Stronger universities needed to support development

By Asle Rønning. Sub-Saharan Africa is experiencing positive economic development, and there is increasing understanding of the important contributions universities have to make if African societies are to achieve the next stages of development.
So said Professor Nico Cloete, director of the Centre for Higher Education Transformation in Cape Town, at a senimar on “Research and Development” held in Oslo earlier this month and convened by the Norwegian Agency for Development Cooperation (Norad) and the Norwegian Research Council.
The conference was among efforts to support researchers in developing countries and to enhance knowledge-based development, and asked the basic question: Will more research lead to development and poverty reduction?
Cloete played an important role in the design of a new higher education policy in post-apartheid South Africa and currently leads the HERANA – Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa – programme, which includes a research project in eight African countries on the importance of universities for development. More...