*3.2.2 Major flaws. The most remarkable*

The investment lack in higher education is completely visible. "*The Higher Education institutions in Angola operate, mostly, in borrowed and unsuitable buildings" (*managers, teachers, and administrative officials*)*. And this applies not only to public higher education institutions but also to private ones.


#### **Table 3.** *Higher Education Public Institutions*

Although there are currently around 81 higher education institutions in the country, 26 of which are public and 55 private (see **Tables 3** and **4** in appendix), "*we hardly find a single institution that has been conceived, designed and built as an educational institution in the true sense of the word, with classrooms in conditions and in sufficient number, labs, amphitheaters, libraries, computer rooms, offices for teachers and the administrative part of the institution itself, among others*" (managers). "*Some projects conceived and designed at the level of higher education end up dying on paper and advertising campaigns for a better, quality education and a promising future for Angolan youth*" (teacher).



## *Perspective Chapter: Higher Education Problems in Angola DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109376*

*Source: Legal Framework of Private Higher Education Institutions (2018).1 The authorization for the creation of the Catholic University of Angola was given in 1992 through Decree No. 38-A/92 of 7 August, and was formalized in October 1997 through decree of 29 October 1997. The teaching activities began on 22 February 1999 (see www.ucan.edu).*

#### **Table 4.**

*Higher Education Private Institutions.*

On the other hand, investment directed to the education sector remains insignificant, far below the average for SADC countries [4]. This author said that the fear of investing in higher education was the result of the morbid fear that a greater investment would provoke political instability, given that the quality of the course given in institutions in Angola was not a priority, as some government positions did not reflect the interest for the academic community, but rather the interest of specific groups that, from higher education institutions, sought to extend their influence and control for purposes outside

the organization itself. Since higher education produces externalities in the value form for a society that benefits from an educated workforce, consumers, and citizens, not only those that are directly linked to the teaching-learning process but everything in general [10], it is important that the government invests seriously in education, especially in higher education.

"*Until the present day (September 2022), the country does not have a single scientific journal*". Even though the Supervisory Ministry created a technical group in June 2021 (Order no 106/2021), responsible for promoting and implementing actions inherent to the creation of a network of scientific journals with the support of UNESCO and the scientific journals network from Latin America, Caribbean, Spain, and Portugal; no results have yet been seen (project continues on paper). And therefore, not even the little research done is taken into account, it is not valued. "*There is not a single institution that takes into account the studies results carried out by us" (*students). Angola has always participated in the ideas, innovation, and new products fair, in Nuremberg, Germany, and received several awards for the presented projects. As an example, we have the projects (teacher and students):


*"These inventors, mostly students accompanied by their teachers, are usually the ones selected at the fair that takes place internally to represent the country at an international level. It should be noted that the Instituto Médio Politécnico da Humpata in the city of Lubango, province of Huíla has also presented several innovative projects, among which we highlight, for example, the car developed by a teacher and his students that works with a battery charged with sunlight. These are just examples of projects that, even after being presented internationally, end up abandoned in a room at the winning educational institution. There is no support from the local business* 

*Perspective Chapter: Higher Education Problems in Angola DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109376*

> *community, much less the government itself. And that, this support lack in the product of students and their teachers, the investment lack, not only creates demotivation for them (teachers and students), but also does not help in the development and recognition of the country itself".*

"*Educational institutions in Angola are totally dependent on the State Budget".* There are almost no university extension projects that involve communities and that can bring additional income to educational institutions [9]. Currently, any extra income made by educational institutions in Angola ends up being reflected in the State's accounts (Finances Ministry), as it has become mandatory to pay any fee through a RUPE (single reference for payment to the state) generated by the Finance Ministry locally.

The educational institutions' courses and curricula in Angola are totally out of place and unstructured. The country's labor market needs are not adequate. On the other hand, the subjects presented in the different courses are excessively theoretical and lack updates. "*It is possible to find today, in Angolan higher education institutions, courses with curricular plans designed more than 20 years ago and which have never undergone any updates*". They remain the same: onerous, extensive, excessively theoretical, decontextualized, and without general pedagogical guidelines.

#### *3.2.3 Confidence lack in lecturers and students*

Debates about the teacher's quality lack in Angolan educational institutions are constant. These were and continue to be pointed out as teachers without the desired quality to teach in higher education, in addition to being few, forcing them to become multipurpose: the teachers lack in Angolan educational institutions forces the few teachers to teach a large number of subjects, and in many cases, subjects outside their comfort area.

*"There are cases, for example, in which a history teacher is forced to teach mathematics or geometry, even without the necessary basic knowledge. And the problems that arise there are dragged into higher education" (teacher). "Our teachers are excessively theoretical, making the classes of no interest to the student, many do not have the pedagogical component, they are not capable of revolutionizing their knowledge".*

One of the biggest problems observed in relation to this issue is the fact that most Angolan teachers have only a degree. Some higher education institutions have already offered master's courses, in most cases with the participation of foreign institutions and teachers. Not with the desired variety but an acceptable number can already be considered. But at the doctoral and postdoctoral levels, it is practically non-existent. "The government has invested heavily in training staff abroad. Monthly, the Angolan government spends about 2,200,712.69 USD for the payment of supplementary scholarships for students who are in abroad"<sup>2</sup> . However, some of these students end up not returning to the country, evading the current situation in which they live. "*Many teachers who go on training abroad with a government scholarship, at a given moment, are forced to give up their training due to the difficulties they encounter along the way:*

<sup>2</sup> Spoken words by the Science, technology and Innovation Higher Education Minister, May 18th 2020, in the Angolan Parliament.

• *Some postgraduate scholarship holders benefited from a 2-year scholarship for training of more than 3 years. Being totally dependent on help sent by family members who, at a given time, with the difficulty of obtaining foreign exchange, were forced to return without completing the course. In addition, constant delays in the payment of subsidies by the institute responsible for the scholarship holders, made them either enter the job market in the country where they are, or give up their training returning to the country.*

*"On the other hand, not all teachers are privileged to benefit from a scholarship. Some who want to progress in their teaching career seek to train with their own resources, and with the difficulties encountered, many end up in the situation exposed above".*

Many teachers choose to teach abroad, because it is considered that every professional trained outside the country has a greater capacity to respond to the challenges faced by the country, ending up totally undervaluing the teachers who have trained in the country. It should be noted that the teachers themselves are partly to blame for this situation, since many of them, because they feel unmotivated and undervalued, end up adopting unworthy teaching behaviors, further devaluing their own teaching and sinking their own image. These teachers, both university and basic education, are unhappy because they do not feel valued, they argue that they have the lowest salaries on the market, and currently, with the exchange rate practiced in the Angolan market, the salary of a university teacher, assistant professor category is equivalent to 600 euros, and the living cost in Angola is very high.

Teachers are also identified as uninterested in scientific research and accommodate themselves to the positions in which they find themselves. These justify themselves by the lack of incentives, research subsidies (or insignificant), and works research, followed by work conditions lack, and incentives lack for the teaching-learning process, which in no way motivates the teaching activity. In response, the government decreed on June 7 (Presidential Decree n° 128/22, June 7th 2022), a new research subsidy, of 22% of the university professor's base salary, as a way of encouraging scientific research, although being little compared to the subsidies from other sectors of activity, teachers face it as a valid initiative for change, appreciation, and improvement of the teaching process.

On the other hand, students are indicated as not having an adequate profile compared to the entry profile required in the different courses. Who will be to blame? How are the different course curricula taught by higher education institutions designed? On what basis? Who makes them? Generally, higher education candidates are admitted to the competition for access to the various courses available at the institutions depending on the training they have in basic education. For example, a student who has studied economics and management has the right profile for the economics faculty and other institutions that lecture courses such as economics, management, accounting, etc.; students who have studied biology or chemistry have a profile for biological sciences and medicine. Therefore, to say that students do not present the appropriate profile for entry into the educational institution is an error of the institution that allows it and not of the student.

Angolan students are accused of not having reading habits [4], which, in a way, ends up having a great influence on their learning low level. The lack of public and/ or private libraries reflects the reading habit, not to mention that students are mostly low-income. On the other hand, some students enter a higher education institution with the idea of obtaining only a diploma that attests to their higher education in a certain area, considering it as a passport to the job market, in which the quantitative

#### *Perspective Chapter: Higher Education Problems in Angola DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109376*

part, diploma grade, ends up having much more weight. In part, this is due to the traditional and mechanical method that teachers are used to teaching in their classes, and above all the social and economic situation in the country, in which more value is given to those who have a rich diploma. Many lecturers force their students to replicate the content they provide during classes, thus discouraging interest in learning, as they end up feeling that they have no opinion of their own.

In many cases, Angolan students are identified as not able to develop their own ideas and defend theories and are considered students with weak argumentation skills. The Angolan education system leads us to this conclusion. The teachers themselves do not believe in their students and, therefore, in what they teach to their students, giving no credit to them [11], said that professionals who have completed higher education abroad are more capable of responding to the needs and challenges faced by the country. This just reflects other countries' different teaching dynamics. Our teachers are excessively theoretical, most of them inexperienced in the job market, they are lecturers who limit students' learning by forcing them to reproduce everything they see in the classroom, and when they try to do something different they are soon stopped by structural conditions lack, which goes from adequate infrastructure lack and didactic and pedagogical material lack, among others. One aspect that is important to mention is the fact that many teachers search for additional jobs in which they give their soul to keep it, leaving teaching only as a guarantee in case they lose the other job. And the result is reflected in their failure to comply with the class plans, leaving students dependent on the teacher's goodwill to finish their training or not.

Students have little power to influence the education system [12], and in the case of Angola, we venture to say that they have no voice, as their opinions regarding academic issues are never taken into account, being forced to consume only what has transmitted to them and nothing else. This, in a way, associated with other problems already mentioned here (lack of libraries, internet, obligation to reproduce knowledge, etc.), ends up limiting them in the search for additional knowledge.

#### *3.2.4 Educational institutions quality assessment system*

Quality is of great significance as it enables educational institutions to achieve educational excellence. The quality evaluation in the educational sector is not only reflected in test scores, as well as in the information set, guidelines, and teachings that lecturers transmit to students, but also in the student's own experience throughout the teaching-learning process, during interaction with nonteaching staff and other components that are part of the institution, since the teaching effectiveness can be measured through the students. In other words, institutions' teaching quality is generally measured according to the perception that students have about the service offered by the institution in question (academic processes and services, education system, buildings conditions and their surroundings, existing resources, etc.).

*"If there is a quality assessment through interviews or surveys, or any other instrument, it is possible to detect flaws that occur throughout the teaching-learning process, and with this, evaluate them and seek solutions in order to improve services that are provided by Higher Education institutions. Being the feedback obtained from students, teachers and other interested parties extremely important".*

Mendes [13] states that higher education institutions' evaluation is the pillar and the promoter of their quality. In order to define quality in organizational terms, we

take into consideration a set of factors that contribute to the higher education institutions functionality, such as student satisfaction, social expectations, educational institutions management and administration, human and financial resources, and existing infrastructure, among others.

The Angolan education system, like others, foresees the educational institutions' evaluation, which in practice does not happen. There are evaluation process initiatives that end up being diluted and do not produce the expected effect. And studies carried out on the educational institutions' evaluation are not taken into consideration. This is a pity, because evaluation is a process that should be integrated into the educational institutions' management cycle and provides for their continuous improvement [14], and it is, therefore, strategic when it is in stake the higher education development and the country itself [13].

*"In Angola, there is almost no evaluation process for educational institutions. These do not have the practice of reporting on the evaluation process themselves, who evaluated them and how. In my 12 years of teaching at a Higher Education institution in Angola, I do not remember seeing a single complete assessment of the institution's teachinglearning process. Generally, Angola's educational institutions students, especially public institutions, are afraid to make assessments for fear of retaliation by teachers, as many argue that if they evaluate negatively a teacher, they will not be successful in the subject taught by that same teacher. The question that remains is, what strategies have institutions used to overcome this problem? What strategies have institutions used to encourage students to participate in assessments, and be honest in their responses?"*

In fact, many institutions do not evaluate the services they provide to the academic community. Not for students, not for teachers, not for society in general. And yet, these are the teaching and learning process's main elements, whose set of information provided by them is fundamental for the continuous improvement of the quality of the entire process of the institutions and, in general, of the place where they live and the country itself.

A few studies on quality assessment that take place in Angola are always by curious students or teachers who prepare the work with particular objectives and, unfortunately, even present the final results at conferences and other national and/or international platforms, do not take advantage on them. That is, all the information obtained, besides making it public, is useless, because it is not usage to use data from work done by students or teachers, only by referenced institutions.

In Angola, in addition to this information lack about the quality of the service provided by educational institutions (both higher and basic education), it is visible the lack of specialized services in inspection, supervision, and evaluation of both higher education and higher education institutions, there is no information regarding the fulfillment of the foreseen objectives. Simões et al [9] said that the institutions and mechanisms for guaranteeing education quality, the National Institute for the Assessment, Accreditation, and Recognition of Higher Education Studies (INAAREES), do not function properly. Currently, despite some improvements in its functioning, the main problems remain. These institutes aim to create quality assurance policies and mechanisms that allow and facilitate the higher education institutions' evaluation and the entire teaching process, besides recognizing and validating studies carried out at national and international levels.

The verified post-civil war period was accompanied by higher education institutions' proliferation throughout the country, which was justified by the need to expand

#### *Perspective Chapter: Higher Education Problems in Angola DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109376*

education and be able to respond to the higher education needs that the country faced. However, this expansion was not properly accompanied by the quality of teaching and service provision. Many private institutions, for example, ran unauthorized programs, there was no accuracy in recruiting academic and nonacademic staff, and some look at higher education simply as a lucrative business. These are problems constantly pointed out by both educational institutions as well as the supervisory body, but they are still present.

The institutions' evaluation need and continuous improvement of the entire teaching process had already been identified, projects have been launched, but in the end, for some reason still unknown, the conclusion is not seen. And this works like a cycle, government leaves, and government enters. And perhaps this is one of the Angolan government's main mistakes.

#### *3.2.5 COVID-19 pandemic resulting Effect. What did we learn?*

The pandemic caused by the SARS COVID-19 came to monitor investments made not only in the health sector but also in education and above all in the higher education subsystem. The pandemic led governments to close university campuses and face-to-face classes suspension for a considerable period of time as a measure to prevent the virus contamination spread. Some countries that had the distance learning modality in their school curricula were forced to make it a strategy, intensifying them, with the aim of reducing the pedagogical damage that was felt as a result of the pandemic caused by COVID-19. Other countries, given the uncertainty of an end date for the pandemic, were forced to bet on this modality of distance learning.

Until 2020, the Angolan State did not recognize any studies carried out at distance, both within the country and abroad (Presidential Decree n° 59/20, of 3 March). The emergence of the pandemic was necessary to show the importance of distance and blended learning, leading it to adopt the strategy used by most countries, in order to avoid a catastrophe at the educational level.

The distance learning strategy resulting from the COVID-19 pandemic is the set of sectoral measures taken by different governments in order to continue the curricular studies of students, as well as other regular educational activities when schools and other educational institutions are closed, requiring learning activities to be reviewed, planned and alternative learning program solutions provided with the support of teachers, the educational community in collaboration with students and their families, for these strategies to be successful [15]. Ref. [16] defines distance learning as synonymous with online teaching, e-learning, distance education, correspondence education, external studies, flexible teaching, and massively open online courses. Distance learning is usually provided with the help of technological equipment, digital systems, and various programs and applications, as it is done through videoconferences. And that, in many cases, implied the need to develop digital literacy [17], and high investment in technology, especially in the internet. COVID-19 showed the country (Angola) the need for investment not only in education but also in other basic sectors for the population's survival. With the exception of the country capital, in other provinces capitals with internet access, as many municipalities do not have access to the internet, it is almost nonfunctional most of the time. Associated with this are the problems of electricity restrictions for the most vulnerable populations.

The Angolan government, after approving distance learning and blended learning (Presidential Decree n° 59/20, of 3 March), forced by the COVID-19 pandemic, tried to develop an electronic platform with several features that would allow the didactic

material availability and monitor student learning, in order to reconcile distance and blended learning in the pandemic phase [15]. And as always, it was not functional, since most educational institutions did not have access to it, if not all, with the justification that there is no internet, much less digital means necessary for this purpose. "*Classes were given in-person but always considering the security measures imposed by the State, since attempts to take online classes were frustrated by internet lack".*

"*Investment, in this case, is not simply related to internet issues but also to the classrooms conditions, buildings and their surroundings, and other services provided by educational institutions" (students and administrative officials)*. Pandemic also showed, and more importantly, the improvement need in the educational institutions' hygiene in Angola. Educational institutions have bathrooms, but most of them are unusable, not even for teachers, administrative staff, and especially for students, ranging from the structure itself, which lacks security due to the lack of doors or windows, lack of water in the bathrooms, toilet paper, among others.

Another important aspect to bear in mind for higher education institutions is the need for a health center. There are cases in which students or teachers, for some reason, need to be observed, however, the absence of a school health office or post, responsible for the first aid of students, teachers, and other employees of the institution, does not allow a ready care, often leading to greater damage. Because hospital emergency services in Angola are precarious.

### **4. Conclusion and recommendation**

Higher education institutions will continue to be essential for a country's social and economic progress, due to their role in research, evaluation, knowledge and information transfer, and the economic development process. This implies that any investment made in education translates into an investment in the country's development, since education, especially higher education, is responsible for promoting the country's development and growth, allowing the acceleration of technological diffusion, reducing knowledge gaps and, consequently, poverty, provides an increase in tax revenues, savings, and investment, reduces population growth, improves the country's health, and makes society more entrepreneurial, civic and democratic. And if Angola really wants to develop, there is a need to think more and more about better investment in the education sector.

The 2018–2022 national development plan presents, as intervention priorities for higher education policy, the improvement of the network of higher education institutions, reflected in the increase in courses and number of graduates, greater postgraduate offers and improvement of the teaching quality, masters and doctors qualification, development of higher education assessment and certification system, promotion of research and development in higher education institutions and research centers in the country, and policies that, to a certain extent, are already being put into practice:

The commitment to the training of university lecturers continues, despite the difficulties in sending teachers abroad, due to the exchange rate problems presented by the country, the Angolan government has invested more in internal postgraduate training (masters and doctorate within the country).

The attempt to create an international journal continues so that patients and researchers can publish their work locally.

Regarding issues related to studies evaluation and certification, it was sent to all public institutions of higher education, the presidential decree project about

#### *Perspective Chapter: Higher Education Problems in Angola DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.5772/intechopen.109376*

the regulation of the process of homologation of higher education studies. So, the academic community could participate with suggestions in the creation of the new legal diploma that establishes the technical requirements and criteria that must be observed in the process of homologation of higher education studies.

The government has already introduced the subsidy to support pedagogical research and scientific research in an attempt to encourage research in institutions and higher education (Presidential Decree no 128/22).

The elections that took place at the level of higher education institutions are considered to be a good step toward achieving total academic freedom. But this long-awaited academic and scientific freedom largely depends on the character and courage of both managers and teachers at educational institutions. It is necessary for academics to learn to separate academic issues from partisan issues, as most managers are always linked to the ruling party, they are afraid of contradicting their interests and decisions, losing the notion of a true academy. The academic community must not remain silent for fear of reprisals by the party. The academy does not marry politics. And as long as we continue to have managers who believe they are in office to serve the interests of the party, and who have to do so in order to progress both professionally and personally, we will not have an academy in the truest sense of the word.

The evaluation of higher education institutions and the entire teaching-learning process is essential to measure the performance of the educational system, in order to improve their quality. Therefore, it is important that institutions begin to carry out evaluations of their activities and the services they provide to the community, as it will be from these evaluations that they will be able to collect the necessary information to improve the quality of the services provided, through the detection of errors, failures that occurred throughout the teaching-learning process, which must be analyzed and subsequently resolved.

There is a huge need to listen to the entire academic community, to involve everyone (students, teachers, nonteaching workers, entrepreneurs, and civil society) in the teaching and learning process. The information they provide is essential for the process of improving the educational institution. Listening to the business community of the region and the country, in general, is essential so that the courses are created and structured according to the needs of the market, which will provide development for the country itself.

It is true that we have professors who fall short and students who show no interest in developing their intellectual capacities, but we also have many good professors and brilliant students who have developed great projects for which they have not seen any recognition from the government or the business community, and it demotivates them. It is much easier to get recognition outside when we are first recognized at home. Often, recognition comes from abroad, but love for the country brings them back to the house where they end up being abandoned and forgotten. And finally, they are accused of not being good students, let alone good teachers.

OECD report 2018 [18] states that educational institutions are the main ones responsible for the students' training with new skills that will allow them to face changes, develop and use new technologies, handle several organizations, and succeed in this highly interconnected world.

We emphasize the importance of greater investment in the education sector and recognition of the work done at the academic level. Well, in the end, the country will emerge victorious.
