Background

Planning assumes critical importance in the development of tertiary education worldwide, without which the activities of the Sector would have been carried out in a piecemeal and disjointed manner, focusing on the short term rather than long-term, with little emphasis on its future directions. The creation of the Tertiary Education Commission in 1988 was the outcome of glaring planning deficiencies identified at the tertiary level by the Visitors Report to the University of Mauritius, a year earlier.

The main responsibility of the TEC, once it became operational in 1990 was, accordingly, to focus its activities on planning at the tertiary education level. The objective was, inter-alia, to ensure that resources within the sector were being judiciously and optimally utilised. With the portfolio of activities of the Commission rapidly expanding, it was deemed necessary to create a full-fledged Division to take charge of planning.

Functions of the Research & Planning Division

The activities of the Research & Planning Division consist of the following:

• Managing and regularly updating the Tertiary Education Management Information System, with regard to student enrolment, programmes, output, staff, budget, research and other performance indicators in both the publicly-funded institutions and the private post-secondary educational institutions.
• Conducting research studies and surveys to gauge the external effectiveness and efficiency of the Sector and collect data to assist in planning and policy-making.
• Regularly producing both quantitative and qualitative information on tertiary education in Mauritius and disseminating same to stakeholders.
• Collecting and analyzing information on the evolution of the graduate labour market on a regular basis in view of updating the List of Indicative Priority Fields of Study.
• Coordinating and monitoring the implementation of the TEC Strategic Plan to ensure its effective implementation.
• Monitoring the Programme Based Budgets of the TEIs relating the non-financial indicators.
• Providing advice and information on tertiary education, including scholarship and related matters, to stakeholders, as and when requested.
• Assisting in the determination of allowances payable to State Scholars, as and when requested.
• Processing requests for free transport from the private post-secondary educational institutions.
• Implementing the TEC Research and related support schemes.

Over and above its regular activities, the Research & Planning Division provides invaluable inputs to the work of various committees at the national level. These include for instance student population projections at the tertiary level, assessment of human resources in the field of ICT, etc. The Division is also driving the project to democratise access to knowledge, the first phase of which has consisted in providing access to e-journals.

Staffing

The Research & Planning Division was created in 1994 with the recruitment of a Planning Coordinator, which subsequently became known as the Head of Research & Planning, and a Planning Officer who together with a Statistician constituted the core staff. The number of posts on the establishment of the Division has since been increased, in line with expanding activities, to include three Research Officers and a Programme Officer. Every now and then, the Division also avails of the services of research assistants/trainees on short-term contractual basis to help in specific research assignments.

Publications and Reports

Hereunder are some of the recent publications of the Research and Planning Division:

• Participation in Tertiary Education (Annual)
• Profile of New Entrants to Tertiary Education (Bi-Annual)
• List of Indicative Priority Fields of Study (Bi-Annual)
• Research in Tertiary Education: An Indicative List of Themes (Occasional)
• Graduate Tracer Study 2008 (Occasional)
• The Mauritius Tertiary Education Sector: Existing and Proposed Linkages(Occasional)
• Investment, Employment, Enrolment and Programmes in Private Post Secondary Education Institutions in Mauritius
• List of Contemporary Issues (occasional)
• Resource Utilisation Audit of the SDIM and IST (occasional)