Kajsa Hallberg Adu, Ph.D, Personal Blog
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Did you know that private higher education in on the rise in Ghana and Africa?
Read about why and what consequences it is having on Ghana in my feature article in University World News – a newsletter about global and local academic trends.
You can subscribe to the African version of the informative newsletter here.
Picture of a sculpture of a graduate from a public Ghanaian university, University of Ghana just outside of Accra. Photo: Kerstin Alm
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Today, I came across two interesting Africa Reports that I wante to share with you.
AR#1. The African Commission’s Final Report.
The African Commission , set up by the Danish government last year, is a high level group wanting to bring light to Africa’s opportunities and add new strategies to the development cooperation. I wonder if Dembisa Moyo that I wrote about last week thinks they succeeded.
Anyways, the group of really distinguished Africans and others includes Nigerias former finance minister Ngozi Okonjo-Iweala who I wrote about here and the Commission presents its recipy for development as follows: (this is the quick version, the 90-page report can be downloaded in pdf here).
1. The creation of an African Guarantee Fund in partnership with the African Development Bank aimed mobilizing loans for three billion USD and reducing the cost of access to finance for small and medium-sized enterprises, SME’s. Africa’s SME’s provide 80 percent of output and jobs in Africa;
2. Ensuring access to energy at the local level by launching a new initiative in partnership with the EU and the African Development Bank. More than three-quarters of Africans lack access to electricity – a major constraint to economic development, doing business and standards of living;
3. Improving the business climate and Africa’s competitive edge by making sure that the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report covers all African countries. More than that, the Commission will work with a range of Africa-based entities to ensure that the findings of this benchmarking process is followed-up by the development of detailed policy responses and concrete reforms;
4. Unleashing the power of African entrepreneurship, both in start-up and existing enterprises, by providing advisory services and access to finance in order to allow young people to translate their good ideas into practical plans. The initiative will be implemented in partnership with the ILO and Youth Employment Network (a partnership between the UN, ILO and World Bank). It is expected that this initiative alone will create 40,000 new jobs and 20,000 new businesses;
5. Supporting higher education and research. Specifically, the initiative will increase the quantity and quality of artisans through apprenticeships, especially in the rural areas. Also, it will link tertiary research and business practices especially to expanding agricultural output.
I like how the Commission acknowledges the lack of electricity and how that is a basic problem in Africa (see what I wrote on it here). Also education is key, of course for development and currently the future for the African academy looks rather bleak. Just as in the north, links with research and businesses need to be improved. So, far I agree.
However, I am more sceptical towards yet another fund, the African Guarantee fund – I think many times it is information and reporting that is scarce – not a complete lack of money. And then sometimes I think the people in those high level meetings overstate the influence of their instruments. I mean, can the “World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Report” really improve the business climate in Africa?
What do you think?
AR#2 Magazine The Africa Report.
I picked up a copy of this mag I haven’t seen before. I am a huge fan of news magazines like Focus on Africa and The Economist and today I found one that can compete.
In this mag, I liked the topics and the rich ways of describing current issues in Africa. I have studied it now for about 45 minutes, but is nowhere near done. I like that type of publication density.
The current issue of The Africa Report gave a very illuminating report of Mills’ first 100 days in power and came with an interesting economic report-booklet of Cote D’Ivoire.
I guess that makes it three Africa reports today…
In the top pic Africa’s future on the beach in Kromantse, Central Region, Ghana.
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I have spent a few days at The University Leaders’ Forum 08, organized by Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) in collaboration with University of Ghana. It was a conference around the topic of the New Generation of Academics.
Because of the emergence of a global knowledge society, enrollment rates world wide are increasing, in Africa even more so, putting pressure on the aging group of university lecturers and highlighting the need for new blood. At the same time, young well educated people move abroad in search of better opportunities, hence increasing the pressure on those remaining.
Even if the enrollment rates are increasing, its not enough. Many drop out, many more do not have access to tertiary education and finally very few become university lecturers in Africa. The consequences are two; there will not be enough teachers to educate the new generation, even at lower levels. Additionally, with a low output of tertiary graduates, Africa will be left behind in the knowledge economy.
My research looking at why Ghanaian students migrate (or don’t) was a perfect fit for the conference. I was the most junior participant and enjoyed the discussions and academic input. It was highly rewarding to meet with Vice-Chancellors from the whole continent, researchers whose works I’ve read and foreign founders who work relentlessly to change the academic environment in Africa, but will the change come from them?
The map from Worldmapper.org shows the territory size by world wide proportion of people enrolled in tertiary education, who live there. Thanks to the VC of University of Western Cape, Brian O’Connell for pointing me to this effective visualizing aid.
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Today all over the news we can read about the Canadian computer professor who got sacked from a Ghanaian university – or not had his contract prolonged as the university claims – because of critisizing the university administration on his and his partner’s blog. In the blog, the partner of the professor if I get it right, wrote about the upsetting fact that on campus libraries are poorly updated and water is scarce, but the most expensive SUV’s are used by the university staff.
She finishes her post by writing
Forgive me for feeling offended by the luxury cars bought with public dollars. The Ghanaians I’ve spoken to aren’t nearly as offended — most don’t like it but say “that’s the way it is”. Any attempt to speak out against wanton spending will earn one the wrath of the rich and powerful.
…and the next day the professor’s contract was not prolonged. However, Ghanaians hearing the news do not hold their peace in the comments field of Joy FM. Many salut the Canadians for speaking out and many agree with the critique
…these are the main reasons why we are not progressing. Authorities in every Institution in Ghana uses all the monies to purchase expensive cars…
This debate is crucial for Ghana and I hope it will live on in public fora. We must not let those with 4-wheel-drive interests succeed with putting the lid on.
In the pic some totally unrelated SUVs in a parking lot in Accra.
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This fall, I will take up studying again. Somehow, I have mixed feelings about it – don’t get me wrong – it IS a dream came through to be a cocky PhD-student, to spend my days in a campus setting, to read about topics that interest me, to rub shoulders with cool AND bright people. The other side of it is that it has been quite nice to finish work after 5 pm, maybe not even think about it again after that. I liked not having to prove myself everyday. I enjoyed making money, too.
Tomorrow I have a meeting in this building, the Institute of African Studies at University of Ghana with a professor I hope will accept to be my supervisor. I’ll keep you posted. As usual.