Chapter 1045 Education
The important reason why East Africa can flourish in front-end scientific research fields such as nuclear physics is the continuous development of higher education in East Africa. Although East Africa is relatively scarce in top-level bigwigs and cannot compare with Europe and the United States for the time being, East Africa has the largest number of college students and young scientists in the world. Take the East African Institute of Nuclear Physics as an example. They are all 100% young people, and the oldest is no more than 45 years old.
In 1905 alone, there were 370,000 college students in East Africa, while the number of college students in the UK was only more than 7,000 at that time. Among European countries, the largest number of college students in Germany was only about 40,000 to 50,000. The number of college students in the United States is also relatively large, more than 150,000.
Moreover, although there are many universities in the United States, there are many business schools in American universities, which also reflects the social atmosphere of the United States that emphasizes business. Most families hope to replicate the entrepreneurial legends of those American tycoons.
At present, there are indeed many grassroots wealthy people in the United States, so the "knowledgeable people" in American society naturally follow public opinion to build business schools to collect tuition fees. At the same time, high-income groups such as lawyers and doctors are also very popular in the United States. In this way, in American university education, a large part of the groups belong to the non-science and engineering category.
East Africa's investment in education has naturally brought East Africa a very high return, especially during the First Five-Year Plan, when local talents in East Africa assumed the absolute main force, which was unimaginable in seventy or eighty years.
East Africa currently cultivates more mid- and high-end talents each year than European countries combined, so East Africa can achieve a big explosion in the field of scientific research.
It can be foreseen that when the Second Five-Year Plan is completed, with a more superior industrial base, East Africa's industry and society will accelerate development again.
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Through the expansion of universities in the 1990s, the scale of higher education in East Africa has increased significantly, and the weight of the Ministry of Education has also increased.
Minister of Education Muric reported to Ernst: "By the completion of the First Five-Year Plan, there will be 217 universities in my country. Although it is not as good as the more than 1,000 universities in the United States, our universities are large in scale and developed in a centralized manner, so there are also many college students."
East African universities are mainly public, so no matter how small the scale of East African universities is, it is impossible to be as perfunctory as in the United States.
In the United States, education can be viewed as a business, and the result of private investment will naturally lead some people to take opportunistic measures to build so-called "universities". Some universities may not even have exclusive venues. In order to save costs, it is not impossible to simply rent private houses to run schools. Therefore, there is a big difference between American universities and East African universities.
"At present, Chinese universities adopt a strict admission and strict graduation model. Middle school or social personnel pass the college entrance examination to obtain the qualification to enter the university. These people are originally the elites of East Africa. These elites gather together in the university and are further screened. After entering the society, most of them are still excellent."
"With the implementation of the Second Five-Year Plan, my country's industry is increasingly eager for talents. Many positions are created, and more professional management and technical talents are needed."
"Higher education is also the main force in my country's scientific research field. Scientific laboratories and research institutions across the country need talent supplements."
"At the same time, in government departments, the demand for high-quality talents is also relatively huge, especially under the planned economy, requiring government staff to adapt their abilities so that they can better implement industrial development plans and strengthen rural and urban management levels."
In summary, East African society has a strong demand for talents. Of course, East Africa does not need to be too eager to invest in education now.
It is no exaggeration to say that East Africa's investment in education ranks first in the world. Take the population of East Africa as an example. The population of East Africa is larger than that of the United States, but it is limited. The population of higher education in East Africa is more than double that of the United States, and it is even more exaggerated in the primary and secondary education groups. After all, East Africa is not as rich as the United States. This also directly reflects the importance that the East African government attaches to education.
Ernst said: "We made a major improvement in higher education in the 1990s. Although my country's high-end talent training cannot fully meet social needs, there is no need to expand enrollment on the scale of the 1990s. Educational resources have already occupied a large part of government expenditure in my country. Now we are more focused on digesting the returns of education investment in the 1990s."
"Of course, after the completion of the Second Five-Year Plan, we will make adjustments based on economic conditions. After all, with the development of the times, the more talent reserves a country has, the greater its advantages."
Ernst is relatively satisfied with the current scale of education in East Africa. Although the number of universities in East Africa is far from comparable to that of later countries, it also depends on what era it is. In East Africa, where industrialization has not yet been completed, it cannot digest more higher education talents, so it is a good thing for East Africa to appropriately slow down the expansion of education.
Moreover, the scale of higher education in East Africa is already the largest in the world, and there is no motivation to invest more resources in higher education.
East Africa's investment in education is not only in colleges and universities, but also in primary and secondary schools. At its peak, East Africa's investment in education even exceeded military spending, and it is still one of the main items in East African government spending.
Therefore, in terms of national strength or fiscal pressure, East Africa's current educational resources can basically meet the overall needs of society. As for the needs of various departments and enterprises for high-end talents, it is frank to say that it will not change in any era.
Ernst went on to say: "As for education, we should also change our attitude in time. In the past, East African education focused on quantity rather than quality. Now that the national economy has developed somewhat, industrial progress is particularly rapid. In this case, it is inevitable to optimize the original educational resources."
"Including improving campus hardware facilities, improving teacher quality, innovating textbook knowledge, etc. In the past, our industry was difficult, so many campuses had poor basic conditions. At this time, adjustments should be made."
As a colonial country with a short history, East Africa has never been a poor country. It can only be said that the industry is not strong. On the whole, it is richer than many countries in Eurasia, including South American countries. Of course, the small population in East Africa in the early days is also the main reason.
Now the population size of East Africa is actually relatively moderate. Although the population has experienced large-scale growth, exceeding most European and American countries, the population of East Africa is growing while the industry is also growing. In this case, the increase in population in East Africa has not caused an impact on East African society, but has promoted the industrialization of East Africa.
If it is a traditional agricultural country, then East Africa's rapid population growth will naturally bring more negative effects. After all, land resources are limited. When the land is not enough to support the excess population, it will cause social problems.
However, the land carrying capacity is not static, and industrialization is the main way to increase the land carrying capacity. East Africa's industrialization has absorbed the rich population of its own agriculture.
Moreover, as a colonial country, the East African government has a large amount of assets, so even if East Africa is really poor, the East African government is not poor. This is also the main reason why East Africa can invest ahead of time in the field of education. It is mainly caused by having money in hand. Although the social wealth of traditional agricultural countries is also large, it is completely concentrated in the hands of a few people. Even if the government has surplus income, it will eventually flow into the hands of the upper class of society in various forms.
Of course, according to the law, East Africa will definitely be like this in the future, but this is not a problem that Ernst needs to consider. Now East Africa has a short history, and various social problems are far from reaching the outbreak stage. Even if East Africa is as unprogressive as the Soviet Union in the middle and late period, as long as there is no war, it can continue for many years.
In summary, with the unified coordination of various factors, the current financial situation of the East African government is very good, which also enables the East African government to concentrate on developing the economy and industry, and industrial development in turn promotes the progress of East African society.