When Mauritius became independent in 1968, there was one national university: The University of Mauritius. After nearly fifty years of independence, the higher education landscape has expanded significantly to include some 65 tertiary education institutions (TEIs), 10 of which are publicly-funded. This expansion in the tertiary education sector reveals the impressive progress achieved in the young independent state that Mauritius is, but in a globalised and competitive world, this expansion has started to face challenges and will continue to do so.

1. Higher Education in Mauritius
since 1968: Impressive progress,
impending challenges
A Mooznah Auleear Owodally
University of Mauritius
June 2016

2. Education in Mauritius

3. The Mauritian Education System
 Modelled after the British education system:
 2 years: Pre-school education
 6 years: Primary school education
 7 years: Secondary school education
 Post-secondary education in tertiary education institutions:
 Academic
 Technical
 Education:
 Compulsory till age of 16
 In principle, education is free (with free transport):
 Government pre-primary, primary and secondary schools are free
 Fees for publicly-funded TEI varies from TEI to TEI

4. Enrolment figures:
March 2011 and March 2015
March 2011 March 2015
Pre-school 33 901 29 832
Primary school 116 068 103 642
Secondary: General 115 289 114 311
Tertiary education 44 334 50 608

5. Expenditure
Total Budget on
Education
% to Tertiary
Education
Institutions
Year 2013 Rs 104 784m 5%
Year 2014 Rs 113 712m 6%
July 2015 - 2016 Rs 120 645 m 8%

6. Higher Education Landscape

7. Higher Education Landscape
 Significant transformation of TEI since independence
 1968: one TEI – the University of Mauritius
 2016: 10 publicly funded TEIs and around 55 privately funded
TEIs
 Year 2000
 Government vision to develop Mauritius into a Knowledge
Hub
 “The objective of having one graduate per family by 2020 fits
with the philosophy of the government to democratise access
to tertiary education and significantly raise the gross tertiary
enrolment rate.” (The Minister of Education, 2011,
http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20111001152158418)

8. Publicly-funded TEIs
 These are:
 The University of Mauritius (set up in 1965 as a developmental university)
 The University of Technology (set up in 2000)
 The Mauritius Institute of Education (set up in 1973)
 The Mahatma Gandhi Institute (inaugurated in 1976)
 The Rabindranath Tagore Institute (set up in 2002)
 Open University of Mauritius (set up in 2012)
 Université de Mascareignes (set up in 2012)
 The Mauritius Institute of Training and Development (operational in 2009)
 Mauritius Institute of Health (established in 1989)
 The Fashion and Design Institute(launched in 2009)
 Public funded TEIs offer accounted for some 440 programmes in
2012 (http://tec.intnet.mu/review)
 TEC allocates funds to these TEIs
 Funds are released in accordance with terms and conditions of the
Financial Memorandum signed between the TEC and each of the TEIs

9. Private TEIs
 Around 55 institutions (http://tec.intnet.mu/review)
 Examples: Amity Global Business School, Rushmore Ltd, Surrey
Management & Business School Ltd
 Most of them offer programmes, mostly part-time, under
franchise agreement with overseas institutions (Mohamedbhai,
2011) using a variety of mode (face-to-face and/or distance
learning)
 Exams are, in general, conducted by the MES
 Private TEIs offer accounted for some 338 programmes in
2012 (http://tec.intnet.mu/review)
 Three of them have a strong regional/international focus:
 The SSR Medical School
 The Mauras College of Dentistry
 The Institut de la Francophonie pour L’Entrepreneuriat

10. The Regulatory Framework
 The Tertiary Education Commission (TEC) is responsible
for:
 Fostering, planning, developing and coordinating public TEIs
 Allocating government funds to public TEIs
 Through the Quality Assurance and Accreditation
Division (QAAD), TEC is responsible (since 2005) for:
 Implementing a regulatory framework for ensuring quality of
post-secondary education
 Registering of private institutions, accreditation of programmes
and regularly paying quality assurance visits
 Determining recognition and equivalence of post-secondary
qualifications

11. The Regulatory Framework
 Regulatory framework
 Need for a regulatory framework with the rapid growth of private
TEIs since 2000
 The aim of the regulatory framework: to help TEIs adapt to
changing knowledge environment
 In line with the vision and mission of TEC which is to position
Mauritius in the region as a world-class knowledge hub and the
gateway for post secondary education.
 Regulatory framework comprises, among others, of:
 Guidelines for the establishment and registration of post-secondary
educational institutions,
 Criteria and guidelines for quality assurance and accreditation
 Criteria for awarding status and the grant of university title
 Criteria for setting up of degree awarding institutions

12. Qualifications Framework
 Mauritius Qualifications Authority
 Set up in 2001 under the Ministry of Training and HRCD
 Aims of the MQA
 Develop, implement and maintain the National Qualifications
Framework
 Ensure compliance with provisions for registration and
accreditation of training institutions
 Ensure that standards and registered qualifications are
internationally comparable
 Recognise and validate competencies acquired outside the
formal education and training systems

13. Qualifications Framework
 Under its Quality Assurance Services,:
 Registration and accreditation of Training Institutions
 Monitoring and evaluation of training institutions
 Accreditation of award programmes
 Approval of non-award courses
 Update of databases with regard to training institutions and trainers
 Policies in relation to regulation of training
 Registration of Managers
 Registration of Programme Officers
 Registration of Trainers

14. Comments
 In the past 5 years,
 an decrease in the number of students enrolled in pre-primary, primary
and secondary schools
 an increase in the number of students enrolled in the tertiary education
sector
 an increase in the budget allocated to tertiary education institutions
 In the past 15 years,
 A growth in the number of TEIs – and that especially after the year 2000
 A growing variety of courses being offered to students in both publicly funded
and private TEIs
 Increased flexibility in access to courses – part time courses, mixed mode
delivery (face to face and online)
 Internationalisation of Higher Education
 Franchised institutions
 International students in some TEIs (eg. SSR Meical school)

15. Comments
 This reveals
 increased access to post-secondary education
 more choice at the level of institutions available (publicly-funded,
private)
 more choice at the level courses locally available (nearly 800 courses)
 post-secondary education is less and less the privilege for the social and
economic elites
 post-secondary education is more and more accessible to the people
 democratisation of access to post-secondary education
 This might be related to the ‘one-graduate per family by 2020’
governmental action/mission in 2011.

16. Comments
 With a significant increase in the number of TEIs (from
one in 1968 to almost 65 in 2016), and a peak at the turn
of the century,
 Government has intervened to regulate the tertiary education
sector
 Regulating in terms of the setting up of TEC and MQA
 Some overlap between the two
 Regulating in terms of criteria and guidelines
 Regulating in terms of quality assurance procedures
 Documents show that the wheel of administrative
paperwork is in place
 What about reality? The practice of it?

17. Conclusion
 The post-secondary education sector has come a long
way since independence
 However,
 hasn’t the expansion of the tertiary education sector been too
rapid and too drastic – competition amongst local TEIs on a
limited market?
 will the expansion of the TEIs survive the decreasing number
of Mauritian children entering the education system?
 will the local TEIs be competitive enough to attract
international students, despite its regulatory framework?
 will the expanded TEIs survive the test of time?

18. Reference List
 Mauritius Qualifications Authority,
http://www.mqa.mu/English/Pages/default.aspx
 Mohamedbhai, G. (2011). Internationalisation of
Tertiary Education in Mauritius – Current state, future
plans and challenges.
http://tec.intnet.mu/pdf_downloads/confpaper/conference2011/confpaper3.pdf
 Statistics, Mauritius, Education,
http://statsmauritius.govmu.org/English/StatsbySubj/Pages/Education.aspx
 Tertiary Education Commission, Mauritius, http://tec.intnet.mu/