Higher education

18 Nov 2010

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Short description of the higher education system

Yemen has seven state universities, five private universities and some four community colleges. The state universities (located in the cities of Sana’a, Aden, Hodeida, Taiz, Ibb, Dhamar and Hadramaut, Mukallah) have affiliated faculties (colleges) of education or agriculture in nearby provinces (called governorates).

The private universities offer the same programmes as public institutions. Private institutions operate as businesses and must receive business licences in order to operate.

There are also two relatively new community colleges, in Sana’a and Aden, and additional community colleges have formed from branch faculties of education in Seiyun and Abs. These colleges offer three-year programmes, with the first year focusing on upgrading skills in technical drawing and English.

Less than 10% of secondary school graduates enrol in universities. In 2006, around 174,000 students were enrolled in the public universities, while 12,000 were enrolled in the private universities. University education lasts four years, with the exception of engineering and medical programmes, which take five to six years to complete.

With one in eight tertiary education students graduating in technical fields, technical higher education is still a relatively small sector. Each year, approximately 350 Yemeni students enrol in higher education abroad.
 

Types of degrees

Community colleges award associate degrees (on successful completion of a three-year programme). Universities award bachelor's degrees, High Diplomas, master's degrees and doctoral degrees (only a few).
 

Quality assurance and accreditation

At present, there is no formal system of quality assurance and accreditation for public and private higher education in Yemen. Nevertheless, the Ministry of Education and Scientific Research occasionally closes private higher education institutions that have not sought its approval to operate.
 

Recent reforms

The government of Yemen has made development of the education system its national priority. The country is still facing challenges in reducing poverty and illiteracy, which the government aims to cut to less than 10% by 2025.

In 2005, 81% of Yemen’s school-age population was enrolled in primary school (female enrolment stood at 74%), and 46% of the school-age population was enrolled in secondary school (including only 30% of eligible females). Less than 10% of secondary school graduates enrol in higher education.

Despite high investment in education and an increase in education enrolment rates in recent years, the government is struggling to provide the necessary infrastructure for education. Student-staff ratios are unfavourable, the quality of equipment and learning resources remains poor, there is high absenteeism among professors, no systematic process to review and update curricula and a shortage of laboratories and computers for engineering students.

The government’s 2006 National Higher Education Strategy set out the following four key strategic objectives:

  1. development of a good system of higher education governance;
  2. institutional diversification to meet the country’s various socio-economic needs;
  3. provision of high-quality education resources and ensuring optimal use of such resources;
  4. ensuring good quality teaching, research and services to meet the development needs of the country and population.

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