Tunisian Higher Education Research Articles

Advancing autonomy in Tunisian higher education: Exploring the role of technology in empowering learners

This study explores technology-based learner autonomy in Tunisian higher education, focusing on the Raqqada English department. It examines student engagement with technology-driven learning and the challenges faced by educators, highlighting a gap between students' theoretical readiness for self-directed learning and their actual use of digital tools. Utilising a mixed-methods approach, quantitative data were collected from 102 English students via questionnaires, and qualitative data from interviews with 25 educators. Findings reveal that while 80% of students engage in autonomous learning outside the classroom, in-class technology usage is significantly lower, indicating a disconnect with existing infrastructure. Furthermore, 76% of students acknowledge technology's role in supporting diverse learning styles, and 67% link smart classrooms to increased motivation. However, challenges such as limited digital literacy, inadequate training, and poor infrastructure hinder effective technology integration. Educators expressed concerns about rigid teaching methods and insufficient autonomy at earlier educational levels, suggesting that autonomy is better developed at the master's level. The study concludes that enhancing infrastructure, training, and digital resource availability is crucial for advancing learner autonomy. Recommendations include fostering intercultural collaboration through programs like Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) and implementing varied assessment methods to evaluate learner autonomy better. Additionally, professional development programs for educators and students are necessary to promote autonomy and active learning strategies.

Academic promotion and leadership: ‘moving the needle’ for the enhancement of gender equality in Tunisian higher education institutional members of the RMEI network following the TARGET framework

Although job opportunities, recruitment criteria, health insurance and social welfare are equally available regardless of sex, academic promotion at higher education institutions has so far been a challenging issue for women more than men. Even though there are not legislative policies or political strategies proscribing gender discrimination, the under-representation of women in high profile positions is thought-provoking as it was found by this study on collecting segregating data at the Faculty of Arts and Human Sciences of Sousse (FAHSS) and to a lesser degree at the National Engineering School of Sousse (ENISO). Given insufficient research in the area under investigation, and despite the shortage of data needed for examination, this study makes use of and analyses the available data collected from Sousse University. Built upon the findings, this paper sets forth to examine impediments as challenges to progress which are encountered by women. Despite the belief that gender parity has been acquired, it is still a challenge to progress to endorse the culture of gender equality at higher education institutions. The study entails the activities of the gender equality committee created at Sousse University in 2018 with the support of the Mediterranean Network of Engineering Schools (RMEI) and under the framework of the EU TARGET project entitled ‘Taking a reflexive approach to gender equality at Institutional transformation’.

Employability reforms in Tunisian higher education: a path-dependence perspective

ABSTRACT The article investigates the impact of inherited cultural memes on employability policies in Tunisia, where the 2006 Bologna-inspired reforms were touted as a remedy for the critical problem of graduate unemployment. Mainstreaming vocational tracks, introducing transversal courses and involving employers in the design of curricula and training of students were promised to enhance graduates’ ‘job-readiness’. Yet a decade on, graduate unemployment has only exacerbated and fuelled a revolution that toppled the Ben Ali autocratic regime in 2011. Using the lens of path dependence theory, the article probes the way cultural vestiges may impinge on the outcome of the reform policy. The findings reported are mainly based on a doctoral dissertation conducted by the author and also on other relevant empirical studies. It concludes that ‘policy legacies’ and inherited ‘perceptual filters’ continued to shape stakeholders’ perceptions of the traditional mission of universities, while ‘nested rules’ diluted the impact of the new measures and impeded the institutionalisation of the new path of reforms.

Agency in educational language planning: perspectives from higher education in Tunisia

ABSTRACT Post-modern approaches to language policy have emphasised the role of agency in implementing and appropriating language policies. While agency is often perceived in positive terms, Liddicoat [(2019). Constraints on agency in micro-language policy and planning in schools. In J. Bouchard & G. P. Glasgow (Eds.), Agency in language policy and planning: Critical inquiries (pp. 149–170). New York: Routledge.] calls on language policy researchers to investigate its problems and constraints. This article discusses the interplay of structure and agency in educational language policies in Tunisian higher education, a sector characterised by a ‘benign neglect' approach to language policy. While doing so, it responds to Fenton-Smith and Gurney’s [(2016). Actors and agency in academic language policy and planning. Current Issues in Language Planning, 17(1), 72–87] observation that higher education contexts remain largely underexplored in the language policy scholarship. The article uses data from 12 semi-structured interviews from local higher education stakeholders in order to explore how their agency is exercised, rejected and contested. The study demonstrates that while agency creates room for flexibility and the ability to respond to changing local demands and aspirations, it can also cause problems such as inconsistency, uncertainty, and the reproduction of social inequalities.

Evaluating the efficiency of higher education institutions in Tunisia

Due to the increase in students' number and the emergence of new activities, the efficiency of higher education institutions (HEIs) in Tunisia is receiving increasing attention in the academic as well as in the public discourse. In this paper, data envelopment analysis (DEA) was used to analyse the relative efficiency of 62 Tunisian HEIs for the academic year 2010-2011. The total number of HEIs was divided into two subsets - experimental group composed of 30 institutions and non-experimental group containing 32 - in order to minimise heterogeneity in the sample. The findings show that the technical and scale efficiency in the HEIs sample appear to be high on average. There were also small slacks in input utilisation. Also, more HEIs were operating at decreasing returns to scale, indicating a potential to downsize. DEA identifies the reference groups for inefficient institutions and indicates the direction of desirable productivity improvements. As such, the results obtained by DEA can serve as a benchmarking instrument for the leaders of the university system and contribute in more efficient allocation of scarce resources. Policy makers could distribute a share of budget according to institution performance and creating an atmosphere of competition in the Tunisian higher education system.

Market Orientation in Tunisian Higher Education

Market Orientation in Tunisian Higher Education

Tunisia at its crossroad: The role of a local development contextualised entrepreneurship training at universities

Tunisia faces major problems of unemployment or precariously employed. As in many countries, entrepreneurship has also found its way into higher education in Tunisia. It is often said here as elsewhere that the universities have a crucial role as potential drivers for a locally inspired and contextualised promotion of entrepreneurship. Today, the graduate business start-up support arrangements within the universities or at the public promotion agencies are strongly focused on the early stages of business launch. They neglect later support to overcome critical thresholds during business development and growth that contribute to ensuring longer term survival and business development. Also, the relationship between these support services within the various regions and the respective business communities is not well established. The local economic context varies between economically strong coastal areas and poorly developed interior regions. The lesson is that Tunisian higher education institutions can play an essential role in creating jobs for graduates and building a dynamic base of growth-oriented businesses if they recognise entrepreneurship promotion as a strategic objective and develop appropriate activities in close relation with their local economic context.

Education of English for Specific Purposes in Tunisia: The case of the faculty of medicine of Sousse

This study aims to describe the educational situation of English for Specific Purposes within the faculty of medicine of Sousse, Tunisia. In order to explore the attitudes of both teachers and learners in this institution, a questionnaire and an interview were adopted. Scrutiny of the results shows that a big majority of students are aware of the importance of English in their study as well as their future professional life. Nevertheless a change needs to take place concerning the time table, the content of the course.., etc. Ultimately, this study aims to improve the teaching/learning situation of English for Specific Purposes in Tunisian higher education.

Leadership in Tunisian Higher Education from the Perspective of the EFQM Excellence Model

Since the early 1980s, the concept of quality has been a central focus of attention in the debate ofhigher education (HE). Over time, many developed countries have experienced a growing concern forquality in HE such as the United Kingdom, Australia, Norway, and the United States of America,amongst others (Anyamele 2004, Becket and Brookes 2005). The focus on quality leads manydeveloped countries to acknowledge the benefits of the implementation of Total Quality Management(TQM) within their institutions (Kanji and Tambi, 1999). However, quality movement is rather slow in theHE of developing countries. Indeed, some HEIs have established systems of quality assurance andcontrol but in different degrees of complexity and effectiveness (Anyamele, 2007).