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cmonahan
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#21 Posted: Wed Sep 24th, 2008 22:58 |
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| Several comments have highlighted the need for African institutions to educate and train a highly skilled workforce that fits the particular needs of that country or region. This means the relevant teaching materials would be unique for that need, region, language, etc. I see good collaboration as helping African institutes develop their necessary teaching materials. Today's digital media means we can help African institutions to make their own teaching videos, podcasts, etc. This will by-pass expenses of printed materials AND can be made by their students as part of the learning process. Bring the students into this and you will find enormous creativity waiting for expression. Guide them and in just a few years, any participating African institution will have an extensive digital library of relevant teaching materials in their local languages.
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Jason Scorza
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#22 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 02:48 |
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I am persuaded that a priority needs to be placed on preparing the teachers of teachers in Africa as a crucial step in achieving the development goal of universal adult literacy. Relatedly, and of equal importance, however, are efforts to directly address the gender disparity in primary and secondary education in many African nations. Doing so is not only morally imperative but crucial to unleashing the creative and economic potential latent in dis-empowered women. Additionally, in order to better ensure the sustainability of such initiatives, attention needs to be paid to leadership development within primary, secondary, and tertiary education sectors. Finally, my academic background in political philosophy makes me want to make a special pitch for partnerships to develop civic education curricula and pedagogies for primary and secondary education sectors as part of a long range effort to combat corruption. This is a major priority of the African Union and should one for ourselves as well -- I suspect that HE institutions may have as much to learn from such efforts as we would have to teach.
I'll also take a stab at the questions:
- It seems to me that for institutions of higher education to be relevant, either in their local communities or in the realm of international development, they need to begin to think more like non-governmental organizations working in the field of education and knowledge creation and less like non-profit organizations. The significant difference between the two outlooks is that NGOs (broadly speaking) are primarily interested in creating some sort of social capital while non-profits are (again, broadly speaking) are primarily interested in protecting the advantages afforded by their tax exemptions. This is not to say that there is not marvelous NGO-type work being done at most if not all HEs. However, this work tends to be off to the side and not central either to the institutional mission or the institution's self-image. This needs to change if HE is going to do more than nibble on the edges of global challenges.
- The diversity of HE is its strength and there is a significant role to play by community colleges, baccalaureate colleges, and master's universities, as well as by research institutions. The trick (if there is a trick) is for each institution to know itself and be true to itself rather than trying to be a "lite" version of institutions further up the alleged academic "food chain." I am hoping that this initiative will yield a multiplicity of proposals from a diversity of institutions -- each offering to contribute to a common effort what it does best.
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rmr209
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#23 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 04:05 |
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Although the development of higher education in Africa is very important, serious attention must be turned to primary and especially secondary education. High drop out and failure rates among secondary schools in Africa are all too common and something needs to be done to change this, so that there will even be students ready to attend higher education. In many rural villages in sub-Saharan Africa, children go to school hungry, walk miles to school or have to frequently miss school days to help take care of their family. If children are preoccupied with these worries, they are not going to be able to focus their full attention on school. Children often fall behing due to these circumstances, forcing them to fail out of school or even worse, dropping out. There needs to be a bottom up approach to this problem of higher education, in that solutions need to be found ensuring students successfully attend primary and secondary school so that they then will be prepared for higher education.
Nonetheless, communication and cooperation between schools of higher education in Africa and the U.S. needs to be expanded. Students at the university level had the unique opportunity to be exposed to new and different ideas and have a certain energy about creating positive change. If students in the U.S. can talk about world issues to students in Africa, its possible that not only will a new understanding and perspective be given, but solutions can come about as well. It is important to hear what other educated students around the world have to say, especially those living in areas of the world where real life sufferings like extreme hunger and poverty exist, because those ideas are often so foreign to Americans. Institutions of higher education in the U.S. can promote videoconferences with schools of higher education in Africa to share ideas and perspectives. Programs should also be in place for schools in the U.S. to learn about not only problems in Africa, but also the positives of Africa and the benefits of having good relations with the continent.
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aelnash
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#24 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 04:11 |
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What the vision means to me is the reorganization of all levels ofhigher education in Africa, to render universities relevant to economic and cultural development of African nations. There is no doubt that the wealth of Africa is astounding. Yet by-and-large African contributions to the world's innovation and wealth creation is limited. No society can possibly develop, economically and culturally, without higher education and research.
There are several models for the revitalization of universities, some of these are either planned in other regions, or already under progress. For example, Singapore has undergone a total transformation, underpinned by significant investment from Singapore itself. The Arabian Gulf region is also undergoing very significant changes and attempting a new model, based on branch campuses of leading universities. These two examples however are probably not suitable for Africa. Whereas Africa is rich, it is not producing the economic surplus that Singapore or Dubai have accumulated. Therefore, the model has to be different. Jump-starting the Africa-US cooperation in higher education and research by USAID and some others is good, but probably insufficient. I think that the USA has a historcial opportunity to exercise international leadership in underpinning the development of a knowledge society in Africa by investing heavily for a number of years, then moving out gradually to be replaced by international corporations who will by then see the value of investment in an excpetionally rich regions.
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HIWOT
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#25 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 06:09 |
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Realizing the vision of the AU reminds me of the endorsement of such a vision by each member country.If this is the case,then each member country by implication is striving to implement such a vision.Since majority of universities are public HEIs it is imperative that these inistitutions would be bound for incorporating the vision into their mission statements.My concern is not if the vision would mean something for my university.Universities in my country,Ethiopia, are in a major transformation to make their curriclae relevant to the development endeavours of the country.Benchmarking studies for best practices are being assembled to select the best and make it relevant to the realities of the country.An aspect of the transformation includes pedagogical training to young academic staff members not only to change their skills but also to change their attitudes towards shifts to student-centered teaching approaches.The partnerships sought with US universities need to address issues of upgrading the knowledge, skills and attitudes of academic staff members if the visions of the AU can be realized.
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pbateman
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Peter Bateman
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#26 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 08:44 |
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I have worked in the Higher Education sector in Sub-Saharan Africa for some years both as an academic and later within IGOs and NGOs that seek to support the HEI sector. During this time there have been several discussions regarding the ‘challenges’ that face higher education in Africa. These have variously addressed historical issues, social issues, economic /financial issues, , capacity issues, infrastructure issues, political issues, philosophical issues, and less often, the educational issues. Many of these issues are interconnected and some are also cross-sectoral in that they originate or move beyond the educational context in which African HEIs operate. For example, decisions that influence the successful operation of HEIs can be made by the Finance Ministry, the Ministry of Works, or the Ministry of Telecommunications, or by international financial institutions. Other external challenges to HEIs may stem from national and cross border conflict, HIV/AIDs and other health related challenges, exorbitant national debt and so on. All of these adversely affect the work of African HEIs and it is often the case these HEIs may not always be able exert sufficiently wide influence to mitigate them. The African HEI environment is therefore both complex and diverse.
One of the over-arching considerations should be how collaboration both between African HEIs and with other Higher Education institutions globally may be able to contribute to resolving these challenges. Recently a new initiative (OER Africa) has been formed that seeks to support such collaborations. For those of you unfamiliar with the concept, the idea of Open Educational Resources (OER) was born of
a) the technological advances enabling the creation, organization, dissemination and utilization of educational resources (not just content - but all types of resources linked to education);
b) the notion that education is indeed a right; and
c) a shift in the options available within intellectual copyright frameworks that enable and encourage others to benefit from knowledge resources at little or no cost.
In short, OERs contribute to the education sector what educators across the globe value as a guiding principle: a willingness to share knowledge.
In the context of the limited resources available to higher education institutions in Africa, the OER movement has immense potential to increase access to relevant, quality, affordable education. However, issues remain which threaten to undermine the movement’s expansion not just in Africa but across the globe. For example, the wholesale importing of higher education structures, systems, content etc. into Africa does not work. The mutual sharing of ideas to support the development of African HEIs by Africans does.
The OER movement also offers a substantial opportunity as a catalyst for reform within the HE sector. A central tenant of the movement on which Africa should capitalize is the power that comes from creating and sharing knowledge in all its forms and at all levels. Substantial advances can be made by policy makers, academics, administrators and students who freely and openly share their experiences, their challenges and their innovative solutions within collaborative communities of practice. While there are technical and infrastructural challenges associated with meaningful participation in the movement in Sub-Saharan Africa, it is still possible to envisage such communities collaborating around the development of quality educational content, the development of supportive policy frameworks and their experiences of implementing them, collaborating around the changing education methodologies and how best to support these, and collaborating around knowledge creation itself whether this be researchers collaborating on exploring uniquely African solutions to the challenges faced or students working together to enhance their learning experiences.
‘OER Africa’ as an organization believes that providing HEIs in Sub-Saharan Africa with an environment in which to collaborate along with the tools they require to do so is a valuable contribution to the knowledge sharing endeavour. Careful targeting of the initial communities of practice could focus on those areas outlined in the discussion paper distributed to us by Prof Oyewole but should not overlook the nascent communities already in operation in the areas of Science, Teacher Education, Agriculture, Health etc.
By involving both African academics and their colleagues at U.S. institutions it should be possible to facilitate the ongoing expansion of indigenous knowledge creation, organization, dissemination and use across the entire HE sector in Sub-Saharan Africa without having to 'reinvent the wheel'.
Last edited on Thu Sep 25th, 2008 08:49 by pbateman
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Julia Preece
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#27 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 10:50 |
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I work in an HEI in Africa. Higher education needs a large injection of funds, for infrastructure support (bandwidth, networking in some cases, access to up to date equipment, reduction of administrative delays in implementing infrastructure improvements ranging from building maintenance to ICT equipment); and for teaching quality - lower staff-student ratios, more administrative support, a change in institutional culture towards research so that research time is built into academic timetables and staff have greater incentives to do research. We also need access to relevant books. My HEI has a strategic plan but we have administrative overloads and lack of implementation issues - especially in terms of cascading the strategy down to departmental or institute levels.
HE should definitely play a key role in engaging with development needs of the country at all levels/subject areas. In principle HEIs do - but funding cuts can create tensions between government and university, and staff motivation is low to engage in additional activities. I believe our institutional research activities are closely linked to the development needs of the country but insufficient research is carried out and insufficient time is allocated to developing research and publication of research. Lack of, or indadequate, ICT is a major hurdle to dissemination, communication, administration etc. We have many senior posts at departmental level which have either been frozen due to lack of funds or have remained empty for a long time due to lack of home-grown qualified staff or interest from outsiders.
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Luis Borrallo
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#28 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 12:43 |
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Having read the previous contributions to this very interesting debate, I would like to agree with some of my colleagues on the importance of Teacher Training and of Training for Entrepeneurs. My University is involved in both these areas in a small way and we can see it is having a very positive impact in Kenya .
Another positive experience that we can share is that all our undergraduate students have to do 200 hours of Community Work. It is compulsory! This unit is normally taken during the holiday period at the end of 1st year. Most of the students are very happy with the experience and continue doing it either individually or with their friends in their free time for as long as they are on campus. Our Community Outreach Programme is not only of benefit to the community around us, but it is also transformative for many of our students. The University supports and is committed to our Community Outreach. It is an integral part of our philosophy and therefore of the education we want to give.
We are also creating a culture of research and enterprise. Like most universities in Africa we are also short of money. Thus we are also looking for ways to use this reseach and enterprise to get financial resources for members of staff and the University as a whole. For example, we are marketing our integrated management systems to several other universities in the region, and believe it or not, there is a lot of interest. These systems have been developed from open-source systems, which means that the main thing we sell is our expertise.
Finally, I agree that Quality Assurance is vital. Several universities in Kenya have become ISO certified in recent years. This certification applies mainly to our Administrative and Management Procedures, etc. However, we are also trying to apply it to our teaching and learning, but it is not so simple. Has anybody got any innovative ideas on this?
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merwyn
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#29 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 14:02 |
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As a member of civil society I believe that the nexus between CSOs and universities/schools needs to be developed and strengthened. The interface between academia and CSOs would serve on the one hand to inform academic curricula and on the other to enhance practice.
Speaking from a Zimbabwean context, where dependence upon donor funding is immense, such collaborative efforts between educational institutions would serve to build capacity of both and promote a sense of independence from external funding.
For those universities seeking to add 'Practice Institutes', the relationship with CSOs could facilitate the development of the practice aspect as also contribute to the research and publication of journals and training manuals.
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vansantr
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Rick Van Sant
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#30 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 14:16 |
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As I read the responses I am pleased that so many are discussing maximization of resources and struggling with the notion of relevance. Perhaps a central place to ground some of this discussion lies in the work of Paulo Freire and the concepts of Popular and Informal Education. While Paulo's work is often politicized, I do not think we need to go there - rather draw upon the concepts of acess to education for the disempowered and the multiplication function of informal education structures. Higher Education, as the U.S. currently knows it, is a fairly recent event in the chronology of global education. This notion of a centralized education vs. a distributed one is just now coming back to the forefront of discussions surrounding online learning - a delivery system that is still in its infancy.
If we as educators are truly comitted to the growth and development of education in Africa, rather than just being a $5000 consultant (as noted above), we are going to have to do three things:
1. be willing to stretch beyond the models of higher education that we in the U.S. know and are familiar with,
2. be willing to look backward and learn from the history of the region, at previously successful models of educational development in developing countries and
3. be willing to look to development partners who have a great deal more experience on the ground in Africa than education does. Examples include Microenterprise /Village Banking, Aids Education, etc.
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For those not familiar with Paulo Freire and the concepts of Popular and Informal Education I recommend a brief read at:
Paulo Freire: http://www.infed.org/thinkers/et-freir.htm
there are two embeded links to Popular and Informal Education within this brief article.
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Admin
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#31 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 14:32 |
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A SUMMARY FROM THE MODERATORS / SOMMAIRE DES MODERATEURS
EN FRANCAIS CI-BAS
Dear Discussion Members,
Yesterday was a great start to what is sure to continue to be an interesting discussion. Thanks to those who took the time to write posts, and to those who have been following the developing conversation. As moderators, we will try every so often to draw out some of the major themes from recent posts, and to pose additional questions that will help us to focus our efforts.
As we continue to discuss the questions raised in our first post, here are some of the key themes that emerged from yesterday’s discussion, and a few questions that these themes raise:
- Increases in student numbers / Massification. Student numbers are increasing at extraordinary rates and as one respondent asked, how does an education system balance the tradeoff between quality and quantity that must naturally arise from limited resources? What are cost effective ways to increase the teaching capacity and teaching quality of institutions in Africa?
- Teacher Training and Quality. Several respondents noted the importance of teaching and how it should be the primary aim of the institution. How does research play a role in the development of teaching capacity?
- Not producing students relevant to national needs. A number of people commented on the churning out of degree recipients with little relationship to social needs was a problem. There were also a number of comments highlighting the importance of all types of higher education institutions. In many ways, this is related to the quality of secondary education – and the preparedness of students for higher education.
- Research is often irrelevant. Appears to be a perception of several respondents that research conducted in many institutions is not relevant and does not solve the real problems that plague the continent. Practical research that involves solving problems with joint participation and that target local or national problems seems to be valued. There is a need for greater appreciation of the results of African scientists and their work and it is suggested that can be achieved through real cooperative projects.
- Lack of and inadequate infrastructure. The buildings, laboratories and classroom are inadequate in quantity and quality to handle the student requirements. The available research infrastructures do not allow many Higher Education Institutions to compete globally.
- How do US institutions become more international? Several respondents addressed some of the constraints in the US system to international work, particularly in Africa. The lack of appreciation in the tenure system for applied science and the challenge of getting international perspectives in the curriculum were voiced.
Some interesting comments were made about the need for African institutions of HE that are focused on the generation of practical knowledge. This highlights the need for country by country assessments to identify workforce needs and broader development requirements. And in terms of the practical work of higher education, this calls our attention to the need for community engagement for grassroots development. Perhaps the ultimate lesson is, “Keep it practical, keep it simple.” Is this a fair goal for the next generation of HE institutions in Africa?
Other posts noted that partnerships between African and US institutions have often been set up with good intentions, but have tended, for a variety of reasons, to provide the bulk of benefits to the US partners. On the US side, we need, as one participant put it, to move away from “the idea of Africa as a research laboratory for the West.” These questions of how best to organize partnerships will be picked up on in a week or so, once we move to the next stage of the consultation.
Questions for further discussion:
1. There seems to be general agreement in yesterday’s posts and the Initiative’s past consultations that budgets are significantly inadequate in the face of student numbers, and that faculty salaries, infrastructure needs, inappropriate funding mechanisms, and research requirements all need to be addressed. How do we change that picture?
2. What changes need to be made by Higher Education Institutions in Africa for them to be able to meet the challenges of the African Union Second Decade of Education in Africa? In what ways can U.S. Institutions help them to meet these challenges?
3. In both the US and Africa, what should be done to Higher Education Institutions for them to contribute significantly to national and community development .Without imposing the land grant model on Africa, are there characteristics of the model that would be helpful for African institutions?
_____________________________________________________
EN FRANCAIS
Hier était un excellent point de départ à ce qui est sûr de continuer à être une discussion intéressante. Merci à tous ceux qui ont pris le temps d'écrire des messages, et à ceux qui ont suivi la conversation qui se développe. En tant que modérateurs, nous allons essayer de temps en temps de tirer quelques-uns des principaux thèmes des postes récents, et de poser des questions supplémentaires qui nous aideront à concentrer nos efforts.
Alors que nous continuons à examiner les questions soulevées dans notre premier post, voici quelques-uns des principaux thèmes qui ont émergé de la discussion d'hier, et quelques questions que soulèvent ces thèmes:- Augmentation du nombre d'étudiants / massification. Le taux d'étudiants augmente à une vitesse extraordinaire. L'un des répondants a demandé, comment maintenir l’équilibre entre la qualité et la quantité avec des ressources limitées? Quels sont des moyens efficaces pour renforcer la capacité d'enseignement et en même temps assurer la qualité de l'enseignement?
- La formation et la qualité des enseignants. L'enseignement devrait être une priorité. Plusieurs répondants ont noté l'importance de l'enseignement et comment ceci devrait être le but premier des institutions Africaines. Est-ce que la recherche joue un rôle dans le développement de la capacité d'enseignement? Quel rôle ?
- Correspondance aux besoins nationaux. Plusieurs personnes ont parlé du problème que l’éducation des élèves correspond pas aux besoins sociaux. Il y avait aussi un certain nombre de commentaires soulignant l'importance de tous les types d'établissements d'enseignement supérieur. À bien des égards, cette hausse est liée à la qualité de l'enseignement secondaire - et la préparation des étudiants pour l'enseignement supérieur.
- La recherche est souvent dénuée de pertinence. Il semble être une perception de plusieurs répondants que les recherches menées dans de nombreuses institutions ne sont pas pertinentes et ne permettent pas de résoudre les vrais problèmes qui affligent le continent. La recherche pratique fait en collaboration et ciblé sur les problèmes locales ou nationales semble être valorisée. Il ya une nécessité d'une plus grande satisfaction des résultats des scientifiques africains et de leur travail et il est suggéré que l'on peut obtenir par le biais de véritables projets de coopération.
- Le manque d'infrastructure. Les bâtiments, les laboratoires et les salles de classes sont insuffisantes en quantité et en qualité pour traiter les besoins des étudiants. L’infrastructure pour la recherche ne permet pas à de nombreux établissements d'enseignement supérieur d’être compétitif dans le monde.
- Comment « internationaliser » les institutions américaines ? Plusieurs répondants ont remarqué sur les contraintes dans le système des États-Unis qui ne permet pas de s’engager à l’étranger, particulièrement en Afrique. Le manque d'appréciation dans le régime foncier pour les sciences appliquées et le défi d'obtenir une perspective internationale dans le curriculum ont été exprimées.
Quelques observations ont été faites sur la nécessité pour les institutions de l’éducation supérieure africaines d’être plus centrées sur la production de connaissances pratiques. Cela souligne la nécessité de faire des évaluations, pays par pays, afin d'identifier les besoins de main-d'œuvre et de développement national et régional. Peut-être la leçon est, "Rester pratique, rester simple." Est-ce un objectif juste pour la prochaine génération d’institutions d’éducation supérieure en Afrique?
Autres postes ont notés que les partenariats entre l'Afrique et les États-Unis ont souvent été mis en place avec de bonnes intentions, mais ont eu tendance, pour diverses raisons, de fournir l'essentiel des prestations aux partenaires des États-Unis. Du côté américain, nous avons besoin, en tant que participant, de s'éloigner de « l'idée de l'Afrique comme un laboratoire de recherche pour l'Occident ». Ces questions de la meilleure façon de s'organiser partenariats seront reprises dans une semaine environ, une fois que nous passons à la prochaine étape de la consultation.
Questions de discussion:
1. Il semble y avoir un accord général dans les postes d'hier et dans les consultations précédentes de l’Initiative que les budgets sont nettement insuffisants face au nombre d'étudiants, et étant donne les salaires des professeurs, les besoins en infrastructures, les mécanismes de financement inappropriés, et les exigences de recherche. Comment pouvons-nous changer cette image?
2. Quels changements doivent être faits par les établissements d'enseignement supérieur en Afrique pour qu'ils soient en mesure de relever les défis de l'Union africaine dans le Deuxième décennie de l'éducation en Afrique? De quelles façons pouvons les institutions des États-Unis aider à relever ces défis?
3. Aux États-Unis et l'Afrique, qu’est-ce qui devrait être fait aux établissements d'enseignement supérieur pour qu'ils contribuent de manière significative au développement national et régional. Sans imposer le modèle « land-grant » sur l'Afrique, quels sont les caractéristiques du modèle qui serait utile pour les institutions africaines?
Last edited on Thu Sep 25th, 2008 14:37 by Admin
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Mengistu
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#32 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 15:14 |
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Thank you moderator for the summary. There is one thing that I would like to shade light on to the discussion. I am in total agreement with the financial constraints mentioned that affect quality of education in our continent: no enough classrooms, no sufficient laboratories, unacceptable student- teacher ratio and so on. These all are pressing problems both we Africans and our friends in the west can help to alleviate.
In the same manner we should be worried with equal magnitude about the resource use efficiency, professionalism, knowledge and skills of our educational leaders. I don't have the data but I have the feeling that most of university and colledge leaders in Africa don't have or do have little formal training in higher education administration. There is a lot that can be done in collaboration with American universities in this regard. Our educational leaders need to have the knowledge and skills of optimal utilization of existing resources, and how to generate new ones. The experiences of American universities in resource mobilization, fund raising, efficiency can make a whole lot difference on our resource worries. I guess this is a cross cutting issue that would adress many of the AU goals mentioned in the discussion. How efficient and informed are our university leaders? Do they entirely depend on the meager budget they get from African governments or they strive more to generate resources? Do they have the training to do that? As a matter of fact most educational leaders are subject matter specialists, I believe there is a capacity gap that U.S. universities can help fill in through partnership.
Regards,
Mengistu Hailu
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ggperrier
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#33 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 15:47 |
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Acquiring adequate resources is a perpetual problem for HE institutions, and especially in Africa. Previous donor funding, however, has created short-term solutions to the resource problem and leave behind unstainable programs and infrastructure. It is my experience that most Africans do not see the HE institutions as providing services that are useful to the local economy. For the resource concerns to be addressed that view needs to change. It will only change, however, when African HE institutions start addressing local workforce and research needs. To address the resource issue, African HE institutions need be become much more entrepreneurial addressing the workforce needs of local industry and government and developing true partnerships with these community organizations. The board of trustees model might prove useful here if it is made up of heads of local industry and government that can keep the institution focused on local economic issues.
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Garth Myers
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#34 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 15:54 |
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I very much agree with this line of thinking about keeping things simple and sticking to the basics. However, while one thread of our discussion has centered on the important dimension of relevance, and another on enhancing quality, still another crucial dynamic that I have yet to see in the discussion is that of academic freedom. This can be a touchy subject, but I think it is important that we address it. US academics of all persuasions, across all disciplines, largely share a belief in the importance of academic freedom. This is especially crucial in the realm of discovery. If there is too strong of a demand for relevance, research autonomy can be stifled. Scientists, entrepreneurs and scholars need to feel that their research processes are not tethered to a particular ideology outside of the university, for this is where genuine discovery emerges. From the US side, in accord with the notion that too often partnership programs provide much more benefit to the US partners, we find that too often even the agendas for partnerships are set through a US lens. I am so enthusiastic about this e-consultation as a means for a free and open discussion of all the parameters such that we can set them wider.
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claudecocou
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#35 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 16:05 |
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We need a very profound transformation at the Higher Education institutions in Africa and also a profound review of partnerships principles in cooperating with Higher Education institutions in the North for the vision and goals of AU to come true.
When we talk about development , we need first to prioritize.Which sector should we give priority to achieve the involvement of African HE in development?
We need to start this homework: what are african initiatives on the groung in line with these objectives ? How do we build on these?
Strengthen the connections between HE and public, private and civil society are both in Africa & US very relevant.
In my University , our strategic views are in ligne with the vision and goals of those of AU.
I am pleased about the direction this initiative is working towards and hope for good outcomes for which Africa HE have a good share for effective action!
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oyewole
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#36 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 16:36 |
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Mengistu,
I shall your opinion that as part of efforts at revitilizing higher education in Africa, we need to improve the quality of instititutional leadership. Unfortunately, many academics who find themselves in positions of leadership in many of our institutions have not been exposed to formal training in management and leadership. The human and material resources needed for the running of our instititons can be mismanaged and wasted through bad leadership
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oyewole
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#37 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 16:45 |
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| Is there anybody who can tell us about the land-grant model and some of the characteristics of this model that would be helpful for African institutions?
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Temple@hws.edu
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#38 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 16:49 |
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In our work with a couple of small universities in Liberia we've been developing a plan for entrepreneurship education. A Dutch NGO working with us is trying to arrange a grant to support micro-financing, so the students in the trainings will have a shot at practicing (or facilitating) some entrepreeurship. Stay tuned.
Does anyone on this list have experience witrh such activities?
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Germain
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#39 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 17:24 |
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I have read with interests the above suggestions. The debate is certainly exciting and gives the opportunity to a lot of us to make our contributions. I am however afraid that it will end up being the platform for reciting all that has already been sait about education in Africa.
Infrastructure and adminstrative problems cripple african HEIs institutions. Many administrators are merely appointed in institutions by political authorities, and are the facto political figures that care less for the quality of the education offered in the institutions they manage and more about pleasing their benefactors by engaging more in political activities. Infrastructure is lacking and students cannot afford instruction materials. The internet offers the possibility through free online learning resources t make updated instruction materials available to students.
Most importantly, the instruction provided in these institutions, while sometimes of high quality is generaly inadapted to needs of their countries. Several things could be done to crrect this. There is a need to match education with the needs of the community and local businesses. Much emphazis is been put by other members of the forum on the importance of research and new knowledge generation, but what really lacks generally in africa is basic applied, and professional education. You may call it vocational training or anything you would like to, but Africa need to train highly qualified people that can join the workforce and be immediately productive, and who have the necessary tools and qualifications in order to start their own small businesses, and participate to the wealth creation process for their nations.
The current educational system is still based on what was inherited from colonisation. All the colonial systems was the train clerks, experts in filling out papers and the systems as it is today has not really broken from that mentality. A mentality shift is therefore necessary and businesses should be associated to the design of a new system. The U.S system, which emphasizes the partnership between the private sector and the HEIs both in research and training is an exemple to follow. Teaching entrepreneurship is an example of the result of such interaction, but many more technical and vocational types of training curriculae are crucial.
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Latib
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#40 Posted: Thu Sep 25th, 2008 18:45 |
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- What does this mean to you? What does it mean for higher education institutions to be connected and relevant? What changes need to be made at institutions of higher education both in Africa and the U.S. in regard to the issue of relevance and the other priorities of the AU’s Second Decade?
- This is critical for success. There is no choice in being connected- collaboration is fundamentally important in this increasingly interdependent world. I think the significant change that has to occur has to do with our-US institutions- assumptions of relevance. Imposing western thought/assumptions will foster distance and irrelevance. Similar mindset changes in African institutions is also necessary.
- If you are affiliated with an institution of higher education (in Africa or the U.S.), what changes do you feel need to be made at your institution? If you represent an African institution does your institution have a strategic plan and how does your institution’s vision fit with the AU’s vision?
- I am affiliated with Desales University in Center Valley, PA. We have alreaady maded many changes in the institutional culture; we have undertaken an aggressive globalization intitiative and have stablished partnerships with institutions in India, Peru, Romania, Argentina, Italy, and the UK. We have every intention to find partners in Africa to persue a teaching and research agenda that enhances knowledge, development, and above all deeper understanding between our respective cultures.
- I am absolutely convinced that the most effective strategy to achieve the agenda of this intiaitve is to engage in frequent and thoughtful action; to adapt as we learn and to be open to innovative thinking. It is not difficult to propse changes; it is difficult to implement them. Most instiutuions of higher education are unfortunately mired in planning rather than thoughtful and brilliant execution.
- What is the development role that institutions of higher education ought to play?
- The role primarily has to do with developing globally ready graduates; to connect to the local community by engaging in conversations that promotes relevant education so that people are well prepared for the challenges of the 21st century- even in developing nations.
- The role of educating people in Africa must also incorporate the use of the latest technologies so that reach and access become irrelevant. Innovations in delivery systems must be fully implemented in Africa- as well as in the USA.
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