out o in Colom mbia, Kenya, Serbia and Viettnam. The fo our individual evaluatio ons and the four case studies s togetther provide ed the data sam mples on whiich the evaluation of th he programm me area was s based. The e individual evaluations examined how far the prog grammes co ontributed to o the targets s and the prrogramme area‘s a overarch hing impacts s linked to th hose targetss, while the case c studies s analysed th he impacts achieved a by the programme es in individu ual countriess. The only exceptions e were w the on--the-spot ins spections in Egypt and Mexiico which we ere part of tthe individual evaluations of govern nment schollarship program mmes and in n which spec cific surveyss were carrie ed out for these individu al evaluation ns. In addie were able tion, for certain n aspects we e to fall back on analysis of docum ments includiing existing evaluations of programmes p within the p programme area. a 292 interviews were carried out altoge ether in the e course of the t PAE witth German and a partner coun ntry HEIs, DAAD D alumni and their m managers, DAAD D schola arship holderrs, the DAAD D, actors in related areas an nd actors wh ho had not re eceived support. Of thes se, 156 interrviews were carried out in th he six on-the e-spot studie es in Colomb bia, Egypt, Kenya, K Mexic co, Serbia an nd Vietnam. In a addition to the country studies and interviews, eleven glob bal online su urveys were carried out by R Rambøll Man nagement Consulting C an nd the Unive ersity of Old denburg carrried out a tracer study with the responses and with h various acttors, which gave g represe entative results. The online survey w the participants can be seen n in fig. 2 fo llowing. Fig. 2: Overview w of responde ents and resp ponses to the e online survey according g to individua al evaluation and groups of acttors

Num mber of part ticip pants contacted

Programmes (individual evalu uations) Tracer T study ( carried D Development-related po ostgraduate courses Alu umni speciall projects Governm ment scholarsh hips

out o by University y of Oldenburg) d

Auxiliary A data collection c Survey Egypt E (GERLS ) Egypt E (GERSS S) Mexico M Kazakhstan K German G coursses

Academ mic Rec construction n in South Eastern Eu urope

Third T country scholarships s Persons P suppo orted Project P manag ger Project P partne ers

Numbe er of respon nding particip pants

Response R quota

627 72

2352

38%

157 77

571

37%

74 46 20 04 91 9 513 18 89

440 121 52 255 82

59% 59% 57% 55% 43%

20 03

136

67%

88 8

44

50%

126 60 50 5 19 99

543 35 93

43% 54% 35%

Sourc rce: Rambøll Management Cons sulting 2011

4.1

Relevan nce11 of the programme e area

In tthis chapter we describe e the finding AE in relatio on to the ev valuation criterion relegs of the PA vance. In this context, the main questio on is how fa ar the DAAD succeeds in n taking the interests of the various acto ors in the prrogramme a area into acc count. We also describe the gain Ge erman HEIs generate for Ge erman develo opment coop peration (DC C) and the Foreign F Officce cultural re elations and

11

Notte that the criterion ‘relevance’ was w newly defined d jointly with the DAAD in order to do justice to th he DAAD’s specia al qualities as an

interm mediary organisa ation. For this rea ason, this definitiion is different from the definition n usually used in the OECD-DAC criteria. c 26

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

educational policy (AKBP). We also describe which DAAD target groups are reached by the programme area. 4.1.1

Taking into account the diverse interests of the various actors in the programme area

The programme area’s targets are to develop and further qualify change agents through capacity development, to strengthen higher education structures, to actively bind the alumni to Germany through alumni work and to develop cooperative and networking structures; these targets are to a great extent in line with the Federal Foreign Office (AA) and the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)’s strategic targets. The DAAD legislature period document 2009 – 2013 and the BMZ education strategy 2010 – 201312 state that some of the main fields of action for international higher education and science are: educating experts and managers from developing countries as a way of helping partner countries to help themselves; improving the quality of teaching, research and management at HEIs in developing countries; strengthening the relevance of higher education in developing countries for business; and the BMZ making use of graduates of German HEIs from developing countries as partners for the German economy and development cooperation (DC). Among the AA’s central strategic aims are the quality-oriented award of scholarships to the young generation of the elite in partner countries, the promotion of educational cooperation to develop academic structures, for example through targeted further education and training, as well as the promotion of the internationalisation of German HEIs, the German language and a contemporary image of Germany abroad.13 In addition, under its target agreement with the AA, the DAAD aims to contribute to gaining partners and friends for Germany among the academic elites in the partner countries, bolstering Germany’s role as a leading centre for higher education and science, thereby also boosting innovative capacity and economic strength and supporting developing countries and countries in transition in establishing effective higher education and science systems.14 The DAAD also succeeds in taking the interests of its partner countries into account. As the case studies show, the DAAD is perceived in partner countries as a highly specialised actor in the higher education field which commands a range of instruments and carries out on-going investment in the higher education sector of each country. This is even more so in the regions where the DAAD has a branch office. The partners in the countries visited emphasise in particular that the DAAD has years of experience and therefore is better informed about the higher education sector than other donors, in contrast to donor organisations such as the British Council or USAid. Partners also value the continuity of support and the variety of available instruments, factors which they consider to be unique to the DAAD. According to all the actors interviewed, the DAAD succeeds in targeting the diverse and changing needs in its partner countries (in particular in relation to capacity development, coping with high numbers of students or quality assurance) and offering programmes tailored to their requirements. The partners consider that the DAAD’s branch offices play a decisive role in determining partners’ needs, because they act as contact points for the partners. In this way they determine existing needs in each higher education sector and meet these needs through the programmes within the programme area. This is particularly clear in the government scholarship programmes which in some cases are financed to a large extent by the partner governments. In these cases the partner countries work with the DAAD to design programme targets and set the focus. The partner governments interviewed stated that they carry out these programmes with the DAAD because it is a long-term partner and has a great deal of experience in the relevant higher education sector. Another reason often mentioned is that German HEIs are global leaders in their research and teaching in fields such as engineering sciences, making the DAAD the preferred partner in these disciplines. Partners interviewed also emphasised that Germany and the DAAD are well-known for the fact that they do not attempt to ‘headhunt’ the students they support as other donor organisations of-

12

DAAD (unknown). Legislature period document 2009−2013, part 3, pp. 8−13. BMZ (2010). Zehn Ziele für mehr Bildung.

13

DAAD (unknown). Legislature period document 2009−2013, part 3.

14

DAAD and AA (2005). Strategische Zielvereinbarung zwischen dem Auswärtigen Amt und dem Deutschen Akademischen Austausch-

dienst. 27

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

ten do; this guarantees that the country benefits from a ‘brain gain’ rather than suffering from a ‘brain drain’. The case studies reveal that HEIs in partner countries see the special advantage of collaborating with the DAAD in the fact that they can discuss challenges in academic administration, teaching and research as equals with their German partners and develop solutions jointly. The federal nature of the German higher education system is of particular interest for many countries, since they are also in the process of regionalising their higher education systems. In addition, the partner HEIs interviewed all stated that the meshing of research and teaching at German HEIs is an interesting approach which they aim to take as a model. However, this is often impossible in the countries where we carried out the case study interviews, because the political focus is on teaching and research is of lower priority. The special advantages described above which German HEIs contribute to German DC work and AKBP in the partner countries is often not perceived within Germany by other German DC and AKBP organisations. All those interviewed stated that the interface between German DC organisations and German HEIs is generally restricted to German DC organisations cooperating in student bodies and attending each other’s conferences. Joint projects are implemented only in isolated cases, because there is hardly any demand from the DC organisations for additional cooperation (cf. also chapter 4.6.1). In contrast to this, the four German representatives of business interviewed expressed a high level of demand for cooperation with the DAAD and its alumni; this is already being met to some extent by programmes such as the alumni special projects. All four business representatives agree that the DAAD can take on an important hinge function between developing countries, German HEIs and business. The business representatives are aware of the DAAD as an organisation, with its tasks and functions. However they lack specific information about the DAAD’s programme portfolio, in particular about which programmes are being implemented in which countries. In other words, German business is not familiar with the targets and contents of the DAAD programmes so that they are not in a position to identify possible points of contact. The DAAD also succeeds in reacting to the interests of German HEIs in this programme area. The German HEIs’ interest and motivation in participating in the programme area’s programmes lies in the usefulness of the programmes to them. For example, they use the programme area’s programmes in order to drive their own internationalisation, to develop unique selling points and to further develop areas of research. The individual evaluations of post-graduate courses (AST) show for example that HEIs use the Master’s programmes established with DAAD support to develop additional internationally-oriented study programmes. Nine out of ten (90%) of the HEIs surveyed were able to establish international cooperation agreements with higher education institutions in developing countries as spin-offs from the AST, which also promoted the internationalisation of the German higher education institutions. All the HEIs perceived the relevant AST as a central component in their internationalisation strategy. Eight out of nine of the HEIs surveyed (89 per cent) or 81 per cent of the HEIs (N=31) gain an advantage from the government scholarships and the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe in that they benefit from the internationalisation and expansion of their personal and institutional networks. This also applies to the alumni special projects; all the HEIs stated that they use the alumni projects to increase their alumni’s links to Germany, to drive forward the internationalisation of their institutions and to strengthen networks between their institutions and business. At the same time, the HEIs also use the AST and the government scholarship programmes to develop unique selling points. In the individual evaluations of the government scholarship programmes, all the HEIs we surveyed stated that they use the presence of international scholarship holders to distinguish themselves more clearly from other institutions, making them more attractive to other students. This also applies to half the HEIs (five out of ten) at which ASTs are being carried out. These institutions see the AST as a unique selling point which makes them more attractive to other students, since attracting new students is becoming more and more difficult in Germany. 28

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The ASTs, the government scholarship programmes and the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe also serve the German HEIs’ research interests. For example, four of the eight institutions involved in the government scholarship programme stated in the survey that they gain access to new regional knowledge through the international students. One German HEI, for example, was able to gain access to layers of earth from the Cretaceous period in Egypt for research purposes and to prepare joint publications with the visiting scientist. In the Academic Reconstruction of South Eastern Europe programme, 70 per cent (N=33) of the project managers surveyed stated that one of their main reasons for participating in the programme was to improve research in their department. Nine out of ten (90 per cent) of the institutions surveyed in relation to the AST stated that access to regional knowledge is gained through the international students. This enriches teaching, because the students’ diverse perspectives illuminate issues from all sides. At the same time, Masters’ theses could be developed into to research projects, which contribute to research at the HEI. The HEIs can also use research in the AST context to gain expertise in DC work, in order to develop their topic areas further. The individuals who had received support whom we interviewed in the individual evaluations and the case studies considered that their interests were sufficiently taken into account by the individual programmes in the programme area. In the online survey on the AST, for example, 76 per cent of those surveyed stated that their main interest in participating in the AST was to broaden their knowledge. Other motivating factors were the chance of better employment opportunities in the future and the desire to specialise in their field (61 per cent for each). Other aspects which played an important role in the decision to participate in the AST were the opportunity to learn about another culture and to study abroad (56 per cent), interest in a particular subject area (57 per cent) and the scholarship received for study in Germany (60 per cent) (cf. fig.3). Fig. 3: Interests of students supported on the AST – individual evaluation AST

Better Employment Opportunities (N=2289)

61%

Chance to Study Abroad and learn about a Foreign Culture (N=2290)

56%

Chance to Broaden my Knowledge (N=2300) Requested by Employer (N=2235)

23% 27%

6%

11%

15%

16% 35%

55%

Interest in Particular Subject Areas of that Programme (N=2285) Interest in Specialisation in my Field (N=2298)

Recommendation by others (N=2263) Personal Reasons (N=2249)

19%

17% 21%

37%

Reputation of Lecturers, University, Programme (N=2260)

Scholarship / Grant when studying in Germany (N=2270) 14%

Broader Examination and Discussion of the Subjects within the Programme (N=2244)

16% 33%

0%

14%

21% 27% 9%

30%

60%

Social / Political / Environmental Factors in my Country / Region (N=2251)

10% 2% 2%

21%

50%

19% 20%

21%

50%

2

75%

3

9%

10%

12%

4% 4%

35%

31%

Very important

16%

8% 3% 10%

16%

25%

5% 3%

11% 2% 2%

18%

30%

Reputation of Studying in Germany (N=2263)

12%

16%

20%

31%

6% 3%

25% 17%

16%

17%

28%

61% 31%

4%3% 5%

25%

57%

Not Possible to Study that Subject in my Home Country (N=2268)

13% 53%

39%

Interest in a Scientific / Academic Career (N=2298)

29

11% 4% 2%

76%

Interdisciplinary Approach of the Programme (N=2259)

Source: Universität Oldenburg 2011

10% 3% 3%

4

7%

9% 100%

Not at all important

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The other individual evaluations confirm these findings. In addition, all the individuals who had received support who were interviewed in the case studies and the qualitative interviews stated that the DAAD and its programmes met their interests. For example, they all confirmed that their participation in the programme had been useful personally, professionally and in academic terms. They identified the main benefits as being in the development of their expertise in their discipline and in methodology, the establishment of personal and professional networks and the international experience which the scholarships made possible. In the case studies, however, the individuals supported and the partner country HEIs also expressed further needs which are not currently covered by the DAAD and its programmes. In particular, the individuals surveyed in the case studies expressed the need for improving the infrastructure at the HEIs in their home countries to enable them to carry out research to a high academic level in their laboratories.15 Many of the DAAD scholarship holders interviewed also pointed out that they were not equipped with the necessary teaching methodology to enable them to teach students in the partner countries effectively. These skills are needed in the countries we visited, however, because the majority of the DAAD scholarship holders – unlike German scholarship holders – have to teach and guide students in their home countries as soon as they have completed their Master’s or PhD degree. In the case studies in Kenya and Serbia, the individuals interviewed also pointed out critically that in some partner country HEIs, the administrative level (e.g. financial accounting, project management or acquisition of funding) was not addressed by the DAAD programmes. As a result, some programmes could not be implemented effectively, either because of lack of support from the administrative structure or because the necessary administrative structures were not of adequate quality (e.g. standardised financial accounting procedures). When the partners, the German HEIs or those receiving support report changing requirements, these are usually quickly met by the programme area, according to the statements of those who receive support, because the DAAD has a range of instruments available which makes it flexible in its response. The analyses we carried out confirmed a high level of expertise and didactic quality in line with current scientific standards in all the programmes in the individual evaluations and revealed that the programme measures are logically structured. This was also confirmed in the case studies in which all those who received support and actors in related areas attested that the DAAD programmes were of high quality, with the exception of the case study in Colombia. In the case study in Colombia, some of those who had received support remarked that the academic standard in the first year of their Master’s studies in Germany was not high enough. The German HEIs explained this by stating that the initial standard of the international students was extremely varied at the start of the Master’s programme so that it was necessary first to bring all students up to the same standard. 4.1.2

The significance of the DAAD support logic for its programmes

As an autonomous academic organisation, the DAAD is supported by German HEIs and student bodies. This means that the DAAD programmes must be aligned with the interests of the HEIs. For this reason the DAAD follows a particular support logic which is different in principle from the usual contracts procedure in German state development cooperation policy. The DAAD’s programmes are designed taking into account the German HEIs, the needs of the partner countries and the funding providers’ targets. For this reason every DAAD programme must be relevant for all three participating actors (HEI, funding provider and partner country). However, the DAAD depends on the German HEIs collaboration in its programmes, because they either implement the programme in the form of projects or provide the places for the students. Therefore the DAAD’s programmes are constantly being developed in a continual dialogue be-

15

We must point out however that DAAD alumni can apply to the DAAD materials programme for e.g. laboratory equipment worth up

to 20,000 euros. However, this programme was not a specific subject of study in the programme area evaluation. 30

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

tween the funding providers, German HEIs and the partners in the developing countries and countries in transition. This situation also means that the DAAD’s programmes are open for tender to all German HEIs and the HEIs who are particularly interested in the topic and the country will apply. In contrast to this process, in German state development cooperation work, programmes or projects are assigned to the implementing organisations on the basis of a contracts procedure. The starting point for this procedure entails government negotiations between the BMZ and the partner government which jointly identify sectors to be focused on and strategic partners. Within the political parameters set down, the GIZ or the KfW develop projects with the partners identified in this way which are then applied for as “services” to the BMZ through the contracts procedure and implemented accordingly. In this way, the GIZ and the KfW steer and implement their projects themselves, while the DAAD’s support logic means that parts of the steering and implementation are the responsibility of the German HEIs. This results in two fundamentally different approaches to the steering and implementation of projects and programmes which are also reflected in different strategic alignments. The DAAD sets its strategic focus in the higher education sector, in line with its members’ interests, whereas the German implementation organisations adhere to the sectors of focus defined by the BMZ, in which the higher education sector is a cross-cutting topic. Against this background, the implementation organisations we surveyed find the DAAD’s focus difficult to comprehend; in their view, this makes it difficult to collaborate with the DAAD because it cannot be clearly classified in terms of the BMZ’s sectors of focus. However, all the German DC organisations interviewed see and appreciate the added value the DAAD contributes to German DC work in the partner countries. The BMZ and other DC organisations also describe the DAAD as a valuable and well-established organisation which has grown in recent years as an actor in development cooperation. The only difficulty lies in collaboration due to their differing strategic alignments. For this reason the DAAD signed a cooperation agreement with the GIZ in February 2012 in order to coordinate their activities better in future. The DAAD is currently in the process of negotiating a similar agreement with the KfW (cf. also chapter 4.6). 4.1.3

Reaching target groups

According to the target group descriptions in the programme area’s programmes, the programme area aims to reach German and partner country HEIs, German students, lecturers and researchers and partner country students, lecturers, researchers and alumni. In this context, the German and partner country HEIs act both as intermediaries and as direct target groups. The individual evaluation findings show that without exception, the German HEIs are successful in their role as intermediaries in the programmes we examined. In the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe, they act as initiators for regional networks and science systems as well as knowledge providers for developing teaching in south-eastern Europe. In the government scholarship programmes, AST and alumni special projects, they equip the students supported by the DAAD with expert knowledge and methodology (see chapter 4.2). At the same time they utilise the programme area’s programmes as a direct target group in order to drive their research, their internationalisation, their networks and their specialisations (cf. chapter 4.1.1). The partner country HEI’s participation in the programme area’s programmes is guaranteed by the DAAD’s support logic, which specifies that one German and at least one partner country HEI must collaborate in each programme. It was observed in the course of the case studies and the individual evaluations that the partner country HEIs which received DAAD funding were usually the academically stronger institutions, whereas weaker HEIs were often not directly addressed by the programmes. This is related to the DAAD’s support logic whereby the German HEIs usually have the opportunity to select their own partners in the developing countries. This process of natural selection results in the German HEIs selecting partner country HEIs which they estimate to have the academic capacity to enable the targets to be reached in the time allocated to the project. 31

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

At the level of those receiving support, the individual evaluations showed a varied picture relating to reaching the target groups. The AST and the government scholarship programmes reach their target groups, while in the case of the alumni special projects and the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme, adjustments in steering are required in relation to the target groups from business and administration. For example, in the alumni special projects, only a small proportion of the participating alumni were employed in business (20 per cent) although the programme was specifically directed at alumni in business. Overall, the interviews in the case studies and the surveys in the individual evaluations revealed that the target groups reached, with the exception of those on the ASTs, often comprised participants from better-situated socio-economic groups in each country. This can be explained by the fact that in most developing countries and countries in transition, access to higher education is selective, because social selection processes already take place at primary and secondary school level (for example, in Kenya, high-quality secondary education is linked to high school fees for parents, which only the better-off can afford). Because the DAAD’s funding applies at the level of the academic Master’s degree or above, the basic population of those who qualify for support is already strongly pre-selected in favour of the better-situated classes in the developing countries or countries in transition. However, all actors interviewed in the case studies stated that this does not prevent the DAAD’ funding from being appropriate to the countries’ needs, because regardless of the selection which takes place in the partner countries’ education systems, the countries still require highly educated specialists in a range of disciplines for their country’s development. The state authorities interviewed in particular emphasised that such specialists are needed to develop the higher education structures required to enable them to educate their own experts. The countries also need specialists in order to develop industries which can increase the countries’ prosperity. 4.1.4

Evaluation of the relevance of the programme area

The evaluation team attested a high level of relevance to the programme area. It succeeds in reacting appropriately to the diverse interests of the BMZ, the AA, the German and partner country HEIs and the individuals who receive support. With its diverse instruments, its branch offices, the continuity of its support and its experience, the DAAD is particularly well equipped to successfully respond to the requirements of its partners abroad through this programme area. In the partners’ view, the DAAD is particularly noted for the continuity of its support and its resulting experience in the higher education sector; it is perceived as a highly specialised actor and is clearly differentiated from other donor organisations. Its diverse instruments also enable it to respond flexibly to the changing needs of its partners and the individuals who receive support, and to offer tailor-made programmes. The DAAD is also respected for the fact that it does not head-hunt the students it supports, unlike other donor organisations, which guarantees a brain gain for the partner country. The German HEIs and the German higher education system are also particularly valued by the partner countries because they can learn from the federal system and the organisation of teaching and research and adapt processes to their own contexts. This added value which the DAAD contributes to the German DC work is perceived by all the relevant actors. The different strategic alignment of the DAAD and its support logic, however, make collaboration with German bilateral development cooperation organisations difficult. While the GIZ and the KfW go through a contracts procedure to implement projects abroad, which have to be relevant for the partner country and the BMZ, the DAAD has to ensure in addition that the programmes are relevant for the German HEIs on whose cooperation it depends, being a member of the German HEI organisation. However, in order to improve the collaboration with German bilateral development cooperation organisations, the DAAD has already actively approached the GIZ and signed a cooperation agreement with it. The DAAD is currently also involved in negotiations with the KfW on future forms of cooperation. The other German DC and AKBP organisations are not yet sufficiently aware of the added value which German HEIs contribute to DC work and AKBP. For this reason, their demand for German HEIs is limited. The evaluation team identified potential for improvement in this area, whereby the interfaces with German DC and AKBP could be emphasised more strongly, which would generate increased demand from German DC and AKBP organisations and generate value from the 32

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

German HEIs as s alternative e actors. The e same applies to the interface with h German bu usiness sector, where therre is a high level of dem mand for colllaboration with w the DAA AD and its alumni. a The DAA AD should make m more of o its hinge ffunction bettween develo oping count ries, German HEIs and busiiness and co ommunicate more clearly y the possible points of contact for G German business in the DAA AD’s program mmes. We identified additional optimising pottential in the e way the programme p area meets needs. For example, partne er country HEIs H have a g great need of o better infrrastructure in n order to ca arry out researrch to a high h academic standard. s Cu urrently how wever the DA AAD is only p permitted to finance infrastructure to a very limite ed extent be ecause this is i a classicall field of acttivity for fina ancial cooperattion (above all a via the KfW). Individ uals supportted by the DAAD D also ne eed courses in didactics and teaching methods durin ng their Masster’s and Ph hD scholarsh hips in Germ many, so they are capable of teaching and guiding g Master’s a nd PhD stud dents in their own coun tries. The programmes with hin the prog gramme area a are curren ntly not mee eting these needs adeq uately. It also became clea ar that the programmes p within the programme area freque ently only ad ddress specific areas of the partner organisations, so s the admin nistrative level of the HEIs, (e.g. fin nancial acco ounting) are not addressed. The result is s that individ dual program mmes often do not follow w a holistic approach a to orga anisational development d t and in som me cases, th he chance to o implementt programme es more effectively is miss sed, because e either the support of the adminis strative strucctures is lac cking or the nece essary administrative sttructures are e not of adequate qualitty. A more h holistic appro oach in this field d is desirable e, either by strategically y coordinatin ng the progra ammes with in the progrramme area morre fully or by expanding g individual programmes with comp ponents whicch target th he improvemen nt of adminis strative structures. The evaluation also conclud des that all tthe program mmes studied d are up-to--date in term ms of scientific knowledge,, the standa ard of teach ing and leve el of expertise are high h and their structure is logic cal. The DAA AD’s program mmes are a lso very ben neficial to th he German H HEIs in the form f of HEI colla aboration, th he expansion n of their pe ersonal and institutional networks, tthe developm ment of additio onal internattionally align ned study pro ogrammes etc. e The evaluation also reveals that the pro ogramme arrea reaches all a the releva ant target groups. As a resu ult of the sellective naturre of the edu ucational systems in mo ost partner ccountries, ho owever, the DAA AD tends to o educate a target gro up which is s well-situatted in socio o-economic terms. The DAA AD’s supportt logic also means m that tthe partner country c HEIs s addressed by the prog gramme area a are generally y the academically stro nger HEIs while w the we eaker HEIs a are not addrressed. This focu us is not view wed by thos se who recei ve support as a not being g in line with h the needs of the relevantt countries, because hig ghly educate ed specialistts in a range e of disciplin nes are needed for the coun ntries’ devellopment in order o to adv vance the ne ecessary hig gher educatio on structure es or industries s.

4.2

eness of the programm me area Effective

The following ch hapter descrribes the find dings in relattion to the criterion c of e effectiveness. The chapter is structured d in accordance with the e four interv vention areas which werre identified jointly with the DAAD durin ng the recon nstruction off the programme area’s s logical imp pact matrix. These four area as are: hum man capacity developmen nt, strengthening higher education structures, networking and alumni work. 4.2.1

Reaching the targets in i the field off human capa acity develop pment

In itts first targe et dimension n the program mme area aims to educate and dev velop change e agents for the partner cou untries throu ugh capacity development at individual level. To o achieve th his, the first step p is for the individuals re eceiving sup pport and the e alumni to gain special ised knowledge in their field d and underrstanding of methodolog gy through the t program mmes in the programme e area. The findings of the individual ev valuations s how that bo oth groups do d gain know wledge in their field. In the AST program mme – comb bining the ca ategories “sttrongly agree” and “agre ee” - 97 perr cent of respon ndents to th he online su urvey stated that they had h gained additional k knowledge in n their field thro ough the pro ogramme, while 87 per ccent of participants in th he Academicc Reconstruc ction South-

33

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Eastern Europe stated this. In the government scholarship programme, 92 or 93 per cent (Egypt), 96 per cent (Mexico), and 97 per cent (Kazakhstan) of those supported stated that they had gained knowledge in their field (cf. Fig. 4). Fig. 4: Specialised knowledge gained through the programmes within the programme area

Development-related postgraduate courses (N=365)

35%

Government scholarships Egypt GERLS (N= 103)

6%

Government scholarships Egypt GERSS (N=47) 6%

62%

42%

50%

19%

74%

Government scholarships Mexico (N=245)

22%

74%

Government scholarships Kazakhstan (N=74)

24%

73%

Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe (N=459)

10%

0% Strongly disagree

disagree

45%

25%

undecided

42%

50% agree

75%

100%

strongly agree

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2011

These findings were confirmed overall in the case studies and the qualitative survey. All the managers of the DAAD scholarship holders whom we interviewed stated that that the DAAD alumni had broadened their knowledge in their field and had more understanding of methodology after completing their scholarship, as well as being better able to work autonomously. The individuals who received support and the alumni also gained better knowledge of methodology, though not to the same extent as knowledge in their discipline. In the AST - combining the categories “strongly agree” and “agree” – 91 per cent of respondents to the online survey stated that they had learnt new methodology skills through the programme. In the Academic Reconstruction of South Eastern Europe programme, 71 per cent of respondents and in the government scholarship programmes 80 or 85 per cent (Egypt), 94 per cent (Mexico), and 87 per cent (Kazakhstan) stated that they had gained additional knowledge of methodology through the programmes (cf. Fig. 5).

34

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 5: Knowledge of methodology gained through the programmes within the programme area

Development-related postgraduate courses (N=364)

8%

17%

Government scholarships Egypt GERLS (N= 103)

Government scholarships Egypt GERSS (N=47)

50%

11%

30%

50%

17%

68%

36%

Government scholarships Mexico (N=245)

Government scholarships Kazakhstan (N=74)

11%

Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe (N=459)

5% 7%

0% Strongly disagree

41%

30%

17%

25%

disagree

58%

undecided

57%

38%

50% agree

33%

75%

100%

strongly agree

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2011

Different factors determining the successful teaching of specialised knowledge and methodology skills emerged in the quantitative analyses in the individual evaluations and the case studies. In the programmes which target the direct application of what is learnt in the professional context outside the higher education sector (e.g. AST), practical orientation was identified as a factor contributing to the programme’s success. In the context of these programmes, DAAD alumni and those receiving support who had participated in project work, workshops for autonomous solutions, case studies or management games emphasised their freshly acquired knowledge and methodological expertise more clearly than those who had been taught by more classical didactic methods (such as lectures or seminars). The involvement of actors from business in the workshops, seminars or lectures was also mentioned as a success factor in these programmes because the DAAD alumni were able to test and apply their newly gained knowledge and their new methodology in these events. In the more scientifically-oriented programmes such as the government scholarships, DIES or the Academic Reconstruction of South Eastern Europe, the exchange as equals with higher education experts was identified as a success factor. In all the qualitative analyses and case studies the opportunity to exchange views with academics and researchers within the projects was highlighted as the element which made it possible to discuss similar challenges as equals and to develop solutions jointly. This was particularly successful in the programmes in which the solutions developed could be piloted and implemented immediately. In the context of supporting individuals, those supported and alumni pinpointed the opportunity to learn new research methods in Germany; they emphasised that this enabled them to gain new expertise and learn new methodology which would be impossible in developing countries due to the lack of equipment. However, in some cases this also results in the individuals supported and the alumni learning skills which they cannot apply in their home countries because of the lack of infrastructure – despite the discussions held in the selection committees. A representative example of this aspect can be found in the government scholarship programme in Egypt, where a doctor carried out stem-cell research in Germany as part of his PhD project. After returning to Egypt, however, he was unable to continue his research because there are no stem cell laboratories in Egypt. On this topic we must also point out that in the context of supporting individuals, the responsibility for ensuring the “fit” of the research methods taught to the research conditions in the developing country concerned is also shared by the German professors or HEIs, because it is not always possible for the DAAD to assess this situation fully.

35

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

In addition to expertise and knowledge of methodology, the intercultural competence16 of the German and partner country scientists, academics and students on the programmes is also promoted by the programme area. The individual evaluations of the AST, the Academic Reconstruction and the government scholarships programmes show that both cultural knowledge and the motivation/interest in the other culture increase. The ability to take on new viewpoints remains consistent or is reduced with the exception of the AST participants, who spent the longest period in Germany on average. One explanation for this may be in the way the individuals supported answered the questions; at the start of their participation in the programme, they estimate their ability to take on new viewpoints as very high from their experience of other evaluations (for example the evaluation of the German government volunteer service “weltwärts”). In the course of the programme they usually revise their estimate so that by the end of the programme they give a more realistic estimate which is only slightly different from the original. The findings of the online survey of the individual evaluations were confirmed in the qualitative surveys. In these, all respondents among those supported and their managers stated that they (i.e. those supported) had improved their intercultural competence through the DAAD programmes. In this context, the time spent in Germany was identified as a success factor in the case of the AST, the higher education dialogue and the government scholarships. All the individuals supported stated that their stay in Germany enabled them to find out how to cope in a different culture with different cultural, professional and social demands. In the individual evaluations of the AST, the international nature of the programmes was emphasised. Working with students from other cultures forced the participants, in their own view, to reduce their prejudices, to attempt to understand other ways of thinking and to tolerate different social and political approaches. This was also confirmed by all seven AST programme heads interviewed. In the individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the meetings between participants from different south-eastern European countries were pinpointed as success factors in the case studies and the qualitative surveys. All those supported stated that at the start of the project, they lacked confidence and felt prejudiced when meeting students or academics from neighbouring south-eastern European countries because they were meeting people from the other countries for the first time. They stated that this lack of confidence was soon overcome, however, because they got to know and appreciate their neighbours quickly through the project. In particular the younger individuals supported stated that at the start of the project, they were very curious because the project was the first opportunity for some of them to exchange views with people from neighbouring countries. The programme area and its programmes also promote the links of those it supports to Germany. In the case studies and in the qualitative interviews of the individual evaluations, theses links can be seen in particular in the wishes of all those supported to return to Germany in future, either for further study or for private reasons (cf. also chapter 4.2.4). However, the qualitative analyses also showed that although all alumni and those supported who had spent between two months and two years in Germany (N=101) claimed strong links to Germany, 82 per cent (N=83) had no partnerships17 with Germany or German organisations. The only exceptions were partnerships with German HEIs or their German supervisors. Factors contributing to the lack of partnerships outside the higher education sector are lack of knowledge, for example about German DC projects in their country, and on the other hand, the lack of platforms or forums where such contacts to German business could be set up. In the higher education sector, contacts naturally tend to be

16

Because of the DAAD’s interest in knowing about changes to the intercultural understanding of the individuals it supports, the cur-

rent state of research was examined in order to operationalize intercultural understanding. It emerged that in many theories and models of intercultural competence, three facets are of central importance: cultural knowledge, the ability to take on other viewpoints and motivation/interest in the culture of the host country. The documenting of intercultural understanding was therefore structured in line with these three aspects. Respondents were asked to assess themselves on the basis of three or four statements on each of the three aspects before and after receiving DAAD support on a four-stage scale. In the evaluation, these questions were subjected to an internal consistency test and summarised to give indices of the three aspects cultural knowledge, the ability to take on other viewpoints and motivation /interest in the host country culture. Finally the relevant data were subjected to bivariate and multivariate examination. 17

For this evaluation, partnerships were defined as relationships between people or organisations comprising regular exchange on sub-

ject-related topics (weekly, monthly, quarterly etc.) or e.g. where joint projects were carried out. Ad-hoc contacts or those relating to a particular occasion were not considered to be partnerships. 36

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

individualised and are based on private contacts which can be activated if necessary to drive joint projects or publications. One representative example is that of a DAAD alumnus in Kenya who has produced several joint publications with a scientist at Potsdam University in recent years. In the programme area’s programmes which entail spending time in Germany, students receiving support and alumni gain a more sophisticated idea of Germany. The time spent in Germany on government scholarship programmes and the AST enabled the participants to learn new things about the country’s educational landscape. In the individual evaluation of the government scholarship programme in Egypt (GERLS), for example - combining the categories “strongly agree” and “agree” – 90 per cent (N=98) of the respondents to the online survey stated that they were able to get to know the central values of the German culture. At the same time Germany was perceived by 100 per cent (N=98) of the online respondents as an economically important country in which people from different cultures can live together peacefully and where everyone can express their opinion. In addition, 93 per cent (N=98) expressed the perception that the German HEIs stand out in international comparison for the high quality of their research and modern teaching and learning methods. 79 per cent (N=98) also perceived German HEIs as being open to international students. These findings were also confirmed by the alumni who responded to the online survey in the individual evaluations of the AST, in which 59 per cent (N=364) of those supported by the DAAD state that German HEIs are internationally recognised for their research in their fields and 48 per cent (N=364) state that German HEIs are well known internationally for innovative, up-to-date learning methods. 67 per cent (N=361) also state that Germany is a constitutional state and 69 per cent (N=364) state that Germany develops and implements innovative technologies in their professional field. The qualitative analyses in both the individual evaluations and the case studies confirmed these findings. For example, 91 per cent of the AST alumni who responded to the qualitative survey (N=23) perceived Germany as a country in which the HEIs work very professionally and the staff have an excellent work ethic. They are also impressed by the level of scientific work and the applied didactics which make it possible to discuss scientific issues critically and openly. At the same time, the individuals supported by the programme area benefit from improved proficiency in the German language in the programmes in which this is one of the targets. The findings show that the students’ and the alumni’s command of German is sufficient for everyday conversation but in some cases is not adequate for actively participating in or directing academic discussions. In the government scholarship programme in Egypt (GERLS) for example, 100 per cent are able to cope in everyday situations in German, while 36 per cent can participate in academic discussions in German. In the AST this applies to 63 per cent and 24 per cent. In the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe, on the other hand, the majority of participants on the German courses attain good or very good proficiency levels in German (see Fig. 7). The majority of them can apply their German language in everyday situations (86 per cent; N=36). 17 per cent (N=36) can take an active part in academic discussions.

37

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 6: German proficiency acquired – Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe

42%

German proficiency – before the programme

German proficiency – now

11%

0%

28%

31%

25% Poor

25%

50%

50% sufficient

satisfactory

6%

8%

75% good

100% very good

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2011 (N=36)

In the qualitative analyses and the case studies, all respondents who had received support and who had little knowledge of German, with the exception of the respondents in the case study in Serbia, attributed this to the following factors: on the one hand, many consider that the German course is too short. The respondents stated unanimously that the course is a good preparation but is not long enough to learn German to a high level. On the other hand, communication takes place in English in the majority of cases in the individual scholarships or supported projects, so there is little opportunity to practise or deepen the German learnt. Although this had a negative effect on their knowledge of German, all respondents who had studied or carried out research in Germany assessed this practice as positive, because they usually have to use English to apply what they have learnt in their everyday professional lives. The respondents also stated that they had forgotten some of their German because they had little opportunity to use the language in their home countries and in their professional lives. The respondents in the case study in Serbia were proficient or very proficient in German because the German courses in the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme were usually longer and in contrast to other countries, more contacts to Germany took place through follow-up projects after the DAAD support period. On returning to their home country or region, the individuals supported by DAAD and the alumni quickly gained influential positions, particularly in the higher education sector, with responsibility for projects or staff, in which they could profitably contribute their new skills in their professions and could act as change agents. For example, 50 per cent of respondents to the online survey in the individual evaluation of the AST stated that their colleagues showed them more respect after their period of study in Germany and that their professional position had improved. 43 per cent were also able to take on more responsibility in their work and felt capable of taking on management tasks. 33 per cent were also able to command a higher salary (see Fig. 8). These findings were also confirmed in the individual evaluations of the government scholarship programmes (see Fig. 19).

38

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 7: Professional usefulness of the AST programme

Because of my postgraduate studies in Germany I receive more recognition and respect from my 3% 3% colleagues and business partners. (N=2258)

Because of my postgraduate studies in Germany I have been given more responsibility in my job. (N=2240)

7%

Because of my postgraduate studies in Germany I have been able to take on more interesting tasks at work. (N=2248)

Because of my postgraduate studies in Germany I have acquired up-to-date and improved expertise. 2%3% (N=2249)

Because of my postgraduate studies in Germany I am better equipped to take on managerial responsibilities. (N=2245)

4

2

44%

35%

25% 3

50%

29%

12%

15%

0% Not at all true

43%

34%

14%

Because of my postgraduate studies in Germany it is easier for me to initiate and implement projects 2%3% succesfully. (N=2238)

50%

34%

11%

5% 4%

Because of my postgraduate studies in Germany my professional position has improved. (N=2234)

49%

31%

12%

4% 4%

43%

30%

15%

5%

5% 3%

50%

30%

13%

33%

23%

20%

8%

15%

Because of my postgraduate studies in Germany I receive a higher salary. (N=2244)

50%

75%

Very true

Source: Universität Oldenburg 2011

The individual evaluations of the ATS also showed that the longer the period since their scholarships and studies, the higher the management positions reached by students supported by the DAAD and alumni. Ten to twelve years after their studies, the proportion of students and alumni in higher management positions rises sharply, whereas the proportion of students and alumni in lower management positions already declines after six to nine years after their studies. On the other hand, six out of ten cases in the qualitative surveys and the case studies in Colombia and Kenya showed that the students and alumni’s increased willingness to change their employer after their studies slowed their professional advance. After moving to a new employer, the students and alumni first have to position themselves in the new organisation before they are promoted to higher positions. They also stated that they did not always encounter managers in their new organisations who promoted their careers, because these managers were not involved in the alumni’s career planning before their DAAD-supported studies. This applies in particular to the business sector and to a lesser extent to the public sector. Similar effects were seen in the government scholarship programmes. In these programmes too, 33 per cent (N=78) of the individuals from Mexico who had received support are in management positions in which they are responsible for projects. 38 per cent (N=78) have management positions with responsibility for staff and for projects and 21 per cent (N=78) anticipate taking on responsibility for staff or for projects within the next five years. The case studies and qualitative surveys also made clear however that when those supported (re)enter the professional field, they are initially employed for the least demanding jobs and at low salaries, particularly in the public service and in business. However, the majority of those supported anticipate that the period of study in Germany will improve their career chances as soon as they have become professionally established to some extent in their company/institution. This was confirmed by two of the nine managers (22 per cent) interviewed. In the higher education sector, those supported on the government scholarship programme are in a different situation. They have permanent employment contracts with their HEIs in their home

39

100%

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

countries, guaranteeing them a higher position when they return with their Master’s degree or PhD. The individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe also revealed a similar situation for 69 per cent (N=185) of those supported, who apply their new skills either currently or will do so within the next five years in management positions in the higher education sector. 11 per cent of them (N=185) have responsibility for staff in their current position, while 34 per cent (N=185) have responsibility for topics. 5 per cent (N=185) in these positions have responsibility for both staff and topics. A representative example can be given from the case study in Serbia. Two female interview partners, the president of the accreditation committee and the vice-rector of the University of Belgrade, were former DAAD scholarship holders. They stated that the experience they gained from their scholarship in Germany had given them a new, more comprehensive view of teaching and research. This experience motivated them to get involved in their country’s higher education policy in order to initiate changes there. The findings of the case studies show that the change agents who were trained or further educated fulfil the need for specialists and managers both in business and in the fields of research and science. In Kenya, for example, the DAAD is the biggest provider of scholarships in the higher education sector, according to all those interviewed who work in this field. The DAAD gives approx. 300 Master’s and PhD scholarships annually, mostly in the form of on-the-spot or third country scholarships, which according to all Kenyan HEIs produce highly-qualified experts who are in great demand. These experts are educated in disciplines which are in line with the main focus fields of Kenyan development strategy for 2030. The findings of the interviews carried out in Vietnam and Serbia with partner organisations and those supported showed that here too, the DAAD programmes contribute towards meeting the need for experts and managers – both in terms of the quantity of experts available and the quality of their education. The DAAD’s main focus is on qualifying experts and managers for administration and for the higher education sector, not for the private economy, which is in line with the Vietnamese government’s explicitly stated priorities. In Colombia, the DAAD trains experts and managers to meet existing needs both in the economy and in the fields of research and science. In addition, we observed in the AST programme, the government scholarship programmes and in the case studies that the students supported by the DAAD actively contribute their knowledge in their (home) organisations in order to bring about changes in them. It is striking that knowledge is mainly passed on in the organisations through informal channels and rarely through structured channels such as workshops or training courses. All respondents, whether those supported, alumni or managers, confirmed in interviews the informal way knowledge is passed on, stating that it mainly occurs through conversations between those supported and other staff. Fig. 9 shows the findings of the online survey for the individual evaluation of the AST.

40

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 8: Knowledge transfer in the current organisation – individual evaluation AST

Within informal talks at work I explained about my newly acquired knowledge and skills.

43 %

57 %

I organized an exchange of experience in which I explained about my newly acquired knowledge and skills.

77 %

23 %

I distributed learning and information material from my postgraduate course in Germany to my colleagues.

67 %

33 %

On the basis of my newly acquired knowledge and skills, I developed my own materials and concepts and distributed them within my organization.

68 %

32 %

Within my organization we have implemented a project with the objective to transfer my newly acquired knowledge and skills to the organization.

77 % 0% no

25%

23 % 50%

75%

100%

yes

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2011 (N=920)

How far the change agents were able to effect lasting changes in their (home) organisations through passing on their knowledge and through their new qualifications must be viewed in a differentiated way, however. According to the online survey findings in both individual evaluations, changes were brought about by the AST or the government scholarships in an average of about 55 per cent of the organisations overall. For example, 21 per cent of respondents or 65 per cent if the first two categories are taken together stated that their organisation developed new ideas and concepts through the AST or the government scholarships in Mexico. 25 per cent or 57 per cent of the organisations increased their ability to act by improving their structures (see Fig. 10). Fig. 9: Changes in the (home) organisation – individual evaluations AST and government scholarships

Development-related postgraduate courses

The quality of existing structures, projects etc. was improved by what I learnt while supported by DAAD (N=1131)

New ideas and concepts were developed by what I learnt while supported by DAAD (N=1143)

Government scholarships in Egypt GERSS

The quality of existing structures, projects etc. was improved by what I learnt while supported by DAAD (N=28)

New ideas and concepts were developed by what I learnt while supported by DAAD (N=28)

Government scholar-

The quality of existing structures, projects etc. was improved by what I learnt while supported by DAAD (N=75)

11%

54%

32%

8% 8%

17%

New ideas and concepts were developed by what I learnt while supported by DAAD (N=75)

7% 7%

21%

The quality of existing structures, projects etc. was improved by what I learnt while supported by DAAD (N=28)

11%

New ideas and concepts were developed by what I learnt while supported by DAAD (N=28)

11%

13%

21%

29%

32%

14%

8%

21%

30%

28%

15%

10%

22%

30%

23%

27%

40%

ships in Mexico

Government scholarships in Kazakhstan

strongly disagree

disagree

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2011

41

0%

18%

46%

21%

25%

21%

39%

25%

undecided

37%

28%

50%

agree

75%

strongly agree

100%

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Differences can be observed in the survey findings when looking at the sectors of the (home) organisation. The largest number of changes in organisations was achieved through the AST and the government scholarships in the educational and higher education sector, followed by the DC sector. The fewest changes were achieved in the public and business sectors. This was consistent with the findings of the qualitative surveys and the case studies, where we also observed that those supported and the alumni in the public sector and in business faced bigger challenges when they wanted to initiate changes, compared to the higher education sector. One factor we identified in this context was the readiness of the alumni to change their jobs, which places them in new organisations where they must first earn a position in which they can initiate changes. Another factor is that they also tend to be the only people in their organisation who have received DAAD support – whether or not they change jobs, so they cannot look to other DAAD alumni for support in their efforts to make changes, as they could in the higher education sector where the DAAD has a broader basis and more financial resources. However, there are also synergies in the higher education sector which arise through the combination of various programmes directed towards particular organisations. In this way, the combination of support for individuals and for projects creates conditions in which those supported and alumni can effect changes more easily (cf. Chapter 4.6). In the business and public sectors, DAAD alumni are usually lone warriors who receive little support from their managers. It was also noticeable that when changes were initiated in these sectors, only those among the alumni we interviewed who had been working professionally for at least five to six years took the initiative. It was also shown that managers who had also studied abroad were more likely to permit the changes suggested by DAAD students and alumni than managers who had not studied abroad. 4.2.2

Reaching the targets in the field of strengthening HEIs

In its second target dimension, the DAAD’s programme area aims to strengthen higher education structures in its partner countries. The aim is to bolster regional and national knowledge and innovation systems and to improve the quality of teaching, research and management in order to enable the HEIs to keep abreast of scientific standards. To achieve this, the programme area and its programmes aim to increase the numbers of specialists in the departments and the overall numbers of higher education lecturers in developing countries. It became clear that higher education systems in the case study countries are experiencing a great shortage of sufficiently qualified higher education lecturers and specialists, because the numbers of students have increased considerably in recent years. This results in bottlenecks in the teaching and training of doctorate students in Kenya, for example, because there are not enough university lecturers with PhDs. The Kenyan ministry responsible for higher education estimates that Kenya needs 1,000 qualified doctorate students annually for the next five years. The current rate is 220 doctorate students annually. Similar challenges were observed in Vietnam, where the shortage is already visible at the level of Master’s graduates. Against this background, all respondents in the field in the case studies agree that the DAAD makes a significant contribution to educating the experts needed in each country’s higher education sector. Respondents stated that above all in Kenya, Vietnam and Colombia, the DAAD makes a major contribution to increasing the number of higher education lecturers and specialists in the HEI faculties through on-the-spot and third-country scholarships and government scholarships in these countries. In addition, the government scholarships in Egypt in particular qualify the next generation of scientists and academics for the higher education sector. The funding of periods of study and research by the government scholarship programmes enables the next generation of scientists and academics to develop new expertise and to encounter new ways of working, research and teaching methods and to get to know international standards (cf. chapter 4.2). The support received contributes to the development of knowledge as well as to improving the formal qualifications of teaching personnel and increasing the number of qualified lecturers. The fundamental contribution made by government scholarships towards qualifying the next generation of academics was also confirmed explicitly by the findings of the online survey. A large majority of the respondents in all countries agreed with the statement that the DAAD support contributed to qualifying the next generation of academics and scientists. Many also agreed with the statement that the programmes improve the qualifications of academic teaching staff, promote the devel-

42

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

opment of new research and teaching methods and strengthen higher education structures (cf. Fig. 15). The institutional support provided by the programme area also contributes to increasing the number of qualified lecturers and enabling the HEIs to keep abreast of scientific standards. As mentioned above, this does not only occur through individuals achieving qualifications during a period of study in Germany and benefiting from that, but also through the activities in the Exceed context and the subject-related partnerships which were examined in the case studies in Vietnam and Colombia. The subject-related partnerships with HEIs in developing countries concentrate on structural development in the form of curricular development, setting up international study programmes and mutual recognition of university degrees, whereas the Exceed activities are more broadly-based (for example setting up joint study programmes, developing new teaching materials, visiting lectureships, joint symposia, establishing top research, strengthening north-south and south-south networks) and also contribute to increasing the number of qualified lecturers. A further representative example was identified in the case study in Colombia, where the programme area doubled the number of lecturers with doctorates from nine to 18 in one HEI, according to those responsible. The students interviewed in Colombia, Kenya and Vietnam stated that the better qualifications and increased numbers of lecturers had resulted in improved teaching quality at their HEIs, which also enabled them to catch up with scientific standards. The dean’s offices in the universities we visited in Colombia and Vietnam also confirmed that the increased number of lecturers with doctorates has led to increased intensity in research. For example, the researchers in the field of machine engineering now produce more publications than any other HEI in this field in Colombia. However, in all the countries it was pointed out that more instruction in didactic methods is necessary to qualify the DAAD-supported students and alumni better for their task of teaching at their HEIs. In addition, all respondents interviewed for the case study in Kenya stated that the establishment of centres of excellence through programmes in the programme area improved the quality of teaching and research. To achieve this, the DAAD concentrated various programmes within the programme area on selected HEIs or faculties, combining HEI partnerships, on-the-spot scholarships and DIES programmes, for example. A leading faculty for ophthalmology was established at the University of Nairobi, for example, in which around half of all ophthalmologists in Africa are trained. Alongside the continuity of support for the faculty, the combination of a range of the DAAD’s instruments was the decisive success factor in establishing this centre for excellence. This combination made capacity development possible at both administrative and academic level. A similar success was observed at the College for Basic Sciences at the University of Nairobi which was supported by the programme area with scholarships and management courses. 50 per cent of the staff at this institute have received their qualifications through DAAD programmes. The faculty today has the highest proportion of academic staff with PhDs (200 of 250 staff members have PhDs) and the highest publication rate (460 publications in 2011), making it the most respected faculty in its discipline in Kenya. In Vietnam, all interviewees in the case study stated that the Exceed activities mentioned above, which also aim to develop centres of excellence, contribute to improving the quality of teaching and research. The development of new curricula, the establishment of new programmes of study and the mutual recognition of university degrees (some of them double degrees) are the main factors in the creation of new educational options with high academic standards in Vietnam. These approaches make a decisive contribution to the Vietnamese government’s initiatives for improving and professionalising curricula in line with international standards and increasing the number of graduates with Master’s degrees and PhDs. This benefits not only the current generation of students and academics but also future generations. The findings of the online survey of project managers and project partners involved in the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe also make clear the scale of the programme area’s contribution to improving the quality of teaching and research in Serbia. For example, 80 per cent (N=77) of the project partners and 64 per cent (N=33) of the project managers stated that through the stability pact, the methodology and didactics of the teaching at the partner HEIs made an increased contribution to bringing subject content up to date (83 per cent; N=74 and 78 43

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

per cent; N=33). In addition, 73 per cent (N=76) of the project partners and 56 per cent (N=32) of the project managers pointed out that the programme contributes to the accreditation of programmes of study in accordance with Bologna standards. A representative example of this is the establishment of an English-language study programme at one university in the field of civil engineering in the context of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme. This was offered at the university for two years but then had to be discontinued due to the Bologna reform. The curriculum content however was almost all transferred to a newly designed PhD programme which was also established jointly with the project partners and which was in the accreditation process while the case study was taking place. Another example is the chemistry faculty at a university at which summer schools were developed jointly with the project partners during the support period of over ten years, in which participants learnt how to use research instruments to analyse chemical structures. Through targeted network-building between the south-eastern European HEIs in the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme and the centres of excellence established in Kenya and Vietnam, the programme area also strengthens national and regional systems for knowledge and innovation in the partner countries. The findings of the case study in Serbia show that the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme contributes to the development of science systems in south-eastern Europe. For example, respondents involved in two of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe’s six projects visited in the case study stated that in future, regional excellence clusters will emerge from the networks. In addition, all six of the project partners interviewed view the creation of networks and science systems as a huge benefit provided by the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme. They consider that the exchange of ideas and research projects via these science systems enriches their own research and relates them to general research trends in south-eastern Europe. All respondent project partners were also of the opinion that the HEI cooperation agreements promoted by the stability pact constituted the first opportunity for many faculties to collaborate professionally with neighbouring countries, enabling them to improve teaching and research at their faculties. This was particularly significant against the background of Serbia’s ten-year period of isolation. The project partners we interviewed attributed a key role to the German HEIs in mediating between the various south-eastern European HEIs. The interviewees considered that these science systems and networks would not have been set up without the German HEI’s mediation, even if other funding had been available. These findings are confirmed by the additional qualitative surveys and the online survey in the individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme. In the online survey, for example, 88 per cent (N=80) of the project partners and 70 per cent (N=34) of the project managers stated that the networks set up through the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe enrich the teaching at the partner faculties and give academic impetus to the development of science systems. At the same time, these networks enable the south-eastern European HEIs to catch up with scientific discourse, according to the project managers (90 per cent; N=34) and project partners (97 per cent; N=80). 69 per cent (N= 80) of the project partners also agree that through the German project partners, they were able to gain access to additional European cooperation partners and project funding to further support the modernisation of their higher education systems. In this context, 55 per cent (N=80) attribute a decisive role to the German HEIs; they consider that the exchange between the south-eastern European HEIs would not exist without the German HEIs‘ mediation – even if other funding had been available. The programme area has also succeeded in establishing national and regional systems for knowledge and innovation in Kenya. In the case study we saw how the International Centre for Insect Physiology and Ecology (ICIPE) and the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI) were supported by scholarships from the programme area. Both institutions contribute to capacity development in the fields of science and technology and are part of the African Union’s NEPAD process. They bring together African scientists to bolster research into the fields of poverty reduction and sustainable development.

44

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

As well as supporting regional and national knowledge systems, the programme area also strengthens higher education structures by improving academic higher education administration and management. This mainly occurs through the institutional support provided by the programme area, for example through the HEI partnerships, the Exceed programme already mentioned or the DIES programme. However, it is striking that the reform of administrative structures is not a focus-point of the programme. In Vietnam, the Exceed programme raised awareness of the need for administrative reform at the HEIs it visited. Systematic changes were not observed, however, despite individual examples of increased professionalism. In contrast to this situation, a regional quality assurance programme was established in East Africa through the DIES programme, involving 46 HEIs. The programme was implemented in collaboration with the Inter-University Council for East Africa (IUCEA) of the East African Community, the German HEI Rector’s Conference, the DAAD and the University of Oldenburg. The programme trained presidents, vice-presidents and deans in quality assurance. 50 staff members of the participating HEIs also received further training in quality assurance processes, enabling them to take on positions as directors for quality assurance at their HEIs after completing the course. A peer review mechanism between the HEIs was also established. In the case study in Kenya and the other East African countries18, quality assurance departments were set up with the support of the DIES programme at the HEIs visited, all of which had introduced quality assurance strategies at their HEIs. In addition, the Kenyan committee for higher education was involved; it intends make the existence of internal quality assurance at the HEIs a new prerequisite for the accreditation of curricula in future. National committees or regulatory bodies and HEIs from the other participating East African countries (Tanzania, Uganda, Ruanda and Burundi) are also involved, so the regional integration process is also being supported. The DIES programme has also enabled the training of deans and staff in middle management in HEI management and administration. This has led to reforms in all the HEIs visited for the case study in Kenya. As a representative example of this, at one HEI personal target agreements for the staff have been introduced to enable staff to better structure their achievements and career development; at another HEI, project management processes have been made more professional by the development and introduction of quality manuals. Overall, the surveys revealed that the strengthening of HEI structures was particularly successful in cases where various programmes and instruments of the programme area were combined. For example, on-the-spot and third country scholarships were combined with the DIES programme and the HEI partnerships in the case of the centres of excellence. This enabled a multi-level approach (middle management, top management and researchers) to be taken at each HEI. It also meant that a critical mass of people was reached in the organisations who could initiate changes. The continuity of support lasting over ten years in some cases was also identified as a success factor. 4.2.3

Reaching the target in the field of networking

In the third target dimension, the programme area aims to develop cooperation structures and networks for south-south, north-south, south-north and north-south-south exchange and for intercultural exchange. The aim is to increase knowledge transfer and raise the profile of German science and of Germany as a centre for innovation. To achieve this, the focus is on creating joint structures between Germany and the partner countries in order to gain new cooperation partners in Germany for additional programmes. The programme area applies its institutional funding in this field to promote HEI cooperation between Germany and developing countries as well as between developing countries themselves. In the case studies in Colombia, Kenya, Serbia and Vietnam, cooperation agreements between German and partner country HEIs were formalised by the programme area, because a basic prerequisite for cooperation is a formal cooperation agreement between the participating HEIs. For

18

This was confirmed by an independent evaluation of the DIES programme commissioned by the DAAD. (Lemaitre, M., Matos, N. &

Teichler, U. 2011). 45

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

this reason the programme area’s activities at institutional level contribute to strengthening and expanding these cooperation structures between German and e.g. Vietnamese universities. Subject-related partnerships with HEIs in developing countries concentrate on structure building in the form of curriculum development, setting up international study programmes and mutual recognition of each other’s university degrees; the Exceed activities are more broadly based, as mentioned. They focus much more strongly on strengthening networks and cooperation structures. In the case studies in Vietnam, Kenya and Colombia, the personal contacts of the students and academics, in some cases DAAD scholarship holders, with colleagues in Germany was the starting point for all the contacts and cooperation agreements which are now institutionalised. More systematic cooperation approaches gradually developed on the basis of these contacts. This type of transition from personal to institutional level takes a long time and requires intensive application of resources - and it is not always successful; a personal contact only develops into an institutional contact in isolated cases. The programme area’s programmes in the case study in Vietnam not only led to cooperation agreements and networks between the Vietnamese HEIs and those in Germany (i.e. northsouth), but also drove academic exchange in the region and the creation of south-south networks. Cooperation agreements between HEIs in the neighbouring countries of Cambodia and Laos are particularly common. A representative example for this is a Vietnamese HEI which is considering making the curriculum which has been newly developed through the HEI partnership available to partners in these other countries as well, to enable them to offer the study programme there too. An important element in the Vietnam Academy of Water Resources’ activities within the Exceed framework is to develop new courses for the region’s training centres – also in other countries in the region. This would create new educational opportunities in the region for the region. The Exceed cooperation agreements are a starting point for south-south cooperation and networking activities beyond the region as well. For example, other major partners in the Vietnamese CNRD (centre for natural resources and development) network are located in Egypt, Brazil, Chile, Indonesia, Jordan, Mexico, Mozambique and Nepal – and the cooperation activities in the network are equally international. The regional and global networks here are not formalised apart from in the DAAD or the Exceed cooperation agreements, however. Through its Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme, the programme area also promotes the development of networks for the exchange of views between students, graduates and academics within south-eastern Europe and with Germany. The programme also promotes regional educational centres. The findings of the online survey for the individual evaluations show that all three target groups in the region (individuals supported by the DAAD, project partners and project managers) have built up a large number of contacts19. On average the project managers were able to form 30 contacts (N=32) and project partners had formed 18 (N=78) contacts with academics from (other) south-eastern European countries. Individuals supported by the DAAD had an average of 26 contacts with other students and academics (N=471). When the survey was carried out, all three target groups were still in touch with many of these contacts; for example, the individuals supported were still in contact with eight people from south-eastern Europe on average, while the project partners had an average of eleven contacts with academics in south-eastern Europe. The individual evaluations of the AST also showed that the AST promoted the creation or development of networks and cooperative structures. Nine out of ten (90 per cent) of interview partners in this context stated that cooperative agreements with HEIs in developing countries promoting north-south or south-north dialogue had developed through the AST. Various forms of cooperation are mentioned, from student exchanges and academic exchanges to joint publications and joint study programmes which have emerged from the AST study programmes. For example, one HEI developed a PhD programme with a South African HEI which emerged from AST and

19

For this evaluation, a contact was defined as two-way contact between two people. 46

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

which was supported by another DAAD project. In the course of the collaboration, many students of the German HEI went to the South African HEI to do their PhDs. In order to prevent this emigration, the German HEI founded its own PhD programme and linked it to the one in South Africa. At a different HEI, the AST gave the impetus for another programme in which lecturers supported partner universities in developing countries in establishing similar study programmes. In another example, AST alumni helped to set up three cooperation agreements with HEIs in China, Nepal and South America, which include lecturer exchanges and joint research projects. In addition, by supporting individuals the programme area promotes further cooperation structures. The case study in Kenya shows that the programme area strengthens the following scientific networks through Master’s and PhD scholarships: the African Network of Scientific and Technological Institutions (ANSTI), the Collaborative Masters Programme in Agricultural and Applied Economics in Eastern, Central and Southern Africa (CMAAE), ICIPE, ILRI, Integrated Watershed Management (IWM) und Natural Products Research Network for Eastern and Central Africa (NAPRECA). All these networks aim to boost research capacity in their fields and promote networking among the researchers in Africa. For example, NAPRECA currently has 80 active members in eleven African countries. It has a functioning office at the University of Nairobi and organises annual symposia to give its members the opportunity to exchange views. It also offers scientist exchanges and DAAD Master’s and PhD scholarships to the participating HEIs. CMAEE on the other hand is a formal African network which supports research, development and the strengthening of small-scale farmers, particularly women. With DAAD help, it has established a cooperative network with six HEIs in five African countries which offer a joint Master’s programme in this topic area. About 60 – 80 students take this programme annually; they have to take the main module of the programme outside their home country. The individual evaluations and the case studies revealed that one success factor for the establishment of networks and cooperative structures between HEIs is the initiation of small networks which are continually expanded in the course of the project. This makes it possible to first consolidate cooperative structures initiated between HEIs on a small scale before they are extended to other HEIs. A long period of support was also beneficial in this context as in the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe. This enables participating HEIs in the programme to get to know each other in the first years of the project, so that good relationships can be built up. In the following years, joint activities such as summer schools or small research projects can be carried out; based on these developments, large-scale structural changes (e.g. changing the curriculum) can then be undertaken. These networking and cooperative structures also promote competence development and raise the profiles of German HEIs in DC programmes. For example, all the German HEIs interviewed in the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe were able to develop their research networks with the region through the programme and to drive their internationalisation strategy forward. One example for this is a project in which international publications are produced jointly with all the HEIs in the network. The individual evaluations of the AST also showed that the programme area promotes competence development in German HEIs. All seven study programme heads and all three HEI managements interviewed in the individual evaluations stated that the AST contributed to the internationalisation of each of their HEIs due to the long duration of its support. All ten interviewees stated that their HEI or faculty gained experience through the AST which benefits other study programmes with an international orientation. One HEI, for example, succeeded in acquiring additional programmes in international cooperation on the basis of this experience while at another HEI, a joint study programme with mutual recognition of the degrees was set up as a spin-off of the AST. Five (71 per cent) of these respondents also stated that the AST is anchored at their HEI as a beacon project in their HEI’s existing internationalisation strategy. One HEI is currently a candidate for the Excellence Initiative in the international field, thanks to its AST. Another has replicated the AST and created seven more study programmes modelled on it. These interview partners all stated that the HEI cooperative structures described which arise out of the AST also contribute to embedding the German HEIs more effectively in international dis-

47

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

course. New contacts arise through the joint research projects, publications and exchanges which give German academics, scientists and lecturers additional access to the international discourse. However, the programme area rarely gains new cooperation partners in Germany. Involving other actors from outside the higher education field was not a priority, according to the HEIs surveyed in the individual evaluations of the AST and the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe. Such forms of cooperation in Germany are usually limited to e.g. German DC organisations’ involvement in the advisory bodies for study programmes and attending each other’s conferences. A few examples of closer cooperation were observed, however, where staff members of DC organisations acted as visiting lecturers at the HEIs or joint projects were carried out with the GIZ (the German Society for International Cooperation); for example, an environmental project in the Amazon region. There is no structured collaboration with business. The contact partners interviewed at the HEIs stated that the non-university partners usually had little interest in cooperation – and the HEI’s resources are too limited to enable it to actively form cooperative structures of this kind. The programme area’s success in strengthening networking and cooperative structures also plays a part in raising the profile of German science and of Germany as a centre for innovation. In all the case study countries, all interviewees stated that Germany is viewed as an attractive and well-known cooperation partner. Thanks to the scholarships and the development of cooperative structures through the DAAD, Germany is perceived by those supported as an HEI location with high academic standards and a good research and learning environment – a world leader with an excellent reputation, particularly in special fields such as engineering or the environment/sustainability. In Serbia, German research in certain fields such as chemistry is seen as among the best in the world. If free to choose, students and graduates from Serbia and Kenya would prefer a semester or internship in Germany to one in the USA. 4.2.4

Reaching the target in the field of alumni work

In the fourth target dimension, the programme area is intended to establish active alumni work which develops (former) scholarship holders’ long-term links to Germany. In addition, the aim is that alumni should also support German companies in investing in the partner countries. To achieve this, alumni from the programme area and from the German HEIs are invited to Germany for further courses to deepen and update their specialist knowledge. The online survey in the individual evaluation of the alumni special projects showed that the majority of alumni deepened their specialist knowledge (92 per cent; N=402) or their knowledge of methodology (83 per cent; N=401). However, five of the seven people responsible for the project qualified these estimates in the telephone interviews. They stated that the alumni special projects are only an effective instrument for further education of alumni if the participants’ profiles coincide with the thematic alignment of the summer school and if the participants are motivated to gain new knowledge. The fact that the programme only lasts one week limits the possible depth of the course. The five people responsible for the projects consider that these further courses are more useful as presenting the state of science in the relevant sector and demonstrating current technologies which can give the impetus and ideas for future work and projects, than as a comprehensive, in-depth educational course. The five people responsible for the projects stated that it was important for the alumni special projects to be homogenous in the topics covered or that the regional mix should be in line with the topics if they are to be successful. Three of these five people explained that their summer schools were attended by groups which were too diverse in their subject background or regional origin which reduced the summer school’s usefulness to the alumni. One of them expressed the explicit wish to be able to arrange summer schools for alumni from one region, because this increased the opportunities to work together after the summer school. In two other cases, the groups were more homogenous, which those responsible for the project considered as a positive factor. In one case, the majority of alumni at a summer school had previously taken part in the same doctorate programme at one university. These alumni knew each other before the summer school, so they could use the summer school to improve their networks. The alumni’s similar background also meant that the content could be very well planned, as the person responsible for 48

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

the project explained. In the second case, the group mainly comprised doctors which also made it easier to plan the summer school content. The programme area promotes networking among the alumni and with German representatives of the scientific field. The online survey in the individual evaluations of the alumni special projects revealed that at the time of the survey, more than half of the alumni respondents were in contact with up to ten other alumni or other participants in the programme (60 per cent; N=145). 45 per cent (N=145) of these alumni are also in contact with the others at least once a month; 15 per cent (N=145) do so weekly and the rest less often. 47 per cent (N=396) stated that cooperative work had emerged from these exchanges of views. For example, one alumnus is planning a research study with another. On the subject of the alumni’s organisation in networks, the online survey findings show that 26 per cent (N=408) are members of a network related to their discipline, while a further 15 per cent (N=408) are members of other networks not established by the DAAD. Most of the latter are HEI networks. The people responsible for the project at the TU Berlin, the TU Ilmenau and the Frankfurt School of Economics stated that these HEIs all have their own alumni networks in which the alumni can get involved and which are also used to advertise the alumni special projects. One of the networks founded through the DAAD alumni programme is the German Alumni Water Network (GAWN) of which 16 per cent (N=408) of the respondents are members. In the other DAAD alumni programme networks, the doctors’ alumni network (MEDALNETZ), the German Alumni Network Energy (GANE) and the German Academic Food Network (GAFOON), two, three and five per cent of the respondents respectively are members. It could also be seen in the case studies that the alumni are networked in alumni associations. In Kenya, the Kenyan DAAD Scholars Association (KDSA) was founded; it carries out workshops, conferences, seminars and courses about writing applications for support for Master’s and PhD students. The association has its own national office and regional units in Kenya and charges a membership fee. The alumni interviewed in the case study explained that the association is very important to them because through it they can exchange views and find contacts for research projects and jobs. The presence of the DAAD’s branch office in Kenya is a decisive factor in the alumni network’s success, because the office supports the coordination and implementation of their activities. In Vietnam and Serbia, many alumni activities are also organised which are in demand and attended by 66 per cent (N=21) of the alumni interviewed in these case studies, who evaluate them as interesting and worthwhile. For them too, the activities are an opportunity to exchange views and renew contacts. The alumni networks in Colombia are ASPRA (Asociación de Profesionales con Estudios en Alemania/Association for former scholarship holders who studied in Germany) located in Bogotá and ASPA (Asociación Antioqueña de Profesionales con Estudios en Alemania/Association in Antioquia for former scholarship holders who studied in Germany) located in Medellín. Both these alumni networks are active in organising seminars, conferences, information events and in advising former students when they return to Colombia. These events are popular and attendance is high, according to the DAAD in Colombia and the partner organisations. In addition, 62 per cent (N=397) of the alumni in the individual evaluations of the alumni special projects have up to five contacts with representatives of German science and 19 per cent of the alumni stated that they have between six and 20 contacts. Four per cent of the alumni stated that they have contact to more than 20 people. 16 per cent of respondents, however, stated that they have no active contact to representatives of HEIs or HEI-independent scientists. These findings were confirmed in the case studies, in which the alumni surveyed claimed five contacts to German representatives of science on average and stated that they are in contact with them once a month. In this context the alumni stated in the online survey that the cooperative research activities comprise joint research projects (68 per cent), exchanges of information (60 per cent), joint publications (44 per cent) and scientist exchanges (40 per cent) (cf. Fig. 10). 49

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 10: Form of cooperative research – individual evaluations, alumni special projects

68 %

Joint research project (e.g. conference or summer school)

60 %

Exchange of information

44 %

Joint publications

40 %

Scientists’ exchange

29 %

Joint events

Other

Patents

5%

1%

0%

25%

50%

75%

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2012 (N=218; multiple answers were possible)

In contrast to the survey findings, the case studies and the qualitative surveys in the individual evaluations of the alumni special projects revealed that cooperative research directly arising from the DAAD’s alumni work was only seen in isolated cases. One example can be given from Kenya where a joint publication in Chemistry was initiated thanks to the alumni programme. Two of the seven people responsible for the project who were interviewed in the individual evaluations of the alumni special projects see the reason for this in the fact that cooperative research does in fact take place with alumni from developing countries, but not based on the alumni special projects or any other individual alumni measures. These respondents stated that establishing cooperative research is a long-term process to which the DAAD’s alumni work contributes constructively through direct exchange. They consider that the alumni work with its summer schools, experts seminars etc. is an important instrument for paving the way for cooperative research which is likely to lead to future cooperative research projects. As well as contacts to German representatives of science, according to the individual evaluations of the alumni special projects, 37 per cent (N=141) of the alumni who responded to the online survey have developed cooperative activities with representatives of German business. Of these, 35 per cent (N=141) have established two, 19 per cent three and seven per cent up to five cooperative activities with German business. According to the alumni interviewed, most of these cooperative activities comprise exchange of information and experience (65 per cent) and joint projects (55 per cent), while a smaller proportion comprise joint events (21 per cent) and trade (20 per cent) (cf. Fig. 11).

50

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 11: Type of cooperative business activities – individual evaluations, alumni special projects

Other, e.g.:

1%

Trade

20%

Joint events

21%

55%

Joint projects

Exchange of information and experience

0%

65% 20%

40%

60%

80%

100%

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2012 (N=139)

The findings of the online survey from the individual evaluations of the alumni special projects were only partly confirmed by the four interview partners from business or the case studies, however. For example, two of the four business-based interview partners stated that they had contact to alumni, but that no cooperative activity had emerged from these contacts. In the case studies, none of the interviewees could demonstrate any cooperative activities with German business. According to all those responsible for the projects in the individual evaluations of the alumni special projects whom we interviewed, these findings can be explained by the lack of opportunities for targeted meetings and exchange between alumni and companies in the DAAD’s individual alumni projects. Four of the seven people responsible for the projects consider that the alumni work should focus more on company visits and talks; this would involve companies and give more opportunity for making contacts. However in this context it must be remembered that the design and choice of topics is the responsibility of the HEIs, not the DAAD. On the other hand, the representatives of business we interviewed would like to see the DAAD take on a more prominent role as intermediary (cf. chapter 4.1). For example, they suggested increasing the involvement of the chambers of foreign trade, which could provide information for German businesses about DAAD programmes in each country. The DAAD could also set up a service point which would establish contacts between businesses and relevant alumni. None of the alumni surveyed could pinpoint cooperative activities between alumni and German DC organisations. This is mainly due to the fact that the alumni surveyed are not informed about German DC programmes and projects in their countries and are not familiar with forums which would enable them to gain information about or make contact with the relevant German DC organisations. However, the findings of the individual evaluations and the case studies showed that all the alumni interviewed had strong links to Germany. The findings of the individual evaluations of the AST, for example, revealed that 71 per cent (N=358) of the AST alumni would like to collaborate with German organisations in future and 62 per cent (N=360) would like closer contacts to Germans. In addition, 60 per cent (N=359) would like to work for German organisations in their countries. 72 per cent (N=96) of current and former scholarship holders in the Egyptian government scholarship programme GERLS also stated the desire to have closer contacts with Germany

51

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in future and 70 per cent (N=95) said that they would like to work for a German company or organisation in their home country in future. In the individual evaluations of the alumni special projects, 74 per cent (N=402) stated that they had taken part in the programme in order to maintain contact with their HEI in Germany and with Germany in general. All the alumni interviewed in the individual evaluations and the case studies have an up-to-date image of Germany. They all claimed to have got to know the central values of German culture and view Germany as an economically significant country. In the alumni’s’ view, the German HEIs are outstanding in international comparison for their high quality research and modern teaching and learning methods. All the interviews showed that this image of Germany was mainly the result of a long period spent in Germany with DAAD support, rather than being specifically due to the alumni work itself – but the alumni work enables visits to Germany which renew and strengthen the links to the country, as the alumni meet old acquaintances and encounter new developments in Germany. Alumni activities in developing countries on the other hand bolster the positive image of German science and of Germany as a location for HEIs and a centre for innovation, because German professors take part and give lectures at most of them. The PAE did not reveal any explicit teaching of the German language through the alumni work. 4.2.5

Implementation of the programme area

In this chapter we address the implementation of the programme area. We will focus on the analysis of the DAAD selection committees and the quality assurance systems implemented in the programme area. 4.2.5.1

Significance of the selection procedure

The DAAD’s selection procedure for the individual programmes within the programme area is viewed as a mark of its quality by all partner country partners and individuals who had received support. The government scholarship programme in Egypt is a good example. All the partners interviewed in the case study consider the programme’s selection process to be transparent and comprehensible, because it is a cleverly designed multi-level process, demonstrating objectivity and competitiveness (2012: 199 applications v. 50 accepted candidates). One member of the selection committee stated that he had only remained a member of the committee for so many years because he valued the objectivity and transparency of the process which he saw as positive aspects distinguishing it from other study programmes. Interview partners in other countries such as Mexico also praised the international selection committees, which other donors do not have. The partner country partners find that the presence of local and German representatives is an ideal supplement to the selection process, because the locals are familiar with the HEI landscape in their country and the Germans with that in Germany. In other words, the selection procedures are of key significance to the quality assurance of the programme area (cf. also chapter 4.2.5.2). They are used to identify potential change agents and high-quality projects or applicants right at the start of the funding period for individuals or projects. The composition of the selection committees is decisive in guaranteeing high quality right from the start. For this reason the selection committees comprise both German and partner country experts (usually from the applicants’ home countries) and other experienced experts from German HEIs, enabling a comprehensive assessment of the candidates’ and project applications. The standardised process for DAAD selection procedures makes them more transparent and the two-stage process in which first the application and then the personal qualities of the applicant are assessed guarantee that the selection is objective. The large number of applications, usually 1 to 3 or 1 to 4 per scholarship, also makes a competitive procedure possible which guarantees a competition for the best brains, ensuring the quality of the programmes in the programme area from the word go. However, in the individual evaluations and case studies, areas of friction were pinpointed in one selection procedure. In the government scholarship programme in Kazakhstan, a two-stage selection procedure takes place. The DAAD selection for this programme is carried out by a committee of independent German HEI lecturers in accordance with DAAD standards on the basis of the 52

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

quality of expertise shown in the application, but the funding provider (the Kazakh government) insists on holding a separate, additional examination in Kazakh history and civics. All participants interviewed stated that family contacts also played a part in this examination. Some also viewed it as a “test of loyalty to the state”. The work units responsible for the programme implementation in the North Regional Department stated that although they view it critically, they have accepted this additional selection procedure by the funding provider after considering all the circumstances and in view of the fact that almost the entire funding for this project comes from the Kazakh government. Something similar was observed in the case study in Vietnam, where in general, people are only supported if they comply with the system; corruption was also an issue in the selection process. In addition to these facts, two other issues in the selection procedure were identified by the individual evaluations of the AST – although all 23 AST alumni interviewed considered the selection procedure to be fair and transparent. Within the application procedure, e.g. in a personal statement, the applicants currently do not critically consider the conditions for the recognition of their future degree in their home countries. This can lead to AST alumni having no access to the job market because their degrees are not recognised nationally. This limits the AST’s ability to meet partner country needs because the alumni cannot make use of their new skills in their country, although they are actually in line with their country’s needs. Another challenge in the selection procedure arises from the German HEI’s admissions regulations and the DAAD’s support logic, which entail organising a free competition in which the best applicant wins. This means that the selection procedure is open to everyone who fulfils the application conditions. It cannot therefore be oriented to meet the needs of selected organisations which for example aim to develop their capacity through targeted further education of members of staff. This makes it impossible, particularly in the business field, to reach a critical mass of people in certain organisations who could initiate changes successfully. This also undermines the effectiveness of the AST programmes in some cases (cf. chapter 4.2.1). 4.2.5.2

Quality assurance in the programme area

Alongside the selection procedure which is a key element in the programme area’s quality assurance aspect (cf. chapter 4.2.5.1), the DAAD also has a unified evaluation concept which is also binding for the programme area’s programmes and in which central quality assurance elements through evaluations are specified. Accordingly, the implementation of quality assurance in the individual programmes of the programme area examined takes many different forms. The AST have the most comprehensive quality assurance concept, whereby the degree to which the programme targets are reached is continually tested against the annual reports produced by the participating HEIs. In addition, an external programme evaluation was carried out in 1993 and a cross-cutting evaluation was undertaken in 2011 which shed light on the effectiveness and relevance of the AST. Three tracer studies were also carried out in 1998, 2004 and 2011 to determine the impacts of the AST at scholarship holder level. In addition, all AST alumni receive a final DAAD questionnaire to obtain their feedback to the programme and since 2003, continual external evaluations of all AST programmes have been carried out. In practice, therefore, three to five evaluations have taken place every year; so far, about 50 per cent of the ASTs have been evaluated. However in the individual evaluations carried out so far, the DeGEval (German Evaluation Society) or OECD-DAC evaluation standards were not systematically applied, which reduces the quality and informative value of the evaluations. Finally, there is also an AST working group (post-graduate studies working group: AGEP) which keeps the DAAD informed about the needs and challenges at the HEIs. According to the findings of a cross-cutting evaluation20 commissioned by the DAAD and the statements of all study programme heads and the HEI heads interviewed in the individual evaluations, quality assurance within the individual HEIs which carry out the AST takes place primarily through the accreditation of study programmes which is a basic prerequisite and ensures the

20

Petereit, Katja & Schnitzer, Klaus (2010). Querschnittsanalyse der Einzelevaluationen „Aufbaustudiengänge mit entwicklungsbezog-

ner Thematik“. Bonn & Hannover, p.29. 53

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

quality of the study programmes in terms of content and structure. In addition, standardised event evaluations, study programme-related alumni surveys, feedback conversations/meetings with students and seminars for lecturers are carried out in the AST which address the need for changes based on the evaluation and feedback findings. Subsequently the content and structure of each AST are adapted by the relevant actors. In the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme, on the other hand, the DAAD’s quality assurance at programme level is based on annual project reports, on-the-spot visits to the projects and partner HEIs of the stability pact and informal telephone conversations with those responsible for the project. One or two individual evaluations are carried annually at project level. In addition, two regional conferences were held in south-eastern Europe in 2006 and 2012 to take stock and develop strategies for developing the programme further. Through these the extent to which the programme had achieved its targets was examined and corrections could be undertaken if necessary jointly with the participants. The quality assurance of the alumni special projects is more comprehensive. It initially takes place through a DAAD questionnaire which the alumni fill in after taking part in one of the alumni special projects. DAAD staff members also make use of the conferences organised by the programme to exchange views with the alumni and gain their feedback. Six months after each alumni special project, the alumni also receive a feedback questionnaire from the DAAD. However, all those responsible for the projects from the German HEIs stated that they receive no information about findings or how they are applied, so they cannot make use of them when designing their summer schools. The quality assurance measures applied to the government scholarship programmes vary greatly from country to country. The degree to which the programme meets its targets at the level of individual scholarship holders is continually checked by regular progress reports which those supported are required to produce. In addition, in some countries the supervisors at the German HEIs receive interim and final DAAD questionnaires in order to track the extent to which the scholarship holders are meeting their targets. In Kazakhstan and Mexico, no further monitoring measures or evaluations are carried out, whereas in Egypt, a differentiated monitoring system exists which also contains information on the scholarship holder’s subsequent careers. The DAAD is in the process of introducing a monitoring system for the German-Arabic/Iranian HEI dialogue which is intended to contribute to active controlling of the programme and to joint learning in future. 4.2.6

Evaluation of the programme area’s effectiveness

The evaluation team found a varied picture when it comes to evaluating effectiveness. In the field of human capacity development, the programme area successfully conveys expertise and knowledge of methodology to the individuals supported and to alumni. The evaluation identified factors which contributed to this success: practical orientation, involvement of actors from business in the programme and the simultaneous development and application of proposed solutions developed during the funding period. The programme area also improves the intercultural competence of individuals supported and alumni – in particular in the programmes of which this is an explicitly stated aim. Factors identified as contributing to this success were identified as time spent in Germany and the international mix of people supported in the various programmes. Time spent in Germany also contributed to giving those supported a modern image of Germany and enabling them to create links to Germany, as well as giving information about Germany as a location for higher education. The German courses offered did not generally teach those supported and the alumni more German than they need for everyday life, because the language of study during the scholarship period is mainly English, the German courses in many programmes only last four months on average, which those supported and the alumni consider too short, and programme participants often lose the German they learn because they can only rarely use it in their home countries. The evaluation team also notes, however, that it would not necessarily benefit most of the programme area’s programmes if those supported and the alumni gained more proficiency in German. Everyday 54

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

German is sufficient to cope in Germany during the period spent here. In their later careers, those supported and the alumni usually apply what they have learnt in English and otherwise rarely use German. For these reasons, expanding the German courses would not improve the effectiveness of the programme area’s programmes. The evaluation team found that the qualifications gained through the programme area qualify those supported and the alumni as change agents, because the great majority of them are employed in responsible positions after their period of support and their careers benefit from the programmes. The trained change agents meet the partner countries’ needs both in the higher education sector and in business. However in recent years, those supported and the alumni are more willing to change jobs and spend more time seeking a new position, which limits their effectiveness as change agents. One negative factor particularly in the public and business sectors is that those supported often gain management positions after their studies, but they are rarely able to initiate processes of change in these organisations. One factor which could explain this is the willingness of the alumni to change their jobs, as mentioned, which places them in new organisations where they must first earn a position in which they can initiate changes. Those supported and the alumni in business and the public sector also tend to be the only ones in their organisation so they cannot look to other DAAD alumni for support in their efforts to initiate changes, as would be possible in the higher education sector. In the higher education sector we also observed that the combination and clustering of different support programmes relating to individuals and to projects creates synergies in organisations which makes it easier for those supported and alumni to initiate changes. The reason for this is that the DAAD has a broader basis and more financial resources in the higher education sector. In business and the public sector, DAAD alumni are isolated and receive little support from their managers. Where they do encounter support, it is often from managers who also received education abroad. In addition, some reasons for these conditions lie in the support logic of some of the programmes in the programme area such as the AST, which currently supports quality of expertise and application orientation over a wide range. This approach means that the funding in a country is not directed towards one particular sector or organisation. This in turn leads to the fact that those supported and alumni lack support for initiating changes in their organisations because firstly, they are isolated; secondly, they receive little support from colleagues or managers and thirdly, they are not supported by other DAAD programmes as they would be in the higher education sector, for example. Changing the DAAD’s support logic would be a very complex process; it should therefore be discussed in detail within the DAAD and with the BMZ and German HEIs. The evaluation team’s found that the DAAD reached their targets in the field of strengthening HEIs. The programme area makes a successful contribution to increasing in the number of specialists and lecturers in the higher education sector. The further qualification of lecturers, scientists and academics provided by the programme area also improves the quality of teaching and research; this enables the HEIs in the partner countries to keep abreast of scientific standards. Both the support for individuals and institutional support contribute to these improvements; the combination of a range of the programme area’s support instruments linked with an extended funding period is more effective than the individual application of specific instruments since it enables several levels within the organisation to be addressed simultaneously (multi-level approach). The programme area’s combination of several instruments is also successful in creating centres of excellence and bolstering national and regional science systems and innovation systems which are of supra-regional importance. One field where there is still potential for improvement is the strengthening of the administrative level of partner country HEIs. The programme area’s existing programmes rarely address reforms in this field. In consequence, chances to implement programmes more effectively are sometimes lost, due to the lack of a holistic approach to organisational development which would include developing the necessary administrative and support structures at the HEIs. The evaluation team also considered that targets in the field of networking are generally met. The programme area successfully promotes HEI cooperation both between Germany and developing countries and between the developing countries themselves, so boosting north-south, south-north and north-south-south exchange. This also results in the creation of new educational opportunities in the region for the region; the Exceed and the Academic Reconstruction in South 55

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Eastern Europe programmes made particular contributions to this. However, it became clear that the regional and global networks in particular are not yet formalised. The main success factor for the development of networks and cooperation structures between HEIs is the initiation of small networks which can be expanded gradually in the course of the funding period. Successful networking through the programme area also promotes the German HEI’s competence-building and raises their profile in the DC field. For example, German HEIs can develop their research networks and strategically drive their internationalisation through the programme area’s programmes. In addition, German HEIs use the funding successfully to develop unique selling points which enable them to recruit students. The HEI cooperation agreements which have emerged from this contribute to increasing German HEI’s links to international discourse through exchanges and joint publications, which also help raise Germany’s profile in other countries as a centre for research and innovation; Germany is considered a world leader in some specialist fields. New cooperative partners in Germany outside the higher education sector are rarely found through the programme area’s work, however. There is the potential for improvement in this area; German HEIs have a great deal of potential which is seldom used to generate value in the German DC, AKBP and business fields. This is partly due to the lack of demand from the DC and AKBP organisations and partly to the HEI’s limited resources which often make it impossible to initiate cooperative agreements of this kind. However, the DAAD signed a cooperative agreement with the GIZ in February 2012 and is currently negotiating with the KfW to address this issue. Almost all aspects of the programme area’s alumni work was assessed positively by the evaluation team. The alumni work is successful in enabling alumni to deepen and update their knowledge. However, it emerged that a homogenous mix of alumni in individual projects is more effective for the purpose of updating and deepening knowledge than a heterogeneous mix. The programme area is also successful in enabling networking among the alumni. In the partner countries, alumni networking mainly takes place through DAAD-funded networks which have formal structures. The alumni have numerous contacts to German representatives of science and academia, although the collaborative research activities arising from these contacts are not directly due to the programme area’s alumni work. However, the alumni work gives a significant impetus to initiating collaborative research, which then materialises later in response to external factors and demands. The findings on the topic of networking with business must be interpreted with care, because the findings in the online survey may only be partly valid. The interviews with alumni revealed that they often understand cooperation as being the exchange of contact details rather than as cooperation in a substantial sense. This does not mean that the findings of the online survey are not significant, but we must assume that they are not quite as positive as they currently appear. The evaluation does confirm however that company visits or lectures to involve companies in the alumni work, which is the responsibility of the German HEIs, would constitute a success factor in the alumni’s networking with business. The networking of alumni with German DC organisations and the teaching of the German language are both areas where potential for improvement was noted. The evaluation did not reveal either the setting up of contacts between alumni and German DC organisations or the teaching of German in the programme area’s alumni work. On the other hand, it was shown that the programme area’s alumni work successfully promotes the alumni’s links to Germany and ensures that they have an up-to-date image of Germany. The programmes’ selection procedures emerged as a mark of quality in the implementation of the programme area. In particular, international selection committees increase the transparency of the selection process and generate a sense of ownership of the programme for the partner country partners. In addition, they guarantee the selection of the best possible participants which has a positive effect on the degree to which the programme area and its programmes reach their targets. However friction was observed in some of the selection procedures; in some cases the selection procedures vary in quality, particularly in the government scholarship programmes. The

56

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

variations in quality were mainly m seen tto be due to o differences s in the partn ner’s ideas and a wishes, the partners pro oviding mostt of the fund ding in these e programme es. Qua ality assurance and evaluation meassures for the e programmes in this prrogramme area are implem mented in very v differen nt ways. In some progrrammes suc ch as the AS ST, highly professional p quality assurance measures are implem mented, whereas in oth hers, such a as some of the t governmen nt scholarship programm mes, there i s a great de eal of potential for imprrovement. In the latter case e however th he partners’’ wishes and d ideas mustt again be ta aken into acccount becau use they often provide the lion’s share e of the fund ding for these programm mes. The ev valuation tea am was not able e to identify any quality assurance systems in the t program mme area wh hich are alig gned or oriente ed on effecttiveness mea asurement a and oriented d on recognised evaluattion standarrds such as thos se of the OECD-DAC.

4.3

Efficienc cy of the pr rogramme a area

Effic ciency is the e relationship p of the fun ding applied d to the effects achieved d. In this case the program mme area evaluation e was intended to show the efficiency of the imple ementation of the pros of this foccuses on the examples of the fourr individual evaluations gram mme area. The analysis stud died and the four case sttudies carrie ed out in Colombia, Keny ya, Serbia an nd Vietnam. To m make the topic easier to o grasp, we ffirst show th he total costts of the pro ogramme are ea in recent years, followed by an estimate of efficie ency. 4.3.1

Presentattion of the co osts

The total costs of o the programme area were approx x. 266 million euros in th he years 200 08 to 2011. The funding wa as unevenly divided betw ween the fu unding providers. The la argest fundin ng provider was s the BMZ with w 124.7 million m euross, followed by b the Federral Foreign O Office, partn ner governmen nts and the GTZ G or GIZ (see ( Fig. 12)) Fig. 12: Costs of the programm me area 200 08 mill. €

2008 proporti on in %

2009 mill. €

2009 proportion in %

2010 mill. €

2010 prroportion in %

2011 2 mill. m €

201 11 proportion in %

26..5

52%

30.5

47%

32.9

46%

34.8 3

45% %

GTZ Z/GIZ

1.5 5

3%

1.7

3%

2.2

3%

3.4

4% %

Parttner programme es with the Foreign Office

8.5 5

17%

10.2

16%

14.1

20%

20.6 2

26% %

14..5

28%

22.6

34%

22.8

31%

19.2 1

25% %

4.7 7

9%

7.7

12%

9.6

13%

9.3

12% %

51..0

100% %

65.0

100%

72.0

100%

78.0 7

100 0%

BMZ Z

Fede eral Foreign Office Incl. Foreign office: 331 3 400 042/047 (co-fina ancing: third d party/matching funds

Tota al Sourc rce: DAAD Daten nbank 2012

The programme e area’s financial volume e has increased year on year. It is sstriking thatt all funding prov viders have increased th heir financiall contribution. Looking at a the proporrtional funding, however, iit is clear that the propo ortion of fun nding from th he Federal Foreign F Officce and the BMZ has decline ed in the yea ars shown and the propo ortion of fun nding from th he developin ng country partners p has incrreased. 4.3.2

Basis of the t study

The aggregate funding f for the t four indiividual programmes studied for the programme e area evaluation for the years 78.5 million euros, equivalent to 3 0 per cent of the total y 2008 to 2011 is 7 57

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

funding spent in this period. The funding volume of the individual programmes studied ranged from 0.8 million to 42.9 million euros. The ASTs were the most cost-intensive programme, followed by the government scholarship programme in Mexico, the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe, the government scholarship programmes in Egypt (GERLS) and Kazakhstan, the alumni special projects and the government scholarship programme in Egypt (GERSS) (see Fig.13). Fig. 13 Costs of the individual programmes studied Programme

2008

2009

2010

2011

Total

Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe

€ 2,875,970

€ 2,304,260

€ 2,291,681

€1,660,529

€ 9,132,440

Alumni special projects

€ 475,91

€ 730,27

€ 558,79

€ 738,90

€ 2,503,860

Development-related postgraduate courses (AST)

€ 10,284,791

€ 10,743,131

€ 11,084,475

€ 10,744,990

Government scholarship programme Kazakhstan

€ 934,98

€ 1,047,883

€ 1,277,745

€ 1,129,239

€ 4,389,847

Government scholarship programme Mexico

€ 2,675,934

€ 2,877,416

€ 3,477,360

€ 3,309,079

€ 12,339,788

Government scholarship programme Egypt (GERSS)

€ 162,32

€ 234,49

€ 219,10

€ 239,03

Government scholarship programme Egypt (GERLS)

-

€ 757,96

€ 2,247,234

€ 3,453,002

Total

€ 17,409,903

€ 18,695,412

€ 21,156,385

€ 21,274,760

€ 42,857,386

€ 854,94 € 6,458,200 € 78,536,460

Source: DAAD Datenbank 2012

4.3.3

Efficiency study

Unlike the methodological approach envisaged, we did not carry out a comparative efficiency study because the existing data did not permit the calculation of comparative values for input and output data. Nor was it possible to establish a direct connection between effects and the funding applied in the programmes studied. Application forms and expenditure reports do not itemise the costs in sufficient detail. Another factor is the heterogeneity of the fields of application of the programmes studied, which makes it very difficult to directly compare quality and range of effects. For all these reasons we undertook a qualitative study, which is explained below. The programmes within the programme area are funded by means of mobilising resources in the project field. This means that the German HEIs taking part in these programmes make their contribution in the form of providing their professors and staff’s working time or the HEI infrastructure free of charge. These HEI contributions are currently not documented in monetary terms; therefore they cannot be included in the calculations for this evaluation. The same applies to the individual support, i.e. the scholarship funding in which the study place costs are provided by the basic funding for German HEIs or by the German Länder. This means that the costs for the programmes turn out to be higher than estimated in the project applications, because the sum is increased by the contributions as explained above. It also means however that the programmes are cheaper for the funding providers, because they only supply the “uncovered demand” and do not have to fund the staff fees and infrastructure provided by the HEIs. In other funding procedures such as the contracts procedure, in which projects and interventions are carried out for business purposes, the funding providers would have to finance the staff costs mentioned above. These are currently supplied “free of charge” by the German HEIs, which are intrinsically motivated to do so due to the programme content. The financial development of the programme area in recent years also shows that the DAAD is increasingly successful in obtaining funding from partners in developing countries. For example, the proportion of this type of funding increased from 17 per cent in 2008 to 26 per cent in 2011. 58

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

The proportion of co-fundin ng for progra ammes fund ded by the Federal F Foreiign Office (A AA) also increa ased from nine per centt in 2008 to 12 per centt in 2011. In n the govern nment schollarship program mme in Kaz zakhstan for example, tthe proportio on of AA fun nding was tw wo per centt, while the parttner funded 98 per cent. Similarly, 9 92 per cent of the fundiing for the g government scholarship prog gramme in Mexico M came e from the pa artner.

In the four case ved that the e studies, we e also observ e programme e area’s prog grammes create synergies s, particularly in the cas ses where co ombinations s of several programmess are applie ed. In these case es, for exam mple, the inte ended impaccts of some programme es were reinfforced by otthers, making change poss sible. For ex xample, by ccombining su ubject-relate ed HEI coope eration with the Exceed prog gramme in Vietnam th he program mme area was w able to o establish a regional centre for knowledge and innovation in the regio on for the re egion. To achieve this, tthe subject-related HEI coop peration agrreement was used to ccreate structtures which gave the E Exceed programme the f knowledg starrting point to o drive forwa ard the deve elopment of the centre for ge and innov vation. Both the Vietnamese and the German sides iin this progrramme state ed that it wo ould have been impossible to initiate th he changes necessary n wiithout the su ubject-relate ed HEI partn nership (cf. also a chapter 4.2)). The combination of program mmes in the e programme e area has rarely r been deliberately steered by the DAAD in ord der to generrate synergie es, howeverr. In cases where w synerg gies were ob bserved due to th he coordinatted application of a rang ge of program mmes, this was w often a random effe ect, not due to c conscious ste eering by the DAAD. Th is can be atttributed to the t fact thatt the possibiilities which may y result from m combining g programm mes are ofte en not considered when n the progra ammes and coun ntry portfolio os are being designed an nd develope ed (cf. chapte er 4.6). 4.3.4

Evaluating the efficien ncy of the pro ogramme are ea

The evaluation team’s asse essment of t he programme area’s effficiency is p positive. The e DAAD has succ ceeded in increasing the e proportion of funding from f partnerrs in develop ping countrie es in recent years, enabling it to supple ement BMZ and AA fun nding and to o use their ffunding effic ciently. The DAA AD’s procedu ure of mobilising resourrces also ena ables it to ta ap additiona al funding co ontributions from m German HEIs H which benefit b progrramme imple ementation. It may be a assumed that the HEIs bear a considerrable proporrtion of the programme costs which h therefore n need not be e funded by the BMZ and the e AA. We identified op pportunities for increase ed efficiency y in the stee ering of the programme area. More targ geted steerin ng to enable deliberate ccombinations s and clusterring of progrrammes could generate syne ergies which h would enab ble individua al programmes’ effects to o reinforce e each other.

4.4

Impacts s of the pro ogramme arrea

In this section we w present the t evaluatio on findings in i relation to o the progra amme area’s s superordinate e impacts. We W would like e to point ou ut that the empirical e findings presen nted here arre based on the analyses of the individu ual evaluatio ns and of th he four case studies in C Colombia, Kenya, Serbia and Vietnam. In n this way, conclusions c a are drawn fo or the progra amme area’ss impacts fro om the contribu utions identified in the four individu ual programmes studies s and the ch hanges obse erved in the case e studies. Be ecause impa acts are ana lysed at sys stem level, a direct and exclusive atttribution of area i.e. the impacts to the programme p e isolation frrom all other environme ental factors is not possible e. According gly in this chapter conclu usions are drrawn on the programme e area’s conttributions to the superordina ate impacts through t plau usibility assumptions. 4.4.1

Contributtions to devellopment policcy impacts

Acro oss all the case c studies and in the individual evaluations, e at the programme area we saw tha conttributes to the t provision n of expertisse for solvin ng developm ment-related problems. This occurs firstt and foremo ost through training t and d (further) qu ualification of o change ag gents who us se their positio ons to contriibute to the developmen nt of their home h countrries. For exa ample, in the individual

59

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

evaluations of the AST, 14 out of 23 alumni interviewed (61 per cent) were seen to have contributed to sustainable development in developing countries and countries in transition. The examples of an alumnus in Thailand and one in Afghanistan can be taken as representative. Each of them contributed to improving the health situation in their countries by restructuring a hospital as a teaching hospital and acquiring and implementing a project to improve rural health, their AST study being the decisive factor in enabling them to do this. It must be stated however that most change agents’ ability to contribute to the development of their home countries is restricted to the higher education sector; their potential to bring about change outside this sector is limited (cf. chapter 4.2). Respondents to the online survey in the individual evaluations of government scholarship programmes also estimated the programme’s utility for their home countries as high (cf. Fig. 14). According to their statements, the scholarship programme contributes to the development of effective science systems, the strengthening of higher education structures and the qualification of lecturers in their countries. Fig. 14: Evaluation of utility for the home country – individual evaluations of government scholarship programmes; government scholarship programme Egypt (GERLS)

The things I learnt during my time in Germany are useful to my country (N=102)

10 %

The GERLS scholarship contributes to tackling development policy issues in my country (N=103)

35 %

13 %

The GERLS scholarship supports my country’s modernisation strategies (N=102)

6%8%

The GERLS scholarship contributes to qualifying future experts in my country (N=102)

11 %

The GERLS scholarship contributes to meeting the need for new research and teaching methods in my country (N=103) The GERLS scholarship contributes to improving the qualifications of the next generation of scientists and academics and of existing scientists and academics in my country (N=103)

disagree

43 % 51 %

32 %

59 %

27 %

21 % 6%

45 %

33 %

21 %

0% Strongly disagree

38 %

10 %

The GERLS scholarship contributes to developing effective science systems in my country (N=103)

39 %

34 %

7%

The GERLS scholarship contributes to strengthening higher education structures in my country (N=103)

37 %

47 %

11 %

The GERLS scholarship contributes to improving the qualifications of academic teaching staff in my country (N=102)

The Egyptian government’s targets are reached through the GERLS scholarship (N=103)

47 %

17 %

The GERLS scholarship contributes to qualifying future managers in my country (N=102)

53 %

20 % 25% undecided

58 % 30 %

45 %

32 % 35 % 50% agree

41 % 35 % 75%

100% strongly agree

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2012

The findings of the individual evaluations of the AST and the alumni special projects also showed that all the alumni respondents work in sectors which are relevant to the achievement of the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) (for example, health or water) and so contribute to achieving these goals. An AST alumna in Vietnam is a representative example; she had the opportunity to expand her knowledge of sustainable building design and so was able to develop new designs in her company which are now being implemented in buildings in Vietnam and China. In the case study in Vietnam, the Exceed cooperation agreements made a specific contribution to reaching the MDGs 7: “Ecological Sustainability” and 8: “Developing a global partnership for development”, because the majority of those supported by this programme also went on to work in these fields.

60

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

The programme area also supports the partner countries in implementing their modernisation strategies. All the programme area’s programmes we studied take the core issues in developing countries as their starting point (cf. chapter 4.1). This was confirmed by all the state authorities interviewed in the case studies. For example, in the individual evaluations of the government scholarships, the partners of the government scholarship programmes in Mexico and Egypt stated that their country’s development is supported by the training of qualified experts and managers in and outside the higher education sector. In the case study in Kenya, the ministry responsible stated that this was the reason for their setting up a government scholarship programme with the DAAD in order to train experts and managers in specific fields (e.g. environmental technologies). The aim is that these experts and managers should develop new branches of industry in Kenya through joint ventures with foreign companies. The programme area’s contributions to enabling the partner country HEIs to improve their access to the knowledge society were also identified in all the case studies. For example all the managers interviewed in the case studies in Serbia, Colombia and Kenya agreed that that the departments where a large number of DAAD alumni work have a higher publication rate than other departments. They also stated that the DAAD alumni have the one of the highest publication rates at their HEIs. DAAD alumni also take part in international conferences more frequently than their colleagues, because they receive DAAD funding for their participation. The findings showed that the programme area made fewer contributions to increasing the relevance of higher education curricula. On the one hand, the findings of the case study countries and the individual programme evaluations show that the programme area succeeds in integrating higher education graduates in relevant professional fields. The majority of the higher education graduates in supported fields of study are employed in the field in which they gained their qualifications. On the other hand, however, this success is qualified by the fact that most of them work in the higher education sector and do not often aim for or gain a position in business or industry. This could be due to the fact that within the scope of the programme area, it has only been possible in exceptional cases such as in the case study in Kenya to achieve a significant increase in the proportion of HEIs which involve business actors in curriculum development. At the same time external factors such as the capacity of the job market prevent those supported from finding jobs in the wider economy. This was seen in the case study in Serbia, where the difficult economic situation means that few of those who have received support find positions outside the higher education sector. The findings show further untapped potential in relation to the programme area’s contributions to retaining alternative channels for access and dialogue through their partners and obtaining cooperative partners for German DC organisations in the partner countries. The findings of the individual evaluations and in the case study countries show that in principle, cooperation between DAAD partners and German DC organisations is seen to have potential, but so far this has not been exploited due to the lack of demand by the German DC organisations and the German HEI’s lack of resources. 4.4.2

Contributions to the long-term impacts of German foreign cultural and educational policy

The case studies in Serbia, Vietnam and Kenya and the individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe show that the programme area contributes to conflict prevention through intercultural dialogue. In Kenya, the third country scholarships and the science networks supported by the DAAD promote intercultural understanding between East African countries; carrying out joint research has the effect of reducing stereotypes. All the interviews with DAAD alumni confirmed this; they actively questioned their own perception of other cultures. In addition, the DAAD-implemented regional quality assurance system (cf. Chapter 4.2) has contributed to increased understanding for different ways of working and in some cases, to the mutual recognition of higher education degrees. In Vietnam too the networks established by the DAAD within and beyond the region promote intercultural understanding and so contribute to conflict prevention. Contributions to conflict prevention were also identified in the individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe. The findings of the qualitative surveys in this area show that the DAAD-supported exchange between the countries of former Yugoslavia help to re61

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

duce conflict potential and improve understanding. This contribution should be particularly highly valued because over half the project partners attribute the exchange to the German HEI’s mediation. These findings are also confirmed by the findings of the online survey carried out in the individual evaluations. Taking the categories “agree” and “strongly agree” together, 82 per cent of the project managers and 72 per cent of the project partners consider that the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programme contributes to reducing the conflict potential between the countries and ethnic groups in south-eastern Europe. 79 per cent of the project managers and 85 per cent of the project partners also state that the stability pact has improved the understanding between south-eastern European countries (cf. Fig. 15). Fig. 15: Estimates of conflict prevention through the stability pact

Project manager

12%

To reduce the conflict potential between

Projektpartner

41%

41% 21%

21%

51%

countries of S-E Europe Total

To reduce the conflict potential between ethnic groups in S-E Europe

18%

4%

Project manager

12%

Project partner

between countries of S-E Europe

Project manager

Total

Increasing S-E Europe’s interest in Germany

Project manager

44%

23%

38%

41%

52%

11% 12%

33%

48%

6% 3%

Project partner 1%

18%

45%

6%

5%

32%

47%

25%

Project partner

28%

31%

4%

Total

Improving understanding

48%

36%

30%

61% 40%

18%

0%

25% Strongly disagree

41%

50% disagree

undecided

75% agree

strongly agree

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2011 (N Project manager=34; N Project partner=74)

In the case study in Serbia, all actors involved in the field stated that few international donors are involved in the higher education sector in Serbia or the Balkans. In their view, the programme therefore took on a particularly significant role in conflict prevention, especially in its early years, because it was able to reach members of elites and multipliers in particular. Long-term partnerships between German HEIs and scientists and academics have been established through the programme area’s work. The programme area has a significant effect in paving the way for research cooperation agreements which result in joint publications and exchanges of scientists. The programme area also contributes to the establishment of partnerships between German and partner country HEIs. This is clearly shown in the individual evaluations and case studies where joint study programmes, publications and exchanges at the level of students and of scientists and academics are established through the funding of subject-related partnerships and scientific networks. Outside the higher education sector, however, the evaluation did not identify any long-term partnerships with actors in German business or DC organisations (cf. Chapter 4.2). The evaluation identified the programme area’s contributions towards communicating a modern, more attractive image of Germany. The findings of the individual evaluations and the case studies show that the individuals supported by the programme area gain more insight into the social and political structures in Germany. At the same time, the successful cooperative activities with 62

100%

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

German HEIs and the time scholarship holders spe end in Germany promote e the spread d of a modern image of Ge ermany. The e teaching off German plays a minorr part in the programme e area overall, however (cff. chapter 4.2 2). 4.4.3

Evaluation of the impa acts of the prrogramme arrea

The programme e area succe eeds in supp porting partn ner countries in their m modernisation n strategies by providing ex xpertise to help solve developmen nt-related problems. p G enerally spe eaking, the train ned or (furth her) educate ed change ag gents were able to make greater co ontributions to this process s in the high her educatio on sector tha an outside this t sector. The T change agents mainly work in field ds which are relevant to the achieve ment of the MDGs. The evaluation also identifie ed the progrramme area’’s positive co ontributions towards ena abling partner country HEIIs to improv ve their linkss to the know wledge socie ety. In this ffield, it was shown that DAA AD alumni pu ublish more and attend internationa al conference es more freq quently than n those who have not receiv ved DAAD support. Pote ential for im mprovement was pinpoin nted in the area of increa asing the re elevance of higher educcation curricula. The inv volvement o of business in i this field coulld be strengthened in orrder to achie eve greater impacts. i This also applie es to utilising the existing potential of HIEs and alumni which are not yet being used as a cooperati on partners by German DC organisation ns. The programme e area also succeeds in n contributin ng to conflic ct preventio n through intercultural dialo ogue. The development d t of regional networks results in exchanges and d contacts between b region nal partners,, increasing their mutua al understanding and reducing confllict potential. An external impetus, forr example fro om German HEIs, is an important prerequisite i n establishin ng cooperation and can the erefore be as ssessed as a success fac ctor. Long g-term partnerships bettween Germ man HEIs, sc cientists and academics have been established succ cessfully thrrough the im mpetus given n by the pro ogramme area to initiatte research cooperation c agre eements. Partnerships between b Ger man and partner countrry HEIs have e also been successfully s esta ablished thro ough the prrogramme a area’s progra ammes. Outtside the hi gher educattion sector, how wever, there is potential for improve ment; in this field no lon ng-term parttnerships with actors in German busines ss or DC organisations h have been initiated so far. The programme e area succeeds in comm municating a modern, atttractive imag ge of Germa any through its e existing instrruments, in particular th he funding fo or time spen nt in German ny. The prog gramme area d does not pro omote the teaching of th he German la anguage abrroad to a sig gnificant exte ent, however.

4.5

Sustaina ability of th he program mme area

This s chapter pre esents the findings f in re he evaluation criterion o of sustainabiility. In this elation to th ow far the processes conttext, we foc cus on the superordinate e issue of ho p an nd changes initiated by the programme area are su ustainable in their impac cts at the lev vel of the ind dividuals sup pported and of th he German and a partner country HEIIs. 4.5.1

Sustainab bility in the field of human n capacity de evelopment

Afte er taking parrt in the programme are ea’s program mmes, the va ast majority of those supported return n to their hom me country or region (cff. Fig. 16). The T individua al evaluation ns of the AST T show that 66 p per cent of those suppo orted return to their home country after complleting their studies s and fourr per cent re eturn to their home regi on. The chro onological co omparison in n these indiv vidual evaluations showed d a rise in th he proportio on of those supported s who w return to o their hom me countries until up to nine e years afterr their suppo ort; after that the numb ber sinks. Th he contrary trend after nine e years may be due to the fact that those who have h receive ed support h have a strong ger position in th he job marke et as a result of their intternational experience e and therefore e more of them take up international job b offers outs side their ho me countries or regions.

63

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 16: Return quotas in the programmes studied

Development-related postgraduate courses (AST) (N=2352)

66%

Government scholarship programme Kazakhstan (N=35)

80%

Government scholarship programme Mexico (N=93)

53%

Government scholarship programme Egypt (GERSS) (N=38)

84%

0%

25%

50%

75%

100%

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2012

The individuals supported in the government scholarship programmes also show a high return quota. However, there are great differences between the countries, because the scholarship holder’s immediate return after the end of their scholarship is obligatory in some countries but not in others. The findings of the online survey on the Kazakh government scholarship programme showed a return quota of 84 per cent, while in the Mexican government scholarship programme the equivalent figure was 53 per cent. This can be attributed to the fact that a return is an obligatory condition of the Kazakh government scholarship programme whereas in the Mexican programme, it is not obligatory to the same extent. In the case study in Mexico, however, it emerged that the return quota for the government scholarship programme is higher than in comparable programmes carried out with e.g. Britain, according to statements by partner organisations. The number of individuals who receive support and then remain in Britain to work is much higher. The individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe also revealed that the programme area’s programmes contribute to the fact that those supported remain in their regions. The findings of the online survey show that all those supported stayed in their home countries (see Fig. 17). These findings were also confirmed by a tracer study carried out by the responsible DAAD department which showed that 95 per cent of those supported remain in the region of south-eastern Europe after their studies.

64

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 17: Home country versus country of residence of those supported – individual evaluations of Academic Reconstruction

Hungary Slovenia Serbia Romania Moldova Montenegro

Country of residence

Macedonia

Home country

Croatia Kosovo Germany Bulgaria Bosnia and Herzegovina Albania

0,0%

5,0%

10,0%

15,0%

20,0%

25,0%

30,0%

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2011 (N=522)

The survey findings also revealed that 73 per cent (N=455) of those supported will remain in their home country or a neighbouring country in south-eastern Europe (2 per cent) for the next five years. At the same time, however, 21 per cent of those supported plan to live in another EU country. Four per cent of those supported plan to live outside Europe. The case studies also showed that factors contributing to the decision made by those supported and the alumni to remain in their home countries included, alongside family and private reasons, above all the sense of their roots being in their home country and the desire or sense of selfimposed obligation to make their skills and new knowledge useful to their home country and to contribute to the country’s development. Those supported and the alumni only considered going abroad again for further educational purposes, in particular to do a doctorate. At the same time we observed in the case studies that all those supported by the programme area’s programmes and the alumni surveyed apply and use their new knowledge and skills in their everyday professional lives. According to the findings of the online survey in the individual evaluations of the AST and the government scholarship programmes, those supported are also given more responsibility in their professions or gain a better position as a result of what they have learnt. In the individual evaluations of the AST – taking the categories “strongly agree” and “agree” together – 73 per cent of those surveyed stated that they have been given more responsibility in their profession due to the DAAD support while 79 per cent have gained a better position. In the government scholarship programme in Mexico for example this applies to 55 per cent and 67 per cent (cf. Fig. 18).

65

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Fig. 18: Usefulness of knowledge acquired in everyday professional life

Development-related postgraduate courses (AST)

Government scholarship Egypt GERSS

Due to the experience gained during my time in Germany, I have been given more responsibility at my place of work (N=2240) Due to the experience gained during my time in Germany, my professional position has improved (N=2234) Due to the experience gained during my time in Germany, I have been given more responsibility at my place of work (N=29)

Due to the experience gained during my time in Germany, I have been given more responsibility at my place of work (N=76)

14% 5%

Due to the experience gained during my time in Germany, 5%7% my professional position has improved (N=76)

Government scholarship Kazakhstan

Due to the experience gained during my time in Germany, I have been given more responsibility at my place of work (N=30)

7%

Due to the experience gained during my time in Germany, 7% my professional position has improved (N=30)

0% Strongly disagree

disagree

23%

20%

25%

undecided

21%

25%

21%

21%

38%

10% 10%

21%

24%

27%

27%

50% agree

34%

43%

40%

43%

75% strongly agree

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2012

However, if the findings relating to each sector are viewed separately, it is striking that those supported and alumni from the higher education sector can look back on a more positive career development after their period of support than those in business and the public sector. Taken alongside the results of the case studies and other qualitative analyses, this finding can be attributed to the factors described in chapter 4.2.1, namely the individual DAAD support for solitary people within an organisation, the lack of support from managers and the lack of influence of other DAAD support measures on the organisation. The individual evaluations and the case studies also showed that where changes in organisations were initiated through programmes within the programme area - in particular in the higher education sector – these changes were sustainable. In the individual evaluations in the AST it was seen in the qualitative surveys that changes initiated in the (original) organisation were institutionalised, because they were translated into permanent processes, strategies and structures in the (original) organisation. A representative example of this is that of an alumnus in Kenya who changed the safety procedures in his biochemical laboratory so they are now compliant with current safety standards. To do this, he developed various quality management manuals and trained his colleagues in the necessary safety procedures. In the individual evaluations of the government scholarship programmes, one out of nine (11 per cent) of the alumni’s managers surveyed could report changes in the (original) organisation which were initiated and permanently established in the organisation. In this particular case it related to improvements in processes in a radiological examination procedure to improve the quality of the results. This low number can be attributed to the fact that most of those supported through the Kazakh and Mexican government scholarship programme work in the private sector or in public administration, where they are not able to initiate changes for the reasons mentioned above. No findings relating to sustainability could be established in this PAE for the Egyptian government scholarship programme, due to the fact that the programme has not been running for long enough.

66

5%

12%

34%

17%

17%

28%

15% 5%7%

29%

50%

Due to the experience gained during my time in Germany, my professional position has improved (N=29)

Government scholarship Mexico

30%

43%

100%

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

4.5.2

Sustainability in the field of strengthening HEIs

The changes initiated through the programme area’s programmes at partner country HEIs are sustainable in almost all cases. In the individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction of South Eastern Europe, 18 per cent (N=80) of the project partners stated in the online survey that additional new study programmes were developed after completion of the project. Some of them also said that joint study modules (14 per cent; N=80) and joint summer schools (18 per cent; N=80) were carried out after completion of the project. 15 per cent (N=80) signed additional cooperation agreements with each other after the projects were completed. These findings were confirmed in two of the six projects in the case study in Serbia, in which the development of autonomous cooperation structures was driven forward outside the stability pact funding. For example, the partners in these projects set up consortia to prepare an application for the 8th EU Framework Programme for Research. In two other cases, the Ministry of Education will continue to support workshops and summer schools which were originally funded by the stability pact. In these two cases the project funding was also supplemented by financial support from the district governments. In two other projects of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe which were visited in the case studies in Serbia, the project partners stated that it will probably not be possible to continue the project activities, summer schools and workshops when the DAAD ceases its support. They stated that, due to the lack of other donors and the Serbian Ministry for Education’s limited financial resources, there was no alternative to DAAD funding. All six project partners surveyed in the case study in Serbia stated in addition that the courses and study programmes which have emerged from the programme are integrated in the curricula and have received accreditation. They anticipate that the cooperation agreements signed while the programme was still running will also permit collaboration in future beyond the funding period of the Academic Reconstruction of South Eastern Europe. In the other case studies, with the exception of Vietnam, we saw that the changes at HEIs were integrated into the HEIs’ strategic annual planning. One representative example is the establishment of quality assurance departments in the HEIs which took part in the DIES project in East Africa. Budget items to fund them were set up at each HEI we visited and the organisation charts adapted accordingly. In another example, the curricula in the department of water management were changed and developed at one of the HEIs visited, in order to set up a new Master’s study programme. On-going funding through the combination of a range of programmes in the programme area was identified as a factor in the success in institutionalising structures and making them permanent. All respondents stated that changing structures or processes in organisations in developing countries takes a great deal of time. It was striking that in programmes which were funded over a long period, the transfer of positive changes into firm structures was made easier by a systematic approach. However, we also found little evidence of strategic planning in the form of a systematic approach and targeted implementation of the programme area’s programmes. The consequence is that the programmes are not coordinated in relation to institutionalising changes in an organisation, making it more difficult to make changes permanent (cf. also chapter 4.6.1). Another obstacle to sustainable change was identified in the case studies in Vietnam and Serbia in the form of the social and political conditions. It is difficult to anchor changes in Vietnam, for example, because structural decisions in HEIs are not taken at the HEIs themselves but in the ministry responsible for higher education. In Serbia, the Ministry of Education’s limited budget is a challenge when attempting to establish initiated changes permanently, independently of external funding. The programme area and its programmes are however less sustainable in their efforts to strengthen partner country HEIs in keeping abreast of international academic debates using their own funding. At all HEIs visited in the case studies, it was clear that the activities to enable scientists and academics to take part in academic debates or to attend conferences are mainly funded by the programme area. However, the programme area’s programmes primarily target 67

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

the support of researchers, scientists and academics, not HEI structures such as the internationalisation departments. The consequence is that the partner country HEIs do not develop permanent structures and knowledge for the acquisition of third party funding to enable their scientists and academics to participate in events which would guarantee that the HEI keeps abreast of the academic discourse. A positive exception to this are the courses funded by DIES on writing applications, which enable the scientists and academics supported to apply autonomously for thirdparty funding from other national, bilateral and multi-lateral donors. In this context we must point out that the external actors interviewed in the case studies stated that in many developing countries, international donors fund the internationalisation activities of the local HEIs so that they have no need to develop autonomous structures in this area. The German HEIs, on the other hand, are in a position to maintain the changes initiated by the programmes in the programme area without support. According to six of the seven (86 per cent) study programme heads in the individual evaluations of the AST, the AST developed through the programme is maintained without DAAD funding. This is mainly due to the fact that the DAAD scholarship holders comprise one third of the students on average and so the ASTs could be carried out without them. However, four of the seven (57 per cent) interview partners stated that without the DAAD funding, no students from less developed countries – in particular from Africa – would be able to afford to study in Germany. Furthermore, without the DAAD subsidies for the additional administrative costs caused by the international students, the HEIs and the faculties would not be able to afford these on the current scale. All three HEI managers interviewed consider that it is important to their HEIs to continue the ASTs already developed, since the ASTs help improve the HEI’s reputation and are often perceived as a ‘beacon’ in relation to the internationalisation of their HEIs. In addition, the ASTs often provide an impetus to develop additional study programmes, since these study programmes benefit from the experience gathered in each AST. The individual evaluations of the AST and the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe programmes also show that the cooperative partnerships with partner country HEIs initiated by the programmes are long-lasting. This was confirmed in the individual evaluations by nine of ten (90 per cent) of the German HEIs and by all four in the Academic Reconstruction. These cooperative partnerships are characterised by institutionalised structures through which student and scientist exchanges take place and joint publications are produced. In individual cases, joint study programmes have been developed and set up at the partner HEIs in the developing countries. In five out of fourteen cases (36 per cent) these cooperative partnerships have been formalised with cooperation agreements. In individual cases these cooperative agreements have existed for five or nine years; in other words, they can be considered sustainable. Developing partnerships outside the higher education field only occurs sporadically, according to the findings of the individual evaluations (cf. also chapter 4.2.3). Where formalised partnerships do exist, they usually take place in the form of advisers appointed to study programmes. Apart from these, no formal independent networking structures with business, DC organisations or other non-university actors were identified. 4.5.3

Sustainability in the networking field

The findings of the online survey in the individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe showed that the networks created and the regional educational opportunities set up in the region for the region are sustainable. For example, the German project managers and the partner country project partners expressed optimism in the online survey that the cooperative activities between the south-eastern European HEIs will continue after the project is completed. Taking the categories “strongly agree” and “agree” together, 57 per cent of the project managers and 71 per cent of the project partners are confident that the collaboration between the HEIs involved in the project will continue when the project ends. In addition, 41 per cent of the project managers and 51 per cent of the project partners are convinced that the networks developed through the stability pact will continue to exist. This is reinforced by the fact that 58 per cent of project managers and 62 per cent of project partners are still in contact with people from several other countries even after the project has ended. Only five per cent of the 68

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

project managers and ten per cent of the project partners stated in the online survey that they no longer have any active contacts. In addition, 44 per cent of project managers and 36 per cent of project partners are convinced that the networks developed can be transformed into firm structures in future (cf. Fig. 19). Fig. 19: Sustainability of networks – individual evaluations of the Academic Reconstruction in South Eastern Europe

Project manager

The established networks continue to exist after the DAAD funding period

Project partner

The c ollaboration between South Eastern European HEIs will c ontinue after the project has ended

Project manager

We will suc ceed in maintaining firm c ooperative structures independently of DAAD projec t funding

Project manager

The HEIs in South Eastern Europe will find/have found other donors to support regional cooperative

Project manager

17 %

Project partner

16 %

Project partner

25%

Strongly disagree

Disagree

19 %

39 %

23 %

0%

20 %

33 %

30 %

50%

Undecided

7%

29 %

35 %

24 %

16 %

28 %

31 %

25 %

Project partner

15 %

56 %

16 %

10 %

21 %

36 %

30 %

12 %

9%

42 %

30 %

15 %

15 %

26 %

53 %

6%

75%

Agree

100%

Strongly agree

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2011 (Project manager N=34; Project partner N=74)

The survey findings are consistent with the case study results in Serbia. The project partners and the individuals who received support in the three completed projects stated that they are still in contact with their partners. These contacts take the form of student exchanges, small-scale research projects or attendance at conferences, for example. In one project, the partners planned to continue their cooperation in another framework with other funding. However, the case study did not identify any formal networking structures which are supervised and administered by the partner HEIs. All those responsible for the networks between German and Colombian or Vietnamese HEIs studied in the case studies in Colombia and Vietnam stated that these networks are sustainable. A contributory factor to their sustainability, in the respondents’ opinion, was the fact that the cooperative activities were formalised (cooperation agreements were signed between partner universities) before the DAAD funding period began. In particular, however, they consider the long period over which the partnerships were developed to be a significant indicator of their sustainability. The HEI cooperative relationships studied in Colombia have developed through a mixture of instruments applied by change agents who had studied at German universities on doctoral scholarships. The openness to and interest in a partnership with a Colombian university arose through the doctoral students’ ideas and based on their relationship of trust with the professors; it was then supported by the programme area. Those responsible for these HEI partnerships on the Columbian side see an indicator for their sustainability in the fact that the cooperation activities have survived a change in personnel on the German side and have even been expanded. The change in personnel also entailed a change in the research focus, which made the situation even more challenging. Despite this positive example, all the case studies and qualitative surveys revealed that the sustainability of networks depends to a great extent on the individuals involved and their commitment, which makes their sustainability a challenge when personnel changes oc69

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

cur. However, it is typical of networks in the academic field that they are generally extremely individualised. 4.5.4

Sustainability in the field of alumni work

The sustainability situation in the alumni work is complex. According to the findings of the individual evaluations of the special alumni projects, the alumni maintain active contacts in the German business and academic fields after their period of support. For example, alumni who took part in one or more alumni special project(s) between 2004 and 2010 still have active contacts to German business as well as to HEIs and other alumni. Of these, 43 per cent are in contact with German business representatives at least twice a year, 45 per cent with German HEIs and 29 per cent with other alumni (cf. Fig. 20). Fig. 20: Participants’ active contacts between 2005 and 2010 – individual evaluations, alumni special projects

Business contacts (N=198)

43%

Academic contacts (N=240)

45%

Alumni contacts (N=108)

0,0%

29%

20,0%

40,0%

60,0%

80,0%

100,0%

Source: Rambøll Management Consulting 2012 (multiple answers were possible)

The qualitative surveys in this individual evaluation confirmed that these contacts mainly take place through the alumni networks funded by the DAAD. However, the case studies and the individual evaluations of the AST identified no long-term partnerships between alumni and nonuniversity actors in German (e.g. in the business sector). Existing contacts were mostly limited to private contacts and professional or academic contacts to the alumni’s German HEIs. The contact frequency varies considerably as it is based on demand. In the case study countries themselves however, sustainable alumni networks developed by the DAAD were found in Colombia, Kenya and Vietnam; these networks were characterised by strong partnerships between the alumni. The networks ASPRA and ASPA in Colombia, for example, organise annual seminars and conferences which are popular and well attended. In addition, the funding for these networks and for those in Kenya is largely independent of DAAD support. They only rely on financial support for large-scale events. However, in terms of sustainability of the networks, it was pointed out that currently the older scholarship holders are active and the involvement of the younger scholarship holders must be strengthened. In Vietnam, political and administrative stipulations make it very difficult to found autonomous associations; despite this however the German Alumni Green Group (GAGGroup) has been established with the support of the DAAD branch office. This group is intended to bring together alum70

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

ni of all generations who work in the fields of environmental protection and environmental sciences. It has only been in existence for a short time so far and is still dependent on DAAD funding. 4.5.5

Evaluation of the sustainability of the programme area

A complex picture emerges when viewing the sustainability of the programme area and its programmes. The vast majority of those supported and the alumni return to their home country or region after their period of support and apply their new knowledge and skills in their everyday professional lives. The changes initiated in their organisations by those supported and the alumni who are in a position to do so are sustainable, because the processes, strategic plans and structures of the organisations are institutionalised. The changes in German and partner country HEIs were also assessed as being sustainable by the evaluation team. For example, the great majority of the German and partner country HEIs are able to continue the changes initiated even without the DAAD’s financial support. The German HEIs receive support from their management and can transfer the changes initiated into permanent structures and processes, as can the partner country HEIs. The surveys revealed that continuity of support through combining and clustering a range of the programme area’s programmes is a success factor in institutionalising the structures and making them permanent. Obstacles to this process are social and political conditions and the lack of coordination between the programme area’s programmes. The programme area and its programmes are less successful in achieving sustainable results when it comes to strengthening partner country HEIs to enable them independently to keep abreast of the knowledge society. The programmes studied in the programme area evaluation primarily focus on supporting individual researchers, scientists and academics rather than on developing permanent structures in the HEIs and the faculties, such as internationalisation departments.21 The consequence is that the partner country HEIs do not develop permanent structures and funding opportunities for acquiring third-party funding which would enable the scientists and academics at their HEIs to attend events which would guarantee that the HEIs could keep abreast of academic discourse. This is reinforced by the fact that international donors frequently fund the local HEI’s internationalisation activities, so the latter have no need to develop these self-supporting structures. This also explains why the governments in the case study countries visited also invest little in this field. In the field of networking, the programme area succeeds in developing sustainable networks and regional educational opportunities in the region for the region. In particular, the establishment of permanent cooperative structures was promoted by the application of several instruments combined with a long period of support. However, these networks are often highly dependent on the individuals involved and their commitment, resulting in challenges to sustainability when personnel changes occur. The evaluation uncovered the potential for optimising the programme area’s alumni work. The programme area succeeds in establishing contacts between alumni and German business and academia, but professional contacts or cooperative relationships in which exchange of expertise and/or joint projects were carried out were restricted to contacts with German HEIs. Contacts to the business field were generally characterised by personal exchange with no business-related background. In the developing countries themselves, however, DAAD support enabled the formation of formalised alumni networks which have their own structures and which provide popular events. These alumni networks in Colombia and Kenya are largely self-supporting, whereas in Vietnam the network is still dependent on DAAD funding due to the fact that it has only been in existence for a short time.

21

In contrast to this, the DAAD points out that other programmes in the programme area which were not studied in this programme

area evaluation do target the institutional improvement at HEIs in this field. 71

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

4.6

Complem mentarity and a coordin nation of th he programme area

In this chapter we present the evaluatiion findings in relation to the criteri a compleme entarity and coorrdination. Itt includes sttatements on n the coordination of th he programm mes with otthers in the DAA AD programme area an nd on the p lanning of programme p coordination n both within the program mme area an nd with othe er internation nal donors. 4.6.1

Coordinattion of progra ammes within n the program mme area

In the individua al evaluations and the ca ase studies, no conflicts s between th he various programmes with hin the progrramme area were obserrved. However, there wa as little sign that the DA AAD deliberately steers and d coordinate es the progrrammes. In all the interviews with the DAAD, it emerged thatt loose agree ements take e place throu ugh meeting gs of departm ment heads and other coordination c mec chanisms suc ch as departtment headss’ reports on n funding applications. T These do nott usually result in country strategies or targeted d coordinatio on processe es between the program mmes. The DAA AD’s new strrategy paperr, however, e expressly plans the deve elopment off country strategies and regional strateg gies. When th he evaluatio n took place e, however, only o isolated d country strrategies existed d, e.g. for China. How wever, we did observe synergies s be etween the programmes s within the e programme e area, although these we ere not due to t DAAD stra ategy or stee ering. For ex xample, in th he case study in Kenya, the parallel imp plementation of AST scho olarships and the Dialog gue on Innov vative Highe er Education Stra ategies (DIES S) scholarsh hips generate ed synergies s in that for example at one HEI, an n AST alumna w was able to introduce i a new n supervi sion system for Master’s s theses, beccause her manager had take en part in th he DIES prog gramme and d had a posittive attitude to the chan nges. In ano other example in the case study in Vietnam, synerrgies were generated at a Vietname ese HEI throu ugh the implem mentation off a subject-related parttnership and d the Exceed d programm me at different times. A kind d of value-ch hain was cre eated, in tha t the useful factors generated by th he subject-re elated partners ship were made perman nent by the E Exceed prog gramme and additional sstructures were created p. whic ch would nott have been possible witthout the subject-related d partnership In a addition, the individual evaluations e o of the alumni special pro ojects reveal ed synergy effects with the AST. At one e university, an alumni sspecial proje ect took plac ce where the e majority off those who atte ended were alumni a of th he AST offerred there. Th his made mo ore intensive e, in-depth preparation and implementa ation of the e project posssible becau use the orga anisers alrea ady knew th he alumni’s subjject orientattion. The common back ground arisiing from the e postgradua ate studies had a positive effect on th he alumni’s networking with each other o and with the unive ersity, because permanent professiona al contacts emerged e from m it. For these reaso ons, the prog grammes wi thin the pro ogramme are ea can be co oordinated in three differe ent ways with h other DAA AD programm mes in order to gain syne ergies in dev veloping cou untries: •

mplemented First, the programm mes can be im d at operativ ve level to s upplement other o DAAD program implementin mmes. Synerrgies are gen nerated by deliberately d ng programm mes in parallel which reinforce each other when combiined.



Second, programme es can be im mplemented at different times so tha at multiplierrs and partners for carrying ou an be traine ut future pro ogrammes ca ed on the sp pot and delib berately returned to the organiisations with h which the DAAD D intend ds to work in n future.



Finally, the t program mmes can pro omote a sus stainability fu unction and perpetuate the links to Germany y if they follow on direcctly from oth her program mmes or conttribute to su ustainability through a networkin ng approach..

4.6.2

Coordinattion with prog grammes fro om outside the programme e area

Coo ordinating th he programm me area’s p rogrammes with other German DC C interventio ons or program mmes took place spora adically in s elected prog grammes up p to the tim me when the e PAE took plac ce. For exam mple the DAA AD collabora ates with the e GIZ in Bra azil in a join t initiative for f research and political con nsultation in the field of energy and energy effic ciency. In in ndividual cas ses, cooperative activities also a occur between Germ man DC organisations and HEIs who o are taking part in the 72

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

programme area’s programmes. However, a systematic approach towards cooperation with German DC organisations at programme area level was not identified during the time available for the programme area evaluation. However, the DAAD signed a framework agreement covering future collaboration with the GIZ in February 2012. This is intended to provide the basis for more intensive cooperation in future in which competences are clustered and networks used jointly. The partners interviewed also stated that the DAAD is negotiating with the KfW on closer cooperation in future. In the AKBP field, the DAAD cooperates with the Goethe Institute and the Alexander von Humboldt Foundation (AvH). For example, the case study in Kenya revealed that the DAAD presented its scholarship provision at Goethe Institute events. The German language courses for the scholarship holders who are due to come to Germany are also held at the Goethe Institute. In the case study in Serbia, we observed cooperation between the DAAD and the AvH in alumni work; alumni events were planned and carried out jointly by the DAAD and the AvH. In the international field, the DAAD has annual meetings with European sister organisations in order to exchange information and experiences in and about the programme work. This type of exchange also takes place at joint conferences and expert seminars. Beyond this, however, the evaluation did not reveal any further cooperative arrangements or plans for future coordination of the programme area with international bilateral and multi-lateral donors. 4.6.3

Evaluation of the complementarity and coordination of the programme area

The evaluation team identified a great deal of potential for improvement in the field of complementarity. When the PAE took place, the programmes were not often actively coordinated with other programmes within the programme area. Synergies which the PAE identified occurred randomly in most cases and were rarely the result of active steering by the DAAD. There are opportunities to apply the programmes deliberately and to cluster them with others in order to create more synergies. It has emerged that the combination of individual support programmes and project support programmes in particular make impacts at the organisational level. In this context, a coordinated strategy must be developed for the programme area and its programmes in order to apply the strengths of individual programmes to maximum effect. The examples given show that this is possible. However, the strategy must differentiate between different countries and regions in order to take into account the conditions in each place. In terms of coordination, the DAAD has successfully taken steps to systematise the coordination at programme area level outside the programme area. Time will tell whether the DAAD can identify interfaces for joint cooperation with the GIZ and the KfW. This evaluation has for example identified a great need for infrastructure at the partner country HEIs; on the basis of these findings, fruitful partnerships with the KfW in particular could arise. It must also be investigated how and to what extent the German HEIs and therefore also the DAAD could make the most of their value for the German DC organisations, so that additional cooperation opportunities e.g. with the GIZ could be developed. Prospects are emerging in areas where government consultations and research complement each other or where the development of organisations and industries is accompanied by the provision of educated experts and managers. The coordination with AKPB actors and with international bilateral and multi-lateral donors is assessed as positive. However, in the case of international bilateral and multi-lateral donors it should be investigated how far cooperative activities can be entered into which go beyond the exchange of information and experience. For example, the DAAD could examine whether the programmes of other donors could be strengthened by DAAD scholarship programmes.

73

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

5.

ADDE ENDUM: EVALU UATION N METHOD

5.1

Evaluatio on question ns and aspe ects

The purpose of the evaluattion was to conduct an independent study of th he programme area as welll as of four individual prrogrammes ffrom the pro ogramme are ea according g to the OEC CD-DAC criteria a. The evalu uation should d focus on th he analysis of o the effectiveness, pro ogramme exe ecution and outc come of the programme e area and th he selected individual programmes. Regarding the four individ dual program mmes and their output and funding g instruments shall be ev valuated in the context of the entire prrogramme spectrum in order to show the interaction of th he individua al measures and identify the e potential fo or optimisatiion, also with regard to synergies w with other de evelopment, scie ents. In the entific and cultural-politiical instrume e end, the evaluation e sh hould provid de concrete reco ommendations for meas sures for th he future direction und further dev velopment of o the program mme area. In I the study,, the followin ng evaluation questions were answe ered: •

How sho ould the dev velopment off political relevance be assessed? o



mply consider the intere Will the DAAD be b able to am ests of the sstakeholders s (sponsors, ersities cond spon nsored indiv viduals, unive ducting proje ects, partnerr countries) and act togeth her? ƒ

For the sponsors: s prriorities of the developm ment policiess, the foreig gn research policies, the security y policies (co ountries in crisis), c focuss of the German development cooperation c

ƒ

For the applicants a an nd sponsore ed individuals: scientific and personal development, carreer perspecctives, inter--cultural experiences

ƒ

For unive ersity cooperration projects: interestts of the coo operation in academics and resea arch, integra ation in the internationa alisation con ncepts of the e respective universities (in Germ any as well as in the partner countrries)

ƒ

Partner countries: su stainable "capacity build ding".

o

at leeway do oes the DAA AD achieve – sponsored university p projects as cooperation c Wha projjects betwee en non-gove rnmental sta akeholders (and, ( in partt, developme ent cooperation projects, independen nt of politica ally negotiated framew works between governmen nts) in order to promote social discourse and critical debatess with politic cs?

o

Are the program mmes up-to--date with cu urrent scienc ce?

o

Will the DAAD adequately a react to new wly emerging needs in a timely ma anner? How can the relevanc ce of the end deavour be ensured or increased in the future?

Will the goals of the e programme e area be ac chieved (effic cacy)? o

How w do the programmes a affect the sponsored in ndividuals (a acquisition of o qualifications, long-term m career persspectives, co onnection to Germany a nd the DAAD D)? Will the desiired target groups g be rea ached?

o

How w do the pro ogrammes e effect the pa articipating institutions?? (What con ntribution is mad de to the prrofessional a and personn nel developm ment of uniiversities in developing coun ntries? Are there t structu ural changes s to be noted d, for examp ple: increase ed efficiency and improved managemen m nt at univers sities? Do the program mmes contrib bute to the strengthening of o the develo opment of competence c and profile of German universities as well w as Germ man scholarss in the deve elopment coo operation an nd the integrration in intern national disco ourse?)

o

How w do DAAD selection s co mmittees en nsure the qu uality of the e sponsored individuals and projects?

o

Which facts inflluence reach hing program mme goals? Are there measures th hat achieve partticularly pos sitive resultss (if applicable, also ne egative resu lts)? Is the efficacy in achiieving goals higher in ce ertain areas compared to o others?

74

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES







o

Which of the programmes examined and with which experiences were the SouthSouth networks established and promoted?

o

Have the programme goals changed? Have unintended effects (positive and negative) ensued? Is it possible to react in a reasonable way to changes in goals or in the general conditions of the target countries?

o

Are there complementary and/or conflicting goals within the programmes? If yes, how do these effect the achievement of goals?

o

How can the efficacy of the programmes and their measures be ensured in the future?

Are the programmes of the programme area and their measures efficient? o

How can the relationship between the resources used and the results be evaluated?

o

Are the various programme measures logically structured and targeted? Should individual programmes be re-structured or even bundled?

o

How important is the presence of a foreign lectorship office or an IC lectorship in the target country for assistance measures?

o

Are the individual programmes coordinated sensibly? Are synergy effects attained, also with other measures of the development cooperation as well as other agents of the development cooperation as well as AKBP measures?

o

How are the employed quality assurance/evaluation measures assessed?

Which overriding effects are achieved in terms of development politics? o

What contribution do the programmes provide in terms of changes in the higher education systems in the developing countries?

o

What contribution do the programmes provide in terms of offering expertise to solve problems relevant to development?

o

What contribution do the programmes provide for the economic and political stabilisation in the target countries?

How sustainable are the achieved effects? o

To what extent can the observed effects on individual, organisations and systems be considered permanent?

o

What steps were taken in order to ensure the sustainability of the achieved effects? Which factors facilitate the sustainability of the efficacy and which are hindering factors? To what extent are the partners prepared and able to sustain the positive effects of the programme without support?



Which connections exist between other programmes/stakeholders (German bi-lateral development cooperation, international NRO or multi-lateral organisations)? Which synergy effects does this achieve? (Complementarities)



How can the programme measures be coordinated with other bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors in the future? What synergy effects can be achieved? (Coordination)

Furthermore, six additional questions were identified in the course of the programme area evaluation together with the DAAD, which should be answered by the evaluation: 1. How do the universities und university cooperation projects create added value for the partner countries and the German EZ as well as AKBP? 2. What motivates the German universities to participate in the programmes of the programme area? 3. To what extent do the various sponsoring approaches effect (individually vs. institutionally) the efficacy of the program area? 4. To what extent is the DAAD able to successfully consider and communicate the interests of its stakeholders? 75

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

5. What programme mixes m have a positive or o negative effect on th he efficacy of the programme e area in the e respective countries? 6. What influence does s the selectiion process have on the e achieveme nt of goals for f the programme ogramme arrea? e and the pro 5.2

Method dical approa ach – Evalu uation process

The following in ntroduces the examinatio hich Rambøll Manageme ent Consultin ng conducton steps, wh ed in the evalua ation proces ss. This desccription shou uld offer an impression o of the source of the insigh hts derived from f the results and w which instrum ments were used in the e evaluation n. First, the prep paration ana alyses is described and tthen the evaluation conc cepts for the e programme e area evaluation and the four f individu ual programm mes. 5.2.1

Preparatio on Analyses

At the start of the t project a joint coord dination mee eting took place between n Rambøll Management M Consulting and the DAAD in order to d define the details of the e job and to agree upon n a detailed projject planning g and organisation. In tthe preparattion phase, Rambøll Ma nagement Consulting C co onducted a documents s and data ana alysis (Desk k Research) as the first step. The goal of the desk d researcch was to ga ain in-depth knowledge of th he programm me area and d the four in ndividual pro ogrammes a and to lay th he basis for the further analysis steps. The T desk ressearch pursu ued various goals g to thiss end: on the e one hand, to p provide an in nitial descrip ption of the contents, go oals and the e structure o of the programme area “Edu ucational Co ooperation with w Develo oping Countrries”, as we ell as the in ndividual prrogrammes, “Pos st-Graduate Study Progrramme with a Topic Related to Deve eloping Coun ntries “, “Ac cademic Renment Grants”. On the cons struction of Southeast Europe”, E “Sp pecial Alumn ni Projects” and “Govern othe er hand, it should provid de an initial baseline for the answers s to the quesstions in the e evaluation and for the evalluation criterria (relevancce, efficacy, efficiency, effect, e sustaiinability, com mplementaritie es, coordinattion). With hin the scop pe of the de esk research h, Rambøll Management M Consulting also conduc cted an intern national co omparison. The goal o of the intern national com mparison wa as to view the t specific charracteristics of o the DAAD programme e area comp pared to othe er internatio nal program mmes for intern national education coope eration with h developing countries. In this com mparison, Rambøll Management Consu ulting examined relevantt aid progra ammes for international education cooperation c with h developing countries based on the following fiv ve criteria: •

Instituttional Back king: This criterion describes the organisation ns, which execute e the . Furthermo re, it illustra tested programmes p ates their relationship to the governm ment.



Goal: This T criterion represents the intended d goals and impact of th he programm mes.



Target Groups: Th his includes the targeted individuals and organ nisations, wh ho or which should experience e change c via th he programm mes.



Fields of o Activity:: This criteriion includes the themattic fields in w which the programmes are activ ve.



Sponso orship volume: This c riterion describes the financial f ressources with h which the program mmes are endowed.

Base ed on the de eveloped criteria, the ai d programm mes research hed were ana alysed by means of the “Most Similar Design” and compared c to the DAAD programme p area. a Para allel to the desk research, Rambølll Manageme ent Consultin ng conducte ed 15, in-de epth interview ws with rele evant individ duals within the DAAD, as well as 15 1 interview ws with su urrounding stak keholders. The intervie ews in the D DAAD were aimed a at obttaining deep per insight in n the structure e, goals, rele evance, coorrdination and d complemen ntarities of the t program me area, as well as the indiv vidual progrrammes. Furrthermore, i nitial appraisals regarding the outco ome of the programme area a and the fo our individua al programm mes could be discussed. At this junctture, questio ons regard76

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

ing the various sponsors and their demands, as well as the resulting demands on the DAAD as the mediating organisation in the areas of conflict between the universities, sponsors and the needs of the partner countries were also the central focus. Hereby, the information collected within the parameters of the desk research could be supplemented as needed and a more broad basis for the development of the evaluation design could be formed. In the interviews with the surrounding stakeholders, a pinpointing of the programme area and the DAAD within the landscape of the German development cooperation was carried out. For this purpose, the interviewed stakeholders were asked about their perception of the DAAD, its strengths and weaknesses, as well as its potential in the future. The results of these interviews were presented to the DAAD in a strategy workshop, and were used in the development of a strategic direction for the future programme area. Based on the results of the previous analysis steps, the evaluation criteria of the BMZ and the OECD-DAC together with the DAAD were further developed in order to accommodate the specific characteristics of the DAAD as an independent, semi-autonomous mediating organisation, which acts as an association of German universities and students, in contrast to organisations of the development cooperation. Therefore, the evaluation criteria of the OECD-DAC and the BMZ, as well as the collectively developed evaluation criteria, upon which this evaluation is based, are illustrated in the form of a table.

77

OECD-DAC (1991). DAC Principles for the Evaluation of Development Assistance. Paris: OECD

BMZ (2006). Evaluierungskriterien für die deutsche bilaterale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Bonn: BMZ

OECD-DAC (1991). DAC Principles for the Evaluation of Development Assistance. Paris: OECD

BMZ (2006). Evaluierungskriterien für die deutsche bilaterale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Bonn: BMZ

OECD-DAC (1991). DAC Principles for the Evaluation of Development Assistance. Paris: OECD

BMZ (2006). Evaluierungskriterien für die deutsche bilaterale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Bonn: BMZ

25

26

27

28

29

78

BMZ (2006). Evaluierungskriterien für die deutsche bilaterale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Bonn: BMZ

Positive and negative, primary and secondary longterm effects produced by a development intervention, directly or indirectly, intended or unintended. 28

Effect

24

The scope of this criterion includes proofing whether or not, and to what extent the development measurement contributes to the targeted overriding development policy goals. Furthermore, it will be examined if and which other positive and negative effects have resulted.29

Efficiency

OECD-DAC (1991). DAC Principles for the Evaluation of Development Assistance. Paris: OECD

This criterion measures, whether or not and to what extent the DAAD programmes contribute to the goals of the German development policies and the German Federal Foreign Office’s Cultural and Educational Policy (AKBP). Furthermore, whether or not and which other positive and negative effects result is examined.

The criterion refers to the adequacy of resources used for a development measure with regard to the achieved results.27

Efficiency measures the outputs -- qualitative and quantitative -- in relation to the inputs. It is an economic term, which signifies that the aid uses the least costly resources possible in order to achieve the desired results.26

Efficacy

23

The criterion measures the adequacy of the resources used for a development measure with regard to the short-term and mid-term goals.

The criterion refers to the extent to which measures contribute to the achievement of the (direct) goals of the development measure (target-performance comparison).25

The extent to which the development intervention’s objectives were achieved, or are expected to be achieved, taking into account their relative importance. Also used as an aggregate measure of (or judgment about) the merit or worth of an activity, i.e. the extent to which an intervention has attained, or is expected to attain, its major relevant objectives efficiently in a sustainable fashion and with a positive institutional development impact.24

Relevance

22

The criterion refers to the degree to which the goals of the DAAD programmes match the changing needs of the sponsors, partner countries, German and foreign universities, as well as to the needs of those aided and how the DAAD can successfully, if need be, harmonise these various goals.

The criterion refers to the extent to which the development measure goals match the needs of the target groups, policies of the cooperation country, partner institutions, the global development goals, as well as the basic orientation of the government’s development policy.23

The extent to which the objectives of a development intervention are consistent with beneficiaries’ requirements, country needs, global priorities and partner’ and donors’ policies.22

The criterion refers to the extent to which degree the DAAD measures contribute to the successful achievement of the short-term and mid-term goals of the programmes, which can be directly traced back to the measure and which are intended.

DAAD Definition

BMZ Definition

OECD-DAC Definition

Evaluation Criteria

Evaluation Criteria

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

BMZ (2006). Evaluierungskriterien für die deutsche bilaterale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Bonn: BMZ

BMZ (2006). Evaluierungskriterien für die deutsche bilaterale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Bonn: BMZ

BMZ (2006). Evaluierungskriterien für die deutsche bilaterale Entwicklungszusammenarbeit. Bonn: BMZ

32

33

79

OECD-DAC (1991). DAC Principles for the Evaluation of Development Assistance. Paris: OECD

33

31

-

Coordination

The DAAD programmes (goals, measures and process) develop future mechanisms, in order to agree upon and coordinate with other German and international stakeholders of the development cooperation and AKBP (bi-lateral and multi-lateral sponsors).

The DAAD goals and programmes are executed in partnership and based on the division of labour.

The goals and measures within the German (state) bi-lateral EZ are conducted complementary and according to a division of labour.32 The development measure (goals, measures and process) is coordinated and harmonised with other bi-lateral and multi-lateral donors and organisations.

In the scope of this criterion, it is estimated to what extent and under what conditions, the positive shortterm and mid-term effects of the DAAD programmes can sustain beyond the end of the support from the DAAD.

In the scope of this criterion, the extent to which the positive effects of the development measure will continue beyond the end of the aid is estimated. 31

30

-

Complementarities

Sustainability

The continuation of benefits from a development intervention after major development assistance has been completed. The probability of continued longterm benefits. The resilience to risk of the net benefit flows over time. 30

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

Parallel to the further development of the evaluation questions and criteria, Rambøll Management Consulting conducted an examination of the current selection of countries for the case studies. For this purpose, Rambøll Management Consulting developed, in close coordination with the DAAD, the following selection criteria, upon which the selection of countries was revised and presented to the external work group in a workshop. •

Proportional Commitment of the Programme area 5: In order to be able to make statements regarding the results of the programme area in the respective countries, the portion of the programme area in relation to the entire portfolio must be relatively high. Hereby, one must ensure that the portion of the programme area as a percent of the entire DAAD portfolio in the respective country is an adequate portion of the absolute number of the executed programmes.34



Funding Volume: In addition to the proportional distribution of the programmes, the funding volume used in the respective country for the programme area should be accordingly high enough, so that significant aid contributions can be recorded.35



Critical Mass of Foreign Aid Recipients: In each country, there should be an adequate number of foreigners receiving aid, who participated in the programme area so that a reliable basis for the analysis is provided.



Regional Representation: Rambøll Management Consulting suggests that the case studies should take place in all major world regions (Africa, Asia, Latin America and Southeast Europe), in which the DAAD is active. In this way, it is also guaranteed that all the world regions are considered that are relevant for the German EZ.



Socio-Economic Conditions: According to Rambøll Management Consulting, in order to be able to judge the impact of national conditions on the programme area, countries should be chosen, in which various economic conditions prevail. To this end, the following economic country types were used according to the World Bank: o High-income countries o Top-mid income countries o Lower-mid income countries o Low income countries36



Local DAAD Presence: The presence of a DAAD information centre or foreign office in the country can be a deciding influence factor on the effects of the programme area. In this regard, at least one country should be chosen, in which the DAAD has a local presence.

Based on the developed criteria, Kenya, Columbia, Serbia and Vietnam were chosen together with the DAAD as case study countries. Based on the background of the previous analytical steps, Rambøll Management Consulting developed a flowchart for the programme area and four reaction chains for the individual programmes. These served as a basis for discussions in the workshop for the development of the flowchart and the workshop for the development of the reaction chains, which were conducted on 14 April 2011 and 9 May 2011 with all relevant all stakeholders. Rambøll Management Consulting entered all suggestions and remarks from these workshops in a protocol and adjusted the flowchart and reaction chains accordingly. The final version of the flowchart can be found at the end of this addendum.

34

The proportional commitment was calculated based on the country statistics 2010. Rambøll Management Consulting points out that

these calculations can only represent reference points, since the programmes can only be recorded for a specific year, for one thing and second, that programmes in the database of the DAAD are not always consistently allotted to a programme area and country. In this respect, a minor blurriness ensues with this criterion for the choice of the case study countries, which is however negligible. 35

Rambøll Management Consulting points out that the financial data provided by the DAAD for this criterion are only reference values.

The calculation resulted based on the financial data from 2003 to 2010. These calculations were only conducted, however, for the closer selection of the case study countries (Kenya, Serbia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Costa Rica and Columbia), since the preparation of data demanded a lot time and effort from the DAAD, which could not be justified for all countries. In this respect, a minor blurriness ensues with this criterion regarding the selection of the case study countries, which is, however, negligible. 36

Low-income countries are defined according to the World Bank as countries with a gross net inland product (GDP) of up to $995 per

head. Lower-mid income countries are defined by a GDP of $996 to $3,945 and top-mid income countries from $3,946 to $12,195. High-income countries are defined by a GDP of $12,196 or higher (World Bank 2010: http://data.worldbank.org/about/countryclassifications). 80

EDUC CATIONAL COOP PERATION WITH DEVELOPING C COUNTRIES

Base ed on the final flowcharrt and the ffinal reaction n chains, Rambøll Mana gement Con nsulting develo oped an eva aluation gr rid for the programme area, as well as fou ur different evaluation e grid ds for the individual programme p es for the ev valuation. These grids in clude the ce entral questions and aspec cts and captture the resp pective indic cators or des scriptors forr each resea arch aspect, whic ch could be accordingly be clearly i dentified an nd analysed during the ffollowing exa aminations. These evaluatio on grids create the basis for the furth her evaluatio on (see attacchment volu ume 2). Furtthermore, in n close coord dination with h the respon nsible DAAD departmentt, Rambøll Management M Consulting adde ed corresponding questtions to a questionna q ire for the e graduate survey of graduate stud dies since th he University y of Oldenbu urg already conducted tthis survey in the summerr of 2011. 5.2.2

Evaluation Concept – Programme a area evaluatiion

The evaluation of the progrramme area “Educationa al Cooperatio on with Deve eloping Countries” consiste ed of four individual programme p evaluations of the pro ogrammes A Academic Re estructuring Southeast Euro ope, Graduatte Studies, Alumni Spe ecial Projects s and three e, selected government g gran nt programm mes. Furtherrmore, four case studies s were conducted in sele ected countrries. In this rega ard, the pro ogramme are ea was anallysed exemp plary based on the fourr individual programme evaluations, as well as via the four ca se studies. Therefore, the t results o of the programme area coulld be drawn from the re esults of the four individual program mme evaluatiions and the e case studies ((see illustrattion “Evaluattion Conceptt - Programm me Area Eva aluation”). Evalluation Conc cept for the Programme P A Area

Operation and Case Study Phase

Graduate Studies − Analysis of the graduate survey from the University of Oldenburg − Execution of guideline-based, in-depth interviews with project directors at universities − Guideline-based telephone interviews with graduates − Consolidation of the results of the ongoing evaluations Alumni Special Projects (SoPro) − Online survey of all alumni − In-depth interviews with seven project directors − In-depth interviews with selected representatives of the economy

Academic Restructuring Southeast Europe − Online questionnaire for all current and former project directors and project partners − Online questionnaire for all former and current individuals receiving aid − Desk Research and in-depth expert interviews − In-depth analysis of individual case studies

Case Studies − − − − − − − − −

Preparation of the case studies Context analyses Interviews with the country directors Creation of the cast study portfolios Internal workshop for the international surveyors Execution of the case studies 25-35 qualitative, guideline-based interviews, focus groups or workshops Survey according to participative data collection methods Creation of the case study report

Co-financed Programmes (esp. government grants) − Online questionnaire of former and current aided individuals − Guideline-based telephone interviews with grant recipients, cooperation partners in Germany and superiors from alumni (35 in total)

Completion and Synthesis Phase Internal synthesis workshop for the consolidation of results and development of recommendations for measures Two coordination workshops Creation of a draft of the main report Creation of the final version of the main report

81

EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

In the programme area evaluation, each of the four individual programme evaluations was considered a case study for the programme area evaluation. On the other hand, they were also viewed as respectively separate, independent evaluations. This fact generated on the one hand, a certain complexity and diversity with regards to the planned analyses, data collection instruments and research steps. On the other hand, this diversity was used in order to enrich and complement the results of the individual programme evaluations alternatively, to thereby generate additional insights, which would not have been discovered within the individual programme evaluations. Via this approach, the results could be additionally validated in reference to the individual programmes. In order to measure the effects of the individual programmes, it was the job of the evaluator to answer the hypothetical question "What would have been, if the intervention never happened?” In order to answer this question, it is often suggested as an ideal research design, to use an appropriate control group design, to approximate the counterfactual situation of the hypothetical non-participation. This is, however, is often not possible since the appropriate control groups are missing, intervening factors cannot be separated and the effort for the identification of the control groups, conception and designation is disparately higher. Also a reference measurement, which serves to compare the economic, social or environmental and personal context between a defined baseline time point and the status after the execution of the programme, is often problematic during the evaluation of instruments in the development cooperation. It is often impossible to measure the individual or group-related quality of life, participation possibilities, as well as economic and social disadvantage before the project start. In the case at hand, it is about aid programmes, which have already been established for many years, effects that unfolded on an individual, organisationally as well as on a social level, and in which stakeholders from Germany and from abroad were involved. In order to approach this problem, and still be able to make reliable statements with regard to the effects and impact of the individual programmes, a three-pronged approach was chosen: First, an appraisal was developed with the involved stakeholders to find an answer to the question "What would have been, if the intervention never took place?" in the case studies, where the respective individual programmes were implemented. Second, all surveys and their questioning instruments were applied within the scope of the individual programmes as programmed comparisons. The programmed comparison is a comprehensive survey of all former as well as currently sponsored individuals and projects from the DAAD in the individual programmes, which were entered in the programmes by the time of the study. The surveys were thereby generated as an approximated longitudinal study. By surveying all of the programme participants, directors and sponsored individuals, both past and present, a programmed comparison was possible, whereby the development of the individuals and the progress of the projects and sponsored individuals could be retraced. Since, at the time of the study, the sponsored individuals and projects were in various phases of the project process (i.e. starting project or individual aid (up to one year), ongoing project sponsorships or individual sponsorship (longer than one year), concluded project or individual sponsorship), a longitudinal analyses could be conducted, which in turn, allowed inferences regarding individual developments and project developments over time. However, this could not be implemented in all surveys, since the portion of the sponsored individuals reached in comparison to the former sponsored individual was too small. In this way, a baseline was established, against which the changes due to the programme participation could be measured. Changes of individually sponsored individuals or projects could perhaps not be measured directly due to programme participation, since it is regarding a former study. Since the individuals and projects, however, were in the programme for varying lengths of time, changes on an individual and project level could be approximated in the longitudinal comparison. The data produced in this way, delivered valid results with regards to the developments

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EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

and changes at an individual and project level due to programme participation Considerably more reliable data could be produced with this prospective longitudinal design approximate approach compared to the alternative, retrospective logging of changes, which, due to lack of human memory capabilities, can lead to distorted measurements,. Third, the special characteristic of the evaluation bid could be used with the differentiation in individual programme evaluations first on the programme area level, as well as secondly, on the level of the individual programmes, to enrich the respective evaluations and thereby better extract results. Where this was possible, individual questions/question blocks were constantly held in the quantitative surveys within the scope of the individual programmes, or respectively in all surveys with the same research dimensions, same operationalisation (see evaluation grid in attachment volume 2). Hereby, individual results were also comparable to each other beyond the level of the respective individual programme. Also, the same research aspects in the individual programmes could be considered in a similar way to the qualitative research aspects in agreement with the big picture flow chart and the individual effect logic. Also regarding the programme area, the measurement and the analysis of effects of the methodical standpoint should have always been conducted according to a comparison – ideally within the scope of a control group design in order to identify which effects occurred due to the programme area and which did not. The research of this contra factual situation was not possible on the first level of the programme area via a comparison group design, since the intermediary variables were too numerous in the case study countries, so that they could not be kept constant by such a design. In the programme area evaluation, however, based on a qualitative comparison between the four case study countries, effects on the programme area level could be approximated. This became possible in that the achievement of goals and the achieved intended effects of the programme area of the DAAD immanent between the four case study countries were compared on a qualitative basis. In this way, various external socio-economic and cultural influence factors on the intended effects could be also be examined within this comparison. Hereby, the measurement of the effects of the programme area was conducted according to the four case studies, however only exemplarily. In preparation of the case studies, context analyses and interviews were conducted in the DAAD with the country directors in order to gain an initial, in-depth insight regarding the conditions in the case study countries. Through the context analyses, the factors - independent of the individual or the organisation - which had influence on the various programmes of the programme area in the socio-cultural environment, were made visible. In the context analyses, the focus was placed, among others, on the political conditions (i.e. changes in governance indicators), economic factors (such as average income as well as educational and qualification status of the target group) and educational policy factors (i.e. development of university graduates) in order to thereby be able to deduce external success and failure factors. In a next step, a portfolio for the case studies was created in order to guarantee consistent quality for the case studies and to obtain high quality results. The portfolio included a short project and task description, notes regarding method, contact information, various interview guidelines for various stakeholders, a standardised template for the case study reports and the debriefing notes, as well as the developed evaluation grids for the programme area and the individual programmes. The method concept for the case studies was coordinated subsequently with the DAAD and the work group in a joint coordination workshop. The Portfolio, the evaluation method, as well as the tasks and goals for the case studies were presented and explained to every evaluator in a joint internal case study kick-off workshop. In the scope of the case studies, Rambøll Management Consulting conducted a total of 156 interviews and workshops in order to collect the necessary information to answer the evaluation questions and evaluation criteria. Thereby, one of the case studies was conducted as a pilot case study in order to make amendments to the methodical concept. Rambøll Management Consulting

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EDUCATIONAL COOPERATION WITH DEVELOPING COUNTRIES

conducted these interviews and workshops with various organisations and target groups, which can be organised in the following groups: • • • • • • • • • • • • • • • •

Currently sponsored young researchers Currently sponsored young experts and managers Currently sponsored students Academic representatives DAAD Alumni and its programmes National partner organisations (i.e. universities) New and established partner organisations in the individual programmes National sponsors (for example government grants) Project directors Project employees Target groups/aided individuals (i.e. specialists and managers, future university teachers, young researchers, etc.) Unassisted German EZ and AKBP organisations Local/national public offices and economic operators Representatives and/or organisations of the civil society, which are active in areas relevant to the programmes Other (inter)national donors, who are active in areas relevant to the programme

Furthermore, debriefings with the foreign office or with the IC of the DAAD were conducted in every country. All collected results of the individual case studies were analysed and systemised by the respective international experts from Rambøll Management Consulting together with the local experts. The case study reports were composed once a common understanding regarding the answering of the questions, which should be answered in the case studies, was reached. After completing the case studies and the individual evaluations, the results gleaned were reflected, synchronised and analysed again in an internal synthesis workshop with all experts from Rambøll Management Consulting. The workshops created an added value in that all expert perspectives could be integrated in the evaluation of the results once again, so that a triangulation of the results could take place again. Therefore, the goals of this workshop were, on the one hand, to consolidate and evaluate all findings of the various research steps, and on the other hand, to develop recommendations based on the results. For this, the research results were evaluated together by the evaluators. Afterwards, the areas of action were identified in the next step, based on the research results. As a next step, these fields of action were, in consideration of the research results, laid the basis for the initial options for action in reference to the efficacy of the programme area, as well as the involved content-related, methodical, structural and procedural success and failure factors. These were further developed in a coordination workshop for recommendations regarding the course of action with the DAAD. In conclusion, Rambøll Management provided the DAAD with a draft of the main report. The draft was presented and discussed in a common coordination workshop with the DAAD and the work group. Rambøll Management Consulting entered all remarks from the coordination workshop in a protocol and requests for changes were incorporated into the report as far as possible. Rambøll Management Consulting submitted the final version of the main report to the DAAD on 31 October 2012.

84

Key

Material Resources

Financial Resources

Impact (Desired results)

Outcome (Goals - Sustainability)

Output (Measures used)

Execution and Organisation of a Competitively Oriented and Qualitative Selection and Application Process

Workshops, Conferences and Seminars

Dialogue Events

Establishment of University Partnerships between German and Foreign Universities

Development of Common Degree Programmes

Fact-Finding Missions

Material Resources

Alumni Programme

FLOWCHART OF THE PROGRAMME AREA

Input (DAAD instruments)

1.

Field of Activity: Strengthening of Higher Education Structures

Field of Activity: Human Capacity Development

86

Promote the cooperation between higher education and the economy

Establishment of beacons and best practice

Establishment of research capacity and equipment

Establishment of regional quality assurance systems

Improvement of the qualifications for specialist and management personnel in science, academic teaching personnel and young researchers

Improve university management via continuing education for deans and management personnel

Quantitative increase of educated teachers at universities in developing countries

Contribution to cover the need for specialists in developing countries in specialist fields

(Further)Qualification of future specialists and managers

Training of personnel/students according to the principle of good governance

Qualification of young scientists and scholars

(Further)Qualification of people according to the project goals of the partner countries (matching funds/ government grants)

Fortification of the national and regional knowledge and innovation systems in developing countries

The DAAD helps universities in developing and transformation countries to reach to scientific standards

Increase the quality of teaching, research and management as well as improve the administrative structures at universities in emerging countries

Fortification of the universities as transformative social powers

Qualification and further development of “change agents”

Contribution to cover the need for specialists and managers

The DAAD provides a contribution to the prevention of conflicts via inter-cultural dialogue

The DAAD provides a contribution to strengthen governance capacities above-all with regard to democracy/ democratisation, the creation of a civil society and due process in developing and transforming countries

The relevance of the contents of higher education in developing countries for the economy and the job market (employability) increases

Powerful university and scientific systems have been formed

The DAAD provides a contribution to connect developing countries to the information society

The partners’ modernisation strategies were supported

A contribution toward the self-determined development of developing countries is provided

The DAAD provides a contribution to reach the MDG in developing and transforming countries

Human Resources

Short-Term and Long-Term Lectureships

Execution of 30 Individual Programmes within the DAAD Programme “Educational Cooperation with Developing Countries”

Aid from Consultants

Surplace and Foreign Grants

Dialogue Study Trips

Grants for Students, Graduates, Young Scholars, and Scientists

Research Residencies

Summer Schools

Trainings

Field of Activity: Alumni Work

Field of Activity: Networking

87

Advancement of the cooperation between graduates of German universities (Alumni) and from developing countries as partners for the German economy and development cooperation

Promotion of alumni networking (N-S, S-S and N-S-S)

Update, deepen and expand alumni expertise

Promotion of global and regional networks

Motivate and build competence and profile of German universities in the developmental cooperation and integration in international discourse

Increase in the visibility of German scholarship and Germany as a centre for innovation

Facilitation of inter-cultural understanding

Realisation of common research interests

Organisation of common degree programmes

Creation of educational possibilities in the region for the region in the developing countries

Development of curricula and common structures in coordination between N-S; N-S-S; S-S

Establishment of a long-term relationship with Germany at grant level

Support of German companies with investments in partner countries

Winning-over and motivating cooperating partners in Germany

Creation of common structures between Germany and developing countries

Development of cooperation structures for the advancement of the South-South, North-South-South, Nord-South and South-North

The DAAD acts as an antenna for interests, opportunities and needs for its partners

The DAAD provides a contribution toward the development of partnerships with Germany, the advancement of the German language abroad, as well as for a positive image for Germany and the promotion of a modern image for Germany

Alternative methods, dialogue channels and partners as well as cooperation approaches to the state EZ in developing countries are established

74

Band 74



Programme Area Evaluation Band 74

– Educational Cooperation with Developing Countries –