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Mali by Diola Bagayoko and Moussa M. Diawara Introduction
Mali is a landlocked country south of the Sahara with the desert covering 60% of its land area. Its population is estimated at 10.9 million in 1999.History of Higher Education
While higher education flourished in Mali from the 13th to the 16th century, an invasion from Morocco led to the destruction of the University of Timbuktu and its library in 1591. From the 17th century to the colonization of Mali by France in the late 19th century, religious education in Arabic was all that remained.During the colonial era, from late 19th century through 1960, higher education was non-existent in Mali. After achieving independence from France in 1960, Mali embarked on a series of educational reforms that continue to date. From 1962 -1968, the first government of independent Mali embarked on a massive schooling campaign at all educational levels. More schools were built to bring education to the general population at the primary and secondary levels. At the tertiary level, specialized schools of higher education were established. They included the National School of Engineering (ENI); the Ecole Normale Supérieure (ENSup), for the training of high school teachers and other professionals; the National School of Administration (ENA); the School of Medicine and pharmacy; and the Rural Polytechnic Institute (IPR).
Enrollment
The University of Mali (UM) currently enrolls 25,000 students. Table 1 shows the cross section of the student body by faculty and gender. Difficulties directly related to the growth of the student-to-faculty ratio include the pressure on existing facilities, the increased teaching/grading load of the faculty, the decrease of research time and of research productivity, the decrease of services delivered to the community, and the dampening of the collaborative efforts. The above picture is compounded by the approximately 5,000 new high school graduates who entered UM in fall 2000. Further, the relatively large numbers of students per faculty member are staggeringly high for some colleges. Ratios at FSJE and FLASH, for example, exceed 100:1.
Faculty
UM's student population has been growing rapidly, but the number of professors at all ranks has not kept pace.
Governance and Administration
UM is a public institution endowed with financial autonomy under the supervision of the Ministry of Education. The university is governed by a policy- making board known as the University Council. The administration of the university is led by a chief executive officer, the rector. The major academic structures of the university, in charge of the tripartite mission of instruction, research, and service--are colleges, schools, and institutes.
Total Enrollment Percentage Female Private Higher Education
The UM and its constituent institutions have been the only higher educational bodies in Mali since independence, but efforts are now underway to establish a few private higher education institutions. The master’s degree in business administration of the University of Quebec at Montreal (initiated in September 2000) and the Centre Universitaire Mande, (operationally established in 2000) also have collaboration agreements with UM, but it is too early to assess the possible long-term impact of these private efforts.Note: For detailed account on the state of higher education in Mali, please consult: Diola Bagayoko and Moussa M. Diawara, African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook (Damtew Teferra and Philip. G. Altbach, eds., Indiana University Press, 2003), pp. 423-430.
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