The Impact of Digital Divides in Public and Private Universities in Afghanistan

• In Event: Digital Divides: Envisioning Higher Education in Crisis and Conflict Context, A Case Study of Afghanistan

Proposal

Integrating technology and introducing digital advancement in higher education is the center of discussion both at the local and global spheres (Altbach & Knight, 2007). Current research suggests digital technology plays a key role in the globalization, internationalization, and massification of higher education (Williams & de Rassenfosse, 2016). In fact, digital advancement surfaces as the drivers of economic development which pays the ways for innovation, training skilled labor - human capital, participation in knowledge economies, and diversification of higher education systems (World Bank, 2018). Some argue that buying into digital advancement may open the door for access to higher education for those who otherwise cannot have access to education. However, the experience in Afghanistan has shown that inadequate funding for higher education, and lack of mechanisms to control the quality of e-learning discourages the government from investing in digital resources. This informs that global inequalities surface new questions and paradigms as we engage in critical dialogues about the state of higher education in a digital world.
Another important question to pose is how adopting Western developed policies and models affect the higher education system in developing countries including Afghanistan where resources are scarce and the national economies struggle to maintain the status quo. There is evidence in the literature that a majority of universities in developing nations fall short of satisfying externally developed standards with the exception of elite institutions (Lim, 1999). This paper discusses how higher education institutions embrace digital technologies, who are served, who benefit, and how these institutions maintain their digital presence when access to electricity, which is the core need for modern technologies, is very limited.
Since 2005, private higher education has grown rapidly compared to public higher education in Afghanistan. Private universities and higher education institutions grew from zero in 2001 to 144 in 2020, while public universities rose from six to 38 during the same period. The centralized governance system of public universities made it challenging to bring about technological transformation. In contrast, private universities with comparatively broader autonomy could incorporate technology into teaching, learning, and governance.

Authors

• Javid Mussawy, University of Massachusetts Amherst

• Nangyalai Attal, UMass Amherst