The Yale Globalist - The Business of Education

The Business of Education

Monday, 05 January 2009 | Raphaella Friedman

In the 1976 Soweto Uprising, black South African students stood up in the face of police brutality to demand a say in their education, and ultimately, the end of apartheid. South African youth today face a new fight—this time, for employment in a struggling economy. Again, they are starting with education.

Although apartheid formally ended 14 years ago, its legacy looms in South Africa’s enduring poverty. As the country looks to the future, the exodus of more than 20 percent of its skilled professionals is robbing the country of its brightest minds.

“If they’re not leaving now, they’re leaving within a week,” said Richard Herring, an emerging market developer. Those conducting business in South Africa face the limitations of developing infrastruc ture and a largely unskilled, impoverished workforce.

One private institution in Johannesburg is confronting this problem by drawing on the energy of South Africa’s youth. Through an innovative higher education initiative, the Community and Individual development Association (CIdA) arms its students with business training to compete in the global market, but charges them to first return to their own communities to share their new skills.

CIdA City Campus provides students with a Bachelor of Business Administration degree free of charge, making it accessible to students from poor rural areas. CIdA cofounder Teddy Blecher explained that the school’s importance and impact is nationwide. “If we don’t find a way to get people into tertiary education and build the intellectual capacity of our own people, we are never going to become a competitive nation globally,” he cautioned.

When CIdA City Campus was founded in 1999, less than three percent of South Africans had a secondary education. Out of 38 million black South Africans, a mere 47 were dentists. Of the 20,000 accountants in the country, 282 were black. dean Rukuzdo Murapa of CIdA described the obstacle South Africa faces in addressing such inequalities: “The challenge in any development is, how do you make up for lost time?”

CIdA prepares its students to be the drivers of this development after graduation. Students cover more than 40 subjects in four years, graduating with myriad career opportunities. They have access to high-tech equipment and quality lecturers, thanks to the support of corporations like Microsoft, Apple Computer, and dell. J.P. Morgan, Reuters, and the Johannesburg Stock Market have all established partnerships with the university.

Skeptics assert that simply providing education, or even job exposure, does not remedy the nation’s lack of jobs. Recognizing this reality, CIdA trains its students to focus on innovation and job creation. In its School of Entrepreneurship, students receive guidance and capital to create their own business over the course of 18 months.

CIdA’s effectiveness is evident in its students’ success. Most of CIdA’s 1,000 graduates earn more before age 25 than their families earn over the course of ten or 15 years. “We are very young, we have yet to make a dent in the labor market, but already a large number of our young graduates are making a major difference in the corporate world, in the banks, and in the IT world,” explained Murapa.

But CIdA ensures that a student’s impact extends beyond individual income. A core value of the university is ubuntu, an African philosophy emphasizing the importance of allegiances and relationships. during vacations, CIdA students are required to return to their communities to teach in local high schools. They serve as role models and resources on a diverse range of subjects, such as HIV/AIdS prevention. Fostering this ethic of social commitment addresses national brain drain while providing education and hope to communities in need.

While CIdA City Campus students serve the needs of their nation, can the institution continue to finance itself without tuition fees? CIdA took a characteristically innovative approach to its own financial challenges: it designed a self-sustaining university, operated and managed by its own students. This unprecedented model further integrates practical knowledge into a business education, an important part of the CIdA approach.

CIdA confronts development challenges with the fierce resilience and optimism characteristic of the South African people. As Murapa explained, the future of CIdA and South Africa will not come easily. “It requires the energies and the dedication of various players,” he said. “It requires a determination to move on and not to be distracted.” The students on Johannesburg’s City Campus are living proof of such a commitment. Should the CIdA model spread throughout the continent, it could empower a generation, reenergize development, and redefine higher education as we know it.

Raphaella Friedman is a freshman in Trumbull College.

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