Transcript The broader context of institutional change in African Universities A B Temu LET US VIEW FROM THE MOUNTAIN TOP!

The broader context of
institutional change in African
Universities
A B Temu
LET US VIEW FROM THE
MOUNTAIN TOP!
Trade, Environment and
sustainable NRM
• Africa accounts for just 2% of global trade
volume. Most of this is from agricultural and
natural resource products
• The near-stagnant productivity in Africa is a
result of ‘mining’ of soils forests and water
resources
• Africa’s biodiversity is at great risk due to
unsustainable harvesting practices and
inadequate capacity to address the issue, both
on farmland and in natural ecosystems
The European Consensus Nov 2005 wants to ‘Halt biodiversity
loss and promote biosafety and sustainable
management of biodiversity’
Africa’s weak economy reflects largely…
– stagnant agriculture – production, value adding,
marketing….
– Ineffective agricultural infrastructure and institutions
– Weak and ineffective investment in agricultural
education, research and innovation
– Unrealistic working conditions for the academia,
resulting in crippling brain drain or malaise
• African universities teaching agric and NRM have up to
38% of national research capacity, but it is poorly used
and targeted.
Drying land: threat to livelihoods
The hunger sweeping so many African
countries is exacerbated by 4 main
factors:
a) climate change
b) creeping land degradation and
desertification, and
c) inadequate risk mitigation strategies (e.g.
lack of strategic food reserves)
d) Declining farm labour (due to HIV
prevalence and rural to urban migration)
Failing crops
Multi-dimensional aspects of
Poverty Eradication
‘Combating poverty will only be successful if equal
importance is given to investing in people (first
and foremost in health and education and
HIV/AIDS, the protection of natural resources
(like forests, water, marine resources and soil) to
secure rural livelihoods, and investing in wealth
creation ‘
- The European Consensus Nov 2005
Multi dimensional solutions
• Policy reforms
• Transformation of African institutions
• Human resource capacity to drive the
change
• Partnerships and Links to sources of
knowledge
Human and institutional capacity are
fundamental considerations for
sustainability of any interventions
A multi-pronged transformation process
Multi--Stakeholder
participation (all
levels)
Effective
education &
graduates
Improved
learning
Curricula
changes
Political
commitment
Gap analysis and
awareness
creation
Policy
reviews
Faculty
attitudinal
change
Institutional
resources
and
innovation
Disturbing facts - agriculture
• Although women play a major role in agriculture,
they constitute only 12-15% of college and
university students in agric sciences
• The curricula and learning materials are
generally focused on production only and are far
removed from the context
• Agric graduates are trained to be employed, not
to develop agric enterprises
• In many cases, the students did not select agric
education in the first place
• Parents use scarce resources to educate
children so that they can exit farming!
Who is learning what?
50
Investing in minds
• To stimulate a coherent and strategic
approach through support to high-quality
tertiary education capacity
• Understanding links: Agriculture, forestry
and environment are very closely linked
• A life-long strategy for support to
education, research, access to and
transfer of knowledge
- EU strategy for Africa Oct 2005
The big picture
1. Links between education and livelihoods are
weak. The general public does not relate
positively with Science and Technology.
Until S &T actively improve and sustain
livelihoods, this will not change.
2. Redeeming Africa from poverty, ignorance and
disease requires more than science and
specific technologies. Major forms of societal
transformation are essential
Investing effectively and efficiently in S &T
for development is still largely unguided
The big picture..
3. African content in existing science and
technology is weak (innovations or
adaptations)
4. Working institutions are needed, plus effective
collaboration among institutions and countries
is a necessity
5. Possession of natural resources is probably
not as important as having the knowledge and
skills and technologies to tap resources and
convert them into assets for development
Thee case of
Agricultural education
The number of universities teaching agricultural sciences have
increased substantially (87 in 2002) but funding has not kept up,
resulting in:
– Inadequate teaching and research resources
– Low staff establishment levels and skewed age
distribution (few young scientists)
– Erosion of talent due to brain drain, exacerbated by
HIV/AIDS
– Teaching staff spread their efforts too thin on too
many activities, some irrelevant to their mandates
(Internal brain drain, in search of survival)
– Inadequate facilities for practical training
Who are the future farmers of Africa?
•Education policy
change
•Training teachers
•Contextualized
learning
Currently, most rural youth end up as unskilled farmers
or petty traders in agric products
They are poorly prepared to apply life skills
School programs can be improved to link better with
rural life and communities
?
Do you set aside some
time to reflect deeply on
the challenges of
development in Africa?
Thank you !