Kenya has been selected as the East African host of the planned Pan-African University, says the Ministry of Higher Education permanent secretary, Prof Chrispus Kiamba. This is expected to be a specialized institution comprising a network of universities to help supply the continents much needed, high-level human capital.
This is another educational crown for Kenya which is hosting the Adventist University of Africa, based at Rongai, Nairobi, out to meet the “tremendous challenges in leadership needs,” says the chancellor, Prof. Brempong Owusu-Antwi, and “nurturing capacity at various levels” in Africa.
The Pan-African University choice was made at a recent Conference of Ministers of Education meeting in the Ethiopian capital Addis Ababa organized by the 53-member African Union, which is driving the project. “Education is critical for Africa's development and integration because of its role in developing high-level human resources,” says Prof Sam Ongeri, the Minister of Education, who is the chair of the Conference of Ministers of Education, adding that “African countries should share knowledge and experience in order to improve the quality of and access to education continent-wide.”
East Africa is called to establish a regional hub for basic sciences, technology and innovation as well as satellite campuses. The African Union (AU) has prepared a report detailing where satellite colleges will be based in the region to provide opportunities for other countries.
The North, West, Central and Southern Africa are some of the four Africa other geographical regions notwithstanding that they are at a more advanced stage than East Africa in launching Pan-African University hubs and satellite campuses.
West Africa hub is based at Lagos University in Nigeria - will focus on earth and life sciences. That of Southern Africa is based in South Africa will concentrate on space sciences, and a Central Africa hub in Cameroon will cover social and human sciences and governance. North Africa will host a hub for water and energy sciences, though the host has not been decided.
Participants who attended the Addis Ababa meeting say that the decision was hard to make, as most East African countries had expressed interest in hosting the hub. This decision is expected to raise educational profile of Kenya, they say. Kenya, Sudan and Uganda were the main contenders for the hub during proceedings at the Addis Ababa meeting they reveal.
In the month of April the ministers of education from the East Africa region met here in Nairobi to try to hammer out a decision, but failed because of the disagreement. Other nations in the region are Tanzania, Comoros, Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Madagascar, Mauritius, Rwanda and Somalia.
The Kenyan government is yet to select from among its 30 universities, seven which are public and the rest privately run, the one to host the hub. This will heighten soaring competition among these institutions, says one of the participant.
The AU says that the Pan-African University was born to strengthen "higher education in Africa, and capitalize on the performances of strong universities. It is envisaged as a continental network of institutions training postgraduate students."
Adding that: "The aim is to create a specialist university network that contributes to Africa's development and helps to reverse the continent's under-achievement in science by training a critical mass of people with high-level skills in key areas identified as drivers of growth. It will also support research, encourage collaboration between scientists within Africa and in the diaspora, and promote greater collaboration between universities and industry."
New higher education infrastructure will not be constructed, at least not for now. Rather, existing universities will be used as satellites across the continent. The African Union, international partners and host institutions will support the university financially and most funding will be spent on bursaries for students.
The higher education working group of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA) has relocated to the African Union to boost the commission's work in higher education and will also support the fledgling Pan-African University.
The participants raised concerns over lack of funding which continues to dog education across Africa, raising doubts about the sustainability of the university network. Kenya's Minister for higher Education Mr. William Ruto in his speech during the science week promised that the government will commit the required 1 per cent of gross domestic product to science and technology come this financial year to realize “a knowledge driven economy.”
"Much as African governments appreciate the core value of tertiary education and research, the reality in terms of public investment, general allocation of resources and policy focus seems to belie this appreciation," says the AU concept paper on the continental university, adding that:” In general, the system is under-funded all over the continent."
The impending launch of the Pan-African University comes at a time when the African Union is scaling up efforts to improve quality in Africa's universities. It is seeking to subject institutions to fresh scrutiny, with the aim of establishing the quality and relevance of degree courses being offered at universities across the continent.
Africa's huge population of one billion people is” looking to education to be the engine for economic and social growth on the continent," says the deputy chair of the African Union Commission, Erastus Mwencha.
No comments:
Post a Comment