Francophone universities to benefit from digital fund

Universities and higher education institutions located in African French-speaking countries are set to benefit from the launch of a digital development fund and digital library which aims to promote the development of the online Francophone higher education space.

"The digital fund will support infrastructure development, capacity building and access to broadband internet for higher education and research institutions," Juma Shabani, former director of development, coordination and monitoring of UNESCO programmes with a special focus on Africa, told University World News. "The development of [the] digital library of Francophone university space (DLFUS) will improve the sharing of online resources."

The new initiative is outlined in a declaration adopted at the third conference of ministers of higher education of the Francophone countries held under the theme "Digital finance in the Francophone university space” in Marrakesh, Morocco from 20-22 June.

The conference was organised by Morocco's Ministry of Higher Education, Scientific Research and Professional Training, the Organisation Internationale de la Francophonie, or IOF, and the Agence Universitaire de la Francophonie – an international association based in Canada that brings together 812 French-speaking universities in 104 countries, and one of the world’s largest higher education and research associations.

According to IOF figures, 55% of the world’s French-speakers live in Africa.

As a result of population growth, the IOF estimates that the number of French speakers will rise to over 700 million by 2050, 80% of whom will be in Africa.

DLFUS is a new version of a virtual repository of educational resources launched at the 2016 second meeting of Francophone ministers of higher education, held in Mali’s capital Bamako.

DLFUS provides resources in deploying digital technology to French-speaking higher education institutions, from ideas for strategy development to evaluation and implementation, for all people in universities and other higher education and research institutions – policy-makers, students, lecturers, managers, engineers, technicians and administrative staff – who are interested in and affected by the use of digital technology in education.

At the time of the DLFUS launch, the portal had collected nearly 2,068 in its Atlas of French-speaking expertise and 87,298 university resources.

"The digital fund will have a major impact on the development of higher education in French-speaking Africa as it will help to overcome several challenges including improving affordable access to information and communication technologies (ICTs) and broadband, strengthening academic staff’s skills in the use of ICTs in teaching and research, and building capacity in the production and use of massive open online courses (MOOCs)," said Shabani who attended the launch of the digital fund in Morocco as a member of the Burundi delegation.

Shabani said in his opinion, the conference should also have addressed the use of ICTs in dealing with the massification of student enrolments, promoting lifelong learning and improving youth employability.

These and other challenges facing universities in African Francophone countries were outlined in an October 2017 report entitled Sharing higher education’s promise beyond the few in Sub-Saharan Africa published by World Bank.

"For this purpose, current curricula should be revised and teachers' pedagogical skills strengthened on the basis of ICT skills needed in order to respond more effectively to the future needs of the world of work," Shabani said.

The fourth meeting of Francophone higher education ministers will be held in Romania from 21-22 June 2019.