Afghan Higher Education Policy: Using capabilities to problematise planning for non-economic dividends

Afghanistan’s higher education system was traditionally a small-scale and elite system. Boosted by multiple factors since 2002, the higher education landscape has transformed dramatically in the last fifteen years. The first... [ view full abstract ]

Afghanistan’s higher education system was traditionally a small-scale and elite system. Boosted by multiple factors since 2002, the higher education landscape has transformed dramatically in the last fifteen years. The first National Higher Education Strategic Plan (NHESP I) was implemented to cover 2010-2014, and focused on access and quality. The NHESP II, still awaiting final confirmation, maintains focus on access and quality, and introduces two additional goals around infrastructure and institutional autonomy. These documents have been foundational in directing the sector’s rapid growth and expansion.

During this presentation I ask; how do these policies position higher education within Afghanistan’s broader state building project, and how does this contribute to social and political sustainability? Employing a document analysis of the policies themselves, and incorporating data from semi-structured interviews with policy authors, consultants, funders, and Ministry of Higher Education officials, I argue that a dominant discourse of economic growth is located within these policies. This discourse positions higher education primarily as a driver of Afghanistan’s economic growth, and a gateway into regional and global knowledge-based markets. While additional discourses are evident, I draw from both a capabilities approach and a critical cultural political economy of education approach to problematise the dominance of this economic growth discourse, and explore additional capabilities considered critical within conflict affected settings which might further contribute to social and political stability. These observations are offered with the intent to instigate further discussion around how future versions of these policies might be reshaped to include expanded emphases on higher education’s role in promoting social and political sustainability, and the importance of planning for higher education’s non­-economic dividends in conflict affected contexts.