dimanche 5 juin 2011

AFRICA: Higher education space gaining momentum

Efforts to create an African Higher Education Space are gaining momentum, with three key areas - qualifications recognition, harmonisation of systems and quality assurance - actively supported by the African Union, regional economic bodies, university associations and international organisations. But far greater political will on the part of governments is needed. ...

"Higher education is one of the African Union's eight priorities, and has been identified by almost every regional economic commission as a major area of reform. There have been pledges of support for African higher education from many international development and funding agencies, and even from the emerging economies of Brazil, China and India. ...

The 2009 UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education identified an African higher education and research area as a priority, and suggested that it should be developed through institutional, national, regional and continental collaboration.

There are huge challenges, chief among them problems associated with the massification and under-funding of higher education, low research and postgraduate training output, and highly disparate higher education systems - Anglophone, Francophone, Lusophone and Arabophone - flowing from the colonial era. ...

"Africa desperately needs strong higher education to assist in its rapid development. It cannot afford to lose its trained manpower to other regions. It needs to produce, seek and adapt knowledge to overcome its developmental challenge. Africa must also be part of global knowledge economy - hence it must be locally relevant and globally competitive. ...
"We need to race to catch-up with the world," was the AAU conference refrain. In this case, it is a 'space' race.

Karen MacGregor
05 June 2011
universityworldnews.com

Issue: 79

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