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A need to protect the gains of Afghan science

21/09/2021

PHOTO: University students in Kabul © Flickr/Carol Mitchell CC by ND.

Over the past five years, Afghan science has made great strides. The process of revitalizing the higher education system over the past two decades is now paying dividends. These gains must be preserved in the country’s new circumstances, in order for Afghanistan to remain on the path towards more sustainable development, notably by nourishing the capacities of all of its young women and men.

Strong growth in computer science, maths and artificial intelligence

Scientific publishing in Afghanistan has surged since 2016, according to the UNESCO Science Report (2021). Afghan scientists produced 285 publications in 2019, more than four times the number (67) in 2015.

In 2019, more than half of Afghan output (55%) concerned the broad fields of health sciences (86 publications) and ICTs, maths and statistics (72 publications). Scientific output was lowest in physics and astronomy (7 publications).

Growth has been strongest in ICTs, maths and statistics (see Figure 1 below). Between 2016 and 2019, Afghan scientists produced 187 publications in this broad field, compared to just seven between 2011 and 2015. By 2019, one-quarter of Afghan scientific publications concerned ICTs, maths and statistics.

Strong growth has also been observed in research on artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics and in the field of bio-informatics (see Figure 2 below).

Afghan output has grown on sustainability topics

Output by Afghan scientists has also grown on topics of particular relevance to achieving the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). According to original research by UNESCO assessing trends in global scientific output for 56 sustainability topics, health dominated Afghanistan’s sustainability research agenda over 2011–2019, in line with the country’s general publication trends.

However, Afghan output grew faster on the emerging topics of agro-ecology and the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems (see Figure 3).

Figure 1: Number of Afghan publications in broad fields of science, 2011–2019
Among broad fields with at least 12 publications produced over 2016–2019

Source: UNESCO Science Report (2021), using Scopus (Elsevier) data, excluding Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, data treatment by Science-Metrix

Figure 2: Number of Afghan publications in cross-cutting strategic technologies, 2012–2015 and 2016–2019

Note: The category of cross-cutting technologies also spans fields in which Afghan output was non-existent, namely: nanotechnology and nanoscience; opto-electronics and phototonics; the Internet of Things; and blockchain technology.
Source: UNESCO Science Report (2021), using Scopus (Elsevier) data, excluding Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, data treatment by Science-Metrix

Figure 3: Volume of output by Afghani researchers on selected sustainability topics, 2012–2015 and 2016–2019
Among topics with at least 10 Afghan publications over 2011–2019

Note: Each bar is sized reflect the period with the greatest output. For instance, the first bar on tropical communicable diseases shows that scientific output grew from 28 (2012–2015) to 41 (2016–2019) publications. The second bar shows that output on reproductive health and neonatology dropped from 34 (2012–2015) to 26 (2016–2019) publications.
Source: UNESCO Science Report (2021), using Scopus (Elsevier) data, including Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences, data treatment by Science-Metrix

Almost 20 years of university reform

In 2004, UNESCO’s International Institute for Educational Planning partnered with Afghanistan to publish a Strategic Action Plan for the Development of Higher Education in Afghanistan. As the UNESCO Science Report (2010) recalls, this action plan covered a wide spectrum of reform spanning the institutional structure of universities, governance issues, recruitment and retention of staff and students, the relationship between teaching and research, finance and the procurement of equipment, land and textbooks.

The National Higher Education Strategic Plan (2010–2014) built on this framework. It was a concrete expression of the Afghan National Development Strategy covering the same period, which considered higher education to be one of the eight pillars of the country’s development.

The National Higher Education Strategic Plan (2010–2014) was released following a series of consultation workshops with Afghan universities that were supported by UNESCO and the World Bank. The Strategic Plan affirmed that research policy and practice should focus on science and technology as a cornerstone of development. Among its priorities were to computerize the national admissions system and configure it to ensure that applicants with optimum potential were admitted to university.

The Strategic Plan also fixed a number of targets to 2014, including that of increasing the number of students at public universities from just under 64 000 in 2010 to 110 000 by 2014, 30% of whom were to be women.

The target for the student population at public universities was easily surpassed, since the Afghan student population numbered 153 314 by 2014, according to the UNESCO Science Report (2015). The share of women students progressed more modestly, from 19.9% to 20.5% of the student body.

It was at this time that the Higher Education Gender Strategy (2013) was released. It foresaw the construction of dormitories reserved for women as a means of boosting female university rolls. By 2014, seven such dormitories had been built.

By 2018, there were 170 393 students enrolled at Afghan universities, 25% of whom were women. This suggests that the Higher Education Gender Strategy (2013) was working.

Part of the growth in student rolls can be attributed to the introduction of night schools, which have allowed workers and young mothers to attend classes in the evening. This scheme has had the added advantage of making use of limited space that would otherwise have been left vacant at night.

A focus on modern facilities and nurturing a research culture

By 2017, the tertiary enrolment ratio had reached 9.7%, up from 8.2% in 2011, according to the UNESCO Science Report (2021). For women, the figures were 4.9% (2017) and 3.5% (2011). These ratios could be higher, given the strong demand for higher education in Afghanistan. The university system could only integrate 16% of school-leavers in 2014.

In order to absorb the influx of students, the multidonor Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund has been used to build and equip new facilities such as lecture halls, laboratories, computer hardware and student accommodation, including dormitories reserved for women.

Administered by the World Bank, the Afghanistan Reconstruction Trust Fund has financed both the Strengthening Higher Education Project (2008–2012) and the Higher Education Development Project (2015–2020). Both projects have sought to improve the quality of university teaching and develop a research culture.

During the period of the Strengthening Higher Education Project (2008–2012), research units were installed at 12 universities as part of the World Bank’s Higher Education Systems Improvement Project. A digital library was also developed in 2011–2012 to give students and faculty access to about 9000 academic journals and 7000 e-books.

For faculty, participating in research became a requirement for promotion. The research committees established at each of the 12 participating universities approved the first 9 research proposals in 2013 and a further 12 the following year, following a competitive bidding process.

The Higher Education Development Project (2015–2020) has been implemented through the National Higher Education Strategic Plan (2015–2020). Between 2016 and 2018, the project awarded research grants to 97 development-oriented projects submitted by public and private universities, according to the UNESCO Science Report (2021).

The installation of modern telecommunications infrastructure to enable universities to network with their peers has been another priority. According to the UNESCO Science Report (2021), by the end of 2018, about two-thirds of Afghan public universities were connected through a national fibre optic network, through the SILK Afghanistan Project sponsored jointly by the North Atlantic Treaty Organization’s (NATO’s) Science for Peace and Security Programme and the US Department of State. Afghanistan has been seeking to link the Afghan Research and Education Network to the Trans-Eurasia Information Network, which provides members with high-capacity Internet connectivity.

Meanwhile, private investment in mobile telephony, coupled with a young and technology-savvy population, has made telecommunications one of the fastest-growing sectors in Afghanistan. This has fostered the emergence of an entrepreneurial ecosystem, observes the UNESCO Science Report (2021).

A focus on preparing youth for the labour market

In recent years, there has been a push to channel students towards degree programmes that can prepare them for the labour market. The National Higher Education Strategic Plan (2015–2020) identified a number of priority disciplines, with a strong focus on science and engineering. They cover:

  • physical and life sciences: biology, chemistry, physics and Earth sciences;
  • computing: computer science and computer programming;
  • engineering, manufacturing and construction, including electromechanics, chemical technology and mining;
  • health: pharmacy, general medicine, stomatology and nursing;
  • environmental protection, including environmental engineering;
  • agriculture, including veterinary science, forestry, crop and livestock production, agronomy, irrigation, animal husbandry and horticulture;
  • information and communication technologies;
  • management and policy administration; and
  • English language and literature.

By 2018, 48% of Afghan students at public universities were enrolled in priority disciplines, according to the UNESCO Science Report (2021). Among women, the proportion dropped to 9%; however, among first-year students, this proportion rose to 22%. This is a consequence of the policy of reserving places in priority disciplines for female students: 4 972 places in 2018, up from 4 670 the previous year.

Moreover, of the 336 scholarships awarded to master’s students in priority disciplines in 2018, 35% targeted women.

Hundreds have benefited from the Physics without Frontiers programme

Afghanistan has four universities offering a Bachelor of Science degree in physics: Kabul University, Herat University, Nengarhar University and Balkh University. None of these universities currently offer masters or PhD programmes in physics.

Professors at these universities tend to be isolated from the international scientific community. They lack access to further study, depriving them of research experience.

Scientific output in physics and astronomy remains low, accounting for just 7 Afghan publications in 2019 (see Figure 1 above).

Since 2018, the Physics Without Frontiers programme run by UNESCO’s Abdus Salam International Centre for Theoretical Physics (ICTP) in Trieste, Italy, has been working with Kabul University to help faculty develop curricula in physics, including at undergraduate level.

Through Kabul University, the programme has also established a physics network with other universities across the country.

The programme has also been helping to improve student access to advanced physics training. In 2018 and 2019, 400 Afghan students travelled to Kabul University from across the country to attend intensive Physics Schools at Kabul University. These schools were organized in partnership with local volunteers and with the assistance of the UNESCO field office in Kabul.

Afghan physicists have gained greater international exposure

Afghan students lack access to international research, advanced courses and international scientists able to provide them with networks and knowledge of international opportunities. Often, students have been unable to apply for study opportunities abroad for lack of key topics in the Afghan curriculum.

Physics Without Frontiers has been helping Afghan faculty and gifted students to study abroad. For instance, it paid for two professors to spend six months working on their master’s thesis with a research group at the ICTP in Italy. Another two young Afghani faculty have been accepted into the ICTP's Postgraduate Diploma Programme, which is preparing them for PhD studies.

Through a partnership with the Institute of Advanced Studies in Basic Sciences in Iran, the ICTP provided 20 Afghans with scholarships for a two-year master’s programme in physics in 2019 and 2020.

The Physics Without Frontiers programme has also facilitated collaboration between the physics department at Kabul University and the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) in Switzerland. For instance, a faculty member successfully applied through the programme to attend an intensive eight-week Summer School run by CERN. He has since completed his master’s thesis, while based at the ICTP, on CERN’s ATLAS experiment, which is famous for having enabled the detection of the Higgs Boson.

 

For details: pwf@ictp.it; sciencereport@unesco.org

Website

Read chapter 21 on South Asia in the UNESCO Science Report (2021), as well as chapter 2 entitled Are we using science for smarter development?