Education in Small States: Evolving Patterns in the Context of Globalisation

Abstract

Since the 1980s, a literature has emerged on the distinctive features of small states. These states, the literature observes, are not just small versions of large states. Rather, they have distinctive features that demand particular strategies for development. This fact has implications for the nature of education as well as for other domains.

This paper begins by summarising the early literature on education in small states, revisiting it with lenses from the present decade. It notes that many of the early propositions remain valid, but that some dimensions of contextual environment have changed. The forces of globalisation are among these dimensions, and in some respect have facilitated educational development in small states. The paper focuses particularly on higher education, and includes examples from the University of Seychelles.

Parts of the literature in the 1980s and 1990s declared a relatively high population threshold for small states wishing to offer domestic higher education (e.g. Bacchus 1989; Bray 1990, 1992; Packer 1990). The literature highlighted challenges of filling classrooms and recruiting qualified teachers from small pools, and pointed to the lack of economies of scale. It also stressed issues of international recognition of qualifications. For some small states, it was argued, the solution lay in regional cooperation. And for small states without regional partners, the best approach was perhaps simply to send students abroad.

In the 2010s, some dimensions look different. The threshold for establishing national institutions has been lowered, illustrated by the opening of the University of Seychelles (UniSey) in 2009 to serve a country with just 90,000 people. Yet other dimensions remain similar; and small states still have to find innovative strategies to meet their higher education needs.