tag:theconversation.com,2011:/id/topics/african-universities-14615/articlesAfrican universities – The Conversation2023-10-26T13:35:39Ztag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2157152023-10-26T13:35:39Z2023-10-26T13:35:39ZGlobal university rankings now include social impact: African universities are off to a strong start<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/554926/original/file-20231020-25-oic45g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Universities across Africa can drive prosperity through innovation.
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Westend61</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>World university rankings are released towards the end of each year. Institutions globally scramble to see how they have fared. Have they risen or fallen? If so, by how much and in which rankings? Have they maintained their position in an <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230629104003226">increasingly competitive</a> global higher education landscape? </p>
<p>There have been some improvements in African universities’ performances. But the continent’s institutions still don’t feature prominently towards the top of the rankings. In the Times Higher Education <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2024/world-ranking">(THE) World University Rankings 2024</a>, for instance, South Africa’s University of Cape Town is top for the continent, at 167th place. It is followed by three other South African institutions: Stellenbosch University and the University of the Witwatersrand, which sit between 301 and 350, and the University of Johannesburg between 401 and 500. </p>
<p>The first sub-Saharan non-South African institution, Ghana’s University of Cape Coast, is in the group 601-800. Uganda’s Makerere University, placed between 801 and 1,000, is the top in east Africa.</p>
<p>The value, methodologies and implications of world university rankings are much <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03312-2">debated</a>. Several institutions, such as the University of Utrecht in the Netherlands, have even withdrawn their participation from some <a href="https://www.uu.nl/en/news/why-uu-is-missing-in-the-the-ranking">rankings</a>. They are critical of the focus on competition and scores rather than on partnerships and open science.</p>
<p>We are especially interested in a recent addition to the rankings landscape: scoring for sustainability and positive societal impact. The <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/impactrankings">THE Impact Rankings</a>, for example, assess universities’ performance against the <a href="https://sdgs.un.org/goals">United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)</a>. The <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/sustainability-rankings/2023">QS Sustainability ranking</a> includes environmental and social impact dimensions.</p>
<p>As academics working in the field of social innovation and sustainable development, we welcome this attention to impact and sustainability. Sustainable development is a critical concern for universities globally. It drives institutions’ research and innovation. It matters to students. It is central in teaching and learning. It also underpins universities’ wider role and activities in communities, societies and economies. </p>
<p>Responding to the challenge of sustainable development is an especially pressing concern for African universities. </p>
<h2>A mandate and a mission</h2>
<p>African universities work in conditions of significant need. Many African economies have grown rapidly in <a href="https://www.afdb.org/en/news-and-events/press-releases/africas-economic-growth-outpace-global-forecast-2023-2024-african-development-bank-biannual-report-58293">recent times</a>, but <a href="https://www.brookings.edu/articles/africa-and-the-sustainable-development-goals-a-long-way-to-go/">sustainable development challenges</a> remain. These include poverty and inequalities in gender, health, education and opportunities. Conflict over resources and the effects of climate change are also major challenges. </p>
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<p>Some African universities were established with the task of addressing these challenges, and to drive development and prosperity.</p>
<p>So it is very welcome that several African universities place well in some of these new impact rankings. Some are even world leaders in addressing various SDGs. </p>
<p>For example, South Africa’s University of Johannesburg ranks 46th in the THE Impact Rankings 2023. It is first globally for its <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230619224828695">work to address SDG 1 (No Poverty)</a>. It has achieved this through initiatives like its <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/support-services/give-to-uj/support-the-students-and-residences/missing-middle-fund/">Missing Middle Fund</a>, which benefits over 60% of the university’s students. It also invests heavily in research centres, institutes and chairs that focus on poverty issues. It supports them to do research that has a direct impact on local communities and policy development.</p>
<p>Ghana’s Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST), meanwhile, scores top for its contribution to <a href="https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20230613111153424#:%7E:text=The%20Kwame%20Nkrumah%20University%20of,which%20focuses%20on%20quality%20education.">SDG 4 (Quality Education)</a>. The institution’s students benefit from excellent teaching, complemented by investments in up-to-date infrastructure, ICT and e-learning resources. It provides numerous scholarships and runs programmes like <a href="https://thebftonline.com/2023/05/24/stanbic-bank-fulfils-promise-to-knusts-sonsol-project/">Support One Needy Student with One Laptop</a>. </p>
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Read more:
<a href="https://theconversation.com/sustainable-development-goals-are-in-reach-if-african-universities-work-together-47903">Sustainable development goals are in reach if African universities work together</a>
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<p>Another positive trend for African universities in impact rankings is that they are increasingly working together and with partners globally. For instance, Makerere University and the Bertha Centre for Social Innovation at the University of Cape Town are partners within the <a href="https://socialinnovationinhealth.org/">Social Innovation in Health Initiative</a>. This aims to advance social innovation in health (SDG3 - Good Health and Wellbeing) across the continent and other low- and middle-income countries. </p>
<p>These positive stories and growing examples of African leadership are worth celebrating. And even more may be possible.</p>
<h2>Filling the gaps</h2>
<p>Further research is needed to understand how African universities are working towards sustainable development and what more they can do. This might reveal ways to enhance existing work and share best practice. </p>
<p>Universities can make it possible to find solutions to sustainable development challenges. They generate knowledge and can influence policy making and practice. They can develop innovative solutions themselves. As major employers, procurers, and resource users they can have positive (and negative) effects through their operations.</p>
<p>Research on the roles of universities in their communities, including and beyond teaching and research, has focused on the global north. Universities in the global south (and particularly those in Africa) have often been overlooked. This relatively limited attention may reflect wider inequalities in global knowledge production, and negative perceptions of the work African universities do.</p>
<p>We want to address these gaps. So we’ve launched a new international, multi-institution and interdisciplinary research project. “<a href="https://wun.ac.uk/wun/research/view/african-universities-as-enablers-of-social-innovation-and-sustainable-development/">African universities as enablers of social innovation and sustainable development</a>” is funded by the <a href="https://wun.ac.uk/">Worldwide Universities Network</a>. It brings together academics from the universities of Cape Town, Sheffield, Ghana, Leeds, Pretoria and York, as well as Makerere University.</p>
<p>The project will run for the next 12 months. We will use a social innovation perspective to investigate how African universities are contributing to achieving the UN SDGs. We hope this project will build a community of scholars working on the topic in and outside Africa, and provide academic and practical insights.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/215715/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>The research will be pursued in collaboration with the WUN Global Higher Education and Research (GHEAR) network which also provided funding for the project and all authors.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Littlewood receives funding from: Worldwide Universities Network.</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nothing to disclose</span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Bob Doherty, Phyllis Awor, Ralph Hamann, and Teddy Ossei Kwakye do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Responding to societal challenges and promoting sustainable development is an especially pressing concern for African universities.Annika Surmeier, Senior Lecturer, Graduate School of Business, University of Cape Town, University of Cape TownAlex Bignotti, Senior Lecturer in Social Entrepreneurship, University of PretoriaBob Doherty, Professor of Marketing and Chair of Agrifood, University of YorkDavid Littlewood, Senior Lecturer in Strategic Management, University of SheffieldDiane Holt, Chair in Entrepreneurship, Leeds University Business School, University of LeedsPhyllis Awor, Lecturer in Public Health, Makerere UniversityRalph Hamann, Professor, University of Cape TownTeddy Ossei Kwakye, Senior Lecturer in Accounting, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/2144942023-10-18T14:17:32Z2023-10-18T14:17:32ZColonialism shaped modern universities in Africa – how they can become truly African<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/553975/original/file-20231016-25-h2hnpz.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">One of the roles of an African university is to produce critical and democratic thinkers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Vieriu Adrian/Getty Images</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Colonialism profoundly shaped modern universities in Africa. It implanted institutions on African soil that were largely replicas of European universities rather than organically African.</p>
<p>For historian and political theorist Achille Mbembe, <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1474022215618513">one problem</a> of universities in Africa “is that they are ‘Westernised”. He describes them as “local institutions of a dominant academic model based on a Eurocentric epistemic canon that attributes truth only to the Western way of knowledge production”. This model, he says, “disregards other epistemic traditions”.</p>
<p>My research is mainly on universities, especially on issues of equity, inclusion and transformation. In a <a href="https://brill.com/display/book/9789004677432/BP000011.xml">recent chapter</a> I grapple with what universities need to do to stop being inappropriate replicas of European universities. How can they become, instead, African universities that address African needs?</p>
<p>I conclude that, to fulfil their key purposes of sharing and creating knowledge, they must play five associated roles. These are: encouraging students to be critical thinkers; undertaking more than just Eurocentric research; engaging proactively with the societies in which they are located; using their research and teaching to tackle development problems; and, finally, promoting critical and democratic citizenship.</p>
<p>In all these roles, African universities must take “place” – the geography, history, social relations, economics and politics of their respective contexts – seriously. They must overcome Eurocentric theories of knowledge and western institutional cultures. In doing so they must advance both decolonial thought and the public good.</p>
<p>But the African university cannot be created through changing the intellectual lens and basis alone. Political action is key.</p>
<h2>The importance of place</h2>
<p>African universities must be shaped by their contexts. Professor Louise Vincent of Rhodes University in South Africa rightly <a href="https://www.ru.ac.za/postgraduategateway/news/latestnews/proposaltotheandrewwmellonfoundation.html">argues</a> that it “entails a deep engagement, both literally and theoretically, with the notion of ‘place’” for universities to find their purpose. Universities, she adds, are situated in “place”. </p>
<p>For Vincent, place is neither “objective nor neutral”. It is “inscribed with relations of power” and how “power works in and through places has to be confronted.”</p>
<p>This means that, rather than distancing themselves from the surrounding communities, universities need to, in Vincent’s words, “actively seek exposure and collaboration – because that is what they are ‘for’.” This has implications for universities’ functioning, roles and activities.</p>
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<p>This notion of “place” sees knowledge as being context sensitive rather than decontextualised. Eurocentrics assume that the findings of research undertaken in Europe apply to countries and areas in Africa. This is not so. The continent’s universities must imaginatively theorise their own realities as a basis for changing them. </p>
<h2>Five roles</h2>
<p>African universities must play at least five key roles.</p>
<p>One is encouraging students, as anthropologist Arjun Appadurai <a href="https://journals.sagepub.com/doi/abs/10.1177/1474022215618513">puts it</a>, to “develop their own intellectual and moral lives as independent individuals”. </p>
<p>A second role is to undertake different kinds of scholarship that serve different purposes, aims and objects. Scholarship must confront dominant Eurocentric knowledge systems and theories. African universities need to, in <a href="https://www.lrb.co.uk/the-paper/v40/n14/mahmood-mamdani/the-african-university">the words</a> of postcolonial scholar Mahmood Mamdani,</p>
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<p>theorise our own reality, and strike the right balance between the local and the global as we do so. </p>
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<p>Third, they must engage proactively with the societies in which they operate. This engagement must happen at the intellectual and cultural levels. It is a crucial part of universities’ ability to contribute to developing a critical citizenry.</p>
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<p>A fourth role is actively engaging with the pressing development challenges. This is achieved through teaching and learning, research and community engagement. </p>
<p>Promoting critical and democratic citizenship is a fifth role. Africa requires not only capable professionals but also sensitive intellectuals and critical citizens. Universities must, in ethicist <a href="https://www.eur.nl/sites/corporate/files/nussbaum_text.pdf">Martha Nussbaum’s terms</a>, promote the “cultivation of humanity”.</p>
<h2>Making it happen</h2>
<p>The purposes and roles I’ve outlined here do not exhaust the meaning of an African university. Instead, they are its ideal core functions. </p>
<p>I also do not wish to imply that every purpose and role must be undertaken in identical ways by every university. There is no value in uniformity and homogeneity. It is essential that, within national systems, universities address different needs that span the local to the global.</p>
<p>But no matter their focus, African universities must, fundamentally, advance the “public good”. International higher education policy academic Mala Singh <a href="https://journals.ufs.ac.za/index.php/aa/article/view/1433/1412">contends</a> that this is the “foundational narrative and platform” for universities to pursue a different path from their current dubious trajectories. </p>
<p>The state has a major role to play. It must ably steer and supervise – not interfere with – universities. It must resource them properly, and uphold academic freedom and institutional autonomy. It must also ensure a supportive macro-economic, social and financial policy environment.</p>
<p>The African university will be realised neither overnight nor without political struggles that involve diverse actors within and beyond universities. It will entail confronting complicity, opposition, inertia and apprehension. Collective and individual intellectual and practical political actions, as well as “<a href="https://intercontinentalcry.org/what-is-decolonization-and-why-does-it-matter/">everyday acts of resurgence</a>”, are required.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/214494/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Saleem Badat receives funding from the Mellon Foundation and the National Institute of Humanities and Social Sciences. </span></em></p>The African university cannot be created through changing the intellectual lens and basis alone. Political action is key.Saleem Badat, Research Professor, UFS History Department, University of the Free StateLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1596432021-05-04T13:15:46Z2021-05-04T13:15:46ZHow the pandemic is hurting university students’ mental health<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/398379/original/file-20210503-15-19d28tb.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">The pandemic has driven university students' stress levels up as they grapple with remote learning.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">thembi.jpg/Shutterstock/For editorial use only</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Institutions of higher education worldwide are undergoing unprecedented change because of the COVID-19 pandemic. Universities and colleges have been forced to switch to online teaching and learning. Many were unprepared for this move to what is termed <a href="https://doi.org/10.1007/s42438-020-00187-4">emergency remote teaching and learning</a>. </p>
<p>It is now just more than a year on from many countries’ initial lockdowns. Many universities have adopted some form of hybrid learning approach. They are attempting to combine face-to-face and online instruction into a single, seamless experience. This situation is likely to remain the status quo for some time, especially in the Global South. That is because, although a variety of <a href="https://www.nature.com/articles/d41586-020-03370-6">vaccines are available</a> around the world, distribution and actual vaccination has been slow in poorer countries – and particularly on the African continent. </p>
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<p>This has serious implications for higher education. For many students, the university campus isn’t just where they go to learn. It also provides a <a href="https://doi.org/10.1515/humaff-2019-0020">space for relationships</a> that helps them to form important networks and alliances that evolve and extend beyond their university education. </p>
<p>We wanted to know how students have coped and are negotiating the current challenges. So, we <a href="https://doi.org/10.29034/ijmra.v12n1editorial3">conducted research</a> soon after the pandemic started that explored how teaching and learning had been affected. This <a href="https://doi.org/10.29034/ijmra.v12n1editorial3">initial publication</a> focused on one of South Africa’s research-intensive universities. It revealed that students had struggled to manage online learning remotely. </p>
<p>A network of global researchers from multiple disciplines and universities (including five institutions in South Africa) is now replicating this study. Their aim is to understand better the situation elsewhere in Africa as well as in Europe, South America, the Caribbean and North America. Ultimately, these studies will help us to make sense of how the pandemic is reshaping higher education.</p>
<p>The initial study confirmed the need to prioritise university students’ welfare. We found that undergraduates, full-time students, and female students were especially vulnerable at home while learning online due to the pandemic. Given South Africa’s <a href="https://ewn.co.za/2019/11/18/ramaphosa-our-gender-based-violence-plans-are-well-on-their-way">gender-based violence crisis</a>, stay-at-home learning has exposed many young women students to challenging and dangerous situations.</p>
<p>The global pandemic has created more uncertainty about the future, including higher education and the world of work. This uncertainty emerged in our research as fundamentally affecting mental health. South African universities have to support students’ transition through this uncertainty. That includes the difficulties stemming from lack of social cohesion — including peer-to-peer relationships on campus — that are afflicting students.</p>
<h2>Seven key themes</h2>
<p>For our study, a total of 1,932 university students completed an online questionnaire over a period of six weeks. A mix of undergraduate and postgraduate, and international students also were involved.</p>
<p>The questionnaires yielded demographic data. They also examined students’ perceptions of readiness and motivation for online teaching, learning and assessment; student engagement; and their attitudes towards COVID-19 and its impact on higher education. Open-ended items also were included. These asked the students to reflect on the disruption caused by the pandemic. </p>
<p>Seven themes emerged from the data. These represented challenges that hindered students’ ability successfully to learn online during the COVID-19 era. The themes were:</p>
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<li>Internet connection</li>
<li>Mental health</li>
<li>Personal challenges/ability</li>
<li>Time management</li>
<li>Being easily distracted</li>
<li>Family members making studying difficult</li>
<li>The interaction between lecturers and students</li>
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<p>We found that undergraduate and full-time students were approximately twice and four times, respectively, more likely than were postgraduate and part-time students to indicate problems associated with mental health. Those aged between 18 and 24 were approximately 1.75 times more likely than students older than 24 to present problems associated with mental health.</p>
<p>The findings also reveal a gender dimension to mental health in our study. Specifically, female students were 1.83 times more likely than male students to indicate problems associated with mental health. These problems included stress, anxiety and depression. </p>
<p>Students expressed challenges with time management, distraction and problems associated with family members. These were situated in the notion of self-directed learning and self-management. These notions entail discipline, personal commitment, motivation and so on. Researchers have argued that <a href="https://doi.org/10.3389/fpsyg.2018.02324">self-directed learning</a> is important to success. Students struggled with the lack of physical support from their peers and lecturers. They said they were unable to stay motivated and focused by themselves within the remote learning space. </p>
<p>Internet connectivity emerged strongly as a theme. This indicates how great the <a href="https://doi.org/10.1080/03098265.2019.1694876">digital divide</a> is between South Africa’s urban and rural areas. Older students were more likely than were their younger peers to experience connectivity issues. This supports the argument that younger university students are <a href="https://doi.org/10.1016/j.compedu.2010.09.004">more likely to be digital natives</a> than older students. International students, many of them back at home in other African countries because of the pandemic, struggled the most with connectivity. The university provided data bundles to local students so they could access streamed lectures.</p>
<p>Overall, the results under this theme showed a lack of internet connectivity in rural areas, in general, and particularly in South Africa’s poorest provinces. A large relationship emerged between the poverty ranking of provinces across South Africa and the degree to which students reported experiencing internet connectivity challenges.</p>
<h2>Long-term strategy</h2>
<p>A country like South Africa cannot afford to ignore the impact of the pandemic on higher education, especially on students’ health and well-being. South Africa’s comparative and competitive edge is locked in the youth, especially university students. They are a critical mass in “building the capability of the state to play a developmental, transformative role” <a href="https://www.gov.za/sites/default/files/gcis_document/201409/ndp-2030-our-future-make-it-workr.pdf">according to</a> the National Development Plan 2030.</p>
<p>South African universities, working with the Department of Higher Education and Training and other national government departments, must create and resource a long-term strategy to support the well-being of university students as they transition through this pandemic. One example is that of the <a href="https://www.ox.ac.uk/wellbeingatoxford">Wellbeing at Oxford</a> programme at Oxford University in England. Online mental health services, as provided in <a href="https://www.universityaffairs.ca/features/feature-article/how-mental-health-services-for-students-pivoted-during-covid-19/">Canadian universities</a>, must become an integral and sustained intervention in South African universities going forward.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/159643/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Samantha Adams receives funding from the National Research Foundation. </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Annie Burger, Anthony J Onwuegbuzie, Bryan Jason Bergsteedt, Emmanuel Ojo, and Talitha Crowley do not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and have disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Ultimately, these studies will help us to make sense of how the pandemic is reshaping higher education.Emmanuel Ojo, Senior Lecturer, University of the WitwatersrandAnnie Burger, PhD student, Stellenbosch UniversityAnthony J Onwuegbuzie, Senior Research Associate, University of CambridgeBryan Jason Bergsteedt, Lecturer (Clinical Anatomy), Stellenbosch UniversitySamantha Adams, Senior Lecturer in Industrial Psychology, Stellenbosch UniversityTalitha Crowley, Senior lecturer at the Department of Nursing and Midwifery, Stellenbosch UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1225552019-09-02T12:07:36Z2019-09-02T12:07:36ZScholarly success of African universities: common contributing factors<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/290071/original/file-20190829-106494-1s0jusm.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">It’s not all doom and gloom for African universities – some are getting it right.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>As the start of the northern hemisphere academic year <a href="https://monitor.icef.com/2016/12/new-study-highlights-shifting-patterns-african-student-mobility/">hundreds of thousands</a> of students across Africa head to the airport. The reason for this “student exodus” is that those who can afford it head abroad for their tertiary education. </p>
<p>Why do they go? A survey done last year <a href="https://monitor.icef.com/2018/09/african-student-perspectives-study-abroad/">found</a> that 71% of African students studying outside Africa thought a degree earned abroad represented a higher-level qualification than a degree at home. </p>
<p>The <a href="https://www.wittenborg.eu/where-does-modern-african-student-go-when-he-or-she-chooses-study-abroad.htm">exodus</a> can be attributed to numerous reasons. These include inadequate funding of tertiary education resulting in dilapidated campuses and obsolete study programmes that are not adapted to developments in science and technology. Other factors include an absence of research policy and insufficient resources. All these result in a perception of low quality African universities.</p>
<p>That more than 70% of the students interviewed had a jaundiced view of an African degree seems a bit unjust. Nevertheless, the truth is that <a href="https://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/">17%</a> of the world’s population lives on the African continent. Yet Africa has <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-africa">less than 1%</a> of the world’s top 250 universities. </p>
<p>But it’s not all doom and gloom. There are African universities, despite the financial constraints, that are getting it right.</p>
<p>I did an analysis of universities on the continent to establish which were strongest in terms of research output. I used published research to identify the strongest and sourced scholarly outputs statistics from the academic database <a href="https://www.scival.com/">SciVal</a>. </p>
<p>I used a number of measures for the analysis. These included the number of scholarly outputs (academic publications), the growth of authors contributing to these outputs, the number of international co-authors and the proportion of scholarly outputs in the top 10% of academic journals. I looked at the period between 2014 to 2019.</p>
<p>The number of outputs represents the research productivity of academics within an institution. For their part, articles published in the top 10% of academic journals serve to quantify the quality and impact of the scholarly outputs. The level of international co-authors indicates the level of international research collaboration and global prestige of each institution.</p>
<p>What emerged from the analysis is the similarity in the strategic approaches the best and aspiring African universities employ to achieve an increase in both scholarly output and quality. All universities covered in the article deemed international partnerships as essential to research productivity.</p>
<h2>The best performers</h2>
<p>Two of the top universities in Africa for published research – also known as scholarly output – are the University of Cape Town and the University of the Witwatersrand. Both are in South Africa. They are ranked in the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/student/best-universities/best-universities-africa">top 250</a> globally.</p>
<p>Both universities have between 30%-35% of all their scholarly output published in the top 10% of global academic journals. This is important for universities’ prestige as well as their finances. </p>
<p>Also notable was the high number of international co-authors in their outputs. At the University of Cape Town it was 60%. At the University of the Witwatersrand it was 54%. </p>
<p>An institution with a rapid increase in scholarly outputs is Egypt’s Zewail City of Science and Technology. Established in 2012, just over 43% of its scholarly outputs were published in the top 10% of global academic journals. In addition, 51% of all its outputs were co-authored with international institutions.</p>
<p>There are positive signs in Nigeria too. The University of Ibadan was the top West African university for scholarly outputs. The university has 15% of all its outputs published in the top 10% of academic journals. And 38% of its publications were co-authored with institutions in other countries.</p>
<p>Another institution with an increasing scholarly output rate is Covenant University, Nigeria. It’s also a relatively young institution – it was opened in 2002. Just over 8% of all its outputs were published in the top 10% of academic journals.</p>
<p>The fact that 31% of its publications were co-authored with institutions in other countries demonstrated a collaborative approach to research. </p>
<p>So how have these African universities bucked the trend, and made their voices heard outside Africa?</p>
<h2>Six key factors</h2>
<p>In researching the issue, I identified six lessons that can be learnt from these successful African universities: </p>
<p><strong>Research excellence:</strong> The University of Witwatersrand has driven a 37% increase in its <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/media/wits-university/news-and-events/images/documents/2018/2016-2017%20Research%20Report.pdf">scholarly outputs</a> over the last five years, with an emphasis on quality. The university has also adopted a strategic focus on increasing the number of post-graduate students. It aims to have post-graduates as <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/general-news/2019/2019-07/huawei-awards-bursaries-to-wits-postgraduate-students.html">45%</a> of its student population by 2022. This, in turn, has helped drive the surge in scholarly output. The university also has a clear focus on priority <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/research/areas-of-excellence/">research areas</a> where it can make a significant impact. An example is clinical research to manage AIDS.</p>
<p><strong>Research support infrastructure:</strong> Research productivity is crucial for academic promotions within the universities. The University of Cape Town in particular has invested heavily in a pro-research infrastructure. This comes with extensive research administrative support and guidance. In Nigeria, the University of Ibadan recently established <a href="https://www.thenhef.org/news-events/partner-university-spotlight-university-of-ibadan/">a new leadership role</a> to focus on research and innovation.</p>
<p><strong>A balance between the teaching and research workloads, possibly by restricting student intake:</strong> The University of Ibadan, for example, has adopted an approach of rigorously maintaining a student-staff ratio that ensures academic workloads allow time for research. The university has maintained an annual undergraduate intake of approximately <a href="https://www.ngschoolz.net/ui-admission-statistics/">4,000</a> students. This has been despite growing pressure to increase the numbers.</p>
<p><strong>Attracting the best professors and researchers:</strong> The University of the Witwatersrand has made a concerted effort to recruit professors with high citations – <a href="https://www.wits.ac.za/news/latest-news/general-news/2018/2018-04/wits-celebrates-its-rated-researchers.html">“A”-rated professors</a>. </p>
<p><strong>Setting levels of academic expectation:</strong> Covenant University in Nigeria has adopted a research, citations, innovation and teaching agenda that drives academic activities at all levels. There’s significant <a href="https://covenantuniversity.edu.ng/Research2#.XWaRLugzaM8">support</a> for staff through workshops in grant writing and publication. </p>
<p>Zewail City of Science and Technology was founded by Nobel laurate in Chemistry, Professor Ahmed Zewail. It has four Nobel laurates as members of its <a href="https://zewailcity.edu.eg/main/content.php?lang=en&alias=supreme_advisory_board_(sab_)_">Supreme Advisory Board</a>. It’s therefore no surprise that it has a significant number of its scholarly outputs in the top 10% of global academic journals.</p>
<p><strong>Forging international partnerships:</strong> The University of Ibadan, and the University of Nigeria, Nsukka, also emphasise the importance of international references for professorial promotion. The University of Nigeria, Nsukka has taken the decision to actively seek collaborative international partners to mitigate the lack of research infrastructure. </p>
<p><em>As part of his research, the author also conducted interviews with: Dr Marilet Sienaert, Executive Director Research, University of Cape Town, South Africa; Professor Zeblon Vilakazi, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research and Postgraduate affairs, University of the Witwatersrand, South Africa; Professor Olanike Adeyemo, Deputy Vice-Chancellor for Research, Innovation and Strategic Partnerships, University of Ibadan, Nigeria; Professor Salah Obayya, Zewail City of Science and Technology, Egypt; Professor Emeka Iweala, Director, Covenant University Centre for Research, Innovation and Discovery, Covenant University, Nigeria; Professor James Ogbonna, Deputy Vice-Chancellor Academic, University of Nigeria, Nsukka, Nigeria.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/122555/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>David Mba does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>With limited resources and inadequate infrastructure, African universities appear to be under tremendous strain. But some are beating the odds and getting it right.David Mba, Pro Vice-Chancellor and Dean of Computing, Engineering and Media, De Montfort UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1187252019-08-25T08:42:39Z2019-08-25T08:42:39ZAfrican universities battle to attract post-doctoral researchers. Here’s why<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/279331/original/file-20190613-32335-hd49ja.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Researchers need great equipment, infrastructure and support to thrive.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Postdoctoral training is vital for new PhD graduates. This is a period of “apprenticeship” for a newly-minted researcher to hone their skills in a research environment. It typically follows completion of the doctoral degree. Depending on the scientific field and other factors, training can last a year or two and beyond.<br>
This apprenticeship provides young postdocs with critical experience and helps to develop the skills they need to become seasoned research leaders. Yet, very few African universities offer postdoctoral training, primarily due to a <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/316650133_Challenges_facing_young_African_scientists_in_their_research_careers_A_qualitative_exploratory_study">lack of mentorship</a>. There are simply <a href="https://www.daad.de/medien/der-daad/analysen-studien/research_and_phd_capacities_in_sub-saharan_africa_-_kenya_report.pdf">not always enough</a> senior, qualified faculty staff – those with PhDs – who can provide the necessary support.</p>
<p>And even if they are able to get postdoctoral places at African institutions, young early career researchers from the continent face four main challenges.</p>
<p>First, they lack access to resources at their home institutions. Second, they haven’t been properly trained in grant writing, an essential skill for accessing competitive funding for their research. Third, they lack mentors or supervisors. And finally, postdoctoral positions tend to be poorly paid. </p>
<p>Postdoctoral training is a critical element of building Africa’s population of researchers. The continent needs to develop its capacity for globally competitive postdoctoral training, as this is essential to promoting scientific and research excellence and leadership. These globally competitive scientists are key to transforming universities into research hubs equipped with skilled staff to mentor the next generation of well-trained scientists to feed ongoing knowledge-based African economies. </p>
<p>This level of talent can only be recruited and retained with sustained funding and infrastructure. For this to happen, African governments must commit to investing more in research and development.</p>
<h2>Research infrastructure</h2>
<p>Lack of access to resources is a big problem for postdoctoral researchers. Quality science happens in an environment where researchers have state-of-the-art infrastructure and receive good administrative support. This allows them to focus on their research. So it’s imperative for postdocs to be located in accomplished scientists’ laboratories in established and well-resourced universities. </p>
<p>But African universities <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/24486132?seq=1">tend to lack</a> good research infrastructure. This means that PhD graduates can’t get the sort of postdoctoral training they need. </p>
<p>Instead, they often get sucked into teaching or administrative work. <a href="http://ahero.uwc.ac.za/index.php?module=cshe&action=downloadfile&fileid=18409092513202791624126">Data</a> shows that the average ratio of lecturers to students is as high as 1:47. In Kenya, a lecturer can handle as many as <a href="https://www.the-star.co.ke/news/2019-03-21-varsities-face-staff-crises-as-half-of-phd-students-quit/">80 to 100 students</a>. Academics become overwhelmed by their teaching loads and the associated paperwork. They are left with little or no time for research. </p>
<p>Not all PhD graduates choose to stay in Africa and go the teaching route. Many seek internationally competitive postdoctoral training abroad or are increasingly moving to South Africa because of its strong research infrastructure and postdoctoral <a href="https://www.usaf.ac.za/dedicated-funding-for-post-doctoral-fellowships-may-resolve-the-challenge-of-early-career-researchers-for-south-africa/">programmes</a>. </p>
<p>Many of these well-trained scientists then remain in their host country for their productive careers. This deprives Africa of the opportunity to build a world-class research infrastructure at home. </p>
<h2>Grant writing</h2>
<p>South African institutions have well-established research support offices to provide postdoctoral career pathways as well as support for developing strong applications. </p>
<p>We saw this first-hand at The African Academy of Sciences when, with the Royal Society, we offered fellowships to 30 postdocs as part of the <a href="https://royalsociety.org/grants-schemes-awards/grants/flair/">Future Leaders African Independent Research</a> programme. Those who came from South Africa or were at South African institutions received support ahead of their applications, which helped them to prepare budgets and ultimately to be more competitive in their applications.</p>
<p>Unfortunately, this is not the case for the rest of the continent. For the most part research support offices don’t exist, and applications are largely driven by an individual’s intellect, grit and determination to succeed, with little institutional support. </p>
<h2>Lack of mentors or supervisors</h2>
<p>African universities face a <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/h233_07_synthesis_report_final_web.pdf">dire shortage</a> of PhD level staff. The shortage of lecturers with doctorates means that institutions of higher learning aren’t preparing graduates that can be competitive in the academic world or the private sector globally. </p>
<p>Additionally, there are fewer accomplished scientists that can take up postdoc positions and fewer institutions with the capacity to host postdoc trainees. This forces PhD graduates either to delay taking up postdoc opportunities, or look elsewhere for opportunities. </p>
<p>The challenge is also reflected in the quality of postdoc applications. This has knock-on effects. To become research focused, universities are expected to attract world class researchers who will need the support of well-trained postdocs to help them achieve their personal and institutional objectives. </p>
<h2>Poor remuneration</h2>
<p>Universities need to provide attractive employment conditions if they want to attract postdoctoral fellows. An important part of this is being able to offer facilities and financial support. Postdocs need to be well funded to make the training attractive for early career researchers who are also often taking care of families while embarking on their research careers. </p>
<p>Our experience at The African Academy of Sciences suggests this can be done. We have a programme management platform, the <a href="https://aasciences.ac.ke/aesa">Alliance for Accelerating Excellence in Science in Africa</a>, that focuses on building well-funded postdoctoral programmes to create a critical mass of African researchers. Other organisations and research bodies could consider a similar approach so that postdocs have a better chance to make a decent living while growing their skills as researchers.</p>
<p><em>Judy Omumbo, the Programme Manager for Affiliates and Postdocs at The AAS also contributed to this article</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118725/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Thomas Kariuki is affiliated with The African Academy of Sciences. </span></em></p>Lack of access to resources is a big problem for postdoctoral researchers.Thomas Kariuki, Director of programmes, African Academy of SciencesLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1184112019-06-06T13:36:56Z2019-06-06T13:36:56ZAfrican universities need structures to assess and measure the impact of grants<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/278314/original/file-20190606-98003-1ojci2d.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Without proper assessment and evaluation, a university's grants wheel can grind to a halt.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Since Africa’s earliest modern public universities were established on the continent in the 1940s, these institutions have struggled to generate adequate and sustainable funding. For the most part, universities on the continent depend on money from national governments; grants; donations from international donor communities and industries to fund their learning, teaching and research activities.</p>
<p>But most lack proper institutional evaluation to record and track the outcomes of various grants after projects or programmes are completed. Usually, evaluations entail nothing more than a financial audit report and main outcome of the project. </p>
<p>This approach does little to show how a particular tranche of funding has contributed to a university achieving its mission, vision and short-to-long term plans. But universities favour it because they pride themselves on being autonomous and self-regulating.</p>
<p>For instance, in recent times some African universities have received grants to train PhD candidates in various fields. When the grants end, there’s only one key indicator: how many beneficiaries have graduated. This doesn’t take into account whether the project followed proper systems of accountability. It also doesn’t identify the various lessons learned from implementing the project. That means there’s no learning platform for future projects. </p>
<p>I <a href="https://ejournals.bc.edu/index.php/ihe/article/view/11209">set out to study</a> how universities in Africa evaluate funding once programmes or projects are completed. I also offered some ideas about improving this evaluation, and why it is so important. I argue that evaluation is a critical tool for decisions on improving performance. It also assures that African universities are getting value for money from grants, donations and the like.</p>
<h2>University funding</h2>
<p>For starters, it’s useful to identify where university funding is coming from in Africa. Grants are popular. So is financial support from national governments, northern and western universities. The international donor community is involved, too, and so are philanthropic organisations.</p>
<p>Some examples from across the continent show just how varied and valuable grants are.</p>
<p>In the 2015/2016 academic year, the Office of Research and Development at the University of Ghana <a href="https://orid.ug.edu.gh/sites/orid.ug.edu.gh/files/researchreport/UG%20Research%20Report%202015-2016.pdf">received</a> US $32 million from nine international donor agencies. </p>
<p>In 2010, a <a href="https://ui.edu.ng/grantsprofile">grant profiling</a> on the University of Ibadan in Nigeria’s website revealed that the university had 106 grants worth more than $US 17 million – and that 101 of those providing the grants were international. </p>
<p>The University of Nairobi in Kenya is not clear on the amount it receives from donors. But, of the 16 donors it <a href="https://finance.uonbi.ac.ke/index.php?q=node/768">mentions on its website</a>, only one is Kenyan.</p>
<p>So how are these grants and donations assessed? In the last 15 years many of the continent’s universities have established grant offices. Their role is to strategise and attract funds from external sources. But in most cases these offices don’t have clear “grant policies” to guide their operations and the use of grants received. This lack of clear policy also means that programmes implemented under external grants can’t be properly evaluated by the universities when those grants expire.</p>
<p>This isn’t always a problem. International donors almost always have systems in place to evaluate the use use and impact of their grants. But industry donors and governments tend not to. So there really isn’t any way for universities to know if these grants are worthwhile, effective and add value.</p>
<p>The solution to this gap is an institutional grants evaluation framework that could be rolled out across the continent. Such a framework already exists elsewhere. For example, the European University Association has an <a href="https://www.iep-qaa.org/">institutional evaluation programme</a> that’s conducted periodically. One of the aspects it examines is how grants are used and whether they are supporting universities’ missions, visions and outcomes.</p>
<h2>A valuable framework</h2>
<p>This sort of framework would have several benefits for African universities. </p>
<p>It would provide organisational learning and allow for future impact studies and assessments of grants. It would also improve accountability within universities and restore trust among university staff and donors. It would ensure that donor grants are properly used.</p>
<p>Some work is being done to address this issue. The <a href="http://www0.sun.ac.za/crest/">Centre for Research Evaluation on Science and Technology</a> (CREST) at Stellenbosch University in South Africa, through the Department of Higher Education, is helping the country’s universities to monitor government grant-related activities. Also in South Africa, universities are beginning to draw up frameworks to guide their grant programme implementation.</p>
<p>The broader framework I’m proposing for African universities should focus on improving policy and practice in the utilisation of all grants which flow into a particular university. </p>
<p>In addition, the design of the framework should define activities, inputs, performance indicators, deliverables, means of verification, outcomes and outputs and results expected from the use of the grant. Crucially, it should also speak to the broader mission and vision of the respective universities; their mid- to long-term strategic plans; the expectations from regional bodies from universities; and above all the core mission of every university: teaching, research and community engagements.</p>
<p>This won’t be easy. The continent’s universities lack capacity around issues of monitoring and evaluation. More people are needed who have been trained in higher education operations. Universities need to train their administrative staff in monitoring and evaluation and also employ experts in that field to work in institutions’ strategic offices.</p>
<p>Despite the challenges, though, universities on the continent must prioritise proper grant evaluation. Without real focus and planning, grants will not do the good they ought to and universities may lose out.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/118411/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Harris Andoh is a Research Scientist affiliated with CSIR- Science and Technology Policy Research Institute(STEPRI), Accra, Ghana . </span></em></p>Evaluation is a critical tool for decisions on improving performance. It also assures that African universities are getting value for money from grants, donations and the like.Harris Andoh, Research Policy Expert in Institutional Research, Monitoring and Evaluation, Tshwane University of TechnologyLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1171032019-05-14T14:33:47Z2019-05-14T14:33:47ZThe background story to a statue of Gandhi and the University of Ghana<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/274343/original/file-20190514-60537-167evc4.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&rect=0%2C0%2C1000%2C541&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Gandhi's statue, which sat in this quad at the University of Ghana, caused great controversy.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">TG23/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p><em>In December 2018, a statue of Mahatma Gandhi <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/world/2018/dec/14/racist-gandhi-statue-removed-from-university-of-ghana">was removed</a> from the University of Ghana’s campus in response to protests from students and staff. They argued that the Indian activist had been a racist who denigrated black Africans. Professor Ernest Aryeetey was the university’s Vice-Chancellor when the statue was erected. Here, he explains how the university made the decision to accept the statue, a gift from the Indian government, in 2016.</em></p>
<p>I received a request in early 2016 through my secretary that the Indian High Commissioner would like to come and see me. We knew each other quite well from several events at which we’d met. When he came, he indicated that the President of India was going to pay <a href="https://www.hindustantimes.com/india-news/pranab-mukherjee-first-indian-president-to-visit-ghana/story-pZf5c3tE6QTKxJKnYmKSxK.html">a state visit</a> to Ghana, and wanted to visit our university. </p>
<p>He also informed me that it was customary for the President to make a presentation to the people of any country he visited. Traditionally, this had been a statue of Mahatma Gandhi, world famous for his role as the father and architect of <a href="https://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/india-and-pakistan-win-independence">Indian independence in 1947</a>. My first thought was, “Is the President going to carry a statue all the way from New Delhi to Accra?” The answer was “yes”. </p>
<p>The High Commissioner informed me that the visit and the gift had already been discussed and agreed with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Office of the President of Ghana. We ended the meeting with me assuring him that we would think about it and get back to him.</p>
<p>I used the time to read quite a bit about Gandhi and came to understand better what he stood for. </p>
<h2>Gandhi</h2>
<p>I learned that he was 23 years old when he went to South Africa and lived there for many years. I read things attributed to him that were undoubtedly racist under any circumstance. </p>
<p>I read how he referred to blacks as “kaffirs” in some of his early writings and immediately remembered that <a href="http://www.cilt.uct.ac.za/usr/cci/publications/aria/download_issues/2004/2004_MS4.pdf">derogatory expression</a> from my reading of the Christian leader <a href="https://www.britannica.com/topic/Prester-John-legendary-ruler">Prester John</a> at school. It was obvious to me that in the early days, he saw his fight to liberate Indians from oppressive laws imposed by white men, as being different from that of the struggle of the black man. </p>
<p>I also read that he later joined hands with some black groups to resist white oppression. As I read more and more about him, I couldn’t help seeing that the Gandhi that came to the attention of the world in the 1930s and 1940s, and gave the British Empire so many headaches, was very different from the young lawyer who had arrived in South Africa a few years after leaving the UK. </p>
<p>I understood that Gandhi was celebrated for the things he taught the world in his later years, through his writings, ideas and lifestyle. He was celebrated for seeking peace for all the peoples of the world.</p>
<p>Having understood the context of Gandhi’s fame and renown, I had no difficulty in informing a meeting of the senior management of the university that I thought we should accept the request. There was some resistance, but ultimately the meeting decided that the statue was acceptable to the university. It was to be located at the recreational quadrangle behind the Balme Library.</p>
<h2>Some dissent</h2>
<p>A couple of weeks after the President’s visit and the statue’s unveiling, I saw an email on the university’s mail system questioning the appropriateness of having the statue of Gandhi on the campus. The main argument was that Gandhi was racist. A few others responded, echoing this belief.</p>
<p>Rather uncharacteristically, I decided to respond. I knew full well how such misinformation could get out of hand. I had also experienced first-hand at South Africa’s University of Cape Town how the “Rhodes must fall” campaign had been hijacked by self-seekers. </p>
<p>So I wrote a carefully crafted response on the intranet, and also indicated to the authors of the misinformation that I was ready to debate them. It was obvious that they were not used to debates, even though they were on a university campus. They were used to sending out poor opinions and no one questioning them. After my intervention the misinformation fizzled out.</p>
<p>I completed my term as Vice-Chancellor in July 2016. Weeks later, the issue flared up again and the statue was ultimately removed.</p>
<p>There is still no doubt whatsoever in my mind that the University of Ghana had the authority to take the decision it did to accept and erect the statue. The proper procedures were followed. And the country’s government fully endorsed our actions.</p>
<h2>The issue of racism</h2>
<p>I have come to view the experiences of Gandhi as very similar to the <a href="http://www1.cbn.com/biblestudy/how-saul-became-the-apostle-paul">transformation of Saul into Paul in the Bible</a>. Once I accept the conversion of Paul, I can very easily forgive the early Gandhi. There are no explicit accounts of a transformation like Saul’s, but the tone of Gandhi’s writings changed significantly over time.</p>
<p>The young lawyer made what I would easily describe as very racist remarks in his campaign to gain more rights for the Indian in South Africa. He showed very little interest in the affliction of the black man and believed that the black man’s fight was different from that of Indians. </p>
<p>When he left South Africa and returned to India, and came face to face with the Indian caste system, he saw it as being as dehumanising as what Indians and black people went through in South Africa. He found the poor Indian to be not any better off than the Indians in South Africa. </p>
<p>In his writings about self-government and independence, he emphasised peaceful coexistence with all races. He spent time teaching people how to resist oppression in a peaceful way. It is this pursuit of peaceful coexistence of the races that caught the world’s respect and attention. This is what attracted Martin Luther King to his ideas. It is this same ideal that he shared with Nelson Mandela. Indeed, this is what inspired Ghana’s own <a href="https://kinginstitute.stanford.edu/encyclopedia/nkrumah-kwame">Kwame Nkrumah</a> to speak about what he learned from Gandhi.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/117103/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ernest Aryeetey does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Gandhi was celebrated for the things he taught the world in his later years, through his writings, ideas and lifestyle. He was celebrated for seeking peace for all the peoples of the world.Ernest Aryeetey, Professor of Economics, University of GhanaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1052212018-10-31T14:03:02Z2018-10-31T14:03:02ZSouth African universities shouldn’t be playing the global rankings game<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/241613/original/file-20181022-105782-128w9cw.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South African universities need to shift their focus away from rankings.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Once again, Times Higher Education’s annual global <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats">university rankings</a> have drawn a lot of attention from the media and in the higher education sector. In South Africa, this has focused on the four institutions from the country that made the top 500 on the 2019 list.</p>
<p>Of the four, the University of KwaZulu-Natal maintained its 2018 ranking. The other three – the Universities of Cape Town, Witwatersrand and Stellenbosch – improved. The University of Cape Town moved from 171 to 156, keeping its place in the top 200.</p>
<p>But what does this signify? Has the quality of these universities’ offering improved? Is there a correlation between quality and ranking? Far from it. All it indicates is that in the 2019 rankings, they performed better on either one or all of the criteria used in determining rankings. </p>
<p>For instance, if a university received a major research grant for 2019, its research income increased. That’s one of the criteria used and so it climbs in the rankings. But it tells us nothing about the quality of research at that institution.</p>
<p>The ranking system is based on a snapshot of institutional performance in a given year. It’s a zero-sum game: a gain by one institution is necessarily a loss by another.</p>
<p>And as Chris Brink, a former university Vice-Chancellor, <a href="https://bristoluniversitypress.co.uk/the-soul-of-a-university">shows</a>, the rankings have no scientific validity. He points out that the different ranking systems – Times Higher Education is just one among many – produce different results based on the criteria used and the weighting assigned to each. A small change in the weighting results in significant changes in an institution’s ranking. </p>
<p>South African universities need to stop playing the game. There is no reason to. The government exerts no pressure on universities around rankings. The problem is that South Africa has a fixation on becoming “world class”. This is indicative of a lack of self-confidence in its own abilities and competence; a hangover from the isolation of the apartheid past and a colonial inheritance.</p>
<h2>The wrong priorities</h2>
<p>Rankings have perverse and distorting effects on the role and function of institutions in national higher education systems.</p>
<p>Research is a key criterion for rankings. This discourages institutional diversity. All institutions strive for research-intensive status irrespective of their context, capacity and resources. This has been the main stumbling block to creating the sort of differentiated system that’s needed to address South Africa’s knowledge and skills needs. </p>
<p>Differentiation would be based on a continuum of institutional types: some offering vocational and technical diplomas; others focused on undergraduate formative and professional degrees; and the research-intensive institutions focusing on postgraduate degrees and research. </p>
<p>But a differentiated system remains elusive. </p>
<p>Meanwhile, teaching is undervalued. Meeting research output targets is the key performance indicator. This generates income and boosts rankings. Senior professors, who tend to be more research productive, are often absolved from undergraduate teaching to focus on research. This diminishes the students’ learning experience. They are not exposed to developments at the cutting-edge of their chosen field of study to excite their curiosity and interest. </p>
<p>Finally, the criteria used in all the ranking systems – research outputs and income, staff-student ratios, international staff and students, staff qualifications, Nobel laureates and so on – are biased in favour of institutions in the developed world. And while some developing countries such as China are <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20170905140031381">making inroads</a> into the top 100, this is due to sustained and high levels of economic growth. This has enabled large investments in higher education that’s beyond the reach of developing countries in general.</p>
<p>It’s time for South African universities to remove themselves from this game. But why are they playing in the first place?</p>
<h2>Time to refocus</h2>
<p>The standard institutional response is that the rankings matter to students, parents and employers. It matters because institutions make it matter. They highlight their rankings (and how they compare to other institutions) for competitive reasons, trying to attract the best and brightest.</p>
<p>But quite frankly for the country’s research-intensive universities, this competition is at the margins. </p>
<p>Rankings should not be South African universities’ <em>raison d’etre</em>. They should focus on building a quality higher education system that is responsive to the challenges that face South Africa in the 21st century. </p>
<p>This requires a diverse and differentiated higher education system based on institutional collaboration rather than the market-driven competition that results from participation in global rankings. </p>
<p>Professor Adam Habib, the vice-chancellor of the University of the Witwatersrand, has <a href="http://firstthing.dailymaverick.co.za/article?id=129121#.W8mZ9nszbIU">reportedly suggested</a> that South African universities should withdraw from rankings. This is a step in the right direction. Are his colleagues ready to rise to the challenge?</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/105221/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ahmed Essop does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Global university rankings are based on a snapshot of institutional performance. A gain by one institution is a loss by another.Ahmed Essop, Research Associate in Higher Education Policy and Planning, Ali Mazrui Centre for Higher Education Studies, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/1040712018-10-03T14:10:36Z2018-10-03T14:10:36ZRethinking university rankings: we need to talk about quality (and inequality) of teaching<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/238897/original/file-20181002-85617-rznkve.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Do universities reproduce inequality or can they disrupt it? </span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Each year the release of the Times Higher Education World University Rankings generates a great deal of interest, excitement – and debate.
This year all eyes are on <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/world-university-rankings-2019-results-announced">China</a> which, according to the 2018 rankings, “steps up its ascent” as “East closes in on West”. China’s Tsinghua University in 22nd place has overtaken all of its other Asian competitors. </p>
<p>Only one African institution, the <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2019/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats">University of Cape Town</a>, made it to the top 200. Other good performers include University of Witwatersrand and University of Stellenbosch, which are both in the top 350. </p>
<p>But what does this mean? Parents, guardians and potential students may want to know what, if any, relationship is there between the rankings and an institution’s quality of teaching? Can we assume that highly ranked universities also have high quality teaching? And conversely, do we assume that low-ranked universities have poor quality teaching?</p>
<p>Ranking and quality of teaching has been subject of much <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20180814184535721">controversy</a>. The Times Higher Education rankings and similar ones are heavily weighted for research. Teaching, which “assesses the learning environment”, accounts for only 30% of a university’s overall ranking.</p>
<p>This is then broken down into the following key performance indicators: reputation survey; staff-to-student ratio; doctorate-to-bachelor’s ratio; the ratio of doctorates awarded to academic staff and institutional income. All of these are related to input factors – what is required to teach, like academics and money. None of the indicators have anything to do with outputs – the results of teaching, for example, course success rates, time to completion and graduate employment. </p>
<p>Essentially, the rankings heavily favour research-intensive, well-resourced universities. They say nothing about the actual quality of teaching as experienced by students or academics.</p>
<p>So, is there a relationship between rankings and quality of teaching? It depends what is meant by quality of teaching. </p>
<h2>Quality of teaching as access to powerful knowledge</h2>
<p>A recent book by three British academics, <a href="https://www.bloomsbury.com/uk/quality-in-undergraduate-education-9781474214490/">Quality in Undergraduate Education</a>, explores the relationship between the quality of education and institutional status. </p>
<p>At stake is the role of higher education in relation to inequality: do universities simply reproduce inequality or can they disrupt it? The authors investigated this vexed and complex issue through a three-year longitudinal study of four higher education institutions in the UK.</p>
<p>Two were “high status” institutions and two were “low status”. High status institutions were the older, research-intensive, typically wealthier universities and the low status were more vocationally-oriented universities established from 1992. The trio analysed interviews with academics and students, observations of classrooms and curriculum documentation, including assessment.</p>
<p>In contrast to the Times Higher Education rankings which focus on inputs and reputation, their definition of quality focused on outputs or products. Quality being the extent to which teaching gives students’ access to “<a href="https://eddieplayfair.com/2015/08/19/what-is-powerful-knowledge/">powerful knowledge</a>”.</p>
<p>Powerful knowledge, they argue, is when theory and everyday common sense knowledge align. Quality teaching enables students to meaningfully traverse the gap between theory and <a href="https://theconversation.com/how-class-and-social-capital-affect-university-students-92602">lived experience</a> – their own and others’.</p>
<p>The trio’s findings showed no clear relationship between university status and quality teaching. In fact, one of the low-status universities best showcased the powerful and life-changing nature of knowledge.</p>
<h2>Redefining quality and inequality</h2>
<p>The study should cause us to pause and challenge the assumptions we make about rankings, status and the quality of the student experience. Is there a relationship between the rankings and the actual quality of teaching? It depends on how quality of teaching is defined. </p>
<p>Assessing the quality of teaching in ways that can be standardised and compared isn’t simple. That’s why we often end up valuing what we can measure, instead of measuring what we value. Measuring the quality of teaching on the basis of input factors as the Times Higher Education rankings, is not enough. There are “output” indicators that can be used – for example, dropout and retention, student experience surveys and graduate employability. </p>
<p>The study also raises another question, what is the relationship between quality and addressing inequality? </p>
<p>In South Africa we know this kind of output data when separated out by race reveals persistent <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/news/serious-social-inequality-persists-south-african-universities">inequalities</a> with racial differentiations in academic performance. Tackling these challenges to ensure <a href="https://cup.columbia.edu/book/scales-of-justice/9780231146807">parity of participation</a> is a hallmark of quality teaching. </p>
<p>As for the Times Higher Education rankings, there may be <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/blog/were-pioneering-new-way-measure-teaching-quality-across-europe">changes</a> on the horizon. New ways of measuring teaching, such as student surveys, are being piloted. Duncan Ross, data analytics director for the Times Higher Education rankings, <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/world-university-rankings-2019-pursuit-more-significant-figures">announced</a> a review of the rankings’ methodology for 2020. As an example, he raised the issue of whether universities’ gender balance should be assessed and asked:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Can a university that isn’t adequately serving half the population be said to be world-leading? </p>
</blockquote>
<p>The same question can be asked, how and to what extent are first generation university, black and minority students being served? With inequality as one of the greatest challenges of the 21st century, should this not also be a feature of world-leading universities?</p>
<p>It would be a significant advance if these increasingly influential rankings could showcase those institutions as “world-leading” who are making a contribution to social justice through the quality of their teaching.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/104071/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Suellen Shay does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>University rankings must include quality teaching and indicators that address inequality as measuring tools.Suellen Shay, Associate Professor, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/958162018-05-13T08:38:25Z2018-05-13T08:38:25ZFela’s music can decolonise international law in African universities<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/218290/original/file-20180509-185500-1uzbwct.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">From Fela Kuti's album, 'Beast of No Nation'.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Beast of No Nation LP.</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>International law in African universities is still taught within a rigid Eurocentric context. Changing this is important, but also incredibly difficult given how entrenched the current approach is.</p>
<p>Surprisingly Nigerian musician <a href="https://www.allmusic.com/artist/fela-kuti-mn0000138833/biography">Fela Ransome-Kuti</a> (1938 - 1997) might have something to offer in helping crack the problem. The <a href="https://theculturetrip.com/africa/nigeria/articles/fela-kuti-s-afrobeat-legacy/">Afrobeat</a> pioneer has a lot to offer any teacher wanting to decolonise the teaching and understanding of international law.</p>
<p>The curriculum of international law in many African universities, like those in Latin America and Asia, still <a href="https://www.academia.edu/13078000/Teaching_International_Law_Critically_-_Critical_Pedagogy_and_Bildung_as_Orientations_for_Learning_and_Teaching">links</a> seminal moments in the development of international law to European history, and refer to European thinkers as “fathers” of the subject. </p>
<p>There is little or no reference to how non-European civilisations have <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/180903?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">contributed</a> to the development of international law or the role international law played in entrenching colonialism.</p>
<p>As such, the curriculum excludes the discussion of <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/180903?seq=1#page_scan_tab_contents">diplomatic interactions</a> between and among pre-colonial African Empires, and with Europeans and Asians, especially as it relates to trade, conflict resolution and recognition of statehood. In addition, there is little consideration of <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/25659346">critical works</a> that have exposed the <a href="https://www.academia.edu/13078000/Teaching_International_Law_Critically_-_Critical_Pedagogy_and_Bildung_as_Orientations_for_Learning_and_Teaching">bias</a> underlining the practise of international law.</p>
<p>These exclusions have raised the importance of decolonising the teaching and understanding of international law. This process requires the consideration of wide-ranging, innovative and multifaceted approaches. One is the inclusion of voices and narratives beyond academia, especially artistes at the forefront of exposing global imbalances and Eurocentric dominance. </p>
<p>Fela is an important source because he was a revolutionary as well as an intellectual who was steeped in the struggle against social injustice in Africa. His music speaks to issues that are <a href="http://www.jstor.org/stable/25659346">raised</a> by critical scholars on the need to reform the teaching and practise of international law . These include issues such as illicit financial flows from the global South, the marginalisation of Africa on the world stage and the masking of Eurocentric values and opinions as “universal” standards. Fela was able to use his radicalism and eloquence to expose this unjust order of things.</p>
<h2>Fela’s background</h2>
<p>Fela came from a university-educated, politically active family. His mom, <a href="https://web.archive.org/web/20071210155735/http://www.cafeafricana.com/Funmilayo%20Ransome-Kuti.html">Funmilayo</a>, was a teacher, women’s rights’ <a href="https://en.unesco.org/womeninafrica/funmilayo-ransome-kuti/biography">activist</a> and feminist. She was associated with some of the most important anti-colonial educational movements in West Africa. She was the first Nigerian woman to drive a motor car and a member of the team which negotiated Nigerian independence from Britain.</p>
<p>Fela’s father <a href="https://dacb.org/stories/nigeria/ramsome-kuti-israel/">Oludotun</a> was a pioneering headmaster, the founding president of Africa’s largest professional group, the Nigeria Union of Teachers, and an Anglican priest.</p>
<p>Both Fela’s brothers were medical doctors and human rights campaigners. </p>
<p>Fela was strongly influenced by his <a href="https://www.bl.uk/west-africa/articles/the-ransome-kuti-dynasty">family</a> – including his cousin, the writer and political activist, Wole Soyinka.</p>
<p>Of course Fela was his own person. He was also supposed to study medicine, but switched to music. </p>
<p>The way in which he used his music as a weapon makes him particularly useful in the classroom.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/WfrNGST9V_E?wmode=transparent&start=729" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Fela Kuti used music as a weapon.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<h2>Bringing Fela to the classroom</h2>
<p>Fela used his music to tackle the marginalisation of the downtrodden and global injustice. He also preached the need to put pan-Africanism at the centre of sociopolitical and economic processes. His non-conformist, radical stance on these issues ensured numerous arrests, harassment and torture in the hands of successive military regimes in Nigeria.</p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">The documentary ‘Finding Fela’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>Fela’s infectious beats and critically engaging lyrics, mainly sang in Pidgin English, and his intense and methodical delivery, provide an important window to exposing students to critical understanding of the global system. </p>
<p>Two of his songs are relevant to the critical teaching of international law. These are <a href="https://felakuti.bandcamp.com/album/international-thief-thief-1980">“International Thief Thief”</a> and <a href="https://felakuti.bandcamp.com/album/beasts-of-no-nation-1989">“Beast of No Nation”</a>. Both reflect issues raised by critical movements, such as the <a href="https://www.jnu.ac.in/sites/default/files/Third%20World%20Manifesto%20BSChimni.pdf">Third World Approaches to International Law</a>, a network of scholars who explore the inherent contradictions and inequality of the global system. </p>
<figure>
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<figcaption><span class="caption">Fela Kuti’s ‘ITT’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In “International Thief Thief” he addressed illicit financial flow from Africa:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Many foreign companies dey Africa carry all our money go (Many foreign companies operating in Africa illegally take our money out)</p>
<p>Dem go write big English for newspaper, dabaru we Africans (Then they will write complicated English in newspapers to confuse us Africans)</p>
<p>Dem go cause confusion, cause corruption, cause oppression, cause inflation (As a result of this] they cause confusion, corruption, oppression, inflation).</p>
</blockquote>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/pCpua4dvUXs?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Fela Kuti’s ‘Beast of no nation’.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>In “Beast of No Nation”, he sang about the unequal structure of the United Nations:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>One veto vote is equal to 92… or more</p>
<p>What kind sense be dat? (Where’s the sense in that?)</p>
<p>Na animal sense (It is animal sense).</p>
</blockquote>
<p>In teaching global institutions under international law, Fela’s “Beast of Nations” could be used to show students the problematic structure of the United Nations where only five countries <a href="http://www.un.org/en/sc/meetings/voting.shtml">wield veto powers</a>. </p>
<p>It could also show how dominant interests determine intervention measures by the UN, and the exclusion of nationals of countries in the global South from becoming the heads of IMF and World Bank.</p>
<p>“International Thief Thief” is a good material for exposing the role of multinational corporations in <a href="https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/iff_main_report_26feb_en.pdf">illicit financial flows from Africa</a> and their complicity in environmental pollution and corrupt practises. </p>
<h2>Disrupt underpinnings</h2>
<p>African law schools have to be more open to interventions that can help disrupt the Eurocentric underpinnings of the teaching of international law. Music, poetry, literature and films can help do this. Their inclusion in the curriculum hold immense benefits for students and lecturers alike. </p>
<p>It would also help reinforce the understanding that law does not – and cannot – exist in isolation. It should flow from the social reality and context of a society, and in turn seek to genuinely address real problems. </p>
<p>Fela has left us with critical material. The question is whether we are bold enough to channel them into changing the <em>status quo</em>. This is part of my ongoing research in this field.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/95816/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Babatunde Fagbayibo receives funding from the National Research Foundation of South Africa.</span></em></p>Fela Kuti’s critically engaging lyrics, and his intense and methodical delivery, provide an important window to exposing students to critical understanding of the global system.Babatunde Fagbayibo, Associate Professor of International Law, University of South AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/925312018-03-07T16:53:22Z2018-03-07T16:53:22ZAfrican universities are ignoring a rich, invaluable resource: their alumni<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/208862/original/file-20180305-65547-d3fnu9.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Universities shouldn't ignore graduates once they leave the institution.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Rawpixel.com/Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Universities across Africa are sitting on – and ignoring – a potential gold mine: their graduates. Research from the global North, where tracking and keeping in touch with alumni is common practice for universities, <a href="https://www.usnews.com/education/best-colleges/the-short-list-college/articles/2016-10-18/10-universities-where-the-most-alumni-donate">shows that</a> this reaps huge benefits. </p>
<p>Alumni pledges sometimes give money to their alma mater annually. Others use their influence in particular industries or business circles to convince others to donate.</p>
<p>The situation is very different in African countries. A <a href="http://cartafrica.org/publications/">recent study</a> by the <a href="http://cartafrica.org/">Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa</a> (CARTA) paints a gloomy picture of the state of alumni and career tracking in Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Nigeria and Malawi. CARTA aims to build a vibrant, productive African academy and a critical mass of effective researchers.</p>
<p>Our study found that universities in these countries have a dearth of consistent, systematic mechanisms for tracking their graduates. They don’t know where their graduates go, what they’re doing or how they’re using their training and skills. Nor do they know what advice their alumni might have to improve their alma maters. They have limited knowledge about who might be a position to fund raise or mobilise others to donate. </p>
<p>These findings, and feedback from African universities that are tracking their graduates, suggest that there’s an important gap to be filled. If universities create large, comprehensive alumni databases, these could be mined to improve individual institutions’ work and decision making. It could also feed into higher education policies at national level.</p>
<h2>Tracking is rare</h2>
<p>We obtained data from 57 higher education officers in 15 universities in Africa; 139 alumni, funding agencies and national education regulatory bodies were also part of this study.</p>
<p>Using questionnaires and interviews, we discovered that fewer than half the universities we surveyed tracked their graduates. Overall, only 27% of alumni we interviewed said they were being tracked and contacted by their alma mater. In most cases, the tracking was being done by universities they’d attended outside the continent where many had pursued postgraduate studies. </p>
<p>What’s especially important to note here is that nearly two thirds of the alumni we surveyed said they were willing to be tracked by their alma maters. This suggests that a lot of willing participants who might provide useful data are being neglected by universities. </p>
<p>Those universities which do keep up with their graduates tend not to be using very sophisticated systems. A lot of this tracking is paper-based: questionnaires are sent via physical mail. Of course, not everyone responds; things get lost in the mail or people move houses. This leaves huge gaps.</p>
<p>Still, the universities that said they tracked alumni underscored the importance of the exercise. They said alumni provided invaluable feedback about developing or revising curricula; they were also able to help institutions measure their impact in society. </p>
<p>And they helped to mobilise resources through personal contributions, linking universities with corporate entities, and organising or participating in funding raising events. This last point might be especially useful as government <a href="https://www.scidev.net/global/education/feature/higher-education-africa-who-pays.html">funding to higher education dwindles</a> in several African countries. Student tuition alone cannot fill the gaps left by under-funding; alternative revenue streams are crucial. </p>
<h2>Filling the gaps</h2>
<p>So how can universities harness the power of their alumni? For starters, universities need to understand what works – and what doesn’t – when establishing contact with graduates.</p>
<p>In our study, alumni said they were most likely to reply to questions and requests for assistance sent to them online. Mobile phones were the most popular form of communication followed by emails, and then paper-based surveys. Text messages and social media platforms like Facebook would also be useful.</p>
<p>There’s also an opportunity for an organisation – not a university or even necessarily a company in the higher education space – to establish a centralised alumni and career tracker. The university employees we spoke to said they’d prefer to subscribe to a common provider rather than developing individual institutional databases.</p>
<p>Whatever approach is chosen, the evidence from our study is clear: Africa’s universities must start connecting and working with their alumni rather than losing track of these genuinely valuable human resources.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/92531/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Peter Ngure works for the Consortium for Advanced Research Training in Africa (CARTA). He received funding from the Carnegie Corporation of New York that supported the feasibility study on alumni and career tracking in Africa. </span></em></p>Universities could mine alumni databases to improve individual institutions’ work - and raise funds.Peter Ngure, Associate Professor of Parasitology and Entomology, African Population and Health Research CenterLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/846422017-11-06T15:08:39Z2017-11-06T15:08:39ZAfrica needs to start creating its own medical technology. Here’s how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192436/original/file-20171030-18686-14dazsi.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Biomedical innovations can work with traditional methods like x-rays to guide doctors' decisions.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Adriane Ohanesian</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Biomedical engineering can save lives. It draws on and integrates knowledge from disciplines like engineering, computer science, biomedical sciences, and public health as well as clinical practice. This knowledge is combined to improve health – often through the design of medical devices for diagnosis, treatment and rehabilitation. </p>
<p>Most of Africa’s medical equipment <a href="https://www.trade.gov/topmarkets/pdf/Medical_Devices_Executive_Summary.pdf">is imported</a>. “<a href="https://www.theatlantic.com/international/archive/2013/09/the-inadequacy-of-donating-medical-devices-to-africa/279855/">Equipment graveyards</a>” become the final resting place for medical devices that aren’t suited to local conditions. This can include dust, heat, humidity and an <a href="http://www.africaneconomicoutlook.org/en/news/blogs/Electricity-for-all-in-Africa-Possible">intermittent supply of electricity</a>. Some machines are discarded because hospital and clinic staff haven’t been trained to operate them or because replacement parts are not available when they’ve broken.</p>
<p>African countries need to start producing and developing their own medical devices. A cadre of suitably skilled biomedical engineers is needed for this sort of innovation to take root. That’s what prompted a number of African universities to establish the <a href="http://abec-africa.org/">African Biomedical Engineering Consortium</a>. We advance education and research in biomedical engineering across the continent. </p>
<h2>Skills development</h2>
<p>We know that biomedical engineers alone won’t suddenly make Africa a world leader in medical device innovation. Other elements <a href="https://www.uneca.org/sites/default/files/PublicationFiles/innovating_for_better_health_final_.pdf">are needed</a> – like well-equipped laboratories that enable experimentation and prototyping. Funding to support the translation and scaling of prototypes is another. Manufacturing infrastructure is important. So are regulations to ensure equipment safety and structures to oversee intellectual property management. </p>
<p>But the consortium’s focus is on producing people to bring innovation to life. Now five years old, it brings together established and emerging biomedical engineering programmes at African universities to develop the continent’s capacity for innovation in health technology. The network has grown stronger as more member institutions have introduced degree programmes in biomedical engineering.</p>
<p>Now some members of the consortium have turned their attention to a more focused transfer of skills and knowledge across participating universities. This is being done with the aid <a href="https://eacea.ec.europa.eu/intra-africa/funding/intra-africa-academic-mobility-scheme-2017_en">of funding</a> from the European Commission. </p>
<p>We’ve launched a <a href="https://www.africanbmemobility.org/">capacity-building project</a> to support the training of postgraduate students. Six African universities are involved. These are Addis Ababa University; Cairo University; Kenyatta University; Uganda’s Mbarara University of Science and Technology; the University of Cape Town (UCT); and the University of Lagos. Italy’s University of Pisa is also participating.</p>
<p>The first round of applications has just been concluded. Our postgraduates will be drawn from the six participating African universities as well as others on the continent. Each student will receive a full scholarship to cover tuition, travel and living expenses. This will support training for Master’s and PhD candidates at partner institutions outside their home countries over a five-year period. </p>
<p>The initiative particularly focuses on building skills that address African needs by engaging students in projects that arise from local realities. Examples include:</p>
<ul>
<li><p>Creating prosthetic limbs for landmine victims </p></li>
<li><p>Using mobile phones, along with custom-built applications, as diagnostic tools in remote areas. </p></li>
<li><p>Eliminating the need for expensive imaging equipment that’s not always readily available, by developing software that enables 3D visualisation of the anatomy from ubiquitous X-ray images.</p></li>
</ul>
<p>We’ll start training the first cohort of students in 2018.</p>
<h2>Building the academic base</h2>
<p>But training emerging scholars isn’t enough. Africa needs more academics who can navigate the interdisciplinary environment needed to develop technological solutions to health problems. </p>
<p>That’s why the project also supports academics who want to improve their skills. They can travel between African partner universities to develop their research and training capacity. An academic from a new biomedical engineering programme in Uganda, for instance, could work with colleagues at UCT, then share teaching approaches back home. Or a lecturer from Cairo could spend time in Lagos teaching and sharing research methods.</p>
<p>This is also a good way for universities to harmonise their biomedical engineering curricula and benchmark them against those of partner universities. And it’s a way to promote the sharing of scarce resources.</p>
<p><em>This article is based on <a href="http://www.sajs.co.za/sites/default/files/publications/pdf/SAJS-113-7-8_Douglas_NewsViews.pdf">a piece</a> which appeared in the South African Journal of Science.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84642/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Tania Douglas receives funding from the National Research Foundation, the Medical Research Council, the National Institutes of Health (Fogarty International Center), and the European Commission (Education, Audiovisual and Culture Executive Agency). She has, in the past, received funding from Lodox Systems and CapeRay Medical.</span></em></p>African countries need to start producing and developing their own medical devices. Suitably skilled biomedical engineers are needed for this sort of innovation to take root.Tania Douglas, Professor & Research Chair - Biomedical Engineering & Innovation, University of Cape TownLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/865502017-11-05T08:57:51Z2017-11-05T08:57:51ZDistance learning: the five qualities student teachers need to succeed<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192612/original/file-20171031-18689-1ao7exe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students can feel very isolated when studying through a distance education programme.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>International bodies, politicians, policy makers and researchers have always been interested in the way teachers are prepared for the classroom. This is because the quality of a country’s teachers is <a href="http://eu.wiley.com/WileyCDA/WileyTitle/productCd-1119369606.html">an indicator</a> of its developmental level.</p>
<p>Distance education is <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02607470500043557">often viewed</a> as a way to speed up the process of producing well qualified, good teachers. This approach involves a model in which students are physically separated from the university or training college in question. Students usually communicate with the institution through emails, online learning support systems or occasional face-to-face tutorials. </p>
<p>Distance education tends to be flexible and more affordable than full time study. It’s useful for a range of people when it comes to teacher education. Those who are just beginning to study teaching; those who want to continue their professional development and those who must familiarise themselves with a changing curriculum can all benefit. This is important, since teachers need an ever-changing set of skills, knowledge and competencies.</p>
<p>But distance education for teacher training also has its problems. Student <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2013.847363">retention rates are low and dropouts are high</a>. Some scholars have suggested that <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02680513.2013.847363">improved support</a> could help. But what form should this support take? How much of it should come from institutions? And how much can students do themselves?</p>
<p>My newest <a href="https://upjournals.co.za/index.php/Progressio/article/view/1527">research</a> focused on
trying to understand what disposition students need to support themselves through what can be a very <a href="http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.495.1633&rep=rep1&type=pdf">isolated</a> experience. Working with in-service teachers enrolled in a distance education programme at Zimbabwe’s Solusi University, I found there were five qualities that really mattered. These were: coping, pro-activeness, ingenuity, tenacity and problem solving. </p>
<h2>Five crucial qualities</h2>
<p>In Africa, as in most developing contexts, students in distance education programmes are largely from <a href="https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/24119">rural or semi-rural settings</a>. Using Botswana as an example, educationists Godson Gatsha and Rinelle Evans <a href="https://repository.up.ac.za/handle/2263/24119">found</a> that students tend to be isolated from the resources distance education institutions offer as support. Students simply don’t have the money to travel relatively long distances to access facilities.</p>
<p>This suggests that in-service teachers enrolled in distance education programmes require support beyond physical resources to complete their studies. This is where self-motivation – or what’s also known as self-efficacy – becomes important. Self-efficacy <a href="http://psycnet.apa.org/record/1985-98423-000">has been described as</a> a person’s</p>
<blockquote>
<p>judgements of their capabilities to organise and execute courses of action required to attain designated types of performances. </p>
</blockquote>
<p>With this definition in mind, I wanted to explore how students’ own initiatives and strategies – driven by self-efficacy – could motivate their academic success. Their answers and feedback helped me to identify five qualities that bolstered these students’ self-efficacy:</p>
<p><strong>Coping</strong>: The student’s ability to adapt to the challenges inherent in any educational programme designed for self-study. A student who creates a balance between their working lives and the demands of studying, perhaps by developing a careful schedule and personalised timetable, is coping.</p>
<p><strong>Pro-activeness</strong>: A student who displays initiative. She anticipates and prepares for the challenges that might result from the demands of studying. These students pay careful attention to both academic and administrative requirements. </p>
<p><strong>Ingenious</strong>: These students adopt creative and original approaches to their their studies. They have well developed study systems and have learnt how to access support from structures beyond the university, for example by forming study groups with other colleagues or using community libraries. </p>
<p><strong>Tenacity</strong>: These students are determined, persistent and self-motivated. They recognise their own weaknesses and identify individuals or hobbies that motivate them to complete their studies.</p>
<p><strong>Problem solvers</strong>: These students recognise the challenges inherent in distance education and find their own solutions. They identify problems, then categorise them – which will have an immediate effect on the quality of their studies, and which are less threatening? For instance, students realised that having limited knowledge about the structure of an academic essay was immediately problematic. They dealt with this as a priority, sometimes alone and sometimes through collaboration.</p>
<h2>Developing these qualities</h2>
<p>The five qualities I’ve described and discussed helped the students involved in my research to cope with the demands of distance education. These findings suggest that distance education students should be encouraged to develop self-efficacy before embarking on what can be a lonely, isolated course of study. And, crucially, they show that students can be their own greatest supporters in academic growth especially when enrolled in distance education.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86550/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Nhlanhla Mpofu does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Distance education for teacher training has its problems. Improved support can address these issues - but some of it should come from students themselves.Nhlanhla Mpofu, Senior Lecturer, Director Teaching, Learning and Program Development, Sol Plaatje UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/865522017-10-31T13:16:19Z2017-10-31T13:16:19ZSouth Africa can’t afford to see its universities pitch over the precipice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/192447/original/file-20171030-18700-cdgn8j.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">South Africa boasts world class universities. It must not allow their quality to drop.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>For the past two years the actions of <a href="http://chet.org.za/data/sahe-open-data">government</a> and protesting <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/article/student-protests-democratic-south-africa">students</a> have slowly started squeezing South Africa’s universities into a shadow of their former selves.</p>
<p>In his book “<a href="http://nb.bookslive.co.za/blog/2017/05/23/as-by-fire-an-urgent-and-necessary-book-on-the-south-african-student-protests-crisis/">As by Fire</a>” prominent educationalist Jonathan Jansen argues that South Africa is witnessing the end of its universities. He explains that this doesn’t mean the doors will close. Registration will not stop. The day to day business of universities will continue. But, he warns, the excellence evidenced by the rankings of South African universities will slowly dip into oblivion.</p>
<p>South Africa is the only country in Africa with ten universities that regularly feature on at <a href="https://www.topuniversities.com/university-rankings/world-university-rankings/2018">least one</a> world <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/2017/world-ranking#!/page/0/length/25/sort_by/rank/sort_order/asc/cols/stats">ranking list</a>. These ten are institutions that South Africans can be hugely proud of and whose achievements could serve as models for expanding excellence to other institutions.</p>
<p>The <a href="http://www.uct.ac.za/usr/news/downloads/2016/UniversitiesFundingSouthAfrica_FactSheet.pdf">decline in government funding</a> to South African universities has meant that institutions have had to look elsewhere to cover costs. This has inevitably included <a href="http://www.uct.ac.za/usr/news/downloads/2016/UniversitiesFundingSouthAfrica_FactSheet.pdf">increasing student tuition</a>. In turn, this contributed to student protests in 2015 and 2016. In some instances those protests shut down institutions – suspending their normal functioning for days or weeks at a time. </p>
<p>Shut downs have knock-on effects, some of them long lasting. If universities have to close their doors terms are delayed. Students don’t graduate and don’t pay fees. Universities cannot balance their budgets and infrastructure is not maintained. Staff salaries can’t be paid and academics have to work two or three jobs to survive. </p>
<p>The impact is also felt when it comes to funding. Funding agencies have deadlines and if research outputs are not met grants get cancelled. If grants are cancelled there is less money for equipment. Post graduate student bursaries are cancelled. Post graduate students drop out and go elsewhere and even if new research grants are awarded the students are no longer available to do the research. Then the research outputs cannot be met - again. </p>
<p>Universities elsewhere – in <a href="https://theconversation.com/when-politics-and-academia-collide-quality-suffers-just-ask-nigeria-67313">Nigeria</a>, <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-universities-are-in-the-grip-of-a-quality-crisis-54664">Kenya</a> and, as Jansen <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=2017082408304974">himself writes</a>, Zimbabwe and Uganda – stand as a stark warning. South Africa must act to halt the decline and save its universities’ well deserved global reputation of excellence.</p>
<h2>Sustaining universities</h2>
<p>Who cares about universities’ world rankings? Isn’t this just an elitist system in which South Africa cannot afford to compete given its <a href="http://www.statssa.gov.za/?p=9989">declining economy</a>? </p>
<p>No, it’s not. Excellence in academia is a self perpetuating cycle. Break this cycle and universities dive into a spiral of decline. </p>
<p>Excellent students complete their degrees in the minimum time. They drive excellence in an institution’s research programmes. They then become top quality post graduate students who in turn become top class academics and a university’s research machine benefits. These graduates have the ability and the interest needed to engage with a university’s research activities. Because they excel academically, they are often keen to get to grips with more advanced research.</p>
<p>What I’ve found is that getting students involved early on in research often inspires them to study further, equipping them to be future lecturers and professors. Many research programmes – including <a href="https://www.fabinet.up.ac.za/index.php/research-groups/dst-nrf-centre-of-excellence-in-tree-health-biotechnology">my own</a> and that of the faculty in which I work – offer opportunities for undergraduate students to work in their laboratories. In this way students can participate in an institutions’ research activities. </p>
<p>In turn, increased research output <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/Policy%20and%20Development%20Support/Research%20Outputs%20policy%20gazette%202015.pdf">benefits universities financially</a>. </p>
<p>Keeping a steady flow of research output will ensure that South Africa can continue to boast some of the world’s top ranked research programmes. The universities of Pretoria, the Witwatersrand and Cape Town are considered <a href="http://www.heraldlive.co.za/news/2017/04/10/three-sa-universities-score-top-marks-world-subject-rankings/">world leaders</a> in mycology, ornithology, anthropology and area studies. The research programmes that earned them these rankings depend on access to top quality postgraduate students. These bright young minds drive world class research – and they come from all over the world.</p>
<p>My own programme has attracted students from Australia, China, Iran, Kenya, Korea, Nigeria, Vietnam and Zimbabwe who are now studying with me. I have in the past also had the privilege of supervising students from Cameroon, Colombia, Chile, Ethiopia, Germany, Lesotho, Namibia, Oman, Switzerland, Uruguay, Venezuela and Zambia. This internationally rich group of students benefits my research and is hugely stimulating to the South Africa students in the programme. </p>
<h2>Preventing brain drain</h2>
<p>The common thread here is engaging students and providing them with the facilities and environment that will keep them in South Africa. Brain drain is <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/general/120211/this-map-shows-where-all-south-africas-skilled-workers-are-going/">a reality</a>. The country <a href="https://mg.co.za/article/2016-06-10-00-scarce-skills">needs more</a> doctors to staff its hospitals and engineers to build its power stations. Losing skilled professionals is <a href="https://businesstech.co.za/news/wealth/193764/how-the-rush-to-leave-south-africa-is-starting-to-hurt-business/">bad for the economy</a>.</p>
<p>In addition, university students the world over have changed the direction of business, governments and politics because they are a country’s intellectual leaders. When the strongest of these students choose not to study at universities in their homeland the country is robbed of its next generation of leaders.</p>
<p>Universities must maintain their excellence – or watch their best and brightest minds <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/r/2010-2019/WashingtonPost/2016/07/13/Editorial-Opinion/Graphics/KF_Report.pdf">choosing to study</a> and perhaps settle elsewhere.</p>
<p>The role of universities is to educate. They need to produce research and attract brilliant young thinkers who will, ultimately, contribute to a stronger economy and society. South Africa’s universities have long fulfilled these roles. The country cannot afford to see its tertiary education sector pitch over the precipice.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/86552/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Brenda Wingfield is a Professor in Genetics at the University of Pretoria
She holds the DST-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics
She is one of the vice presidents of the Academy of Science of South Africa (ASSAf) </span></em></p>South Africa must act to halt the decline and save its universities’ well deserved global reputation of excellence.Brenda Wingfield, Vice President of the Academy of Science of South Africa and DST-NRF SARChI chair in Fungal Genomics, Professor of Genetics, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/842332017-09-28T18:46:34Z2017-09-28T18:46:34ZThe power and politics of knowledge: what African universities need to do<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/187558/original/file-20170926-32444-1xvykoq.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">African universities can work towards decolonisation while championing the UN's Agenda 2030.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea that knowledge is infused with power and politics may sound abstract, so let me offer an example from my own life to illustrate. I was invited to a dinner proceeding a conference in an African capital city. I had expected to meet all the other speakers. But it turned out to be only for the chosen few. I could not help wondering how we’d been selected. White faces outnumbered black ones, men outnumbered women – at a conference to discuss African universities’ future role.</p>
<p>It was an interesting example of the power and politics of knowledge. These are factors I believe should be addressed to ensure African universities and higher education can play a more powerful role in transforming our world and empowering women. </p>
<p>The UN says its <a href="https://www.un.org/pga/wp-content/uploads/sites/3/2015/08/120815_outcome-document-of-Summit-for-adoption-of-the-post-2015-development-agenda.pdf">2030 Agenda</a>, which is made up of 17 sustainable development goals, is aimed at “transforming our world”. Quality education and lifelong learning, along with gender equality and empowerment of women, feature in many of the goals.</p>
<p>Universities and higher education, however, receive little attention in this document. So it may seem odd to focus on higher education in relation to Agenda 2030 and women. But I’ve chosen this perspective because higher education institutions in general and universities in particular are important for achieving Agenda 2030’s <a href="http://www.un.org/sustainabledevelopment/sustainable-development-goals/">goals</a>.</p>
<p>Universities have two main objectives: to educate students and to produce knowledge. They play a major role in procuring the human and intellectual resources needed for fulfilling the various goals of Agenda 2030. </p>
<h2>Power and politics of knowledge</h2>
<p>There have been institutions of learning in Africa for more than 1000 years. But today the most common type of higher education has <a href="https://www.routledge.com/Higher-Education-and-Capacity-Building-in-Africa-The-geography-and-power/Adriansen-Madsen-Jensen/p/book/9781138838154">its roots</a> in colonial-era institutions.</p>
<p>Frantz Fanon, a Martinique-born Afro-French psychiatrist, philosopher and revolutionary, wrote about the <a href="http://abahlali.org/wp-content/uploads/2011/04/Frantz-Fanon-The-Wretched-of-the-Earth-1965.pdf">colonisation of the mind</a> some 50 years ago. He argued that colonised people tended to adopt their colonisers’ perspective. Independence in Africa did not really change this tendency, Fanon wrote.</p>
<p>African intellectuals have argued for many years that the continent’s universities and school systems in general reproduce(d) their colonial legacy. This happens, for instance, through curriculum and language. Benin’s <a href="https://www.jstor.org/stable/pdf/3819631.pdf?refreqid=excelsior:becbd9016dac119d3058387831d2af65">Paulin Hountondji</a> and Kenya’s <a href="http://www.ku.ac.ke/schools/graduate/images/stories/docs/presentation/mazrui.pdf">Ali Mazrui</a> are among those who have written about African scholars’ intellectual and epistemological dependency. Examples of this reliance can be seen in <a href="https://joevarock.com/2017/09/19/making-the-case-for-colonialism-in-ghanaian-social-studies-textbooks/">modern school books</a> in parts of the continent.</p>
<p>It’s not for me as a European to judge whether Africa’s universities are still suffering from what Kenyan intellectual Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o would call the colonisation of the mind. </p>
<p>However, I do know that knowledge production is never neutral. It is neither objective nor power free. African women’s <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302956250_My_knowledge_your_knowledge_whose_knowledge_is_it_Reflections_from_a_researcher%27s_journey_through_universities_in_the_North_and_South">narratives</a> about their <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/20494">journeys in academia</a> show how the power and politics of knowledge are intrinsically linked to gender. Race and history must also be considered. This means issues of colonialism, imperialism and dominance are never far away.</p>
<p>The narratives I have studied show that it is not always simple to determine who exercises power over whom and when. Zimbabwean researcher Bevlyn Sithole sees dominance in action when researchers take ownership over communities’ knowledge. She <a href="https://www.researchgate.net/publication/302956250_My_knowledge_your_knowledge_whose_knowledge_is_it_Reflections_from_a_researcher%27s_journey_through_universities_in_the_North_and_South">highlights</a> the importance of co-producing knowledge: </p>
<blockquote>
<p>Co-production of knowledge between scientists and communities is a prerequisite for research aiming at a more sustainable development path. </p>
</blockquote>
<h2>Marrying Agenda 2030 and local knowledge</h2>
<p>This returns us to the question of Agenda 2030.</p>
<p>How can academics produce knowledge of local relevance and include the perspectives and cultures of the people in question? How can knowledge be built that promotes sustainable development and appreciates culture’s contribution to it, as called for in Agenda 2030’s 17 Sustainable Development Goals?</p>
<p>The debate about Africanisation of curriculum and knowledge production also relates to the discussion about universities’ role as local drivers of sustainable development.</p>
<p>The so-called global knowledge economy has placed <a href="https://norrag.wordpress.com/2016/06/20/can-african-universities-deliver-knowledge-for-transforming-our-world-without-decolonizing-the-academy/">increasing demands</a> on universities to internationalise and compete beyond national borders.</p>
<p>Can a university be locally relevant, focusing its teaching and research on local sustainable development needs and also be involved in global competition with an increasing emphasis on standardisation? Transnational capacity-building projects are one way universities try to address both local and global commitments. I have participated in capacity-building projects <a href="https://theconversation.com/global-academic-collaboration-a-new-form-of-colonisation-61382">myself</a>. </p>
<p>It has <a href="https://www.academia.edu/26799676/Higher_Education_and_Capacity_Building_in_Africa_the_Geography_and_Power_of_Knowledge_under_Changing_Conditions">been argued</a>, though, that capacity-building projects and other types transnational collaboration can lead to dependency. Agenda 2030 is likely to result in more such projects, because this is where funding can be found. </p>
<p>It is imperative to knowledge production that academics continue to collaborate. But it must happen in parallel with the decolonialisation of knowledge and methodology. The question is how it can be done.</p>
<p>The first step is to pay attention to the apparent universality of knowledge. I would warn against moving towards a complete Africanisation of curriculum and knowledge production. The dilemma is that this may entail an unproductive essentialisation of the “African”: for example, who the “African” is, where the “African” lives, and what the “African” can study. And what is “African” knowledge, and who can produce it? </p>
<p>Academic institutions and individual academics should try to contextualise knowledge and pay attention to the difference between universal knowledge and dominant knowledge. Yet we should also acknowledge that without ideas about universality, universal human experiences and human rights, Agenda 2030 would never be realised. </p>
<h2>Contextualising knowledge</h2>
<p>African education will not reach its transformative potential through the mindless transfer of knowledge, theories and methods from other parts of the world. This will reproduce dependency. </p>
<p>Instead, empowerment of women and sustainable development require that more contextualised knowledge be produced. The power and politics of knowledge must be analysed. It is necessary to differentiate between dominant knowledge and universal knowledge and, through this process, decolonise the African academy. </p>
<p><em>This is an edited version of an article that <a href="http://www.osisa.org/sites/default/files/publications/buwa-issue7_digitalpublication_singles_web.pdf">first appeared</a> in BUWA, a journal produced by the Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa.</em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/84233/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Hanne Kirstine Adriansen does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Universities play a major role in procuring the human and intellectual resources needed for fulfilling the various goals of the UN’s Agenda 2030.Hanne Kirstine Adriansen, Associate Professor, School of Education, Aarhus UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/798502017-07-09T11:03:49Z2017-07-09T11:03:49ZWhat lies behind the rise of Christian universities in Africa<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/176606/original/file-20170703-32612-zq0x5c.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">
</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Amr Dalsh</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The last two decades have seen a brisk growth in Christian universities in sub-Saharan Africa. This phenomenon exists at the intersection of two of the most dynamic social trends on the continent: the <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/acts-of-faith/wp/2015/05/20/think-christianity-is-dying-no-christianity-is-shifting-dramatically/?utm_term=.f511753a92a6">rapid rise of Christian adherence</a> and the volatile growth of higher education. </p>
<p>A century ago, there were only nine million Christians living in Africa. Most were in Egypt’s and Ethiopia’s ancient churches. By 1950, this number had tripled, to about 30 million. Today, out of a population of <a href="http://www.worldometers.info/world-population/africa-population/">around 1.2 billion</a>, there are <a href="http://www.gordonconwell.edu/ockenga/research/documents/IBMR2017.pdf">an estimated 582 million African Christians</a> — Orthodox, Catholic, Protestant, Pentecostal and belonging to <a href="http://www.oaic.org/?page_id=51">independent churches</a>. </p>
<p>African higher education’s growth has also been rapid. In the 1950s, there were only 41 higher education institutions and 16,500 students <a href="http://www.euppublishing.com/doi/abs/10.3366/swc.2012.0005">on the whole continent</a>. By 2010, 5.2 million students had enrolled in 668 higher education institutions in sub Saharan Africa, more than double the <a href="https://www.britishcouncil.org/voices-magazine/universities-are-heart-africas-economic-rise">number in 2000</a>. </p>
<p>This rapid growth has been far from smooth. Steep increases in demand coupled with cuts in state higher education funding left a gap that has been filled by the private sector, and increasingly by Churches. State and church are now educational partners, but there are some tensions inherent in this relationship.</p>
<h2>Emerging from turbulent times</h2>
<p>African universities today are emerging from a turbulent half century. The immediate post-colonial era <a href="http://manualzz.com/doc/14955109/read-the-engaging-africa-report-here--pdf-1.27-mb-.">brought high hopes</a>, with supportive governments and massive international investments. </p>
<p>But by the 1980s, African universities were suffering deep financial cuts as falling commodity prices and inflated energy prices <a href="http://ageconsearch.umn.edu/bitstream/155490/2/4_Heidhues.pdf">crippled national budgets</a>. World Bank and International Monetary Fund advisers pushed debtor nations to <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1023%2FA%3A1017584501585?LI=true">reallocate educational spending</a> toward primary and secondary schools. Meanwhile, authoritarian regimes suspected flagship universities of <a href="http://portside.org/2016-03-29/politics-openings-politics-closures-state-nation-and-universities-india-and-africa">subversion</a> and slashed their budgets. By the 1990s, even the finest African universities were in crisis. </p>
<p>To compound these problems, the growth of secondary education drove a relentless demand for tertiary enrolments. </p>
<p>Governments mandated their flagship universities to enrol far beyond their carrying capacities. New regional institutions were founded and tertiary technical colleges were <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20170131142300487">granted university status</a>. </p>
<p>Even with increases in funding, African higher education budgets lagged behind enrolment gains. <a href="https://www.bc.edu/content/dam/files/research_sites/cihe/pdf/IHEpdfs/ihe07.pdf">Thousands</a> of African academics were so discouraged by the educational crisis that they left to find work elsewhere.</p>
<h2>Private, Christian universities fill the vacuum</h2>
<p>In the early 2000s the tide began to turn.</p>
<p>In 2001, the World Bank reemphasised the universities’ role in national development. After years of neglect, western foreign aid programs re-targeted higher education and private funders returned. <a href="http://www.foundation-partnership.org/">The Partnership for Higher Education</a>, for instance, which engaged eight American foundations with universities in nine African countries, invested <a href="http://www.foundation-partnership.org/index.php?id=2">around USD$440 million</a> between 2000 and 2010. </p>
<p>African governments began to approve more organisational charters for private universities and technical schools. In Ghana, for example, there were just two private universities in 1999. Now there are 28. </p>
<p>Christian higher education has played a salient role in this rapid private growth. Nigeria has chartered 61 <a href="http://www.goodbooksafrica.com/2016/02/list-of-approved-private-universities.html">private institutions</a> since 1999. Of these, 31 are Christian. In Kenya, there are 18 <a href="http://biasharapoint.com/blog/2017-kenya-accredited-universities-cue-list/">chartered private universities</a> and 13 more with interim authority. Of all these, 17 are Christian. </p>
<p>Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the hot spots of Christian higher education growth worldwide, a trend that can be observed across the continent. </p>
<p>In a broad sense, the Christian university movement is driven by the massive demand for access to higher education and the liberalisation of government chartering – both global trends. </p>
<p>But the religious scene in Africa provides its own drivers of this movement. The building of universities in Africa is part of a larger effort by church leaders –Protestant, Catholic and Pentecostal – to institutionalise, and thus conserve, the huge gains in Christian adherence. </p>
<p>Christian groups in Africa often look first to sponsor primary and secondary schooling, but they also move quickly to train clergy. In 1950, there were only perhaps 70 or 80 pastoral education programmes or theological schools across Africa, but <a href="http://www.globethics.net/web/gtl/directory/">a recent survey</a> found 1,468 of them.</p>
<p>Christian universities announce Christian purposes and perspectives for learning non-religious subjects and they structure campus life to reflect Christian norms. Many of them have strict codes of personal conduct for students. Yet most welcome qualified students regardless of faith.</p>
<h2>Tensions between state and church mandates</h2>
<p>These new Christian universities are very dynamic places, and their leaders express high hopes that they will help their nations flourish. But one of the main themes of higher education history has been secularisation. </p>
<p>State officials have decided to accommodate religious educational partners, but some still wonder why Christians want to impose religious hiring criteria, curricular development, and student norms.</p>
<p>Broad state purposes inevitably rub against religious particularity, even in highly religious Africa. </p>
<p>It is too soon to predict the trajectory of the African wing of the worldwide Christian university movement, but one cannot miss its growing presence and emerging challenges.</p>
<p><em>This is an edited version of an article that appeared in <a href="https://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ihe/article/view/9692">International Higher Education</a></em></p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/79850/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Joel Carpenter receives funding from the John Templeton Foundation and the Templeton Religion Trust. </span></em></p>Sub-Saharan Africa is one of the hot spots of Christian higher education growth worldwide, a trend that can be observed across the continent.Joel Carpenter, Director of Nagel Institute for the Study of World Christianity, Calvin UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/732802017-02-28T14:52:44Z2017-02-28T14:52:44ZGood mentorship has the power to unlock university students’ potential<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158490/original/image-20170227-26337-ldh84p.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Good mentoring can open up entirely new worlds for university students.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>When I sent out an informal notice to my computer science students offering mentorship to anyone who wanted it, I wasn’t expecting many replies. After all, how many students rush to get involved in voluntary activities when they’re already so busy with academic work?</p>
<p>I was wrong. </p>
<p>Within two days 40 students had signed up. More requests followed – five of them from students who don’t even attend my university. The mentorship program kicked off in September 2016 and has been running for nearly six months. </p>
<p>In that time the students and I have learned a great deal about what it takes to mentor and be mentored in a structured, meaningful way. </p>
<p>There’s a vast amount of research evidence that proves how valuable mentorship can be. It improves students’ <a href="http://www.academia.edu/6993034/EFFECTS_OF_MENTORING_AND_INCULCATING_LIFE_SKILLS_TO_UNIVERSITY_STUDENTS_A_CASE_STUDY_OF_DAYSTAR_UNIVERSITY_PRE-UNIVERSITY">academic performance</a> and, at its best, also equips them with the skills they’ll need to excel in a <a href="http://www.mentoring.org/why-mentoring/mentoring-impact/">professional environment</a>.</p>
<p>I have started to see all of this for myself, and have learned a number of lessons about what works when it comes to good mentoring programs. These lessons may be valuable to others who want to establish mentoring programs at their own universities.</p>
<h2>Ask questions before you start</h2>
<p>I conducted a survey to determine what the students expected and whether they’d had any prior experience with mentoring. 83% had never been mentors or mentees. My next step, using their survey answers, was to categorise students’ expectations into themes so I could tailor the mentorship program to these.</p>
<p>Four themes emerged: professional development, innovation, community involvement, peer-mentorship, and scholarship. </p>
<p><strong>Professional development:</strong> 80% of the students said they wanted to work on their “soft” skills, such as the ability to express their skills in a scholarship or a job interview, confidence in presentations, and their writing skills. All of this was in a bid to become all-rounded graduates. This suggests that highly structured university curricula may not be enough: students may need additional support to prepare them for the working world.</p>
<p><strong>Innovation:</strong> most of the students said they wanted to improve their ability to develop quality ICT solutions, and to increase their confidence to participate in collaborative software projects. The students worried that the university curriculum may not be drawing from cutting-edge industry standards, leaving them at a disadvantage once they graduate.</p>
<p><strong>Community involvement:</strong> 60% of the students said they hadn’t participated in or attended a tech event while at university. And 83% hadn’t been involved in any peer-to-peer mentoring where they could learn from each other. The best teaching must happen within lecture halls, but students need to connect with each other and with different forums outside the classroom.</p>
<p><strong>Scholarship:</strong> Many of the students weren’t aware of the many scholarship or grant opportunities available through the university or external organisations. They also had little experience in how to write a good scholarship application.</p>
<p>Armed with all of this information, I was able to design a mentorship program that directly addressed the students’ needs.</p>
<h2>Responding to students’ needs</h2>
<p>We’ve focused on responding to the four themes students identified in the survey. For instance, the students have attended writing workshops as well as “soft” skill workshops hosted by industry professionals. Some have even attended international conferences, giving them a chance to develop their networking skills and meet professionals in the ICT industry.</p>
<p>There’s also been a lot of work around the issue of collaboration and innovation. The mentees have been involved in collaborative sessions with other Kenyan tech institutions like Moringa School and Nairobits. Some have also participated in Google’s Hashcode online programming competition for the very first time.</p>
<p>Some of mentees have taken the initiative and registered Kenya Methodist University’s Nairobi Campus’ first ever Computer Science Society. This organisation encourages students to get involved in software design and programming competitions.</p>
<p>Networking has been crucial. Whenever I get an invitation to speak at or attend any tech event, I ask whether I can bring my mentees along. </p>
<p>In some cases, the mentees have become mentors: they’ve volunteered to work with other students, participated in outreach activities at local tech schools and have even taught classes on software development aspects such as <a href="https://github.com/">GitHub</a>, a collaborative platform where programming projects can be hosted; web design, and programming using Java and C++. </p>
<p>The feedback from students attending the peer-training has been overwhelmingly positive, with 100% of the attendees asking for additional classes. </p>
<p>There’s also been great success on the scholarship front. The students now feel empowered to apply for scholarships or similar support. <a href="https://www.kemu.ac.ke/index.php/news-items/573-one-of-our-students-is-a-grace-hopper-scholarship-winner">Nyariak Deng</a>’ became the first-ever student from our university to attend the 2016 Grace Hopper Conference in Houston, Texas, on a full scholarship from Anita Borg Institute. This is the largest annual gathering of women technologists in the world.</p>
<p>Her achievement is particularly worth celebrating since 70% of those studying computing at my university are men. It is crucial to encourage women students to get involved in mentorship programs. </p>
<p>But it’s also important to note that the mentoring program I run is open to both men and women – universities shouldn’t ignore male students who need support and assistance.</p>
<h2>Mentoring matters</h2>
<p>All of this has proved to me how much university mentoring programs can offer. The quality of higher education in Kenya has been <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/World-Bank-raises-concern-over-Kenya-s-graduates/-/1056/2893556/-/14wh4u2z/-/index.html">repeatedly criticised</a>. Some of the “fixes” are obvious: hire more quality academics, improve research culture and improve university facilities.</p>
<p>But immersive, active mentorship is also vital. It is a way to introduce students to the world of work in more ways than just through curriculum and classroom activities. </p>
<p>It is also a way to keep academics engaged and excited about their work. I am humbled to have recently been nominated for a “<a href="http://www.kenyanvibe.com/kenyan-women-trailblazers-feted-zuri-awards/">Zuri Award</a>” which recognises women who contribute positively to their communities in Kenya. This recognition, along with the mentees’ excitement, has given me the much needed impetus to continue holding the ladder for students in computer science.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73280/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>A Women Techmaker's mentorship session that formed part of this mentorship program was funded by Google. </span></em></p>Mentoring programs can be enormously valuable for students, both in terms of their academic performance and their professional development.Dr. Chao Mbogho, Researcher and Lecturer of Computer Science, Mentor, Kenya Methodist UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/737852017-02-28T14:52:25Z2017-02-28T14:52:25ZThabo Mbeki calls for a ‘rebirth’. Is South Africa up to the task?<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/158725/original/image-20170228-29924-hwysw7.JPG?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Thabo Mbeki during his inauguration as Chancellor at UNISA.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Deaan Vivier/Netwerk24</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The appointment of former South African president <a href="http://www.mbeki.org/profile-of-former-president-thabo-mbeki/">Thabo Mbeki</a> as Chancellor of one of the country’s largest tertiary institutions, the University of South Africa (UNISA), comes at a unique moment in the country.</p>
<p>Universities are struggling to cope with student movements’ revolutionary demands for relevant, decolonised and free education. In his <a href="http://www.enca.com/south-africa/catch-it-live-thabo-mbeki-inaugurated-as-chancellor-of-unisa">inaugural speech</a>, Mbeki raised a number of issues, two of which I’d like to analyse here. He explored the idea of “the university” and its role, and also outlined his understanding of the role that knowledge plays in society.</p>
<p>The speech stretched far back into Africa’s history. It also looked ahead to how universities might free themselves of racism, tribalism, regionalism, sexism, patriarchy and xenophobia. This is a mammoth task which calls for what Mbeki described as “a rebirth”. </p>
<p>The million dollar question is whether South Africa’s current intellectuals and academia are up to the task?</p>
<h2>What universities should be</h2>
<p>Mbeki drew on several sources to explain his views on what a university should be.</p>
<p>The first was <a href="http://www.wsu.ac.za/campuslife/indaba/documents/challenges%20facing%20the%20Higher%20Education%20Sector.pdf">a document</a> drafted during his presidency. It was complied by a working group he convened, and dealt with the biggest issues facing higher education in South Africa. </p>
<p>These included changing the way government funded universities; increasing access for disadvantaged black students to higher education; redressing the racial and gender demographic profile of teaching staff; and Africanising and decolonising the curriculum. This working group and its output were designed to help institutions of higher learning to position themselves as agents of transformation in society. </p>
<p>The information gathered by this working group contributed to how Mbeki thinks today of “the university” and its role. But he was also shaped by the more distant past, taking the audience back to 1963. <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/news/1999/oct/15/guardianobituaries">Julius Nyerere</a> was inaugurated that year as the first black Chancellor of the University of East Africa (today the universities of Dar es Salaam, Nairobi and Makerere). The 1960s were dominated by African nationalists’ demand for African universities that were supportive of the nation-building projects and national development plans. </p>
<p>Mbeki also drew from a more modern national development plan. It was drafted in South Africa just a few years ago and is intended as a blueprint for the country going <a href="http://www.gov.za/issues/national-development-plan-2030">towards 2030</a>. The national development plan describes universities as key institutions in a developing nation. Their task is to produce the necessary skilled labour and relevant knowledge for South Africa. They must also advance a social justice agenda in a country emerging from apartheid colonialism.</p>
<p>Mbeki also described universities as, ideally, institutions that respond to local as well as global imperatives. They should also work consistently against all forms of prejudice. They ought to be, he said, perpetually in search of the “elusive thing: truth”.</p>
<p>But South Africa in 2017 has a problem: it is perpetually in a frustrating moment of “waithood”. Commissions of inquiry take months, even years, to “inquire” into what’s already known about social ills. Right now, the country is waiting for the findings of <a href="http://www.justice.gov.za/commissions/FeesHET/docs.html">a commission</a> into higher education and training, specifically around the issue of fees. It completed its work some months ago. Now South Africans wait for answers.</p>
<p>Mbeki alluded to this lack of haste and urgency by <a href="http://talloiresnetwork.tufts.edu/wp-content/uploads/UniversityofDaresSalaam.pdf">quoting Nyerere</a>:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Yet it […] must be realised that we are in a hurry. We cannot just think, and debate endlessly the pros and cons of any decision. We must act; we have to tackle our problems now.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>This, then, is how Mbeki thinks of “the university” and its role. What of decolonisation and the role of knowledge in Africa?</p>
<h2>African Renaissance and identity</h2>
<p>Mbeki has repeatedly called for the “renaissance of Africa”, most famously during his “I am an African” speech in 1996.</p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/r7VX83JXnbo?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">Thabo Mbeki’s 1996 “I am an African” speech.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>During his speech at UNISA, Mbeki explained what this “renaissance” would entail: eradicating the legacy of centuries of slavery, imperialism, colonialism and neo-colonialism. These processes, he said, produced “a demeaning European perception of Africa and Africans”.</p>
<p>The key challenge is how universities help to achieve this renaissance and radically create a new view of South Africa, Africa and Africans while they themselves are stuck in the recycling of Eurocentric knowledge. </p>
<p>And these institutions were themselves imagined and constructed on the logic of a paradigm of difference. They emerged with racial, regional, patriarchal, xenophobic and hierarchical mentalities – all designed by colonialism. Surely it’s a mammoth task to expect them to play a meaningful role in social change and the transformation of knowledge while they are discursively entrapped in racism, tribalism, regionalism, sexism, patriarchy, and xenophobia. </p>
<p>This does not mean they should not try. Mbeki is correct: we desperately need a “rebirth”. He ended his speech with a reference to the Ghanaian novelist and thinker Ayi Kwei Armah who called on Africa to wake up from the spell of Eurocentrism. This awakening, Armah – and Mbeki – argued – is an essential prerequisite for intellectual rebirth and remaking the Africa society.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/73785/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>There’s no doubt South African universities need to undergo a real shift. But are the country’s current intellectual and academic forces up to the task?Sabelo Ndlovu-Gatsheni, Director of Scholarship at Change Management Unit at the Vice Chancellors' office; Professor and Head of Archie Mafeje Research Institute, University of South AfricaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/717272017-01-23T18:02:27Z2017-01-23T18:02:27ZMobile phones offer a new way for Africa’s students to learn programming<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153854/original/image-20170123-8067-im6k7g.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students could learn how to program with the right applications on their mobile phones.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>It’s not easy for Computer Science students at most universities in Africa to practice and develop their programming skills. They have the ability to program, but access to desktop or laptop computers might be a problem. I experienced this first-hand while teaching programming at a Kenyan university.</p>
<p>Most African universities have public computer laboratories, but these tend to be used to teach various classes, hence limiting students’ access. Many institutions may also have very few computers for a large number of students. This means that students might need to access computers outside the classroom in order to practise programming. Yet, most people in developing countries <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/03/19/internet-seen-as-positive-influence-on-education-but-negative-influence-on-morality-in-emerging-and-developing-nations/technology-report-15/">do not</a> own computers at home.</p>
<p>Limited access to PCs aggravates the learning difficulties faced by programming students. This is especially true because programming is best learnt through practice. However, most students own mobile phones. Cell phones are the most <a href="http://www.pewglobal.org/2015/04/15/cell-phones-in-africa-communication-lifeline/">widely used</a> devices among students in developing countries – and, indeed, among Africans more generally. </p>
<p>I therefore set out to develop a solution that would enable students to learn programming using mobile phones. The biggest challenge was turning mobile phones into functional programming environments. After all, they aren’t designed with programming in mind. They have small screens and small keypads that impede their use as programming platforms.</p>
<p>So I designed what I called scaffolding – or supporting – techniques that allow for the effective construction of programs on mobile phones using the Java language. These techniques can also address new learners’ needs. <a href="https://open.uct.ac.za/handle/11427/16609">The results</a>, taken from my work with 182 students at four universities in South Africa and Kenya, are encouraging.</p>
<h2>Techniques for mobile phones</h2>
<p>The scaffolding techniques I designed can be used on Android platforms. They are specifically aimed at students learning <a href="https://docs.oracle.com/javase/tutorial/java/concepts/">Object Oriented Programming</a> using Java.</p>
<p>The technology works by offering three types of scaffolding techniques:</p>
<ol>
<li><p>Automatic scaffolding, which are supporting techniques automatically presented on the interface. These include instructions on which buttons to press, error prompts and suggestions to view an example while working on a program. These scaffolding techniques fade away as the student gets more familiar with the application.</p></li>
<li><p>Static scaffolding, which involves supporting techniques that never fade away. I included two such techniques. One presents the layout of a Java program on the main interface, so the student always has a visual representation before interacting with the program. This technique is said particularly to <a href="http://web.media.mit.edu/%7Eedith/publications/1996-persp.taking.pdf">support</a> a new student’s learning. The second static scaffolding technique involves creating the program one part at a time, breaking it into smaller parts. This is an effective way to support the creation of a program on small screen devices like mobile phones.</p></li>
<li><p>User-initiated scaffolding, which are supporting techniques that a student can activate. Examples include hints, examples and tutorials.</p></li>
</ol>
<figure class="align-left zoomable">
<a href="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=1000&fit=clip"><img alt="" src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=237&fit=clip" srcset="https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=1 600w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=2 1200w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=600&h=708&fit=crop&dpr=3 1800w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=1 754w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=30&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=2 1508w, https://images.theconversation.com/files/153853/original/image-20170123-8082-1wzg9c.png?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=15&auto=format&w=754&h=890&fit=crop&dpr=3 2262w" sizes="(min-width: 1466px) 754px, (max-width: 599px) 100vw, (min-width: 600px) 600px, 237px"></a>
<figcaption>
<span class="caption">A student puts the scaffolding for mobile phones to the test.</span>
<span class="attribution"><span class="source">Dr Chao Mbogo</span></span>
</figcaption>
</figure>
<p>I tested these techniques on the students while they constructed Java programs on mobile phones. Their feedback was largely positive and suggested that scaffolding techniques specifically designed for mobile phones and based on students’ needs could support the learning of programming using a mobile phone. </p>
<h2>Findings and challenges</h2>
<p>Desktop programming environments are complex interfaces. Large screens make it possible for students to be exposed to large amounts of information in one sitting. Large screens also mean that students can be given support, in one place, without having to leave the interface. Providing all this functionality and support in one interface doesn’t work well on small screens.</p>
<p>But my research suggests that small screens have some advantages. Students told me that the more simple interface on a small screen helped them to focus on the task at hand. When they had to create a program one step at a time, they didn’t have to grasp a huge amount of information all at once. This may assist their learning in the long run. </p>
<p>Certainly, the study wasn’t perfect. The scaffolding I developed was only for Android platforms, which excludes users from other platforms such as Windows and iOS. And while mobile phones are far more common among students than private desktop or laptop computers, there are some students who do not have and cannot afford even these devices. </p>
<p>My research is not over yet. My next steps will take these problems into account. For example, the techniques I designed will be tested on other programming languages – such as C++ – and on other mobile platforms. I am also keen to investigate the design of such scaffolding for tablets which are becoming more common among African university students.</p>
<h2>Next steps</h2>
<p>The study I’ve described here relates to my PhD, which I was awarded at the University of Cape Town in December 2015. Since then a number of my peers have suggested other areas to explore and improve. From 2017 my programming students at Kenya Methodist University will use the prototype I tested in a longitudinal study. None of them have ever used a mobile phone to program, so this will be a new experience.</p>
<p>For the foreseeable future, African universities and other institutions offering programming subjects will continue to struggle with resources. As long as this situation persists and students’ access to mobile phones and tablets grows, the techniques I’m developing could offer a smart solution that allows the continent to keep producing young programmers.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/71727/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chao Charity Mbogo received funding for her Ph.D. research, related fieldwork and related conference grants from Hasso Plattner Institute (HPI), Department of Computer Science at the University of Cape Town, Google, The International Network for Postgraduate Students in the area of ICT4D (IPID), ACM-W, and Schlumberger’s Faculty for the Future fellowship. </span></em></p>Computer programming is best learned through practice, but students in developing economies don’t always have access to desktop or laptop computers. Mobile phones may be the solution.Dr. Chao Mbogho, Researcher and Lecturer of Computer Science, Mentor, Kenya Methodist UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/672602016-11-29T17:44:49Z2016-11-29T17:44:49ZThe way economics is taught needs an overhaul: a South African case study<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/146030/original/image-20161115-31148-mef3en.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Economics lecturers need to teach their students about more than just numbers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Philimon Bulawayo</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>Economics is a discipline that ought, at its best, to explain the world and its complexities. Unlike physics, it is not an exact science. Due to its nature as a social sciences, lecturers must assist students to understand the complex relationships between companies, governments, consumers and diverse stakeholders. They also need to guide their students to develop critical thinking skills and information literacy. And this goes beyond to an understanding of critical aggregates such as gross domestic product (GDP), inflation and unemployment rates.</p>
<p>It is particularly crucial to revisit the <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/20757">economics curriculum</a> in the light of recent global developments. In the years since the 2008 financial crisis, there’s been <a href="https://www.ft.com/content/f015a3ac-4aed-11e3-ac3d-00144feabdc0">much debate</a> about whether universities are doing enough to produce economics graduates ready for the real world. There’s been a rise of student societies committed to <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/commentisfree/2014/apr/07/uk-universities-alternative-economics-models-post-crash-society">new ways</a> of approaching the discipline.</p>
<p>What’s become increasingly clear is that teaching economics needs to be <a href="https://www.ineteconomics.org/topic/teaching-economics">tightly connected to real life</a>. This grounds teaching in students’ economic realities, enabling them <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/20757">relate better to economics knowledge</a>. Undergraduate students, particularly those in their first year of study, must be given the opportunity to engage with different economic actors such as business managers and analysts. They must be given the chance to strongly draw on daily realities.</p>
<p>To teach hyperinflation, for instance, economics lecturers could choose to focus on the Zimbabwean example. They could invite a Zimbabwean economist to their classroom to tell the story. Or what about studying the effect of competition and regulation on small companies? An entrepreneur would be well placed to share her experiences.</p>
<p>Sadly, <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/20757">research</a> that one of us has conducted suggests undergraduate economics students are not being taught effectively. </p>
<h2>What our research and experience showed</h2>
<p>In both the global North and South, economics tends to be taught with micro- and macroeconomic models that are quite disconnected from sociopolitical realities. Economics lecturers are usually experts in statistics and mathematics, which provide tools for developing these models. Of course, this isn’t a bad thing. But the research suggests that such experts also need to develop pedagogical competencies. This would use a educationalist’s perspective to contribute to the teaching of economics in higher education. </p>
<p>The <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/20757">research</a>, which examined economics teaching of first-year undergraduate students at a South African research-intensive and global African university, reached three empirical conclusions. </p>
<p>First, the economics curriculum must be aligned with undergraduate students’ real-life contexts. Second, the economics curriculum must be rethought in light of <a href="http://www.res.org.uk/view/article7Apr13Features.html">ongoing debates</a> within the discipline. Finally, there’s a need for economics lecturers to undergo teacher training – what educationists refer to as <a href="http://infed.org/mobi/what-is-pedagogy/">pedagogy</a>. </p>
<p>It’s not enough for lecturers to know about the discipline: they must actually know how best to teach and assess students. This has significant implications for student’s learning, and the <a href="http://wiredspace.wits.ac.za/handle/10539/20757">pedagogical development of the economics faculty</a> cannot be overemphasised. </p>
<h2>Renew economics curriculum and pedagogy</h2>
<p>Lecturers should use learning materials that are contextual to the economies where learners study. Students will feel more engaged in their studies if they see how learning economics can help them unpack the complexities of the world they live in.</p>
<p>When it comes to pedagogy, the development of online learning management platforms offers the possibility to make the discipline of economics more attractive. This draws on the power of the internet as a tool for teaching. It gives students the opportunity to practice and learn outside the classroom. When lecturers adopt a <a href="https://theconversation.com/will-the-university-of-adelaides-lecture-phase-out-be-a-flop-44074">flipped classroom pedagogy</a>, students can begin their learning at home through online materials. They can then apply their knowledge in class through case study discussions and collaborative projects. This flipped classroom approach can truly engage students with the richness of economic analysis.</p>
<p>But for all of this to happen, lecturers need more training. This will equip them with the skills and confidence to break out of the “sage on the stage” mould. This sort of “<a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/00131940802368554?scroll=top&needAccess=true">chalk and talk</a>” teaching does students a disservice. It doesn’t give them a chance to develop critical thinking skills.</p>
<h2>Get lecturers engaged</h2>
<p>So, if lecturers are to better teach economics in the current global context and help students critically reflect on economic policies, they need further training in pedagogy. Today’s economics lecturers, who are predominantly academic economists, have a strong disciplinary background. But this doesn’t give them the skills to teach effectively.</p>
<p>Pedagogical training would enhance lecturers’ ability to ascertain student learning, beyond just passing examinations. Academic development through <a href="https://elearn.wits.ac.za/home/resources/PGDipHE_flyer_Final.pdf">a higher education qualification</a> or <a href="https://www.uj.ac.za/corporateservices/ads/ADC/PASD">specific workshops</a> in higher education teaching could prepare these disciplinary experts for university teaching. The skills they’ll learn will empower academics to branch out of traditional economics teaching that has tended to focus largely on students’ mathematical competencies. </p>
<p>Beyond this, the complex nature of the economics discipline and the dynamics of globalisation in the 21st century justify the need for university teachers and students to engage more broadly through <a href="http://www.isipe.net/open-letter/">interdisciplinary approaches</a>. Drawing on other disciplines in the social sciences and the humanities, students can better understand the broader social and moral implications of economics decisions.</p>
<p>This is not to say that teaching economic models is obsolete. We do not contend that models should be banned from the classroom. Instead, our argument is that lecturers should encourage students to engage with their real-life economic context to acquire knowledge but also to critically reflect on the factors and impacts of economic decisions. Economic models can’t be taught in a vacuum, they need to be applied critically. Critical thinking skills and information literacy are crucial if students are to be empowered.</p>
<p>This echoes Oxford University economist Margaret Stevens’ <a href="http://www.res.org.uk/view/art1Apr15Comment.html#n2">argument</a> that it’s time to find a balance between teaching models and encouraging students’ autonomous thinking. </p>
<p>Students should be assessed on their capacity to critically analyse economic problems using appropriate data and aggregates. They must be encouraged to develop critical thinking skills and information literacy to locate and critically assess information available online. This all feeds into what we feel is the ultimate goal of teaching economics: to equip students with the autonomy to understand economic policies and become thoughtful economic actors.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67260/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Emmanuel Ojo receives funding from National Research Foundation (NRF). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Loise Jeannin works for the University of Johannesburg as a Postdoctoral Research Fellow.</span></em></p>In both the global North and South, economics tends to be taught with micro- and macroeconomic models that are disconnected from sociopolitical realities. We suggest new ways of teaching economics.Emmanuel Ojo, Lecturer, Faculty of Humanities, University of the WitwatersrandLoïse Jeannin, Postdoctoral Research Fellow in Higher Education, University of JohannesburgLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/680802016-11-20T19:49:14Z2016-11-20T19:49:14ZDecolonisation: academics must change what they teach, and how<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/145978/original/image-20161115-30742-89b5xe.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Students in South Africa are tired of Western, Eurocentric university curricula.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters/Mike Hutchings</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of decolonisation frightens many South African academics. Since students launched the movement to <a href="http://www.aljazeera.com/indepth/opinion/2016/10/feesmustfall-decolonising-education-161031093938509.html">decolonise higher education</a> in early 2015, I’ve heard several of my peers ask, “What do ‘they’ mean by decolonisation? Going back to the Stone Age? Teaching only about South Africa and Africa? Isolation from the rest of the world?”</p>
<p>Legal academic Joel Modiri <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2016-10-16-in-the-fall-decolonisation-and-the-rejuvenation-of-the-academic-project-in-south-africa/">points out</a> that these “cynical queries by mostly white academics, demanding that students explain to them what decolonisation even means, suggests their own illiteracy about the history and intellectual debates in their disciplines”.</p>
<p>These sorts of questions also show a distinct lack of engagement with the African continent. After all, other African countries have grappled with precisely the same issues for decades. In <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-17-what-is-an-african-curriculum/">Kenya</a>, <a href="http://dx.doi.org/10.1080/14649373.2016.1140260">Uganda, Tanzania</a> and <a href="http://escholarship.org/uc/item/13m5c5vp">Ghana</a>, academics and intellectuals have long tried to break down colonial shackles and decolonise their disciplines and universities.</p>
<h2>Reconstructing and rethinking</h2>
<p>More than two decades after apartheid ended, South African universities still tend to offer a view of the country and continent that is rooted in colonial and apartheid thinking.</p>
<p>The university curricula remain largely Eurocentric, dominated by what some academics have <a href="https://theconversation.com/decolonising-the-curriculum-its-time-for-a-strategy-60598">called</a> “white, male, Western, capitalist, heterosexual, European worldviews”. </p>
<p>Students are railing against this dominance at the expense of theories, thinkers and ideas from Africa and the global South. Black students also complain that their own lived experience isn’t reflected in lecture halls. In the old colonial fashion, they are the “other”, not recognised and valued unless they conform.</p>
<p>Decolonisation, for them, involves fundamental rethinking and reframing of the curriculum and <a href="http://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/9/21">bringing South Africa and Africa to the centre</a> of teaching, learning and research.</p>
<p>Decolonisation is also about <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533959808458649">reconstructing the African continent</a> from various perspectives. The continent’s history, the way its cultures and civilisations are studied and understandings of its political economy have been shaped by European thinkers.</p>
<p>It’s time for Africa to tell its own stories in university classrooms.</p>
<p>As I argue in <a href="http://thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/9/21">newly published research</a>, universities also need to end epistemic violence. This concept has been defined by the Indian scholar <a href="http://abahlali.org/files/Can_the_subaltern_speak.pdf">Gayatri Spivak</a> as the Eurocentric and Western domination and subjugation of former colonial subjects through knowledge systems. </p>
<p>The world views expressed through colonial knowledge systems were designed to degrade, exploit and subjugate people in Africa and other parts of the formerly colonised world. These views persist today at South African universities. Black students are confronted by texts and theories that negate their own history, lived experiences – and their dreams. They get little exposure to their own continent and all its complexity.</p>
<p>When Africa does appear in the curriculum, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/02533959808458649">argues scholar Mahmood Mamdani</a>, it is no more than a version of the continent offered by apartheid’s reviled Bantu education system:</p>
<blockquote>
<p>… students are being taught a curriculum which presumes that Africa begins at the Limpopo [River, which divides South Africa from Zimbabwe and Botswana], and that this Africa has no intelligentsia worth reading.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>So how might South Africa tackle epistemic violence and usher in an era of decolonisation of knowledge?</p>
<h2>African universities</h2>
<p>Contrary to what some academics fear, decolonisation is not about moving backwards to “the Stone Age”. Nor is it about isolating South Africa’s universities from the rest of the world.</p>
<p>The country’s Higher Education and Training Minister Blade Nzimande has made this clear, <a href="http://www.politicsweb.co.za/politics/higher-education-is-at-critical-juncture--blade-nz">saying</a> at a 2015 summit that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>Building African universities does not mean creating universities that are globally disengaged. They should be globally engaged, but not only by being consumers of global knowledge. They should be producers of knowledge as well, knowledge that is of relevance locally, continentally, in the South and globally.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>Universities must <em>incorporate</em> epistemic perspectives, knowledge and thinking from the African continent and the global South into their teaching and research.</p>
<p><a href="http://ahh.sagepub.com/content/15/1/29">As the academic Achille Mbembe</a> points out, decolonisation “is not about closing the door to European or other traditions. It is about defining clearly what the centre is”.</p>
<p>South Africa is not alone in the push to do away with colonial education. In fact, it’s very far behind the curve. </p>
<p>For example, the movement to decolonise education in Kenya started at the end of the 1960s, after the country won independence from Britain. Author and academic Harry Garuba, writing of this time, <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-17-what-is-an-african-curriculum/">says</a> that a “fundamental question of place, perspective and orientation needed to be addressed in any reconceptualisation of the curriculum”.</p>
<p>And, he <a href="http://mg.co.za/article/2015-04-17-what-is-an-african-curriculum/">points out</a>, one of the decolonisation movement’s main desires was that “Kenya, East Africa and Africa needed to be placed at the centre of teaching, learning and research at Kenyan universities”.</p>
<p>According to Garuba, the work that began more than four decades ago has led to “major curriculum transformation” not only in Kenya but across East Africa.</p>
<p>Still, while Kenya is far ahead of South Africa, the decolonisation process there isn’t over yet. One of the main reasons for this, <a href="https://theconversation.com/why-africas-professors-are-afraid-of-colonial-education-being-dismantled-50930">it’s been argued</a>, is that the majority of academics in Africa “are cut from the cloth of Western knowledge” and are often “reluctant to repudiate their very make-up” through dismantling colonial knowledge systems.</p>
<p>South African higher education system faces a similar challenge. Its universities will not be decolonised overnight. But the process is non-negotiable. The question is whether those academics who fear decolonisation will go along for this important ride.</p>
<h2>Academics must come on board</h2>
<p>The decolonisation project needs to encompass more than just changing the curriculum. How things are taught and academics’ attitudes to this process matter just as much.</p>
<p>Kenyan author Ngũgĩ wa Thiong'o <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Decolonising_the_Mind.html?id=qlZBsYQtSeoC&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">writes</a> that decolonisation of knowledge “calls for more than choice of materials”.</p>
<p>While adding the literature from the African continent and the global South is crucial in the decolonisation project, it is not enough. The attitude to the materials used in the curriculum – as wa Thiong'o points out – is as critical.</p>
<p>This presents a massive challenge. Universities can easily prescribe new readings and other materials but what about the academics’ attitudes to these and to new ways of thinking? </p>
<p>Research by the then <a href="https://www.cput.ac.za/storage/services/transformation/ministerial_report_transformation_social_cohesion.pdf">Department of Education</a> in 2008 found that many in the South African academy still assume that Western knowledge systems “constitute the only basis for higher forms of thinking”.</p>
<p>Are these academics willing to change today? Are they ready to unlearn, learn and fundamentally transform as academics and individuals? Are they ready to decolonise their minds, <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books/about/Decolonising_the_Mind.html?id=qlZBsYQtSeoC&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y">to borrow from wa Thiong'o</a>?</p>
<p>If not, the country will require new generations of academics and administrators. They must be at least literate about the historical injustices and diverse intellectual debates within their disciplines, <a href="http://www.dailymaverick.co.za/opinionista/2016-10-16-in-the-fall-decolonisation-and-the-rejuvenation-of-the-academic-project-in-south-africa/">to paraphrase Joel Modiri</a>, if they’re to reach senior university positions.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/68080/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Savo Heleta does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>More than two decades after apartheid ended, South African universities still tend to offer a view of the country and continent that is rooted in colonial and apartheid thinking.Savo Heleta, Manager, Internationalisation at Home and Research, Nelson Mandela UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/673392016-11-09T16:25:24Z2016-11-09T16:25:24ZUniversity transformation: the wrong research questions are being asked<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/144036/original/image-20161101-15814-elswds.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">University "transformation" has a unique meaning in South Africa.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Shutterstock</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>“Transformation” is a word regularly in global higher education research. It normally implies deep change in knowledge and curriculum. It often entails questions about inclusion, identity, diversity, power, intellectual traditions and intellectual justice.</p>
<p>In South Africa, the word means something <a href="http://www.thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/2">quite different</a> in higher education. Its definition is rooted in the country’s apartheid history. The transition to democracy in 1994 gave impetus to transform the higher education system into one that was open, relevant and non-discriminatory.</p>
<p>The problem is that transformation is often <a href="http://www.africansunmedia.co.za/Portals/0/files/extracts/Transforming%20Theological%20Knowledge%20Extract.pdf">loosely defined</a>. There’s no clear consensus about its scope and aims. This lack of clarity means that research in South Africa about a wide variety of themes under the umbrella term of “transformation” may not actually be asking the right questions. </p>
<p>And asking the wrong questions means getting the wrong and irrelevant answers. It also sets back policy changes. Eventually this may discourage much needed transformation in higher education.</p>
<p>To understand what questions are and are not being asked, two of my colleagues and I <a href="http://www.thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/2">analysed</a> 1050 articles published in the <a href="http://www.journals.ac.za/index.php/sajhe">South African Journal of Higher Education</a> between 2005 and 2015. </p>
<p>We found four main patterns in how authors engaged with issues of transformation. We also identified a few shortcomings in their engagements. If these are addressed, it could help ensure that this crucial topic is properly understood. This can then be translated into solid, realistic policy and changes.</p>
<h2>Research trends in South Africa</h2>
<p>Only 30 of the 1050 articles we examined used the words “transformation”, “transformative” or “transforming” in their titles. We then analysed the 30 in more depth. Four quite distinct approaches to understanding transformation emerged.</p>
<p>These were transformation through curriculum; transformation through structures; transformation through redressing equity; and transformation through access.</p>
<p><strong>1. Transformation through curriculum</strong></p>
<p>Twelve articles positioned transformation in the higher education curriculum. They suggested that transformation takes place through what is taught and how it is taught, how results are measured and, for instance, how technology is integrated into teaching.</p>
<p>The articles in this pattern also presented a curriculum as something that’s flexible and constantly evolving. The authors explored the ways that professional development and student feedback could be used to test, critique and apply curricular reforms.</p>
<p>Some of the articles in this pattern presented teacher education as a space in which to start transforming the curriculum.</p>
<p><strong>2. Transformation through structures</strong></p>
<p>Nine articles related transformation to structures in higher education. There were three key aspects in these articles: ideas, practices and the role of structure in nation building; broader national trends such as higher education policy evaluation and reform; and the structures within institutions that influence transformation. </p>
<p>These structures include institutional culture underpinned by hegemonic forces that shape institutional transformation. That is: university education with whom, by whom and for whom. The research in this pattern explored how an institution’s leaders can emerge as sceptics or advocates for transformation. It also looked at transformation emanating from the <a href="http://www.dhet.gov.za/Reports%20Doc%20Library/New%20Institutional%20landscape%20for%20Higher%20Education%20in%20South%20Africa.pdf">institutional mergers</a> of the mid 2000s.</p>
<p><strong>3. Transformation through redressing equity</strong></p>
<p>Six of the articles viewed transformation as redressing equity in higher education. In a post-apartheid South African context the expectation – as outlined in the <a href="http://www.che.ac.za/media_and_publications/legislation/education-white-paper-3-programme-transformation-higher-education">Education White Paper of 1997</a> – is that</p>
<blockquote>
<p>the higher education system must be transformed to redress past inequalities, to serve a new social order, to meet pressing national needs … to overcome the fragmentation, inequality and inefficiency which are the legacy of the past.</p>
</blockquote>
<p>These articles viewed equity redress as being embedded in race, gender and class. They took the view that once universities open up access across class, race and gender – for students and staff – they’re on the road to transformation. These researchers referred specifically to the inclusion and exclusion of academic staff within institutions, including through recruitment policies. </p>
<p>So transformation was viewed as occurring through employment equity, the reconfiguration of power structures and alternative ways of conceptualising an institution’s staff diversity profiles.</p>
<p><strong>4. Transformation through access</strong></p>
<p>Three of the articles argued that access is a prerequisite for successful transformation in higher education. These articles contended that access was shaped by contextual and personal forces. In these arguments, specific reference was made to the access of black women academics. The articles also discussed the access to tertiary education of underprepared students. </p>
<p>These students struggled with language barriers or literacy challenges. They often battled to read and write in the language of instruction.</p>
<h2>Shortcomings in research</h2>
<p>These national research trends give close attention to the structural and ideological dimensions that shape transformation. This focus <a href="http://www.che.ac.za/media_and_publications/legislation/education-white-paper-3-programme-transformation-higher-education">echoes</a> the issues <a href="https://www.cput.ac.za/storage/services/transformation/ministerial_report_transformation_social_cohesion.pdf">articulated</a> in national policy.</p>
<p>The research trends we uncovered address some crucial aspects of transformation. But they <a href="http://www.thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/2">fall short</a> in three critical ways: internationalisation, interdisciplinary contributions and embracing transformation’s inherent complexity.</p>
<p>In higher education, internationalisation refers to universities crossing borders to attain certain academic, economic, political and cultural aims. It is the process of integrating an international and intercultural dimension into the core activities of higher education – teaching, learning, research and community engagement. </p>
<p>Internationalisation is necessary to broaden the discourse around transformation. </p>
<p>It’s also crucial that research in higher education should look beyond the education discipline alone. It needs to include input from other disciplines. The <a href="http://scholarworks.wmich.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=1002&context=ijad">value of interdisciplinary research and education</a> is that it increases competitiveness: knowledge creation and innovation frequently occur at the interface of disciplines. It also helps to ensure better educational programmes, which then improves students’ ability to work in a problem-oriented way.</p>
<p>Finally, embracing the complexity of transformation – understanding it as as a fluid open-ended construct rather than a static notion that is only focused on <a href="http://www.thejournal.org.za/index.php/thejournal/article/view/6">demographic changes</a> – would help to bring about profound changes in the higher education domain.</p>
<p>If these approaches are given more attention in future research, South Africa’s policies can be greatly improved. This could make transformation in higher education tangible rather than just a pipe dream.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67339/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Anné H. Verhoef does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>If researchers pose the right questions about transformation, this can lead to better answers, stronger policies and, ultimately, real change.Anné H. Verhoef, Associate Professor in Philosophy, North-West UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/673132016-10-25T16:01:17Z2016-10-25T16:01:17ZWhen politics and academia collide, quality suffers. Just ask Nigeria<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/142750/original/image-20161022-1751-7vjem6.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">When governments and students collide, university systems wobble.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>South African universities’ academic year lies in limbo as student protests rage on. The debate about free education won’t end any time soon and students are <a href="https://theconversation.com/what-must-fall-fees-or-the-south-african-state-67389">demanding</a> that “fees must fall”. What many don’t seem to realise is that something else is on the verge of toppling: academic standards.</p>
<p>It’s just a matter of time before universities reach the tipping point into decline. All of the hard work that’s been done to set high standards and establish a good research <a href="https://www.timeshighereducation.com/world-university-rankings/best-universities-in-africa-2016">reputation</a> on the African continent and further afield could be undone.</p>
<p>This is not hyperbole. It’s backed up by universities’ experiences elsewhere in Africa. Once student protests and the politicisation of academia become the norm, quality suffers. Nigeria offers particularly chilling evidence of this, as I’ll explain in this article.</p>
<p>South Africa must urgently come up with sustainable, reasonable solutions for dealing with student protests before it is too late to save the country’s universities from a quality crisis.</p>
<h2>Students are political animals</h2>
<p>No matter what happens in the coming weeks and months, I can say with certainty that student protests are here to stay. </p>
<p>Students constitute a vibrant part of civil society, a natural element of a democratic society such as South Africa’s. Today, the students’ concern is access to decolonised, free and quality education. Later students may turn their attention to something that doesn’t directly relate to their own welfare but that of society at large.</p>
<p>History tells us that students can topple governments. They can drive regime change. In Indonesia, for example, the student movement played <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=RWrm7tPzs1AC&printsec=frontcover&source=gbs_ge_summary_r&cad=0#v=onepage&q&f=false">an instrumental role</a> in Suharto’s political manoeuvres and <a href="http://www.history.com/this-day-in-history/suharto-takes-full-power-in-indonesia">eventual takeover of power</a> from President Sukarno in the late 1960s. </p>
<p><a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080117160839331">The students</a> led protests against Sukarno’s government, even fighting his loyalists on the country’s streets. This eroded public trust in the government, paved the way for impeachment and ushered Suharto into power. Later, students turned on the man they’d supported. Throughout the three decades of his rule, they took Suharto on about corruption and the state of the economy. Eventually students occupied the Indonesian parliament grounds in May 1998 demanding Suharto’s resignation. <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20080117160839331">He resigned a few days later</a>.</p>
<p>This makes sense. Universities are training grounds for future leaders – and that includes political leaders. It’s rather duplicitous to praise students when they demonstrate excellence in science, technology or business that promises a great future, but simultaneously condemn them for political engagement. </p>
<p>It is better to nurture them in the discipline and art of political engagement. They should be groomed for this sort of leadership. Formal classes – at all levels of education, actually – provide an opportunity through which democratic principles and values can be taught. </p>
<p>Other groupings like civil society organisations and political parties could get involved too. They could work with students both in and outside classrooms to impart lessons in political engagement and strategy. These engagements would benefit individuals and society as a whole, grooming a new, disciplined body of leaders.</p>
<h2>The contagious effect of student protests</h2>
<p>This work is urgent.</p>
<p>The longer that student protests remain unresolved, the more intractable their unintended consequences will become. </p>
<p>One looming crisis point is the future of South Africa’s academics. Some, especially those who are internationally competitive, may decide to take their services to countries with less volatile academic environments. </p>
<p>This could have negative consequences for the country in the long term. In fact, <a href="https://www.idrc.ca/en/article/brain-drain-and-capacity-building-africa">statistics and studies</a> show that Africa is experiencing an <a href="https://www.enca.com/africa/extent-africa%E2%80%99s-brain-drain-frightening-mbeki">alarming exodus</a> of critical human capital that it needs for technological, scientific, and socioeconomic progress. The current protests and consequent suspension of classes or closures of universities will only exacerbate the situation in already-strained sectors such as health. </p>
<p>The flip side is that some academics see a genuine cause in students’ protests. This group is likely to stick it out and even to echo students’ demands. They risk being accused of fomenting trouble against the state; branded as elements that seek to disturb the peace and even dislodge the governing party from power. </p>
<p>Such a view of academics is not new to Africa. Take Nigeria, for instance. </p>
<h2>Nigeria’s struggles</h2>
<p>In the years following its <a href="http://www.sahistory.org.za/places/nigeria">independence from Britain</a>, Nigeria enacted pieces of legislation that systematically suppressed free and independent thinking. In his first reign over Nigeria between 1983 and 1985 General Muhammadu Buhari <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=V0FYXwY2sc8C&pg=PA117&lpg=PA117&dq=National+Association+of+Nigerian+Students+banned+buhari&source=bl&ots=X7gSWg7023&sig=2BTiFnFJWS6m0txz4gHYazSFtlE&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjJu4nNtu7PAhWhKsAKHY5tB84Q6AEINjAF#v=onepage&q=National%20Association%20of%20Nigerian%20Students%20banned%20buhari&f=false">banned</a> the National Association of Nigerian Students. He oversaw the arrests and detention of university students and sympathetic lecturers after students protested about the removal of subsidies on food and accommodation for students. </p>
<p>Buhari’s government also <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=SsCaOl0eXa4C&pg=PA173&dq=Nigerian+Medical+Association+buhari+dismisses&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjI3vP7tu7PAhUFKsAKHfNyBFEQ6AEIJTAA#v=onepage&q=Nigerian%20Medical%20Association%20buhari%20dismisses&f=false">dismissed</a> many academics in Health Sciences faculties across the country for participating in a strike called by the Nigerian Medical Association. </p>
<p>Institutions of higher learning, often because of anti-government protests, were <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=TbCRKwiUPtAC&pg=PA157&lpg=PA157&dq=Oyebade+nigeria+universities+closures&source=bl&ots=OHiCYnL2wz&sig=1bjFOrOQJTsF5cIN1qFKMykgQQw&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwjU4-Cht-7PAhXpAMAKHcgIBEgQ6AEIMzAE#v=onepage&q=Oyebade%20nigeria%20universities%20closures&f=false">often closed</a> during the 1990s.</p>
<p>The government created the National Universities Commission and tasked it with ensuring Nigerian universities were adequately funded as well as allocating grants from the Federal Government to federally controlled universities. Through a set of decrees passed from 1974 to 1988, the NUC <a href="http://eric.ed.gov/?id=EJ773123">ate away</a> at university senates’ autonomy.</p>
<p>Government also appointed “sole administrators” in the place of vice chancellors to oversee public universities. A 1975 decree gave the Federal Government and head of state total power to appoint and remove vice chancellors.</p>
<p>These measures were at least partly based on government suspicions that universities were breeding grounds for secessionist ideas. The government’s interventions robbed Nigerian universities of financial, academic and administrative autonomy. They also contributed to <a href="http://search.proquest.com/openview/21841be9e1e07d88c7fa98f7fcf499b6/1.pdf?pq-origsite=gscholar&cbl=48673">an exodus</a> of academics from the country’s universities – and from Nigeria itself.</p>
<h2>Politics is dangerous</h2>
<p>The politicisation of academia, then, definitely contributes to a decline in academic standards. This is a situation South Africa must work hard and fast to avoid. Yet, South Africa seems utterly reluctant to look elsewhere on the continent for lessons or learn from others’ experiences.</p>
<p>Two things are needed now: serious engagement and real leadership. Meetings, no matter how heated they get, offer an important space to improve relationships, gain understanding and develop a common approach towards decisively tackling the issue. </p>
<p>The department responsible for higher education must take the lead. Universities, students, the business community, industry and civil society all have a role to play too if South Africa is to find sustainable solutions. After all, this crisis has implications for the whole of society, now and for the future.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/67313/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Chris Changwe Nshimbi does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>The politicisation of academia definitely contributes to a decline in academic standards. This is a situation South Africa must work hard to avoid. It can learn from others on the continent.Chris Changwe Nshimbi, Research Fellow & Deputy Director, University of PretoriaLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/659772016-10-04T19:15:27Z2016-10-04T19:15:27ZPart-time lecturers are the norm in Kenya. There’s a plan to reverse the practice<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/139544/original/image-20160928-560-81472.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">Kenyan students don't get the best teaching from hurried, stretched part-time lecturers.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">Nathan Holland/Shutterstock.com</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>More and more universities are using part-time lecturers rather than employing full-time faculty members. In <a href="http://www.nytimes.com/2013/12/23/world/europe/part-timers-crowd-academic-hiring.html?_r=0">the US</a>, for instance, it’s estimated that <a href="http://www.forbes.com/sites/noodleeducation/2015/05/28/more-than-half-of-college-faculty-are-adjuncts-should-you-care/#6b29dccb1d9b">about 50%</a> of university teachers are only employed on a part-time basis.</p>
<p>A <a href="https://hbr.org/product/agile-talent-how-to-source-and-manage-outside-experts/14149-HBK-ENG">recent study</a> found that just 35% of these adjunct scholars would like to become full-time teachers. Many have other positions beyond universities and <a href="http://ejournals.bc.edu/ojs/index.php/ihe/article/view/9361">enjoy</a> the part-time nature of their academic work.</p>
<p>Part-timers make up 80% of teachers at <a href="https://books.google.co.za/books?id=NeJ3CwAAQBAJ&pg=PA42&lpg=PA42&dq=part+time+academics+latin+america&source=bl&ots=04Djc4QcuK&sig=-uEaAcXCGIcHYyiqmetvuFOdMxo&hl=en&sa=X&ved=0ahUKEwieiqf836zPAhWZOsAKHYMaCIoQ6AEIKTAD#v=onepage&q=part%20time%20academics%20latin%20america&f=false">Latin American</a> universities. Brazil is the only exception to the rule in this region. </p>
<p>In Kenya <a href="http://www.magazinereel.com/study-students-suffer-as-50-of-lecturers-take-up-part-time-jobs/">around 50%</a> of country’s public university lecturers are engaged in part-time teaching.</p>
<p>Kenya wants to reverse this, and buck the global trend. The cabinet secretary for education recently announced that part-time lecturers would be <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/news/Part-time-lecturers-on-way-out-in-bid-to-boost-quality/1056-3369716-40ex7c/index.html">phased out</a> at the country’s universities by 2018.</p>
<p>This is part of an attempt by Kenyan authorities to improve <a href="https://theconversation.com/kenyas-universities-are-in-the-grip-of-a-quality-crisis-54664">the quality</a> of university education. But the government, and universities, must be careful not to throw the proverbial baby out with the bathwater. Some adjunct academics bring vast experience from the working world beyond universities’ ivory towers. Their skills must not be lost.</p>
<h2>Saving money, compromising quality</h2>
<p>Money is tight for higher education in Kenya, as it is elsewhere in Africa. Universities save money by hiring part-time academics. These workers don’t <a href="http://www.nation.co.ke/lifestyle/DN2/Part-time-lecturers-cry-foul-over-pay/957860-1722782-505soxz/index.html">qualify for benefits</a> and are not paid full salaries. Many juggle several jobs to make ends meet. Typically, a part-time lecturer at a public university earns an average of US $360 a month. The <a href="http://www.fixusjobs.com/salaries-of-part-time-lecturers-in-kenya/">average salary</a> for the most junior full-time faculty members is US $1,300 a month.</p>
<p>The status quo is <a href="https://www.theguardian.com/global-development-professionals-network/2015/jul/29/kenyas-shuttling-lecturers-university-shortages-are-taking-toll">taking its toll</a>. Some part-time academics have <a href="https://www.standardmedia.co.ke/m/?articleID=2000192199&story_title=i-taught-at-university-and-supervised-lecturers-says-form-four-leaver">questionable qualifications</a>. Many are spread so thinly between institutions that they cannot possibly teach well. These academics bounce between private and public institutions, moving back and forth day after day to teach in different places.</p>
<p>The emergence of part-time university lecturers in Kenya can be traced to the early 1990s. This is when private universities were <a href="http://sgo.sagepub.com/content/5/4/2158244015612519">first authorised</a> to operate. The government agreed that, to cushion these newcomers against financial problems, only 50% of their teaching staff needed to be <a href="http://www.cue.or.ke/images/phocadownload/UNIVERSITIES_STANDARDS_AND_GUIDELINES_June_2014.pdf">full-time employees</a>. Many of their temporary staff were drawn from public universities.</p>
<p>Then, in the late 1990s, public universities started to expand rapidly. More students were admitted, and the numbers rose from <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/pdf/10.1080/13596749800200030">around 21,846</a> two decades ago to more than 440,000 <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20160509141752529">currently</a>. Many public institutions opened branch campuses. These were often staffed by part-time academics.</p>
<p>This led to the current situation in which <a href="http://www.magazinereel.com/study-students-suffer-as-50-of-lecturers-take-up-part-time-jobs/">around half </a> of Kenya’s public university lecturers are engaged in part-time teaching.</p>
<p>One of the other problems is that part-time lecturers tend only to be teachers. They don’t get involved in other university work like research, committee meetings and advising postgraduate students. They are also not loyal to one institution; they know <a href="http://www.primejournal.org/PJSS/pdf/2014/feb/Kyule%20et%20al.pdf">little or nothing</a> about an individual university’s missions, policies, procedures and programmes.</p>
<p>Of course, not all part-time lecturers are poor teachers. Research <a href="http://www.idpublications.org/wp-content/uploads/2016/06/Full-Paper-TEACHING-EXPERIENCE-OF-PART-TIME-LECTURERS-AFFECT-THE-QUALITY-OF-UNIVERSITY-EDUCATION.pdf">has found</a> that those with prior full-time teaching experience have much to offer universities. This group tends not to be taking on many piecemeal part-time appointments, and so are not thinly spread or rushing from campus to campus. </p>
<h2>Potential solutions</h2>
<p>The government’s move to phase out part-time lecturers was announced early in September 2016. By 2018, the Commission for University Education wants all lecturers to hold PhDs – a move that would lock out many part-timers, who hold lower degrees. </p>
<p>Some universities have already taken decisive action to deal with criticisms about their dependence on part-time lecturers. Mount Kenya University, a private institution, recently <a href="http://www.businessdailyafrica.com/Mt-Kenya-University-sends-home-2-900-part-time-lecturers/539546-3069560-e45e1vz/index.html">fired</a> 2,900 part-time lecturers and replaced them with 100 full-time lecturers, all of whom have PhDs.</p>
<p>A few public universities have decided to <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201607120080.html">close down</a> their branch campuses rather than bringing in more part-timers to bulk up teaching staff at these sites. </p>
<p>However Kenya’s universities choose to respond to the government’s decree, they must be careful not to shut part-time academics out entirely. Universities are often criticised for producing graduates who have no practical understanding or experience. To avoid doing this, they must hire experienced experts in professional and technical disciplines – architecture, engineering, law and medicine – as adjunct lecturers-of-practice who will bring real world work experiences into the classroom. </p>
<p>Kenya’s higher education sector shouldn’t be built entirely on the backs of part-time lecturers. But those adjunct academics who are qualified and competent must not be totally disregarded if universities are to boost their quality and cater for a growing student population.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65977/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Ishmael Munene does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Kenya has moved to phase out part-time lecturers in a bid to improve the quality of university education.Ishmael Munene, Associate Professor of Research, Foundations & Higher Education, Northern Arizona UniversityLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.tag:theconversation.com,2011:article/651142016-09-18T16:43:14Z2016-09-18T16:43:14ZIf Africa grows its universities cleverly, its economies will flourish<figure><img src="https://images.theconversation.com/files/137062/original/image-20160908-25272-1heut6s.jpg?ixlib=rb-1.1.0&q=45&auto=format&w=496&fit=clip" /><figcaption><span class="caption">As degrees become more commonplace, African graduates are struggling more to find jobs.</span> <span class="attribution"><span class="source">George Esiri/Reuters</span></span></figcaption></figure><p>The idea of “education for the masses” – rapidly increasing university enrolment rates – has <a href="http://portal.unesco.org/education/es/files/9619/10376170210CommissionI-E.pdf/CommissionI-E.pdf">changed the face</a> of higher education in the past 50 years. The term “massification” has been adopted to describe it.</p>
<p>Universities in the US, Britain, Russia, China, Singapore, Hong Kong, Malaysia, Japan and South Korea <a href="http://www.economist.com/news/leaders/21647285-more-and-more-money-being-spent-higher-education-too-little-known-about-whether-it">lead the pack</a> when it comes to opening their doors to more students. </p>
<p>These countries’ institutions also perform well by any measure of research and postgraduate output. They have shown that, over time, there’s no conflict between dramatically increasing access to university education and the quality of this tertiary education. </p>
<p>Africa’s universities are also growing rapidly. In 1999, there were <a href="http://monitor.icef.com/2015/03/african-summit-calls-for-major-expansion-of-higher-education/">around 3.53 million</a> students on the continent. By 2012, that figure had <a href="http://monitor.icef.com/2015/03/african-summit-calls-for-major-expansion-of-higher-education/">trebled to 9.54 million</a>. However, they must learn from more developed nations’ successes and failures to ensure that their massification is not just haphazard.</p>
<p>Massification needs policy, planning and funding. It must be done with a keen eye on a country’s economic needs. Otherwise, increasing graduate numbers will simply translate into increasing graduate unemployment.</p>
<h2>Graduate unemployment around the globe</h2>
<p>There are some 150.6 million tertiary students globally. That’s <a href="http://www.unesco.org/fileadmin/MULTIMEDIA/HQ/ED/ED/pdf/WCHE_2009/1745_trend_final-rep_ES_FP_090617a.pdf">roughly a 53% increase</a> from 2000. Degrees are becoming more commonplace and job markets around the world are seeing a glut of graduates. There simply aren’t enough jobs for all of them. </p>
<p>This is true on all continents and is related to several factors: a mismatch between graduates’ skills and labour market demands; an oversupply of graduates for certain fields, and structural policies. Recent studies <a href="http://www.theatlantic.com/business/archive/2012/04/53-of-recent-college-grads-are-jobless-or-underemployed-how/256237/">have found</a> that between 40% and 50% of US college graduates are overqualified for the work they’re doing.</p>
<p>The situation is similar in Britain, where <a href="https://www.hesa.ac.uk/data-and-analysis/publications/long-destinations-2008-09/introduction">underemployment among graduates</a> rose from 37% in 2001 to 47% in June 2013.</p>
<p>Graduate unemployment <a href="http://acetforafrica.org/highlights/unemployment-in-africa-no-jobs-for-50-of-graduates/">plagues Africa</a> too. </p>
<p>But the continent should not use this as an excuse to bring massification to a halt. Given Africa’s growth trajectory, it needs skilled graduates. To meet this need, universities must open their doors to more students. But they must do so armed with knowledge, lessons from elsewhere and strong funding models. </p>
<h2>A regional focus</h2>
<p>Funding models from other Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) countries provide some useful guidelines. Studying these will allow African universities to understand more about how to successfully pursue massification. Political will, government investment and a proper understanding of what sorts of graduates a country needs are all crucial. </p>
<figure>
<iframe width="440" height="260" src="https://www.youtube.com/embed/uyZwufrro7s?wmode=transparent&start=0" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen=""></iframe>
<figcaption><span class="caption">The US’s experiences with massification hold many lessons for African universities.</span></figcaption>
</figure>
<p>The massification of higher education must be linked to regional socioeconomic development strategies. Universities need to respond to their regions’ specific needs. </p>
<p>For instance, Ethiopia is focusing on <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201506250731.html">two major economic initiatives</a>: the development of hydroelectric power and the development of an agricultural sector that provides food security.</p>
<p>The initiatives are in their infancy. But Ethiopia is <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201506250731.html">already starting</a> to integrate infrastructure projects with research and skills development. Its <a href="http://allafrica.com/stories/201505190473.html">Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam</a> was a site for scientific research and innovation as well as students’ skill development.</p>
<p>A similar model was used for <a href="http://www.smartrailworld.com/nation-building-through-rail-high-speed-rail-and-south-korea">South Korea’s</a> high-speed railway system. The project spawned major innovations and bolstered local engineering skills.</p>
<p>These examples show that large national projects can be run in tandem with universities and other research institutes.</p>
<h2>Alignment is key</h2>
<p>University systems must also align with local industries. One of the most striking is in Rochester, New York led by the Research Foundation for the State University of New York. It is a public-private partnership with a clear mandate to create new jobs and innovative products.</p>
<p>This creates a symbiotic partnership in which both academics and students get practical, relevant exposure. Such partnerships also give universities the <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/the-press-office/2015/07/27/fact-sheet-vice-president-biden-announces-new-integrated-photonics">chance to share</a> laboratories and cutting edge research facilities with both industry and government. </p>
<p>This should feed both research and industry needs. Simultaneously, it can drive the creation of new industries. It can also encourage commercialisation and entrepreneurship. A university that specialises in agriculture or has a strong faculty of agriculture should be using its expertise to develop commercial projects. </p>
<p>For instance, Kenya is a major tea producer. Since the 1980s the country has run the <a href="http://www.tearesearch.or.ke/">Tea Research Institute</a>. It taps into an available commodity and produces research which harnesses that commodity’s potential.</p>
<p>When such initiatives are properly organised students can move between classrooms and, for instance, solving concrete agricultural problems. They then gain skills and new insights. And the products that spring from their ideas can generate more funding for their institutions.</p>
<p>This sort of thinking will lead to the development of <a href="http://www.oecd.org/science/inno/2101733.pdf">robust national innovation systems</a>. These systems coherently organise the research and development initiatives of private industry, public research institutions and universities. This makes it easier for research to <a href="https://www.whitehouse.gov/files/documents/ostp/PCAST/past_research_partnership_report_BOOK.pdf">feed into</a> national development.</p>
<p>If Africa’s universities can get this right, their quality and competitiveness will improve. They’ll be in a position to add value to industry and economic development more broadly – an attractive proposition for the private sector, which will then be more willing to pour funding into universities.</p>
<p>And, as students and professors become part of this collaborative system, the private sector is more likely to develop a seamless capacity for absorbing graduates. If the market is absorbing graduates, the value of a country’s degrees goes up.</p>
<h2>The Asian example</h2>
<p>This is not pie in the sky thinking. It has precedents in Asian countries like South Korea, Singapore, China and Malaysia, among others. There universities have been able to expand enrolments while simultaneously developing partnerships between industry and themselves.</p>
<p>China is considered a latecomer in university massification. In 1988, <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2015.1111751">there were 0.67 million</a> available places at China’s universities and colleges. By 2012, this <a href="http://www.tandfonline.com/doi/full/10.1080/01425692.2015.1111751">had climbed</a> to 6.89 million.</p>
<p>Until now its graduate unemployment rate has remained very high. But the country has in the past few years adopted <a href="http://www.universityworldnews.com/article.php?story=20110610213858656">a policy</a> of aligning its graduates’ skills to the emerging knowledge economy. It has realised a key lesson of massification: universities cannot be divorced from local, provincial and national economic development plans if they want their graduates to be employed.</p>
<p>Africa must apply this lessons to drive rapid and sustainable economic development. </p>
<h2>The way forward</h2>
<p>Africa’s universities need to take massification seriously. But they must also be aware of their own – and their countries’ – specific limitations.</p>
<p>A high-quality university education system must be realistic and appropriate to a nation’s stage of economic, technological and industrial development. A high-quality university is not simply a replica of one in the Western world. It must be grounded fully in addressing the local population’s tangible needs before it chases global prestige.</p>
<p>Africa’s universities need to start growing and developing in two dimensions: horizontally, in terms of reaching out to enrol more and more students; and vertically, in terms of total quality management. </p>
<p>If it is strategically managed, massification won’t just benefit individual universities and students. It will improve daily life for all those living on the continent.</p><img src="https://counter.theconversation.com/content/65114/count.gif" alt="The Conversation" width="1" height="1" />
<p class="fine-print"><em><span>Dr Emmanuel Ojo receives funding from National Research Foundation (NRF). </span></em></p><p class="fine-print"><em><span>Sandile Swana does not work for, consult, own shares in or receive funding from any company or organisation that would benefit from this article, and has disclosed no relevant affiliations beyond their academic appointment.</span></em></p>Global economic realities shouldn’t deter African universities from continuing to push for massification. But they must do so armed with knowledge, lessons from elsewhere and strong funding models.Sandile Swana, Lecturer at Wits Business School, University of the WitwatersrandEmmanuel Ojo, Lecturer, Faculty of Humanities, University of the WitwatersrandLicensed as Creative Commons – attribution, no derivatives.