The university in emergency situations – Quisqueya University, Haiti

This special guest entry follows up on our thematic week on higher education and crisis and is also a follow-up to one of our earlier post on Haiti. Therese Marie Pankratov has interviewed  Jacky Lumarque, the rector of Quisqueya University on Haiti and writes about some of the challenges higher education faces on the aftermath of major natural crisis.
January 2010. All eyes were turned towards Haiti, as we horrified received news of the devastating earthquake that shattered the capital Port-au-Prince and surrounding areas.
December 2012, almost three years later, and the international attention has shifted, though Haiti is still in a state of recovery from the damages of the earthquake and its consequences.
Haiti was a fragile country before the earthquake hit. 76% of the population lived on under 2USD a day. Almost 40% of Haitians have never gone to school. Only 8% of schools belonged to the public system, causing school fees to be a key hindrance in primary enrollment. Only 22% of enrolled children completed primary education. Higher education is a mere dream for the majority of the population, and for those who do obtain a degree, it has often been a ticket to emigration. The consequence for Haiti is a lack of needed skills.
Unusual to a humanitarian response has been a focus on the education sector in Haiti, and its role in “building back better” after the earthquake. Even the higher education sector has received international attention from UNESCO and the media (The New York Times, The Star), pointing to its role in mitigating fragility. The last three years have seen progress, but there is still a long way ahead. Read more...