More
than 60% of the population in the Asia-Pacific
region live in the rural areas. This part of the
region’s population undoubtedly plays a
crucial role in its socio-economic development.
With new developments in science and technology,
universities have increasingly been looked upon
as the purveyors of information and expertise
in the area of rural development. They are expected
to provide services and advice to local communities
through their research, training and extension
services and functions.
These
were the reasons behind the conduct of the Regional
Meeting on the Role of Universities in Rural Development
organized by the Chinese National Commission for
UNESCO, the UNESCO Beijing Office and the UNESCO-affiliated
International Research and Training Center for
Rural Education. The meeting was held in Beijing,
People’s Republic of China last September
1998. It was meant to provide a venue for the
exchange and sharing of successful and innovative
ideas, experiences and methodologies in rural
development.
Some
of the country reports, issues and concerns discussed
in the regional meeting are presented in two issues
of the INNOTECH Journal. Part I, contained in
this issue, presents the following articles:
The
Role of Universities in Rural Poverty Alleviation:
The Indonesian Experience by Dr. Darwin Karyadi
presents Indonesia’s long-standing tripartite
co-operation between students, universities and
communities in rural development, notably through
the so-called SAP or Student Action Program carried
out in the rural areas. As an example, the paper
delves deeply into the nutrition program launched
by the Indonesian government to address rural
poverty in the country. It shows how collaboration
among students, the community and local government
units enable the university’s leadership
to foster better and more effective partnerships
that put in place appropriate systems to fulfill
basic human needs of the poor households in the
rural areas.
The
Role of Universities in the Rural Development
of Malaysia by Dr. Wan Hashim Wan Teh provides
a general picture of the involvement of Malaysian
universities in rural development through their
research and extension works and services using
academic and technical skills. The article also
presents the experience of the Malaysian Agricultural
University in providing extension services to
the rural poor that resulted in a direct linkage
between the rural population and the university.
Dr.
Paitoon Sinlarat speaks of the lack of direct
linkage between the rural communities and the
universities in Thailand through his paper entitled
The Role of Thai Universities in Rural Development:
Time for New Concepts and Methods. Here,
he presents arguments that tell why there is a
need for universities to gear towards other alternatives
for rural development and not just towards township
or urbanization as is commonly happening. He shares
alternative approaches to rural development which
make proper use of local resources and knowledge
for sufficiency while making profit as well.
The
Role of Universities in Rural Development: The
Case of Bangladesh by Dr. Mohammad Rahman
discusses the five-year development plans of Bangladesh
which are aimed to alleviate the poverty situation
of the country by providing greater access to
services by the rural poor. The article also elucidates
on the lack of direct linkage between universities
and the rural communities in Bangladesh. It also
cites reasons for the minimal development taking
place in the rural and agricultural sectors of
the country despite various rural development
programs. Dr. Rahman claims that there are universities
that can be linked with rural development efforts
at both government and NGO fronts, and that the
faculty resources have been largely unutilized
for agricultural as well as rural development.
Dr.
Li Xiaoyun of China talks about the gap between
the current existing structure of the universities
and the realities of rural development work in
his article entitled Universities for Rural
Development: Lessons and Perspectives from China.
He claims that the current university set-up is
very much western-based/ oriented and this needs
to be reviewed first and changed in order to meet
the needs of the rural population. Dr. Xiaoyun
also discusses how the Chinese government is currently
reforming universities, institutionalizing the
learning process and undertaking efforts to develop
cooperative action in the region.
The
Role of Universities in Rural Development: Experience
of and Expectations from Indian Universities
by Ram Takwale talks about the wide scope of extension
services being performed by universities in India.
He discusses how developments in IT should be
used extensively to create distributed classroom
through interactive television, to transmit instructional
materials and to ensure intimate interactivity
among students and teachers who would be living
and working at a distance. The paper also presents
how universities are able to help the lives and
works of villagers in India through the effective
and efficient use of developments in science and
technology.
Part
II of this issue’s theme is presented in
Vol. XXII, No. 2 of the INNOTECH Journal. It discusses
various issues and concerns pertaining to the
role of universities in rural development. |
