University Partners for Institutional Capacity:
The University of Massachusetts-University of Malawi Partnership.
By Gretchen B. Rossman & David R. Evans*
Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst

             Capacity building has become the hallmark of donor agencies’ strategies for international development.  The term, although somewhat vague, centers around longer-term strategies for promoting the organizational and human capacity to set goals, marshal resources, implement, and modify policies, programs, and projects in a given sector.  The concept is grounded in a vision of social change that focuses on building individual knowledge and skills, as well as institutional competence.  While there are tensions between a commitment to social change and the demands for results and accountability emanating from multi- and bi-lateral donors, capacity building holds promise for shifting development work from externally-driven prescriptions to local capabilities and values. 

            This paper reports on a capacity building project between US universities and education institutions in the Republic of Malawi that ran from June 2001-June 2006.  This project, funded by USAID, was an initiative to build institutional and human capacity in the education sector.  The project had three partnerships, each with a different focus:  primary teacher development; information technology[1]; and education leadership in planning and policy, and testing and assessment. This article focuses on the latter that involved a partnership between the Center for International Education at the University of Massachusetts and Chancellor College of the University of Malawi, the Malawi National Examinations Board (MANEB), and the Planning Division of the Ministry of Education (MoE). 

            Activities with Chancellor College focused on building their capacity to offer two Master’s degrees: one in Policy, Planning & Leadership (PP&L) and one in Testing & Measurement (T&M), as a strategy to create sustainable institutional capacity.  Three inter-related activities were key to this partnership:  1) training Malawi educators in post-graduate degrees (M.Ed. and Ed.D.) at the University of Massachusetts to become lecturers at Chancellor College; 2) designing and implementing a new PP&L master’s degree at Chancellor College; and 3) revitalizing the existing T&M master’s degree at Chancellor College.  Secondary efforts focused on building capacity at the institutions charged with the educational planning (MOE) and with national examinations (MANEB).  Staff members at these two institutions were trained at UMass in advanced degrees and many participated in short-term workshops that were offered in Malawi.

            The post-graduate degree training formed the core of the project design. Courses for the degree were offered partly in Malawi and partly at UMass. Extensive collaboration throughout the process enhanced the potential for success.  First, the Malawi partner institutions organized a nationally advertised selection process that produced two cohorts of highly qualified students.   Second, course work at UMass was taught by faculty with direct experience in Malawi and made extensive use of examples from Malawi.  Third, all field research for both degrees was conducted in Malawi on educational challenges there.  Printed copies of all the research were provided to the library at Chancellor College. Fourth, the returning graduates were honored with local ceremonies, with the doctoral candidates formally participating in a regular Chancellor College graduation ceremony.

            The results of this project were, and continue to be, impressive.   A total of 24 degrees were awarded to participants by UMass - 18 Masters and 6 Doctorates.  In addition, four planners from Malawi MoE spent a semester at UMass in non-degree study; several groups were sent on study tours to universities in Africa; and senior officers from Chancellor College and MANEB visited UMass and other relevant U.S. organizations (e.g., ETS in New Jersey).  Subsequently, almost a third of the Masters graduates have gone on to study in doctoral programs. Three are now in doctoral programs at UMass and others went to South Africa and England.

            Most notable is that all the UMass graduates returned as planned to work in education in Malawi. Many have subsequently been promoted to more senior positions, or have taken up new posts within the education sector.  Capacity at Chancellor College to offer its PP&L and T&M Master’s degrees has been considerably augmented with the return and promotion of UMass graduates, one of whom is now a department chair, as well as the hiring of other UMass graduates as lecturers.  The Faculty of Education also uses UMass graduates from other institutions as part-time lecturers to augment their teaching staff.  The new PP&L Masters at Chancellor College has enrolled several planners from MoE, and several officers from MANEB are now studying in the revitalized T&M Masters program, thus beginning the process of becoming self-sufficient in producing education leadership.

            The success of the activity is attributable to three major factors: 1) the collaborative design of the activity; 2) the willingness of the partner institutions in Malawi to capitalize on the knowledge and skills of the UMass graduates; and 3) the use of a cohort model.  The first two were discussed above. The cohort model means that students come in a group and experience a shared set of experiences, learning opportunities, and develop commonly held understandings about education.  When they return they have already formed a professional network that persists and allows them to support each other in applying their new knowledge.  The total number involved was large enough to form a national network that involved most of the major educational institutions in Malawi, particularly as they were promoted to senior leadership positions.  When the cohort model is combined with the collaboration between the partner institutions and the willingness of the partners to promote the graduates upon return, the overall impact on capacity is much greater than otherwise might be expected.

*Submitted by David R. Evans, Director, Center for International Education, University of Massachusetts, Amherst, MA 01003, CIE Web Site: http://www.umass.edu/cie