UNIVERSITY LEADERS FORUM: NEXT GENERATION OF ACADEMICS

Accra, Ghana 23-25 November 2008

“Understanding the Problem in Africa:The Global Context”

By

Goolam MohamedbhaiSecretary-General

Association of African Universities

Outline of Presentation

• Historical Background – the North

• Forces Driving HE in the North

• Historical Background - Africa

• African Universities Today

• Staffing of African Universities

• Challenges Ahead for African HE

• Consequences of Challenges Not Met

Historical Background - the North

• Over several centuries, North developed an excellent HE

system, strong in teaching & research, well-funded by the

state, but mainly for elite

• Latter part of 20th century, importance of HE to

development appreciated, HE moves from elite to mass

system

• Pressure on universities to be less dependent on

government funding, to diversify income, to be more

transparent & accountable

• Income more dependent on: tuition fees (mainly foreign

students), industry, business, contract research, etc.

• HE adopts business-oriented and managerial approach –

clients, stakeholders, quality assurance, etc.

Forces Driving HE in the North

• Advent of Knowledge Society: - knowledge generation, dissemination & utilisation become key drivers to economic development - research & innovation become increasingly important - highly-killed people needed for such a society - universities start to play an even greater role

• Knowledge institutions outside academia appear – R&D labs, consulting firms, think-tanks, corporate training, etc; they attract academic staff from universities

• Severe shortage of academics in some key areas: medical, physical & biological sciences; engineering; ICT

• Dramatic improvement in transportation, communication & ICT facilitates globalisation - global movement of goods, people, services, knowledge & technology

Forces Driving HE in the North (Cont’d)

• Universities recruit best brains globally e.g. US attracts from Europe, Europe from developing countries. Large number of PhD students in Europe from South

• Creation of ‘European Research Area’ to drive knowledge economy – Europe relaxes immigration laws to facilitate foreign (mainly from South) PhD students to stay on in Europe

• Competition and search for ‘market’ (best staff & students, wherever they are) drive universities.

• Creation of powerful networks of the best universities to improve their competitive edge

• Concept of ranking – to be among the world’s best – fuels more competition

Historical Background of HE in Africa

• Universities in Africa created after independence in 1960’s

• All patterned on universities in North – structure, mode of operation, etc. Mostly set up in main cities

• Initially, all academics from North, or Africans trained in North

• Until 1980’s African universities flourished, well-funded by states & supported by the North

• From 1980’s severe deterioration of African economies, preventing investment in higher education. Budget cuts as a result of structural adjustment, affecting financing of HE

• Major national & inter-state conflicts, very poor governance, dictatorship, political repression

Historical Background of HE in Africa (Cont’d)• Social unrest reaches university campuses

• Universities threatened, regarded as bastions of free-thinking people & democracy

• Persecution, even murder, of academics in several countries. Hence flight of academics to other countries, mainly North

• At the same time, huge increase in output from primary & secondary sectors, putting huge pressures on African universities to increase enrolment

• Mid-1990’s, funding/donor agencies decide funding of HE provides less economic returns than basic education – this policy dictates their support to governments

• UNESCO 1998 WCHE becomes turning point in the fate of African universities

African Universities Today

• Despite many hurdles, African universities survived & learnt to do more with same – or even less!

• Enrolment in most universities doubled or trebled – campuses designed for less than 10,000 students accommodate 25-40,000 students

• Paradox - yet Africa has lowest HE enrolment (about 6%) than any other world region, and greatest outflow of students to foreign universities – fuelling brain drain

• HIV/AIDS in universities seriously hampers efforts

• Academic staff sent to the North for postgraduate training do not return

Staffing of African Universities

• Poor salaries, institutional infrastructure & facilities make

it difficult to attract or retain academics

• Academics have heavy teaching loads – no time for research

• Poor facilities for research – hence limited possibility to train future academics

• Ageing academics – serious problem in many countries

• Because of unmet demand for HE, cross-border education

from the North moves in – compete with local HEIs for

academics

Staffing of African Universities (Cont’d)

• Private institutions also set up – mostly for-profit,

commercial, poor quality; also compete with public HEIs for

staff

• Growing tendency to create more & more universities – yet

no qualified academics for them, or deplete existing ones

• Most countries have no national quality control

mechanisms for private or CBHE but also for public

institutions

• Private business & industry in Africa get well-established –

they attract academics away from universities

Challenges Ahead For African HE• How to provide quality HE in Africa to meet the ever-increasing demand for HE, thus limiting the outflow of students to foreign countries?

• How to mobilise the huge amount of funds required to: - improve the teaching & research facilities, especially infrastructure

- improve salaries & conditions of service

to attract and retain academics in Africa?

• How to encourage academics to do more research rather than just teach, and how to create a research environment?

• How to train the large numbers of academics required for expanding HE in Africa, and replacing the ageing academics, considering the limited research & postgraduate capacity of African universities?

Challenges Ahead For African HE (Cont’d)

• Should all academics be trained through PhD research?

• Should not Africa create differentiated institutions, some very strong in research, others excelling in teaching only, including use of Distance and Online Learning?

• How to ensure that the future generation of academics is sensitive to Africa’s problems, yet conscious of global development challenges?

• How can CBHE institutions in Africa be made to cooperate with local institutions, rather than compete with them?

• In what ways can Africa & the North collaborate to stem brain drain?

Challenges Ahead For African HE (Cont’d)

• How can governance of countries and institutions in Africa be improved to lead to a tolerant & peaceful environment? What role can universities play in this task?

• Since it is difficult to get African Diaspora to return, how can they be encouraged to contribute to improving HE in Africa?

• How to encourage universities in the North to cooperate with those in Africa, considering their own challenge to be globally competitive?

• In an age of globalisation, competitiveness and market-driven economy, why should universities in the North assist those in Africa rather than those in emerging & rapidly expanding economies such as China, India and Latin American countries?

Consequences of Challenges Not Met

• Insufficient high-skilled manpower in Africa

• Further weakened public universities, providing poor quality teaching and hardly any research

• Serious consequences on African economic, social & human development

• Africa further marginalized in the global knowledge economy

• In this globalised world, Africa’s marginalization will affect the rest of the world

• Africa & the rest of the world cannot afford to let this happen

THANK YOU