A proliferation of summits – What role for universities?

Africa has successfully transitioned from the “Hopeless Continent” in 2000 to “Africa Rising – The hopeful continent” in 2011 and later graduated to “Aspiring Africa – The world’s fastest-growing continent” in 2013, according to The Economist, one of the most influential magazines in the world. Since then, the continent has been party to a multitude of high-level summits hosted by countries and other regional representative institutions external to the continent.

Some of these gatherings have been organised around the following partnerships: Africa Forum Canada; Forum on China-Africa Cooperation; Africa-France Summit; Germany’s G20 Compact with Africa; India-Africa Forum Summit; Japan’s Tokyo International Conference on African Development; Korea-Africa Forum for Economic Cooperation; the most recent Russia-Africa Summit; the Turkey-Africa Summit and the US-Africa Summit. To this, one may add other sector-related conventions to the growing enterprise.

The frequency of these meetings underscores the need for Africa to carve its own path as it engages with a multitude of new as well as historical partners in light of its changing status.

Higher education

This article was prompted by one gathering in particular – a major conference organised by the European and African Union Commissions on higher education.

Under the banner “Investing in People, by Investing in Higher Education and Skills in Africa”, the conference took place in Brussels last month and was sponsored by a number of long-established educational organisations in Europe, including the British Council, the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD), NUFFIC (Dutch organisation for internationalisation in education), Campus France and others.

At this event, the commissioner for human resources, science and technology at the African Union (AU) Commission affirmed the need for equitable partnerships which build on identified needs as stipulated in the Continental Education Strategy for Africa 2016-2025 and Agenda 2063.

The gathering was particularly significant in terms of thwarting the defunct views on African higher education that still exist in some quarters which are incompatible with contemporary discourses. It is important to note that the paradigm shift towards recognising the true potential of higher education in Africa is yet to be fully embraced by those who continue to read from the outmoded development discourse that undermined African higher education’s progress in the recent past.

It is to be recalled that the very architect of the flawed discourse on the value of higher education in Africa, the World Bank, has now been pursuing a fantastically divergent position, declaring African higher education as having the highest rate of return in the world. While such an approach is not without its critiques, its focus on helping to build centres of excellence on the continent is a firm testimony to the key role higher education plays in sustainable development.

Likewise, the recent gathering in Brussels, co-hosted by the AU and EU, holds the potential to assist in pushing forward policy discourses favourable to African higher education in European and US capitals and beyond.

More so, it is anticipated that the European Commission may further expand the scope of the higher education engagement with Africa through more long-term initiatives as mutually agreed by both parties. Such initiatives could also help to advance favourable policies on higher education in African countries themselves, more so in some than others.

It is conceivable that, with an economically stronger, hugely diverse and massively growing higher education sector on the continent, the implications of these interventions may not be as critical as they used to be in the 1970s and 1980s. Yet still, the kind of interventions and where these interventions are made remain potent.

The hosting of such summits on the African continent without the support and tutelage of external agencies remains a rare occasion. It is anticipated that this may change as Africa strives to run its affairs with declining external influence, though the oversized convening power of external agencies may linger for a long while.

Universities as strategic institutions

It is now time for Africa to emerge as a primary host – as Africa-China complementing China-Africa, Africa-EU complementing EU-Africa engagements among others – on its turf and its terms, and its agenda. The collective voice of the continent through its strategic institutions such as universities remains paramount.

In Paris in 2005 and in Accra in 2008, two key conventions culminated respectively in major declarations: the Paris Declaration on Aid Effectiveness and the Accra Agenda for Action. The Paris Declaration and the Accra Agenda are founded on five core principles, born out of decades of experience of what works for development, and what doesn't. These principles have gained support across the development community, changing development cooperation paradigms presumably for the better. The principles include ownership, alignment, harmonisation, result-focused and mutual accountability.

As Africa’s partnerships with the rest of the world are steadily growing, it is imperative that they are guided by these principles. The role of continental and regional organisations, especially African universities, in pursuing, advancing and advocating for these principles cannot be overemphasised.

I have long resisted the notion of donor-recipient phraseology, on the fervent premise that there is no one donor who is not receiving as there is no one recipient who is not giving.

However, the phraseology continues to dominate the development landscape, presumably because what is considered to be donated or received is inequitably claimed, inappropriately monetised, and unfairly expressed.

Even more so now, this discourse should be completely scrapped given the global reality of massive interdependence and mutual interest in climate, peace, security, healthcare and welfare, among other factors. It is thus paramount that the continent engages with the rest of the world – but on an equal footing – in a discourse that recognises existing and emerging realities.

Many of us have long advocated for the need to revitalise and establish key institutions in Africa – major universities, particularly flagship universities, think tanks and regional and continental organisations – in the interest of advancing the development of the continent.

It is vital that leaders, especially leaders of these institutions, establish and systematically revitalise departments and centres in the form of Asian studies, Middle East studies, global studies, and so forth that proactively track developments and appropriately articulate relevant interventions and alternative discourses.

The need for strategic and sustainable support predominantly, if not exclusively, from national and continental funding entities, primarily for the complete independence of these entities, cannot be overemphasised.

An inclusive courtship

Africa harbours more than half of the world’s fastest-growing economies. This is clear, and further indication of the future of Africa as a formidable economic, political and strategic force. The systematic and strategic deployment of strong institutions – particularly higher education institutions – in anticipating, supporting, guiding and steering the dialogue, engagement and initiatives vis-à-vis the rest of the world remains key.

To be sure, it is significant that the world is out-competing itself to court the continent typically condemned for the multitude of its challenges without deliberative and commensurate acclaim for its immense potential. It is hoped that the courtship will be mutually beneficial, meaningfully equitable and strategically sustainable.

Higher education institutions must be at the centre of this courtship, both in articulating and developing as well as assessing and critiquing the discourses, policies, strategies and practices underpinning the growing engagements. So far, their role in this exercise has been woefully lacking.

Damtew Teferra is professor of higher education at the University of KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa, and founding director of the International Network for Higher Education in Africa. He is founding editor-in-chief of the International Journal of African Higher Education. Teferra steers the Higher Education Cluster of the African Union’s Continental Education Strategy for Africa. He may be reached at teferra@ukzn.ac.za and teferra@bc.edu.