Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative > E-Consultation Forum > E-Consultation: September 24-October 29, 2008 > Summary of Question 1 / Sommaire de la 1ere Question > SUMMARY OF QUESTION 1/ SOMMAIRE DE LA 1ere QUESTION
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Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative > E-Consultation Forum > E-Consultation: September 24-October 29, 2008 > Summary of Question 1 / Sommaire de la 1ere Question > SUMMARY OF QUESTION 1/ SOMMAIRE DE LA 1ere QUESTION |
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| Moderated by: oyewole, Anne-Claire Hervy | ||
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Admin Administrator
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EN FRANCAIS CI-BAS Dear Participants, As we move into the second phase of the e-consultation, we’d like to look back on the last ten days and review some of the key issues that have been raised so far. We’d also like to take this opportunity to highlight and ask questions about some issues that have not been discussed in much depth. As you can see, we have launched a separate section within this web site for this summary – please reply to this message to post your feedback on this overview. We would greatly appreciate your constructive feedback on what is missing from this overview, what you’d like to give further emphasis to, or what is not accurate in your view. The following is clearly not an exhaustive overview of everything that has been said, but a summary of what we have taken to be the most important priorities to incorporate in the framework for the Initiative’s grants program. 1. Need for two-way interaction to ensure and sustain relevance. In order for institutions of higher education to be relevant, we have heard from a number of participants about the need to build relationships with external stakeholders in the public, private and civil society sectors. These relationships cannot be uni-directional – institutions must reach out – providing services, providing information, consulting to assess needs, and stakeholders must engage with HEIs, think innovatively about partnering with institutions of higher education, invest in building the capacity to better serve stakeholder needs and be supportive of adequate budgets for higher education. 2. Quality, quantity, diversity, and a focus on teaching. The issue of quality is clearly of great concern. The demand for quality, however, does not mean a demand for elite institutions – institutions of all types are needed to train people at all levels. And at all levels – graduates must be well trained in order to ensure that HEIs are seen as providing valuable services (that ought to be invested in) and in order to meet Africa’s human resource needs. In order to increase the quality of higher education institutions, priority must be given to improving teaching and curricula. Given the need for massification, too, attention must be given to increasing the quality of teaching in the context of large class sizes – what technological and teaching innovations can be brought to bear on this dilemma?
As stated above, we’d also like to draw attention to one issue that has not yet been given much attention but is critical we feel to any discussion about higher education capacity building and that is the issue of access. Granted, the framing of the question no doubt influenced the fact that this was not discussed very broadly, but certainly the issue of relevance relates to the issue of access. Perhaps in the coming weeks, we can probe deeper into how access issues must and can be addressed through this Initiative. To read and respond to Question 2 which has now been launched, please click here. Thank you for your continued engagement. Sincerely, Olusola Oyewole and Anne-Claire Hervy ______________________________________________________ EN FRANCAIS Chers participants, Alors que nous entrons dans la deuxième phase de la consultation, nous aimerions revenir sur les dix derniers jours et examiner certaines des messages clés qui ont été soulevées à ce jour. Nous aimerions également saisir cette occasion pour mettre en lumière et poser des questions sur certaines questions qui n'ont pas été discutées en profondeur. Comme vous pouvez le voir, nous avons lancé une section distincte du forum pour ce résumé - s'il vous plaît répondre à ce message pour poster vos commentaires sur cette vue d'ensemble. Nous vous serions reconnaissants de vos commentaires constructifs sur ce qui est absent de cet aperçu, ce à que vous souhaitez donner plus d'importance, ou ce qui n'est pas justement communiqué dans votre point de vue. Le texte suivant est clairement pas une vue d'ensemble exhaustive de tout ce qui a été dit, mais un résumé de ce que nous avons prises pour être parmi les priorités les plus importantes à intégrer dans le cadre de l'Initiative de subventions. 1. Nécessité d'interaction dans les deux sens afin d'assurer et de maintenir la pertinence. Pour que les établissements d'enseignement supérieur soit plus pertinents, nous avons entendu un certain nombre de participants remarquer sur la nécessité d'établir des relations avec les intervenants externes dans les secteurs public, privé et la société civile. Ces relations ne peuvent pas être unidirectionnels - les institutions doivent se tourné vers l’extérieur – fournissant des services et de l’information et consultant les parties prenantes afin d'évaluer les besoins, et les parties prenantes doivent s'engager avec les établissements d'enseignement supérieur, former des partenariats innovatrices avec des établissements d'enseignement supérieur, investir dans le renforcement de leur capacité pour mieux servir les besoins des parties prenantes et être en faveur de budgets adéquats pour l'enseignement supérieur. 2. Qualité, quantité, diversité, et un accent sur l'enseignement. La question de la qualité est clairement de grande préoccupation. La demande de qualité, toutefois, ne signifie pas une demande d’institutions d'élite ; des institutions de tous types sont nécessaires pour former des professionnels à tous les niveaux. Et à tous les niveaux - les diplômés doivent être bien formés pour faire en sorte que les EES sont considérées comme fournissant de précieux services (qui devraient être soutenu financièrement) et afin de répondre aux besoins en ressources humaines en Afrique. Afin de renforcer la qualité des établissements d'enseignement supérieur, la priorité doit être accordée à l'amélioration d'enseignement et des curricula. Étant donné la nécessité de massification, aussi, l'attention doit être accordée à l'amélioration de la qualité de l'enseignement dans le contexte de la grande taille des classes – quels innovations d’enseignement et technologiques peuvent être exercées sur ce dilemme?
Comme indiqué ci-dessus, nous aimerions également attirer l'attention sur une question qui n'a pas encore été accordé beaucoup d'attention mais qui est critique, et ceci est le lien entre le renforcement des capacités et la question de l'accès. Certes, la formulation de la question a sans aucun doute influencé le fait que cela n'a pas été très largement discuté, mais certainement la question de la pertinence a trait à la question de l'accès. Peut-être dans les prochaines semaines, nous pouvons sonder plus en profondeur la façon dont les questions d'accès peut et doit être abordée par le biais de cette initiative. Pour lire et répondre à la question 2, qui a maintenant été lancé, s'il vous plaît, cliquez ici. Je vous remercie de votre engagement. Cordialement, Olusola Oyewole et Anne-Claire Hervy Last edited on Mon Oct 6th, 2008 23:08 by Admin |
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Ron Turner Member
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Thanks for the summary. It is helpful to highlight the key issues brought forth in response to Question 1. Thanks, too, for raising the matter of access in the summary. I note, however, that issues related to gender equity were not prominent in the initial discussion. I would be interested in participant views on gender access issues as the discussion continues. |
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Mwikali Member
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Thanks for the precise summary. On point 2: Quality, quantity, diversity, and focus on teaching.- I agree that the role of reserach in faculty development and training of faculty on pedagogical skills were not given due attention. Whereas it is neccessary to equip academic staff with pedagogical skills, it is important to to focuss on "modern" techniques of teaching that embrace ICT. On point 3: The issue of access Access to higher education will be expanded by use of Open and Distance Learning. however quality of ODL should be addressed. Gender conceerns in Higher Education I agree that this matter has so far not been addressed. This is an aspect that should be given adequate space in this forum since it affects access among other aspects. |
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Ishmail Mahiri Member
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Congratulations to the moderators for the concise summary of the contributions. Mine is simply to draw attention to the delicate balance among quantity, quality and relevance. Research by faculty is one way of enhancing quality and relevance of programmes. But in the face of increased student numbers (quantity), more time will be spent in routine class demands, i.e. lectures, setting and marking students' work. This leaves less time for research, which finally affects quality. So, with increased numbers should be increased budget and capacity, thus ensuring quality and relevance are maintained in the face of quantity. |
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Barack Owuor Member
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I also wish to commend the moderators for a concise summarry. However the evolution of American HEI is instructive in terms of mobilizing local resources for HEI in Africa. It seems that the paucity of truly indigenous African enterprise is a serious limitation and the multinational corporations have not seen it their businees to invest in HEI in Africa. So questions of relevance with regard to community service need to be relooked afresh. How can multinationals operating in Africa be brought on board to contribute resources for HEI in Africa especially for programs that can be seen to be a springboard for socio-economic development. It is not right that while it is acknowledged that it is the transformation of African agriculture that will provide the impetus for socio- economic development ,enrolment in agriculture and related degree programs have been and continue decline in African Universities |
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Ralph Member
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It is good to note that the issue of quality a concern and also the recognition that graduates must be well trained in order to ensure that HEIs are seen as providing valuable services (that ought to be invested in) and in order to meet Africa’s human resource needs. However, this will require a new approach to partnerships aimed at strengthening Africa's capacity to build capacity. Discussions on these points should address the need to move beyond partnerships that just strengthen some students, in some subjects, in some universities. Such partnerships do add value and are much appreciated but they cannot meet Africa's requirements. The concern for quality must extend to all African graduates and postgraduates and especially to those enrolled in the less well resourced universities. African universities have given a lot of thought to this and, in conjunction with attending to crosscutting issues such as curriculum reform and training in systems and entrepreneurial skills, they have proposed pragmatic approaches to producing open access training resources in which Africa-Africa and Africa-US partnerships could be very effective. Partnership with the African research community would assure the provision of contextually relevant and up-to-date course content. This includes provision for associated training for trainers to which US universities could also contribute. |
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Ron Turner Member
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It would be helpful if the participants on this forum from Africa would indicate which qualities they would value most in an US university partner. Likewise, it would be helpful if the US participants would indicate the qualities they would value most in an African university partner. From an organizational standpoint, I wonder if there is a source lisiting all current partnerships between US and African universities, including those supported by public and private donors and the institutions themselves. The quantity and quality of current links merit consideration and a summation of curent efforts could be helpful in terms of goals, milestones reached, critical success factors, lessons learned, operational/developmental problems encountered and over come, do's and don'ts and what areas for future work seem most crucial. |
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patscheid Member
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I agree with Ron. If someone is aware of such a resource, or if it could be posted here, that will be valuable information. |
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jhmuyonga Member
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One addition that I feel is missing. I feel Universities in Africa need to be more dynamic than they have been, if they are to be relevant to today's fast changing world. This dynamism is required in the operations of the Universities as well as in the skills set of the Faculty members. For example, in recent years, a numbers of Governments in Africa have introduced Universal Primary Education. Universities research Agendas and training programs could have been alligned with this new developments. However, in some cases, it takes years to effect curriculum review and therefore training programs may be out of phase with the real training needs. Secondly, I feel that African Universities need to become sources of innovations of commercial value and such innovations should not only contribute to improving the image of the Universities but also contribute funds to support the Universities. Today, Africa's production systems rely very little on researched procedures. Universities should and can be core in changing this status. |
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RoseQ Member 
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Agree with Ron & Patricia. Unfortunately I don't know of a repository like this so cannot assist :-( Hopefully this can be raised in the mainstream discussion at some point as I am unsure how many participants are tracking this thread? Rosemary |
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Dr. Zoli Mali Member  Dr
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Yes! I agree fully with the need for the inclusion of ICT training in this initiative. In an envisaged Africa-US HEI linkage, it would build capacity if the better technologically equipped partner would bring that expertise into the partnership and engage in the development of both faculty and students within a given niche are using ICT. One aspect I would like to see added is an outreach to high schools in the areas of the respective linkage partners to the initiative and thus creating a situation where each will learn from the other. I imagine that historical and political issues would be an interesting and enriching comparative study for both parties. There may for instance be similarities in each of the two countries' narratives in this regard. |
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