OVEREDUCATED? THE IMPACT OF HIGHER EDUCATION EXPANSION IN POST-TRANSITION MONGOLIA Satoko Yano After the fall of the Soviet Union and its transition in the 1990s towards a democratic form of government, Mongolia was forced to embark upon a complete series of reforms within society, including within its education sector. Mongolia’s higher education sector was significantly affected by this change. Private higher education institutions mushroomed and the number of university graduates increased significantly. At the same time, the rapid expansion of the sector had serious implications for the quality of education in the country. The declining quality of higher education in Mongolia has now become a major political issue and has caused much heated public debate. Using a mixed-methods approach, this study aims at understanding the gaps between Mongolia’s educational needs and the policies the Mongolian government have implemented in response to the expansion of higher education. By analyzing the socio-political background of the expansion of higher education in Mongolia, it is hoped that some light may be shed on (1) the existence and magnitude of overeducation and its impact on individual earnings, (2) perceptions of overeducation among key stakeholders (e.g., government officials, employers and university deans) and (3) related policy interventions in Mongolia. It is also hoped that this study contributes to deepen understanding of overeducation from a policy borrowing/education transfer perspective. Quantitative analyses were conducted using datasets from the Living Standards Measurement Survey (2002/2003) and the Household Socio-Economic Survey (2007/2007). Qualitative analyses were conducted using information collected through 14 individual interviews with key stakeholders (senior officials, university personnel, private employers and staff from international organizations) as well as from key policy and project documents from the Government and development agencies. In this study, overeducation and undereducation are defined as having a level of education higher (or lower) than the modal value of the years of education observed in respective occupational categories (ISCO-88). With this definition, the percentage of overeducated/undereducated workers for Mongolia was approximately 27% in 2007/2008. This falls within the range of existing studies on the incidence of overeducation using definitions, mostly from developed countries. The findings also show that rates of return to each year of overeducation are positive, but smaller than those to adequate education, is consistent with existing studies. This supports my assumption that overeducation can happen even in a small country with a relatively small economy that heavily relies on resources and agriculture. The study also found that more women are overeducated and people in urban areas are overeducated. However, after controlling other factors, such as education, marital status, and types of job, being male actually increases the odds of being overeducated, while living in urban areas decreases the odds. This suggests that the Government may need to provide skills training targeting men in rural areas for improving their education-job match and create more opportunities for men in rural areas. Interviews with key stakeholders also showed their concern to improve the quality of higher education and address the mismatch between education and labor market’s demands. The overall findings from the study’s qualitative analysis suggest that people in Mongolia support the expansion of education in the country, since they see human capital as an important source of national development. However, the perceived low quality of higher education is a major concern and voices were unanimous among interviewees that serious policy measures should be taken in order to improve the quality of higher education. The study also found that the higher education reform policies introduced after the transition to a market-based economy and democratic system of government were part of a “reform package,” implemented similarly in other former Socialist countries, linked with financial and technical support from international development partners. Technical and financial dependency on external resources continues to this day, though the focus may be shifting from financial resources to technical resources (i.e., foreign experts and “best practices”). Mongolia voluntarily and actively adapts “international standards” in higher education, sometimes without a rigorous-enough analysis of their appropriateness in the Mongolian context. To some stakeholders, such reliance is a source of concern.

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Overeducated? The Impact of Higher Education Expansion in Post-Transition Mongolia.

The past two decades witnessed continuous uptake of ICT in education, and the importance of teachers’ beliefs for adopting ICT in education was revealed in the context of educational change. In recent years, the Mongolian educational system has placed more emphasis on student-centered education and the use of ICT in teaching and learning. Teacher training has become a local responsibility under the Education Master Plan (Government of Mongolia, 2006), New Education Standard and Core Curriculum which focus on the introduction of ICT into education and the implementation of student-centered education (Asian Development Bank, 2008; Ministry of Culture Education and Science, 2014). Despite the growing interest in using ICT for student-centered education, a limited number of studies exist in Mongolia to understand primary school teachers’ perception on use of ICT for student-centered education. This study aims to understand the factors affecting teachers’ perceptions on use of ICT for student-centered education. Based on Fullan’s educational change theory, the analysis through multiple linear regression and focus group discussion was conducted on 838 primary school teachers in Mongolia which found that teacher’s professional competency and perceived benefits on use of ICT are significant factors affecting teachers’ perceptions on use of ICT tool for student-centered education. Furthermore, teacher’s professional competency, perceived benefits on use of ICT and teacher cooperation are affecting teachers’ perceptions on use of digital contents for student-centered education.

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Understanding Factors Affecting Primary School Teachers' Use of ICT for Student-Centered Education in Mongolia

Mongolia is experiencing severe economic problems which are eroding its educationsystem as well as reducing the living standards of many. At the same time it isattempting to change to a democracy and a free market economy after 66 years ofcommunism (Mongolia was the second country in the world to adopt communism in1924). Like former Communist countries in Eastern Europe, Mongolia is seekingnew ways of meeting urgent needs for education and training with very limitedresources. Can distance education play a role? How feasible would it be? Thispaper examines these questions, outlines the circumstances which are leading to theintroduction of distance education in Mongolia and describes some new initiatives.

Mongolia in transition: a role for distance education?

One of the issues to be faced by countries in central and eastern Europe and parts of Asia undergoing transition to a market economy is how to prepare students for the new environment. This article explores the experience from a three year Technical Assistance to the former Commonwealth of Independent States (TACIS) funded project aimed at reforming economics education at the School of Economic Studies (SES) within the National University of Mongolia. The focus of the project was initially on curriculum reform, but it soon became evident that to be effective this would need to be supported by managerial reform. The article therefore commences by briefly outlining the context of the reform process in Mongolia and by describing the nature of curriculum reform within the SES, including issues relating to the learning environment, course content and structure, and learning and assess- ment methods. That leads to an analysis of consequential reform of institutional management including issues relating to the codification and common ownership of information, conditions of service of staff, financial flexibility and management information systems. The article reflects on achievements and constraints of implementing reform at a sub- institutional (School) level and concludes with a summary of findings which might be of general value to those involved in the management of change as institutions begin to prepare their students to operate within a market economy.

Higher education reform in a transitional economy: a case study from the School of Economic Studies in Mongolia

This paper constitutes a major attempt at examining financial flows within the educational system in Swaziland as well as in computing the households, relative to public contribution to unit costs in education. It found that financial resources to the education system derive from the traditional sources, that is, government, local communities and households, non‐governmental organizations, private enterprises and corporations as well as foreign aid. While the government contributes about 83 per cent of the total fund in the tertiary level, the household and families contribution is higher at the primary, secondary and high school levels. This is an indication of the fact that higher education is heavily subsidized by the government at the expense of basic education, bringing about inequality of educational opportunities within the education system. To redress the imbalance in the funding mechanism, cost‐sharing or cost recovery measures are being proposed at the higher education level.

Higher education financing and equality of educational opportunities in Swaziland

This paper reviews the changing compositions of public expenditures on education in Mongolia during economic transition, assesses the impact of economic transition in Mongolia, and recommends three complementary strategies to provide a more stable resource base to finance education: (a) rationalize public expenditures on education by reducing stipends and food subsidies, reducing noninstructional staff, increasing student-to-teacher ratios, converting technical and specialized schools into community colleges, and exploring appropriate technologies; (b) reallocate resources to strengthen basic education, reduce dropouts, improve primary science education, and invest in books and libraries; and (c) mobilize new resources by changing tuition fees at all post-secondary levels, by charging realistic interest rates on student loans, by providing a conducive environment for private schools, and by using foreign assistance

Kin Bing Wu

Papers

Mongolia: Financing Education During Economic Transition