Continental “map” identifies funding and governance gaps as key barriers
African science policymakers’ dream of coordinating the continent’s higher education and research remains a distant prospect, according to a report mapping funding and governance of the sectors published this week.
The 145-page report, produced by the Association for the Development of Education in Africa, is one of nine investigations the association is undertaking into challenges and opportunities facing Africa’s education systems.
The report will be presented to ministers who will discuss the way forward for the sector, ADEA’s executive secretary, Albert Nsengiyumva, told a webinar to present the report on 27 July. “One of the things we are doing next is to coordinate a high-level policy dialogue, and invite countries at the levels of ministers to discuss the findings,” he said.
The shortcomings identified by the report—ranging from insufficient public funding to poor governance and a lack of private sector investment in research—are not new. Similar concerns were raised almost two decades ago in discussions between African science ministers on how to improve the continent’s R&D performance.
Those discussions resulted in a 2005 continental action plan featuring a promise to increase funding for R&D to 1 per cent of GDP—a target that has remained elusive for most African countries, despite its revival in subsequent continental science plans, including the Science, Technology and Innovation Strategy for Africa 2024.
Research a ‘poor relation’
ADEA’s report explains that research is the “poor relation” of policy efforts in Africa, with insufficient funding and poor governance hampering progress, especially in Francophone Africa.
It makes recommendations for improving this state of affairs. One is for countries that don’t have national coordinating bodies for research to set them up. Another is that governments should aim to exceed, not just match, the 1 per cent of GDP target for R&D spending.
The report points out that universities need support to diversify their funding, including being given freedom to engage with private sector initiatives and to perform consultancy work.
Leela Devi Dookhun, the education minister of Mauritius, told the webinar that the report was timely. With the emergence of blended virtual and in-person learning, the university sector is in flux, she said, adding that amid this change Africa needs to consider developing and rallying around an African higher education “brand”.
Beatrice Njenga, former head of education in the African Union’s human resources, science and technology division, agreed with Dookhun on the need for an African university brand. “How do we value our Africanness, and what is our standard of excellence?” she asked the webinar.
She said clear answers to such questions would help African policymakers argue for funding increases for higher education and research.