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Association des Universités Africaines |
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Narciso Matos
September 1999
TABLE OF CONTENTS
THE DEVELOPMENTAL UNIVERSITY A general formulation of the mission of a university in Africa today
would certainly contain the prime responsibility to provide men and women
adequately trained to contribute to the development of the nation and of
the community surrounding it. It would state that the University should
also contribute to the enhancement of the knowledge about the resources
of the country, to protecting the environment and to bringing about long-term
and sustainable human-centred development policies. It should contribute
to widen the world knowledge in particular in the socio-economic, cultural
and political spheres by which the country or community is best positioned
or need to do so. It should contribute to the respect for human rights
and promote social justice, equity and democratic values, as well as the
rights of women, children, minorities and disadvantaged groups. It should
contribute for peace, stability and harmony in the community, country,
region and world-widely.
The special situation of Africa makes the role of the university as
a developmental engine more important then is the case elsewhere, particularly
in the industrialized countries.
In spite of the poor development of the scientific and technological
environment and the serious constraints, universities in Africa are often
the only institution in the country, or among the very few institutions,
with the human resources, the skills, the logistics, the organization and
the networks that determine quality training of human resources and the
conduction of advanced research. Universities are also singularly endowed
in their capacity to offer outreach programmes to small and medium size
enterprises, to services, to community organizations and to society at
large -- covering a wide range of areas including literacy and adult education,
health and vaccination programmes, in-service training for professionals,
civic education, etc.
As a result each and every university in Africa is called upon to adjust its mandate to the specific needs of the country and to achieve a pragmatic balance between this and the classic university model. Universities in S. Africa, for example, are today expected to cater for the majority of excluded and neglected under the previous regime. Their challenge is to make room and expand access particularly to those who until recently could only attend educational institutions designed to provide second class education. Simultaneously they are expected to retain their excellence and relevance. Universities in Mozambique are expected to keep quality, to expand enrollments and to reach out to cities and regions other than the capital city. Universities in Cote d'Ivoire are expected to maintain universal and unrestricted enrollment of pre-university school graduates, while refraining from revising their policies on fees and tuition. Overall in the continent universities are challenged to do more -- in view of population growth and student explosion --- often with much less financial resource.
For too long Africa's image has been one of natural and man-made disasters.
Despotic civil and military regimes, bad governance, corruption and lack
of accountability, civil strife and ethnic cleansing, became part of a
self-defeating and discouraging image of Africa. It was not until recently
and particularly in the past few years that this trend began to change
for better.
The liberation of South Africa and Namibia and the establishment of
democratic governments in these countries, the adoption of political pluralism
and the realization of presidential and legislative elections in more then
two thirds of Africa, the new willingness of the continent to condemn and
actively oppose coup d'etat and other undemocratic processes that were
in the past common and tolerated, represents a departure from post-independence
policies and a fundamental turning point for the continent.
In the economic front, liberalization processes and the move towards market economies, the revival of mechanisms of regional cooperation such as SADC, COMESA and ECOWAS, and overall the macro-economic policies being adopted, according to the African Development Report(1), are starting to yield positive results. It is certainly revealing that in 1996 only 3 of a total of 53 African countries had negative economic growth rates, while 41 (77 per cent) had rates above 3 per cent. The most recent African Development Report(2) forecasts an economic growth in Africa of average 5.0%, up from 3.7% in 1997. The report continues " over the past three years, four-fifths (80%) of African countries have achieved positive economic growth, in stark contrast to the situation at the beginning of the decade when a third of them experienced economic decline". The median inflation rate comes down across the continent averaging 17.14%. Excluding countries like The Democratic Republic of Congo and Angola whose hyper-inflation weighted in the average, this figure comes down to 7.0%. The stock of external debt declined from $324 billion in 1996 to $315
billion in 1997.
In regional terms, growth poles seem to be emerging: the countries of
the CFA-franc zone have seen strong improvement in economic performance
in the 1990's; in Southern Africa most peaceful conditions and expanding
economies of the SADC countries have increased optimism for the future.
As a measure of increasing domestic confidence capital outflows which reached
$6 billion in 1991 was almost insignificant in 1996. On the other hand,
foreign direct investment has almost doubled since the beginning of the
1990's reaching close to $5 billion in 1996. Though this is very small
proportion of the total foreign investment flow to developing countries
as a whole, it marks something of a trend break.
In this new context the challenge for African universities is to revisit
their mission statements, organizational frameworks and overall university
policies, and to take the necessary measures to remain pertinent, relevant
and even competitive in the world of higher education provision which is
also becoming globalized.
REVITALIZATION OF
THE UNIVERSITY IN AFRICA
A recent joint publication(3) of the World Bank, the AAU and 9 major international and regional scientific
institutions in Africa, as well as several funding agencies advocates strategic
planning as the first most important step African universities must take
to regain initiative and shape their future. Strategic Planning is interpreted
as a process of consultation involving the university leadership, representatives
of the academic staff, students and of the entire academic community, as
well as representatives of the state, the government and other constituencies
in society. As process of consultation it should generate understanding
and consensus among the most relevant stakeholders and as such is an indispensable
step for the university to adjust its role to the expectations of society
and to ensure the support needed for the implementation of the approved
plans.
To achieve revitalization of an institution requires the implementation
of the strategic plan requires that key higher education and university
policy matters be addressed, as well as calls upon the university and government
authorities, and the funding community to revise their policies and practices
and to play active roles.
Priority matters to be addressed include issues such as the expansion
of access to higher education, the financing of the system, the improvement
of the quality and relevance of university education , the management of
human, financial and physical resources, the access to scientific information
and technology, and the strengthening of research activity.
The need to strengthen regional and institutional cooperation particularly at the level of graduate training and research, to enrol an equitable number of female students and to create an environment conducive to their academic success, the imperative to embrace new information and communication technologies, to internationalize curricula and study programmes, to strengthen the involvement, relationship and support to other levels and sub-systems of education, are some of the challenges brought about by revitalization, without which the university would be left out of the process of renaissance in Africa. From past and current experiences some general guidelines can be derived and shared, but it is never overstated to note that each institution represents a particular case. The nature and degree of the problems to be addressed vary and so vary the solutions and the pace of their adoption. This notwithstanding, the AAU experience with SUMA(4) workshops, the reports of individual university strategic planning exercises, some of them summarized in report (5) recently published, and the document on revitalization of universities in Africa already mentioned, among other literatures, place the matters presented in the next few paragraphs at the top of the policy decisions needed. Universities have to cope with an increasing demand for higher education without compromising the quality of training and research. In most cases a diversification of the nature and duration of studies and degrees is required. The contribution of private institutions of higher education and their complement to the public sector must be recognized and supported. No less important is the issue of the geographical location of the institutions, which should foster an equitable access by students originating from all parts of national territories. Since independence financing of higher education has been based on the idea that education, including higher education, is a public good and as such the responsibility of the government to provide it to all citizens. Today this paradigm needs to be challenged and it deserves revision, if not for the fact that no African country is in a position to sustain it financially. Universities are called to discuss and propose new policies which encourage the direct beneficiaries of higher education, the students and their families, to contribute to the cost of higher education. At the same time, universities need to take into consideration that most students originate from low income groups and need support in the form of grants, scholarships or loans. In addition, universities ought to explore very actively other sources of income such as by undertaking studies to government departments or private concerns, consultancy work, contract research and other forms of income generating activities, to complement their resources without jeopardizing their primary role. In this exercise, the role and prime responsibility of government to provide resources to universities should never be diminished, and the notion of higher education and research as strategic investments in the future of the nation must be retained. Regardless of the existence or not of scientific evidence, there is
a general public perception that the quality of higher education and research
in the continent has deteriorated and in some cases reached unacceptable
low levels. This in turn generates a crisis of confidence in the system
reflected inter alia in the fact that more and more students prefer
to study abroad in the developed countries rather than in their home universities.
To address this matter universities need to consider quality as a key dimension
of their work, and establish systems and processes to deal with quality
assessment and enhancement. The challenge here is to define a concept of
quality adjusted to their institutional mission, and the quality or qualities
to expect from every activity or product, that is, the quality of graduates,
of research output and of community services. They need to link up with,
and benefit from the experience of monitoring and self-evaluation procedures
adopted by institutions which have been dealing with quality issues for
a longer period of time, including national and regional accreditation
bodies. They need to develop systems for upgrading the quality of academic
and support staff, including their research capacity, pedagogical and didactic
knowledge and skills, the use of new systems of education delivery, and
to address the environmental and human factors that determine the quality
of work and the ultimate quality of the education enterprise.
One of the consequences of the financial difficulties facing universities
is their diminished ability to train and retain staff. Poor motivation
of staff which leads to individual preference for private against institutional
linkages with the world of work; moonlighting practises, and other forms
of absenteeism and low productivity; in most extreme cases the "brain drain"
syndrom, are well known and documented. What remains to be done is for
universities to address the problem , to engage in constructive negotiation
with government so as to determine the real limits of the state finances
and agree on alternative strategies. Internally, they need to establish
reward and income redistribution systems clearly related to performance
of university units and individuals. Universities need also to show more
creativity in their efforts to complement state funding with innovative
institutional policies which encourage income generation and foster equitable
and just distribution. They need to provide incentives to and reward the
dynamism and creativity of staff, and while starting with salary and associated
perks, they should go beyond financial benefits and adopt other forms of
moral recognition, and honour good work and commitment.
A strategy to develop a university information system is a fundamental
component of the plans to revitalize the institution. Knowingly "management
decisions are only as good as the information on which they are based".
The increasing dimension and growing complexity of university management
require therefore a sound system of access, storage, flow and dissemination
of information, and the existence of a motivated and well-trained cadre
of managers equipped to make good use of the information available.
It goes without saying that access to up-to-date scientific information
is the first condition to quality education and research. Hereby the central
role of university libraries as repositories of scientific literature and
as internal and external institutional communication hubs should not be
overshadowed by the new emphasis put onto new information and communication
technologies. This will only help universities and African scientists keep
pace with and contribute to development of science if at the same time
libraries are well equipped and endowed with books and scientific journals.
Coordination with national policies is also fundamental to ensure that
resources are devoted to this, and that for example, the design and implementation
of the backbone of the national communication infrastructure take into
consideration the requirements of universities and other research and scientific
institutions in the country.
When resources are scarce the pressures to pay salaries, food and accommodation
for students, and utility bills take precedence over all key matters which
constitute the raison d'etre of the university institution. For
one thing, they have strong and vocal pressure groups, and funds for libraries
and research are the first to suffer. With these universities are no longer
capable of performing one of their key functions: to sustain first class
research, and generate and apply the knowledge needed to face Africa's
challenges. Without research universities lose the capacity to offer first
class graduate studies, they lose the capacity to motivate and retain their
best brains, they lose the capacity to train the new generation of research
fellows and scientists for, the best school of research is research itself.
Without good libraries and laboratories, universities lose the capacity
to offer quality undergraduate courses, which are in turn the foundation
for research and graduate studies.
In their programmes for revitalization universities face the challenge to address what Sawyerr(6) calls the
components of research capacity, namely the environment
component and the active component.
To re-establish a research environment, universities ought to
cooperate with other levels of education to support the provision of "a
sound educational system which encourages and equips people to be curious
about nature and society, and to develop an interest in the pursuit of
knowledge and ideas". They ought to foster "broad social policies and practices
that reward innovation and inquiry, and encourage and facilitate the flow
of information. In the specific institutional context universities need
to put in place management systems and policies that are sufficiently flexible
and geared to the support of the research enterprise; a minimum of research
infrastructure, such as laboratories, equipment, libraries, and an effective
system of information storage, retrieval and utilization; an overall culture
supportive of research and inquiry".
The active component of research, human resources, require adequate
curricula and study programmes and a system that makes research attractive
and that rewards achievements. It requires the assembling of a critical
mass of researchers and the cultivation of a positive research culture.
As stated before, universities are in most cases the only institutions in the country with the capacity to undertake research. The importance of this activity is therefore paramount. For, only research provides the country with a cadre of personnel with the analytical skills to contribute to the formulation of plans for national development. It also generates the capacity for dialogue and negotiation with international partners, a component which has become even more important with the opening of African societies to the global markets.
The inadequacy of human power and financial resources available to most
of the institutions, and the resulting lack of the capacity to individually
undertake quality training and research in many areas of knowledge; the
need to build synergies through cooperation; the fact that Africa may not
be able to overcome its problems in the various areas of development in
the 21st century unless it works towards building substantial
capacity for training and research; and the fact that Africa needs to remain
in touch with modern developments worldwide, are compelling reasons that
have made university leaders in the continent to come to the realization
that they face similar problems and that regional cooperation in graduate
training and research might contribute to addressing the challenges. Universities
now need to work to initiate or strengthen existing cooperation arrangements
in certain priority areas of training and research, with the voluntary
participation of universities within a region, arrangements that should
enjoy the active support of and sense of ownership by the participating
institutions, as well as the support of national governments and international
agencies. Institutions need to identify the areas that would respond most
directly to the development needs of their countries and communities, the
areas in which they have some strength and comparative advantages, and
match them with the definitions and interests of regional partners.
Institutions like the AAU might play a supportive and catalytic role first by sensitizing member universities to consider the need, under the current circumstances, to embrace regional cooperation as part of their strategies, and to assess the lessons learned from past and current such networks as described e.g. in the reports prepared by Nwa / Houenou and by Aboderin(7) ; by formulating and initiating the framework for regional cooperation
among its members; liaising with funding agencies with the view of obtaining
needed funding; coordinating and monitoring the initial stages of the cooperation.
UNIVERSITY AND EDUCATION SYSTEM
The university is an integral part of the overall education sector, and solutions to university problems should be made in the context of the education as a whole. This appreciation is found in the far reaching and insightful conclusions of the round-table on "The Contribution of Higher Education to the Renovation of the Whole Education System"(8) . In particular, universities are expected to contribute to the promotion
of life long mass education; to improving the quality of pre-university
education; and to stimulating the relationship between university and other
tertiary institutions. Universities are urged to systematically and forcefully
intervene
in other levels and forms of education, and to serve not only the needs
of their graduate students, but to contribute to the building of a learning
society.
As summarized by Goma(9, traditionally
universities have been involved in training of teachers and training of
trainers of teachers for the school system, as well as training of specialists
in educational research, planning and administration; in design and production
of academic programmes and study materials for schools, colleges of education,
and other work related to academic and professional development of college
staff; and in conducting research on various aspects of the education system.
There is a growing consensus within Africa's academic community that
the moment has long come for universities to become again agents of
change and development, to see to the problems, challenges and opportunities,
for searching for innovative ways to contribute to the development of African
communities and improving the conditions of life.
There is an overall agreement on the philosophical approach to adopt
and a number of directions and initiatives that schools and universities
should take, with strong involvement of the community are the following(10)
External factors, though important and sometimes determinant (political
stability, provision of minimum requirements, etc.), cannot substitute
endogenous processes. Universities are challenged to explore innovative
ways of contributing to the education system by linking up more effectively
with community, emulating and adapting the model of the school hospitals
and faculties of medicine which are virtually everywhere part of, and well
integrated in the national health systems. Beyond faculties of education
and equivalent units, universities should consider ways to bring all their
faculties to participate in problem-solving programmes at community level.
Participation through creative work will influence and inform the content
and quality of university teaching and research.
Beyond social responsibility, the challenge for universities is therefore
to consider it their immediate interest to contribute to the elevation
of the quality of education at all levels, without which they cannot expect
a betterment of their delivery.
UNIVERSITY-SOCIETY RELATIONSHIP
The flip-side of the privilege of being unique are the high expectations
and hence the delicate relationships between the universities and the different
stakeholders in society. Academic Liberty and University Autonomy in Africa
acquire a very particular meaning and these pose permanent challenges.
Government-University Relations
With very few exceptions universities in the continent are public institutions and receive most if not all of their funding from the public treasure. Other sources of funding are grants provided by funding agencies for very specific and earmarked activities, frequently for research and postgraduate training activities. Governments at their end see themselves as the "elected" representatives of the people and as such mandated to ensure that universities fulfil their obligations, and that the right value is obtained in return for tax payers' money invested in Higher Education. This two conditions, are often compounded by factors like poor accountability of the university leadership or by political activism and alignment with one of another political stream by the university leadership or members of the academic community (students or staff). As a result governments are prompted and feel justified to violate the sacred liberty and autonomy that academic staff and universities must enjoy if they are to discharge their duties properly. Further, in countries with poor democratic track-records, where respect for the rule of law and basic civic liberties are violated and where governments fail to appreciate the fundamental role of universities and the imperative of freedom and liberty for the pursuit of knowledge, universities are subject to all forms of interference. In the most extreme cases leaders and staff members are appointed and dismissed at will by government, if not imprisoned. The challenge to be responsive to public demands; to be fully accountable and to keep transparency of acts and expenditures; to remain faithful to the pursuit and diffusion of truth and the respect for the rights of all citizens; to maintain independence of judgment and to be politically not aligned; to establish a principled relationship with the government - these are the biggest challenges facing the leadership of many African universities.
The majority of African countries are already undergoing very dramatic
changes. By some counts more than 35 African countries have carried out
multi party elections since 1990, 21 for the first time, which were monitored
by neutral and international observers; these countries are now implementing
reforms which tend to strengthen democratic principles and structures,
and the respect for constitutional law. As a result, in 31 countries opposition
has been legalized, the roles of parliaments, of the judiciary, of professional
organizations, of non-governmental associations and organizations, of the
private sector in the economy, have gained increased importance. The interests
of these groups in society are now voiced in more articulated and influential
ways. As with other spheres of life, access to university and more generally
university policies are being monitored and scrutinized more closely.
The challenge for university leaderships is to welcome these developments,
start a dialogue and work in partnership with representatives of the civil
society. It is to regard the new developments not as threats, but as opportunities
to widen the university's influence and role in society, to ensure more
diversified and larger basis of support, and eventually gain additional
and more sustainable sources of funding. The challenge is to strengthen
the mechanisms and systems of reporting and improve accountability, and
to mobilize public in addition to government's support. Universities are
called upon to make information about their work accessible to the general
public and to organize fora for the discussion of long and medium
term development plans, of annual reports, of financial statements, as
forms of improving their visibility and harnessing more support.
External Donors-University
Relations
The economic stagnation and decline of the socioeconomic conditions
in Africa during the late seventies, throughout the eighties and the early
part of the current decade impacted negatively in each and every university
in the continent. The Structural Adjustment Programmes and associated policies
justified by the need to contain and reduce public expenditures and to
reduce fiscal deficits, resulted in further reduction of the share of higher
education in the national budgets. In most cases government allocations
to universities became insufficient and totally unrelated to the actual
financial needs to maintain and develop the institutions. Despite the constantly
decreasing salaries, government allocations could now hardly pay these
on a regular basis nor could they meet other minimum requirements of the
institutions, such as the provision of funds for the libraries, renewal
of equipment and replenishment of the stock of laboratories, the maintenance
of the physical infrastructure, etc. In this context donor agencies played
a determinant role by providing much needed funds to continue with some
basic programmes. Regrettably however, very often the donor grants have
been earmarked for specific projects, with strict conditions for disbursement,
reporting and financial statements, and very seldom were these conditions
coordinated with institutional policies. Through their grants, funding
agencies obtained increased influence over the institutions. They now determined
activities, reporting cycles and procedures, negotiated and controlled
directly projects or individual units, and in general interfered and limited
the autonomy of the institution and their capacity to establish priorities
and approve their plans and priorities. It became a major challenge for
university leaders to attract the much needed grants and at the same time
maintain institutional autonomy, and to satisfy the funding agencies and
remain faithful to the institutional plans and to the country needs.
LESSONS FROM
EXPERIENCE IN INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
A conference(11) held recently looked
at the requirements for improving academic international cooperation and
arrived at a number of conclusions and recommendations relevant for our
gathering.
To be successful scientific cooperation must aim at promoting a better
understanding and generating mutual knowledge about the culture and fundamental
values of the parts involved. It must also provide a framework for enhanced
joint efforts and initiatives to address global problems facing the planet
and mankind, an undertaking to which partners should bring together their
knowledge and resources. It must create and strengthen the capacity for
sustained and independent development. It must uncover and benefit form
the strength and synergies derived from regional and international cooperation
and promote a well-balanced division of tasks and more efficient use of
resources.
Scientific Cooperation needs to contribute to improve the quality and
relevance of higher education and research, by accelerating the emergence
of scientific communities in the developing countries as well as by increasing
the number and quality of cadres and of scientific production. It must
also lead the involved institutions to higher levels of national and international
competitiveness and attractiveness, particularly in areas of their comparative
advantage.
For such goals and objectives to be to be achieved, the partners must
jointly assess the needs and identify the priority areas for cooperation.
By acting together they must develop a sense of shared responsibility and
ownership of the programmes as a fundamental condition for real commitment
and support and for long term sustainability.
Proper frameworks for institutional rather then individualized cooperation
schemes need to be devised and efforts made to avoid isolation and to provide
opportunities for establishing links with other institutions in the South
and in the North.
Universities and research centres tend to restrict their links to institutions
of their kind. To counter this, initiatives must be taken to identify and
cooperate with networks and individual players, such as professional associations
and NGO's which are engaged in similar or complimentary work.
The cooperating partners need to ensure flexible and decentralized management
procedures and negotiate for the cooperation programmes a sufficient degree
of autonomy within the institutional framework in which they operate.
Whenever possible training activities should be carried out mainly but
not exclusively in the South, as a way to contribute to develop locally
adequate and attractive environments for creative scientific work and for
extending the opportunity for training to larger groups of individuals
and eventually to whole research teams. By establishing local conditions
for continued post programme work this approach will also address one of
the many causes of "brain-drain".
Recognizing that access to scientific information is both a major constraint
and a precondition for the development of scientific work, international
cooperation should strengthen the capacity for collecting and actively
disseminating information, including information about the profiles of
relevant scientific institutions and networks. In this regard libraries
deserve a special attention, and need to be encouraged to evolve from being
merely owners and custodians to providers of information.
The success of a partnership depends in no small measure on the goals
set at the outset for the programme, which must be achievable and realistic,
and devised against the background of national policies and institutional
master plans or vision.
Monitoring and assessment procedures should ensure that the programmes
remain focussed to the stated goals and that corrective measures are timely
taken whenever necessary. Hereby the combination of internal and continuous
monitoring and evaluation with external evaluation at different and well-defined
stages of a programme should be encouraged.
A "CHARTER"
FOR INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION
In a sense each cooperating partnership is unique on its origins, goals
and modalities. It is therefore impossible to establish rules which could
be universally applicable. Nevertheless collective experience (12)
permits at least to list some of the ingredients that have helped institutions
to achieve good results in the past.
Project proposals should be prepared jointly and each partner should
be associated as much as possible with the decisions that need to be taken
at every stage of a programme. This might include decisions about budget
allocations and applications, construction, adaptation or refurbishing
of physical facilities, acquisition and maintenance of equipment and other
resources.
A partnership must be clearly imbedded within an institutional framework
and the active and direct cooperating parties should include a substantial
number of members (in this case scholars or researchers).
The building of capacity should be an explicit and well-articulated
goal, and should include all-important aspects of the scientific process.
That is to say, as much as possible education and research training provided
under the cooperation programme should be part of formal and accredited
undergraduate, graduate or postgraduate programmes. Besides, the creation
of other capacities such as for comprehensive institutional and programme
management and dissemination of results needs to be considered.
The programme's budgets should provide resources for supplementing the
income of the persons involved (e.g. honoraria linked to research output,
generous allowances for fieldwork and travel to conferences, etc.) so as
to ensure their full-time commitment. The programme should also create
skills and explore opportunities for income generation through the provision
consultancies and other services to community.
Partners should improve the channels of communication by including in
the programmes the means for the acquisition of fax and electronic mail
facilities and training to operate them effectively.
Property right matters need to be discussed and made part of the understanding
between the parties, including recognition all persons involved in the
scientific process leading to academic publications.
Regular meetings should be held at regular intervals to assess progress
and plan future activities, and monitoring should focus primarily on the
results achieved and their quality, rather than on the inputs made to the
programme.
Measures should be taken and mechanisms established and progressively
improved to ensure both the sustainability of the programme and process
jointly developed, and the long term continuity of the partnership, which
should gradually evolve from aid to academic partnership between equal
parts.
REFOCUSING
ATTENTION ON HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA
In spite of the crucial role of Higher Education in training and research,
the major donor agencies and African governments essentially des-invested
from the sector in the 1980's and early 90's on the argument that the rate
of social returns of investment in basic education was infinitely higher
than those in higher education. Denied of the funding needed for its maintenance,
growth and modernization, the African higher education sector was brought
to a standstill and near collapse. The results of these ill-advised policies
have been among others an insufficient supply of trained human-power relative
to the continent's development needs; height costs as well as unsustainability
of development programs; overwhelming costs of "technical assistance" (the
euphemism used to designate the thousands of expatriates working in Africa);
and heightening of dependency syndrome and neglect of national experts.
The importance of basic education is indisputable. The responsibility
of higher education to directly contribute to all levels and sectors of
education - of knowledge - has been underscored earlier in this paper.
But, in an era in which so much is said about the knowledge-based society
of today and tomorrow, more can be said in favor of the need to redirect
attention to higher education in Africa. Few figures help to make the point.
Africa, with about 788 million inhabitants in 53 countries, of which
about 510 million is in Sub-saharan Africa, possesses together no more
then 300 universities and 500 other institutions of higher education (table
1, annex).
With 65.2 million in 1995 and estimated 76.3 million in the year 2000,
Africa presents the largest population within the age groups 20 and 24.
Table 2 gives the comparative figures for Europe and Latin America and
Caribbean (LAC).
Africa's gross enrollment ratio in tertiary education in 1991 was 4.6
million, compared to 6.9 for Asia, 17.6 for LAC, 29.5 for Europe and 73.6
for North America (table 3). For Sub-saharan Africa the correspondent figure
is 2.5. This also gives the world lowest enrolment ratio per 100,000 inhabitants,
as table 4 illustrates for selected countries in Africa, LAC, and Europe.
While the world's number of scientific and technical manpower per million
population is about 23.4 thousand in 1998, the correspondent figures are
3.4 for Africa, 11.7 for Asia and 11.7 for LAC (table 5). Africa presents
also the smallest total number numbers of doctors, engineers, lawyers,
economists, scientists, in general of university graduates in any field
of science, technology, social sciences or humanities.
Moreover, as table 1 also shows, 488.1 million people (61.2%) leave
in the 10 most populated countries of Africa, and this 10 countries account
for about 133 universities and 220 other institutions of higher education,
which constitutes about 44% of the total number of existing institutions.
This way, an imbalanced distribution of population and of the available institutions of higher education in the continent contributes to make the situation even more complex than global statistics would suggest. Cultural and linguistic differences, and poor transportation and communication systems in the continent require investments in all forms of tertiary education(13) in virtually every country and region. Better transportation and communication
systems (and political will and stability) would facilitate academic mobility
and scientific cooperation.
Private institutions of higher education are a most recent development
in Africa. They are mostly associated with religious denominations, account
for a still limited enrollment of students, offer degrees mainly in social
sciences and humanities (e.g., religious studies, law, government studies,
business administration), and conduct virtually no or very limited research.
In not few cases most of their best qualified staff is employed in a part-time
basis and belong to public institutions.
Private universities enlarge training opportunities for students, reinforce
the capacity for training in fields where demand is usually high, introduce
a degree of academic competition by giving students more options for choice,
and contribute to supplement the income of the academic staff recruited
from public institutions. As such this is a very welcome development for
the continent. At the same time, it needs to be acknowledged that their
contribution is limited by their very size, the array of courses they offer
(costly courses like engineering and medicine are rarely offered in private
universities), and by the poverty of average African households who cannot
afford to pay for education in private institutions (alike public institutions,
private institutions ensure or at least aim at recovering the full costs
of their operation, also when they do not seek profit).
Like distance education at university level (including the promise of
virtual universities), private universities in Africa are by no means a
realistic alternative to the public system. They deserve support, but clearly
as a complement to a backbone and core constituted by a well functioning
and dynamic public sector.
Against this background in the past few years there seems to have been
a beginning of a process of revising higher education policies from the
part of African governments as well as of funding and international agencies,
and a number of initiatives point in the direction of a renewed assessment
of the role and importance of higher education, as showed in the instances
that follow.
UNESCO published in 1995 a "Policy Paper for Change and Development
in Higher Education"(14) and followed up
this with the convening of a World Conference on Higher education in
the 21st century, to be held in November this year in Paris, which
is being prepared and will be attended by virtually all the major stake
holders in the sector. The preparations in Africa for this conference culminated
with a regional consultation held in Dakar in April 1997, and the main
conclusions are summarized in the Dakar declaration(15).
Another relevant initiative of UNESCO resulted in the report of the Jacques
Dellors' Commission(16) . In the same vein,
UNESCO and the World Bank jointly conveyed a Task Force on Higher Education
and Society constituted of scientists and experts from all continents
and mandated to revise the current status and make independent recommendations
on the steps needed to bring higher education in development countries
to fulfilling its societal role.
The Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), an
association of African ministers of education and other policy makers,
representatives of major funding agencies and of higher education and research
institutions in Africa, has been contributing through its Working Group
on Higher Education (WGHE) to maintain attention to higher education and
to compare and coordinate policies among the members of the group, which
include also leaders of African higher education institutions.
The African governors of the World Bank were at the origin of an initiative
geared toward the Revitalization of Universities in Africa which resulted
so far in the publication mentioned earlier in this paper and set in motion
an internal discussion about the role that the Bank should play in support
of Higher education in the continent. The African governors also called
for the creation of "Centers of Excellence," an initiative which seem to
have made less progress in the past twelve months.
Under the auspices of the Organization of African Unity, the African
heads of state in their annual summit in 1996 in Cameroon declared 1997-2006
the Decade of Education in Africa and in a recent conference(17)
reaffirmed the place and role of higher education in the development of
the entire education sector.
It seems therefore that the recovery of African economies and the consolidation
and expansion of democratic developments evolves in parallel with a renewed
attention for higher education and research. International academic cooperation
has the potential to encourage this trend and reinforce sustained support
for higher education in the developing countries.
The mission of the AAU is based upon the belief that university education
and research, and knowledge in general, are fundamental factors for uplifting
the living standards of communities in Africa.
To contribute to this end, the theme of the Core Programme of Activities
of the AAU and its 148 members for the period 1997-200 is "The African
University in a Rapidly Changing Environment: Facing the Challenges of
the 21st Century", and it deals with issues of Leadership and
Management in African Universities; Assessment and Enhancement of the Quality
of University Training and Research; The Role of the University in the
Education Sector; Gender Sensitization and Equity Promotion in University
Education and Research.
Activities under these sub-themes include studies and knowledge creation on the problems facing higher education and solutions adopted in member institutions; management workshops for training of Vice Chancellors and other university leaders to assist them in their efforts to relaunch their institutions; development of cooperative relationships between universities and government institutions, as well as with other stakeholders; promotion and the use of new information and communication technologies in administration, management, training and research; studies to determine the factors which affect the quality of training and research and to determine the relevance and adequacy of current policies, strategies and structures; studies to determine the role that universities have been playing or can play for the improvement and enhancement of the quality of education at all levels and sub-systems of education; activities to inform girls and women about career opportunities and to encourage them to pursue university degrees and academic and research careers. In carrying out these activities special attention is given to the promotion
of regional cooperation among African institutions.
In order to enhance the relevance and impact of its programmes, the
AAU seeks continually to strengthen relations with other associations and
networks. In this context it is appropriate to mention the longstanding
relationship between the AAU and Dutch institutions such as the financial
support jointly provided by DGIS and SAREC to the "Study Programme on Higher
Education and Research", which is geared towards the creation of capacity
for research on higher education policy in African universities; the financial
support provided by DGIS for a programme that seeks to promote the enrolment
and participation of girls and women in science and technology courses
in Western African universities; the cooperation developed with DGIS within
the framework of the Working Group on Higher Education of the Association
for the Development of Education in Africa; the cooperation with NUFFIC,
the Institute of Social Studies (ISSAS) and the Development Research Institute
(IVO) by the publication of the Database of Training Opportunities in Africa,
Caribbean and Pacific (DTOACP); the cooperation with NIRP and other individual
institutions in the Netherlands.
It goes without saying that the AAU would welcome the opportunity to
interact with other institutions represented in this conference, as we
firmly believe that by cooperating we can avoid costly duplication of efforts
and derive the maximum benefit for all parties involved.
The great challenge to Universities in Africa is to bring about a profound
transformation of higher education as is currently provided in the continent,
and make the higher education community contribute meaningfully to social,
cultural and economic development to the development of a culture of tolerance,
respect for the basic rights of the individual, social justice and equity,
democracy and freedom, and at the same time to the improvement of the relevance
and quality of teaching, research and extension, and to give all citizens,
based on individual merits, the opportunity to benefit from education.
The strategies required to achieve these goals should be geared toward
generating improvements along the main axes of social relevance, quality,
improved institutional management, access to information, including the
use of new information and communication technologies, and academic solidarity
and international cooperation.
Relevance refers to the capacity of the higher education system
to address the priority areas as defined by the community, the country
or the region, and at the same time to adjust the institutional mission
and activities to the demands of an increasingly interdependent and integrated
world. Hereby academic freedom and university autonomy should go hand in
hand with responsiveness to the expectations of society and accountability
to the different constituencies which have vested interests in higher education.
Quality encompasses all functions and activities of the institution:
the quality of teaching, research and extension; the quality of personnel
and programmes; the quality of students, of facilities, and of the institutional
environment in general. It is as much the quality of the institution as
the quality of the processes taking place within it, and the end-product
of all activities.
Improved institutional management is the prerequisite for relevance
and quality to be achieved, and this requires a significant improvement
in the systems adopted to manage the institutions, and the improvement
of skills of the personnel entrusted with management functions, both at
academic and administrative levels. What is required is an improvement
of both internal management processes and the management of the external
relations with the government, society and other external constituencies,
with the goal of achieving higher internal efficiency, broadening the basis
of understanding of, and support for the institutional plans and activities,
and ensuring a capacity to adaptation to the dynamic changes in society
and the world.
Access to information refers to the need to maintain modern and
well-endowed libraries, and to ensure the knowledge and use of new communication
and information technologies by the members of the academic community,
using these technologies as instruments in the learning process and research,
and as indispensable and integral parts of the culture of the institution.
Indispensable are also strategies to encourage staff and students to participate
in national, regional and international networks of information exchange
and dialogue within their scientific and technological subjects.
Academic solidarity and international cooperation address the
need to establish channels of cooperation in the country, within the region
and internationally, with the aim of accelerating scientific, technological,
cultural and socioeconomic development of the country and the region. Mechanisms
for integrating and sharing resources, based on mutually agreed priorities
and programmes should be explored, and programmes of academic exchange,
networks for exchange of information and experience, institutional linkages
, are some of the forms this cooperation might take.
In concluding I wish to thank the organizers of this seminar for inviting me to take part in this event, but also for the support that they have been providing to the AAU and to individual African universities to undertake their programmes.
Table
1: Educational Statistics for Selected African Countries
Sources: Population : UNESCO/MINEDAF , April 1998 Universities and other H.E. Institutions: World List of Universities and other Institutions of Higher Education, 21st edition, 1997 Student population : Handbook of Universities, 14th edition, 1996
Table
2: Population density in 1995 and 2000
Source: Statistical Yearbook 1993
Table
3: Gross enrollment ratio at 3rd level in 1991
Source: Statistical Yearbook 1993
Table 4: Number
of students per 100,000 inhabitants in 1990
Source: Statistical Yearbook 1993
Table 5: Scientific and Technical human power in 1985
Source: Statistical Yearbook 1993
1. 1 "African Development Report", African Development Bank ,Abidjan, 1997 2. Data obtained from "The Egyptian Gazette", May 29, 1998 3. 3 "Revitalizing Universities in Africa", World Bank/AAU, June 1997 4 Senior University Management Workshops, "SUMA", are training opportunities offered to Vice Chancellors, Presidents and Rectors of Universities in Africa, to address collectively and share experiences in university management issues. Five so far have been organized in alternation between Anglophone and Francophone countries. 5 "Strategic Planning at Selected African Universities", by D. Ekong and P.R. Plante, a report of a study for the Association for the Development of Education in Africa - Working Group on Higher Education, AAU Publication, December 1996. 6 "Bottlenecks to Research Capacity-Building at African Universities", by A. Sawyerr, Keynote Address, Seminar on NIRP Research in West Africa, November 1997. 7" Graduate Education and R & D in African Universities", by E.U.Nwa and P.Houenou, a report prepared for the AAU, May 1990; and Regional Cooperation in Graduate Training and Research, by A. Aboderin, a report of a study commissioned by the AAU, December 1995; 8 "The University in Africa in the 1990's and Beyond", Summary Report, an AAU publication, Lesotho Colloquium, January 1995. 9 " The Role of the University in the Education Sector", by L. Goma, a paper presented at the 9th General Conference, an AAU publication, January 1997. 10. 10 "Contribution of Higher Education to the Renovation of the Whole Education System", by N. Matos, a paper presented to the Regional Consultation in Preparation for the World Conference on Higher Education, Dakar, April 1997 11. Challenges and Perspectives of Universities in Africa, a conference organized by German organizations involved in university cooperation in Africa, Kampala, Uganda, March 1998 12. Based on notes from a presentation presented by the author at a conference of the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada in Ottawa, 1997, and notes from the Kampala conference mentioned in a previous note. 13. Tertiary Education is used here deliberately to underline the case not only for more and above all stronger universities, but equally for polytechnics and other forms of post-secondary and vocational institutions 14. Policy Paper for Change and Development in Higher Education, UNESCO, Paris, 1995 15. For details see Dakar Declaration and Action Plan on Higher Education, UNESCO/BREDA, April 1997 16. International Commission on Education for the 21st century, October 1995 17. Seventh Conference of Ministers of Education
of OAU member states, Durban, S.Africa, April 1998
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