The Instituto de Bolsas de Estudos (IBE) is the scholarship institute set up by the Government of Mozambique to promote access to secondary, TVET and higher education, both in Mozambique and abroad, through the provision of funding schemes for students. IBE received financing from the World Bank to increase their outreach. IBE has contracted IPC to conduct a feasibility study which will support IBE and the Mozambican government in defining the student loan programme setup. Taking into account the views and roles of all major stakeholders in such programmes, the study presents various options for a sustainable student lending programme targeting students seeking higher education.

IPC’s experts implemented the following tasks:

• conducting research on the regulatory framework and the existing supply of student loans; carrying out a review of student financing mechanisms in other countries; and preparing materials for the on-site study
• performing interviews with representatives of the Ministries of Education, Finance and Labour

• performing interviews with interested financial institutions, analysing the existing education loan programmes and the willingness among financial institutions to participate in the envisaged programme
• performing interviews with universities in order to identify trends in student numbers and the costs of studying, and establish the role of universities in a student loan programme
• assessing demand factors for student lending through focus groups and small-scale surveys among parents and children
• interviewing employers to assess currently required skill sets as well as to gauge the level of cooperation in loan recovery
• conducting a mid-assignment workshop with IBE to validate preliminary findings
• drafting a feasibility study, taking into account study results and international best practice: possible programme setup, roles of stakeholders, target groups, product modalities and eligibility criteria, projections and a roadmap for implementation