Massification and the public financing of higher education in Haiti: issues and challenges

Abstract

Haitian higher education is changing, but is little studied. This article examines the conditions under which massification recently occurred, on the one hand, and the extent of the inadequacy of public funding since the 1980s, on the other. It highlights that despite faster mass supply to address a social demand that is also rising sharply, the meagre public funding (on average, 0.33% of gross domestic product, and 1.17% of the state budget) devoted to the financing of public universities over the last 30 years has hindered their development. In fact, despite the modest increase in the budget of public universities compared to the state budget, massification ultimately resulted in a reduction in expenditure per student, which does not help to create the conditions for an acceptable level of quality education, and deprives the sector of its ability to play an effective role in the socio-economic development process of the country by first putting itself in a position to reflect on the problems of society and on its evolution.

Points for practitioners

The system of virtually free studies, funded by the taxpayer, has reached its limits, while institutional mechanisms for regulating massification are essential to protect the consumer and counter the decline in the quality of education. To carve out a better position for the country on the world stage and benefit from the positive externalities of higher education, more public resources must be invested in it. The stake is therefore triple as means must be found, which must be differentiated, not only to fund the universities and the studies themselves, but also to diversify this funding given the limited resources of the state.