Regional
France Signs Agreement with West African Universities
The University of Bamako [1], Mali, Ouagadougou University [2], Burkino Faso and University Cheikh Anta Diop [3] Dakar, Senegal together with the French Conference of University Presidents [4], have signed a cooperation agreement for higher education and research designed to promote a regional partnership between African and French universities and contribute to development of West African scientific communities.
The arrangement will include joint degree programs and jointly supervised PhD theses, reported the Senegalese news agency Xamle. According to officials quoted in media reports, the collaborative effort is being made possible by the convergence of education systems through reforms inspired by the Bologna process [5]. For education systems in West Africa modeled on the French system, structural reforms have mirrored those being undertaken in France through the “LMD” (licence, master, doctorat) initiative.
The three universities and the CPU are planning to work together to set up the LMD system by placing emphasis on professional licences (bachelor-equivalent vocational degrees), international masters degrees and regional doctoral schools.
Through Résao, the network for excellence in West African education, the African universities would also work “to organize their courses according to the priorities of each country,” according to the rector of the University of Bamako, Ginette Siby. “There won’t be any breakdown, and we won’t have problems with mutual recognition of our diplomas and courses because, between now and 2012, all the universities in the West African region will have had to adopt the LMD system,” she said.
– University World News [6]
November 9, 2008
Growth Has Come too Fast to Assure Quality
The university sector across Africa has expanded so rapidly over the last 15 years that quality has not been able to keep up, according to a recent World Bank report. The major areas of concern are teaching quality and research activity, both of which have failed to keep up with the rate at which university access is being increased in sub-Saharan Africa.
The report, “Accelerating Catch-Up. Tertiary Education for Growth in Sub-Saharan Africa [7]” found that funding for the region’s universities is relatively high in terms of international standards as a proportion of gross domestic product; however, the investment is poorly focused. This, the report says, led to a drop in the standard of education at a time when the sector was being damaged by a lack of attention to quality assurance and the needs of industry and by governance problems.
“Rapid expansion channeled students disproportionately into less expensive ‘soft’ disciplines and siphoned off research funding to cover the costs of more students,” the report found.
Between 1991 and 2005, enrollments increased three-fold. However, between 1980 and 2005, annual public funding fell from an average of US$6,800 per student to $981 in 33 developing African countries.
“In 2004, just 28 percent of students were enrolled in science and technology fields, and research output faded as Africa devoted just 0.3 percent of GDP to it,” the study says.
The result has been a drop in the number of research students, which has led to faculty shortages. Meanwhile, the poor-quality graduates that universities have been producing has led to a soaring graduate unemployment rate, which currently exceeds 20 percent in nine of the 23 countries that supplied data. Other troubling factors outlined in the report include low academic salaries, declining staff-to-student ratios and a brain drain that has resulted in vacancy rates for university posts running at 25 to 50 percent.
– World Bank [7]
October 2008
Cameroon
New Academic Year Reveals Huge Capacity Constraints
A record number of students sought places at Cameroon’s institutions of higher education this year, and a record number of qualified students missed out on places because of capacity constraints.
The Ministry of Higher Education [8] reported that there were 40,000 applications for 2,000 seats at the University of Maroua alone. A record 52,000 students graduated from the secondary system with eligibility for places in the tertiary system after passing their baccalauréat or GCE A level examinations. A majority of those who found spots did so at one of Cameroon’s seven severely overcrowded public universities. The University of Douala enrolled 5,000 new students, adding to the 35,000 returning students. The university has a capacity for 15,000 students, a figure which has doubled in the last two years with the addition of new facilities. However, the faculty roll has remained stagnant at 500, which means a student, teacher ratio of 80:1.
– Cameroon Tribune [9]
October 15, 2008
Nigeria
Britain Eyes Nigeria as Next Student-Recruiting Frontier
According to officials at the British Council [10], Nigeria could become one of Britain’s most important source countries for international student enrollments. British and Nigerian university leaders and education policymakers attending a recent British Council ‘policy dialogue’ in Abuja heard how the country’s potential is so great that it could come to occupy the position held by India ten years ago when that market began its rapid expansion.
The assertion was tempered with a warning that this could be achieved only through ‘deep partnerships’ between foreign and Nigerian universities and colleges, and if the foreign institutions were prepared to invest more to help the country develop vocational courses that lead directly to employment.
Higher and further education institutions from the UK and elsewhere that create courses to help Nigerian students begin professional careers upon graduation stand to benefit from the country’s huge and largely untapped intellectual resources. At the Abuja meeting, Nigerian university leaders hoped to persuade their government to help them make the most of this situation by lifting legal restrictions on foreign universities and colleges in setting up teaching partnerships with their institutions in the most sought-after disciplines.
Peter Upton, Director of the British Council in Nigeria, said, ‘Nigeria is the powerhouse of West Africa and one of the leading economies in sub-Saharan Africa. It is already one of the top ten sources of international students for British universities and colleges. It sends more than 12,000 students a year for further and higher education courses in the UK.’
– International Focus [11]
October 29, 2008
Senegal
Bologna-Inspired Doctoral Reforms
Cheikh Anta Diop University [3] in Dakar has established seven multi-discipline doctoral schools, under reforms inspired by the Bologna process. Planning for the new schools began in 2003, reports Le Soleil newspaper. They began operations in October.
According to Research Director Professor Bhen Toghebaye, the reforms are aimed at training “doctoral students not only to replace teachers and researchers, but also to stimulate all economic activities – producing high level specialists with a multidisciplinary culture who are highly educated and therefore adaptable, and to harmonize the organization of PhD studies with international systems”.
– Le Soleil [12]
October 27, 2008
PM Decries Failing Education
The Prime Minister of Senegal brought attention to the “deep crisis” that he says has gripped African higher education for the past 20 years. Sheik Hadjibou Soumare, addressing a recent conference in Dakar, said that falling standards had prompted most African governments to undertake reforms, but with mixed results. Ann Therese Ndong-Jatta, the Gambian-born director of Unesco’s office for education in Africa [13], added that education remained the best guarantee for viable development in the continent and that Africa should aim to emulate the success of countries in Asia and Latin America. She said that between 5 and 7 percent of the African population had access to university education, which was far too low.
– The Times Higher Education Supplement [14]
November 20, 2008
Sierra Leone
A Note on Accreditation Procedures
Following email communications with Education Ministry officials in Sierra Leone, WES has been informed as to the accreditation and recognition procedures for institutions of higher education in the country.
All recognition and accreditation decisions are based on various statutory instruments, the most important of which is the Education Act of 2004, the University Act of 2005, the National Council for Technical Vocational and other Academic Awards Act (NCTVA) of 2001, and the Tertiary Education Commission Act of 2001.
The procedure for approval starts with a letter of intention to the relevant regulatory body, stating the aims and objectives of the proposed institution. A team from the Ministry of Inspectors of Schools will then visit the site to inspect the facilities, assess proposed curriculums, faculty positions and other requirements as set by the Ministry. The Inspection report is then submitted to the Ministry for the attention of the Director General of Education and the Minister of Education before approval is given or denied for operations to begin at the school.
– Ministry of Education Communication
November 2008
Uganda
Columbia University Helps to Develop Tertiary Programs
New York’s Columbia University [15] has formed an alliance with five non-governmental organizations to open up an Institute of Peace and Development Studies in the Gulu district of Uganda.
Expected to begin operations in 2009, the institute will begin by offering certificate courses and later expand to diploma and degree courses. Columbia is working with the International Rescue Committee, Save the Children, UNICEF, Christian Children Fund and the Commission for Refugee Women and Children.
– New Vision [16]
October 5, 2008
Zimbabwe
‘Student Bonding’ to Stem Brain Drain
The Zimbabwean government has introduced an initiative designed to reduce the number of educated nationals leaving the country. Under the student ‘bonding’ scheme, students will not receive a qualification on graduating but only after working for the state for a stipulated period.
The scheme was premised on students receiving government support that covers, among other things, tuition fees, accommodation and food. But, with inflation currently at a staggering 231 million percent, the government is failing to provide the above-mentioned support; yet is still forging ahead with cadetships to reduce the brain drain, according to University World News. The scheme was scheduled to start this year; however, with universities mostly closed due to faculty strikes and severe budgetary shortfalls, it will likely have to wait.
– University World News [17]
November 9, 2008