Educational Structure

Here in Mozambique, there are both public and private universities, but how they are set up is a little different than I have seen in other countries

In Brazil, the biggest and best universities are the public ones. To get in is extremely competative. The top students are at the top universities, in general. This means that the students at the public (and therefore completely free) universities are the students who went to the private highschools, because the quality of the education is better there.

Here it's a different story. There is also an entrace exam to get into the university, but there is a strong preference for students who are coming from the public highschools. Some of the best students from the private highschools are rejected in favour of the "less advantaged" students. This means two main things. First, there is more access to quality education for the students who lack financial capacity. Several of the students at the public universities here live in the slums. On the other hand, it means that the students from the private highschools are, in general, forced to attend private universities as well, where the options may be fewer (in terms of areas of study). The atmosphere between the private and the public universities is very different, and the attitudes of the students as well.

While I see offering a free university education to those with less financial capacity as a good thing, it also seems a little strange to perhaps exclude some students who might benefit a lot from the environment of the public university, which is more competative and pushes the students more. It also creates a distance between the more advantaged and less advantaged students.

Of course any system will have it's advantages and disadvantages, and overall I think the Mozambique system is probably more positive than negative. I would love to see my kids in the Kenyan slum have the chance to attend university for free. Here, if they make it through highschool, they might just have the chance. Part of alieviating the poverty of the slums starts with educating the people who live there and providing them with more opportunities. This is definetly something I will try to find more about!