VZCZCXRO7299
PP RUEHDBU RUEHPW
DE RUEHBUL #1037/01 1131221
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
P 231221Z APR 09
FM AMEMBASSY KABUL
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC PRIORITY 8600
INFO RUCNAFG/AFGHANISTAN COLLECTIVE

UNCLAS SECTION 01 OF 02 KABUL 001037 
 
SIPDIS 
 
STATE FOR SCA/PPD, SCA/A 
STATE FOR ECA 
 
E.O. 12958 N/A 
TAGS: PREL KPAO KIRC SCUL EAID AF
SUBJECT: AFGHAN HIGHER EDUCATION: DEVELOPING THE NEXT GENERATION OF 
AFGHAN LEADERS 
 
¶1. SUMMARY: Afghan higher education was decimated during the civil 
war and never re-built during the Taliban years.  In the past eight 
years, great improvements have been made, notably in rebuilding 
infrastructure and reestablishing standards of higher education. 
However, of the more than 2,300 instructors, 60% have only a 
Bachelor's Degree.  Curriculum continues to be outdated, with little 
innovation.  Additionally, only a quarter of high school graduates 
are able to secure university admissions due to a shortage of space. 
 End summary. 
 
HIGHER EDUCATION TODAY 
 
¶2. Higher education in Afghanistan is made available at 16 national 
universities; the flagship campus is Kabul University, which is the 
largest and oldest university in Afghanistan.  It offers programs in 
70 disciplines to approximately 25,000 students.  Herat University 
has eleven departments and 6,400 students (34% are women).  Balkh 
University (in the north) is moving to a larger campus, and 
graduates have good employment possibilities locally.  Approximately 
40% are women.  Students at all these institutions tend to be 
optimistic about the future of the university and their own futures. 
 
 
¶3. At the universities in the south (particularly Kandahar 
University and Sheikh Zayed University in Khost), many of the 
students had spent time at schools in Pakistan where they learned 
English.  Although both universities admit women, they are scarce on 
campus.  In Khost, where no women at all were seen during a recent 
visit, the Rector noted that the women do self-study at home and 
come in to the university only for exams, so they don't actually get 
the benefits of having professors.  The students here are less 
optimistic than at the western and northern universities. 
 
A PRIORITY, BUT LACKING BASIC INFRASTRUCTURE 
 
¶4. Education is a high priority for most Afghans.  As Rector 
Hamidullah Amin of Kabul University has pointed out, employment 
opportunities for graduates are excellent, since their expertise is 
needed throughout Afghanistan.  However, there are only 20,000 
university spots open per year, for more than 90,000 graduates this 
year.  In about five years, when the current cohort of 850,000 
secondary students - the first beneficiaries of expanded education 
in the post-Taliban era- has graduated, the higher educational 
system will be unable to accommodate them.  According to Rector 
Amin, the higher education system in Afghanistan is only set to 
expand by about 5,000 seats in the same time frame.  Training for 
marketable skills will be vital to avoid a crisis of unemployed and 
unemployable youth. 
 
¶5. Universities nationwide struggle to attract and retain qualified 
instructors.  Only 40% of faculty have graduate degrees - 34% have 
MAs, only 6% have PhDs (and in the entire country, only 2 females 
have PhDs, both at Kabul University).  The low numbers of faculty 
with graduate degrees are a primary reason Kabul's Fulbright program 
caters exclusively to students pursuing MA degrees.  Professors' 
salaries are often not competitive to those offered by western 
employers.  Additionally, most universities lack adequate textbooks, 
teaching space, and funding. 
 
¶6. Because of the lack of textbooks in Dari, both Kabul and Herat 
universities have been approached by Iranians seeking greater 
influence on their campuses.  (Note:  Afghan Dari and Iranian Farsi 
are almost identical in their written form and mutually intelligible 
to native speakers in their verbal form.)  When Rector Amin (a dual 
Afghan-Australian citizen) was in Tehran in March 2009, the rector 
of Tehran University offered him textbooks and curriculum 
assistance.  He responded, "You are our friends, but we will call on 
you if we need your help."  Kabul University's bookstore sells 
almost exclusively Iranian texts, as there is little else available 
in Dari. 
 
¶7. Rector Assad of Herat University has been quick to point out that 
he is open to cooperation with all countries, because the 
university's needs are so great.  He emphasized that the 
university's relationship with Iran is not political in nature, but 
strictly economic and out of necessity.  He admitted that the 
Iranians also question Herat University's relationship with the U.S. 
and Germany.  He admitted to the need to maintain equilibrium and a 
delicate balance in allowing exchanges.  Herat University's position 
is that they are equal opportunity in their acceptance of assistance 
and are happy to take help from Iran, the United States, and western 
Europe.  The university has only two faculty with PhDs. 
 
CURRENT USG RELATIONSHIPS 
 
¶8. Post's greatest number of contacts are with Kabul University and 
Herat University.  Public Affairs activities at Kabul University 
include a Lincoln Center, frequent workshops by visiting American 
speakers and specialists, and an Embassy officer speaker program. 
 
KABUL 00001037  002 OF 002 
 
 
This year we also supported the first-ever short term Fulbright 
Study of the U.S. Institute for senior students, which countered 
many of their misperceptions with actual experience in the United 
States.  We have included Kabul University students and staff in 
major thematic outreach events, such as Iftaars during Ramadan, 
elections programming, and embassy events in honor of International 
Women's Day. 
 
¶9. The PRT State representative in Herat has frequently organized 
events for Herat students at the Lincoln Center, and we also 
regularly offer educational advising and other services. 
Additionally, an English language specialist conducted teacher 
training for both Kabul and Herat university instructors recently. 
Public Affairs and the Military Information Support Teams have plans 
underway to assess, upgrade, and employ the underutilized university 
media infrastructure.  Our "Voices of a Nation" program will train 
professors and students on the technical use of radio, print and 
television capabilities, and also will also ensure they have the 
necessary skills to produce and promote moderate messages. 
 
¶10. USAID-sponsored programs have trained faculty, staff and 
students, provided needed infrastructure, and assisted the Ministry 
of Higher Education with capacity development and other vital 
services.  In addition to funding and providing technical support to 
the American University of Afghanistan (AUAf), USAID works with 
three of the major universities based in Kabul (Kabul University, 
Kabul Medical University and Kabul Polytechnic University) to offer 
substantial training in both content and pedagogy to university 
staff and faculty across disciplines.  Other projects throughout the 
country focus on English, IT and pedagogy at the institutes training 
the country's secondary school teachers.  USAID's extensive network 
of specialized partners has helped to establish a presence at each 
of Afghanistan's 19 public universities. 
 
¶11. Despite current levels of engagement, the need to do more is 
great.  Rector Hamidullah Amin noted, "At Kabul University, there 
are students from every province.  While we often try to convince 
the father in the border regions, we often neglect the son who is 
with us.  For instance, energy is spent on the villager who is 70%, 
80%, even 95% Talib in the province, but instead we ought to focus 
our energy on the son who is with us, convince the son here, who 
will then convince his father when he returns to the village. 
Additionally, he will convince the other villagers because education 
is respected.  But if you ignore the son, you will lose both son and 
father."  Both directly and indirectly, education can have this kind 
of impact on security. 
 
CONCLUSION 
 
¶12. The higher education sector is extremely important for 
Afghanistan's future; not only for developing human resources in the 
education, health, agriculture, justice, sharia, and other sectors, 
but also politically.  All major Afghan political movements of the 
20th century started among students and faculty of Kabul University, 
including the communists, the Islamists, and the radical Islamists. 
Much may be brewing politically under the surface of Afghan 
university life now, possibly new ethno-centric movements, possibly 
new Islamic movements.  Our efforts to shape the direction Afghan 
higher education takes may pay dividends for years to come.  A 
follow-on cable will address post's recommendations for university 
partnerships. 
 
RICCIARDONE