HIGHER EDUCATION IN TWO DEVELOPING NATIONS: A CASE STUDY OF KENYA AND SRI LANKA.

Abstract

The main purpose of the study was to analyze and compare higher educational systems and the major variables affecting them in Sri-Lanka and Kenya. Data were collected through questionnaires, interviews, and literature reviewed. The conceptual framework of the study is in accordance with a model for a cross-cultural national study of comparative education systems developed by Dr. Herbert B. Wilson, Professor Emeritus at the University of Arizona. The findings of the study indicated that a comparative education system is significantly intertwined and affected by a number of important variables including (1) certain national characteristics such as culture, traditions, religion, politics, patriotism, international contact, life cycles, geography, economy, climate, demographic trends, and social organization; (2) socializing agents including family, tribe, clan, caste, social institutions, religion, military, media, literature, communication, schools, research stations, museums, publications, and public libraries; (3) the history and philosophy of education in public, private, religious, and proprietary sectors; (4) curriculum and instruction including scope, level, sequence, methodology, and mission; (5) enabling activities including administration, authority, control, financing, and political climate; (6) providing activities including availability and preparation of faculty, students, and administrators, and (7) certain current problems and issues affecting education. The major conclusions indicate that the building of a strong system of higher education is an accretive process involving not only the availability of resources but the arising national aspirations and attitudes as well as the development within the population of an awareness of the personal, regional, and national returns from education, particularly higher education. Such public and private awareness is the catalyst for the development and effectiveness of a productive higher education system.