By D.D. GUTTENPLAN. When Kessewaa Brown, an official at Standard Chartered Bank in Accra, Ghana, decided she wanted to go back to school to improve her career prospects, her options were limited.
“I have two kids. My youngest is still living at home, and so I needed a program where I didn’t have to quit my job or leave my family,” she said.
Like many professionals in Africa, she considered enrolling in a remote program for a degree from a British or American university. However, she worried about the lack of human interaction. “It’s different when you have the professor right in front of you, and you are able to debate the issues,” she said.
Abiodun Afinowi, a Nigerian management consultant based in Lagos, said that after two degrees from local universities he was looking for a program with a more global reputation. But he, too, was reluctant to leave his business. “I can’t afford to take a year or two to study in the U.S.,” he said.
Instead, both Ms. Brown and Mr. Afinowi joined the first class of students on a new executive M.B.A. program offered by Ceibs, the China Europe International Business School, at its campus in Accra, graduating in December 2010. Founded as a joint venture by the European Commission, the Chinese ministry of foreign trade, and Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Ceibs quickly became one of the most highly regarded business schools in the world.
“Our alumni oversee about 5 percent of China’s Gross Domestic Product,” said John Quelch, the school’s dean.
A former associate dean at the Harvard Business School, Mr. Quelch, who also served as dean of the London Business School, was in Britain in December to collect an O.B.E. from Queen Elizabeth. “One of the purposes of Ceibs is to challenge American dominance,” he said in an interview during his visit.
Although there have been Western-backed universities in Africa before — the American University in Cairo dates to 1919 — most arose out of missionary impulses, a trend that continues with Daystar in Kenya, founded by American Protestant missionaries, and Strathmore, also in Kenya, whose founders were members of the conservative Catholic group Opus Dei. The Ceibs program in Accra is completely secular, as is a new branch of Pittsburgh’s Carnegie Mellon University that is set to open in Kigali, Rwanda, this month.
Offering master’s degrees in engineering and information technology, the program has the backing of the government of Rwanda and the African Development Bank, which is hoping to use it as the model for a string of centers across the continent. As with the Ceibs program, which flies in faculty members from Shanghai and Beijing, students will study with Carnegie Mellon faculty. “We are offering Carnegie Mellon credits towards a Carnegie Mellon degree,” said Bruce Krogh, professor of electrical engineering and the new program’s director.
Do such ambitious ventures portend the start of an academic scramble for Africa reminiscent of the rivalry between the great powers at the beginning of the past century? Alex Vines, head of Africa programs at the Royal Institute of International Affairs in London, thinks they might.
“Given the state of higher education in Africa, the huge growth in demand and a rapidly growing middle class, I think this is just the beginning,” he said. “There are state universities and private providers already there. But they can’t guarantee either quality or the recognized status that students want. And you have to remember, Africa has the fastest-growing population of young people in the world.”
The Ceibs Web site is unabashed about the advantages of being “a ‘first mover’ in this uncharted region.” But Pedro Nueno, the president of Ceibs, said, “I don’t think in Africa you can talk about competition. There’s so much to be done.”
Postgraduate education in Africa today, he said, reminds him of “when I started in China in 1984 — there was no competition at all.” The opportunity to be in at the start also appealed to Carnegie Mellon. Mr. Krogh, who will be moving from Pittsburgh to Kigali, said that while the initial class will be limited to 40 students, “we hope to ramp up fairly quickly to 150 students and a faculty of 15 based in Rwanda.”
The university has a 10-year contract with the Rwandan government, which has agreed to meet all the costs of the new venture, and to allow Carnegie Mellon total control over admissions and curriculum. Tuition will be the same as at Carnegie Mellon’s other campuses, $37,800 a year, a figure Mr. Krogh described as “outrageously expensive for Africa.”

Maxwell Mkwezalamba, director for Economic Affairs, AU Commission, on Monday said that inadequate funding of higher education in Africa was one of the reasons responsible for brain drain in the continent.
Dr Mkwezalamba said in Addis Ababa that the issue was responsible for the continent’s failure to retain high calibre academic staff and also responsible for declining teaching and research capacity.
“Inadequate funding is also responsible for deteriorating physical facilities in African universities including libraries, overcrowded lecture rooms, and dilapidated buildings,” he said.
Mkwezalemba said Africa has the lowest enrolment rate when compared with other continents of the world.
“Africa’s average gross enrolment ratio for higher education in 2005 was between two to six percent when compared with 57 percent for Central and Eastern Europe, 26 percent for Central Asia, 30 percent Latin America and the Caribbean.
“South and West Asia was 10 percent and 70 percent for North America and Western Europe,” Mkwezalemba said.
Mkwezalemba said the continent has failed to sustain growth of enrolment and improve quality of higher education which led to the decline in knowledge generation and transfer.
He said in order to revitalise higher education, there was a need to ensure that African universities are adequately resourced, both in terms of financial and human capital.
“African universities need to have adequate, reliable and sustainable funding especially for improved teaching, research, administration and upgrading and maintenance of infrastructure,” he said.
Mkwezalemba said there was a need for the introduction of higher education levy on industries operating in Africa, review of tuition fees, political will by governments and university authorities to enhance revenue generation capacity in universities.
Mkwezalemba said university funding could be improved through harnessing and pooling resources at the regional and continental levels to fund research which has regional or continental dimension and through exchange of Academic staff between African universities.
He said there was also the need to ensure that resources provided for the universities were efficiently and effectively utilised.

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia, December 14, 2011/African Press Organization (APO)/ -- The Department of Human Resources, Science and Technology (HRST) is organizing a two-day official launching of the Pan African University (PAU). The first day of the launch, 13 December, comprised participants from the Association of African Universities (AAU) which, on behalf of the AUC invites its member institutions, represented by Vice Chancellors, Rectors and other institutional heads, as well as other higher education stakeholders, particularly researchers, development partners, student representatives and policy makers from AU Member States.
On the first day of the planned two day launch activities, three themes were discussed:
1. Promoting intra-African trade through higher education;
2. Quality imperatives of African higher education;
3. Financing of African higher education.
The Director of HRST, Mrs. Vera Brenda Ngosi observed that it was an exciting day for the AUC to have such distinguished academics present for the realization of the dream of the PAU.
In her welcome remarks, Mrs. Ngosi said that the PAU is a priority education project of the Commission of the African Union, which has been endorsed at the highest political levels in recommendations of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMEDAF) and decisions of the Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union. She said that the development of the project concept was through engagement with a wide range of stakeholders, from representatives of African academic institutions and governments; international partners; and the Africa Roundtable of the World Conference on Higher Education (WCHE), among others. A High Level Panel (HLP) composed of leading African intellectuals was appointed by the Chairperson of the AUC to support the implementation of the PAU.
Despite the enormous challenges, the African Union Commission, working closely with its higher education partners that include the Association of African Universities (AAU), which is designated as the lead implementation agency, has developed the blue print based on the revitalization of Africa higher education component of the Plan of Action for the Second Decade of African Education (2006 – 2015), and the Africa Consolidated Plan of Action for Science and Technology. The conceptualization of this model- Pan African University, was endorsed by the Fourth Ordinary Session of the Conference of Ministers of Education of the African Union (COMDAF IV) held in Mombasa, Kenya in November 2009 as an academic network of already existing post-graduate and research institutions.
The Pan Africa University provides an opportunity for the continent to claim her rightful place in the global knowledge-based economy. In itself, the PAU is not an isolated new institution but one based on already existing centres across the continent, seeking to promote science and technology in Africa and a strong link between scientific research and economic development. The PAU will enhance the triple missions of modern universities around the world, namely; education and training; research; and public service/ engagement, which in the case of the PAU, is the entire African continent.
The following five areas constitute the thematic areas of PAU:
1. Space sciences (Southern Africa, with a host institution yet to be identified);
2. Water and Energy Sciences, including climate change (North Africa, with a host institution in Algeria);
3. Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation (Eastern Africa, with Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya, as the host institution;
4. Life and Earth Sciences, including health and agriculture (Western Africa, with University of Ibadan, Nigeria, as the host institution).
5. Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences (Central Africa, with University of Yaounde I, Cameroon as the host institution)
The PAU will be officially launched at the AU Commission's conference center on 14 December 2011, followed by a press conference. In addition to the PAU launch, the Kwame Nkrumah Scientific Awards for Women will also take place at the same venue.
Journalists are invited to cover the opening ceremony of the Launching of the Pan African University (PAU) at 10:00 am, and participate at the Press Conference at 13:30. For more information, visit the AU website: www.au.int.

A presentation by this author to the Conference on Higher Education in South Sudan held on 14-15 November 2011 in Juba [1], outlined the function of tertiary education and its requirements, concluded by raising certain policy issues that needed to be addressed in order to revamp higher education and recommended that it will serve the best interest of this country that at this stage our country consolidates the current three universities.
The organizer of the conference did not like this recommendation and claimed that the author was the only one who held that view. How he arrived at that conclusion, when no vote was taken is known to him alone. That is not even an issue, what mattered was whether the argument was sound or not. Since then a number of academicians worth the mettle who supported this point of view made their opinions known on the internet.
In that conference the audience was a highly educated group and therefore certain issues were taken for granted not requiring explanation. The discussion that followed showed that this was not entirely the case. Furthermore, the debate has now gone to the newspapers; a situation demanding putting ideas in a manner that will be easily understood by all.
The purpose of this paper therefore is to elucidate further the reasons behind the recommendation. The Function of Tertiary EducationIn a nutshell, the function of higher education is to provide merit-based knowledge and advanced skills critical to the country's socio-economic growth. This is attained through efficient education and research. Improved and accessible tertiary education and effective national innovations systems can help a developing country progress toward sustainable achievements in the Millennium Development Goals, particularly those goals related to all levels of education, health, and gender equity.
A new country like South Sudan must strive to promote more efficient tertiary education institutions that innovate and respond positively to meaningful performance-based allocation of resources and accountability systems. To fulfil its function, higher education (in the case of South Sudan today, read universities) the inputs must be of good quality so as to be able to produce the desired output. In this case, you must have students well-grounded in general education, qualified teaching staff and a good environment (adequate facilities, etc.) for the educational process. These are the three elements of higher education that must be taken care of in any planning and execution of policies on higher education. Thus, must be the focus of any debate on the matter.
A lot has been said on whether our universities should go for elite or mass education. If by mass education is meant a situation where the standard of the graduate is compromised in favour of numbers, then we are not talking the same language. University education is by its very nature special and of quality; call it elitist or otherwise that is what it is. Hence, it is not haphazard that universities set minimum admission requirements for students, minimum qualifications for the teaching staff and standard facilities for the educational environment. These are meant to meet the objective of higher education; a qualified graduate and high quality research.
In the same vein, all positions of University administration have set qualifications. A head of department must have spent a known minimum number of years in the department concerned, so is the case for a Dean of faculty or the Vice Chancellor. In particular, a Vice Chancellor must be a Professor who has published a set number of papers in reputed journals and had held a number of administrative positions in the university (Dean, Head of Department, etc.). Without that you do not qualify to compete for the position; election or no election.
The question of being young or old does not arise here. Those who raise eye-brows should be reminded that this is the same practice in public offices. For instance, to be an eligible candidate for the position of the President of the Republic or Governor of a State one must be 40 years or older. This is a condition set by our Constitution. A young man/woman of 40 or an old person of 75 years may compete for such a position, whereas a 39-year old fellow is barred out.
This will not be categorized as discrimination or blocking the young out. Why should we be lax when it concerns such a sensitive place such as a university? The point being made here is that any public office, not least of all university positions, must have minimum requirements. These could be related to academic qualifications, experience, age, etc. The University Charter and its regulations must specify the minimum requirements to hold any office in the university.
Again, the overarching purpose is to produce good graduates and quality research.The Status of South Sudan Universities:USAID carried out a comprehensive survey on the state of our universities as part of research on capacity building in South Sudan [2]. It revealed that only three universities were able to satisfy a reasonable number of the set criteria. These are the universities of Juba, Upper Nile and Bahr El Ghazal. Even these are beset by many problems.
Dr Charles Bakhiet who is a founding staff member of the University of Juba and was the Academic Secretary of the University from 1985 to 1990 had this to say: "However, it is public knowledge that the current three southern universities are under-staffed, under-funded and lack adequate infrastructure. Moreover, we do not have enough well-equipped secondary schools in the south to feed the current three universities.
In the immediate post conflict era, the priority of GOSS in this education sector must therefore be, first and foremost, to consolidate the present universities by building their infrastructure, investing in their staff development programs, and improving their teaching and research capabilities.
Moreover, once the intakes from northern schools are gradually phased out in these universities, there will be more places created for southern secondary school leavers who qualify for higher education."[3]. He proceeded to enumerate what the Government of South Sudan needs to immediately embarked on as:1. initiation of constructions and rehabilitation of their infrastructure;2. the provision of needed equipment;3. an aggressive staff development programme, recruitment of competent academic staff, 4. a thorough review of the study programs;5. reviewing the conditions of service for the academic staff to be made more attractive with ample opportunities for research, so that these institutions serve as a hub not solely for dissemination of knowledge but also for knowledge production.
All these will surely be at a considerable cost which the paltry budget of the Ministry of Higher Education can never meet in a year or two.To open or not to open more public universities in South Sudan On this issue Dr Bakhiet stated: "To be more specific, the GOSS will require substantial financial resources to provide the badly needed infrastructure for the three universities that would transform them into modern universities, with access to new technologies.
For instance, the Bilinyang campus for University of Juba, is a huge project which will require millions of dollars to construct. To the best of my knowledge, neither Bahr el Ghazel University nor Upper Nile University has a decent campus, and each will need a properly and purposefully designed campus. While all these programs are crying for attention and resources, and the capacities of the present universities have still to be fully utilized, for the GOSS to consider establishing yet another public university in the immediate future will constitute a clear case of poor judgment. Putting the economy of scale to their advantage, each of the three universities can easily expand to accommodate between twenty to twenty-five thousand students, with an average annual intake of four to five thousand students." [4].
Other places can be made available through the government arranging scholarships for our students to study abroad making use of the current environment of international good will towards the Republic of South Sudan. We had a similar experience following the signing of the Addis Ababa Agreement where, since 1974, the Egyptian tertiary education was admitting around 300 Southerners every year, thanks to the Egyptian government. This figure was close to ten times the rate of admission of Southerners into the Sudanese higher education by then. Many of our professionals and politicians today are the beneficiaries of that arrangement.
Private tertiary education is also another area where some qualified South Sudan students could be admitted. However, these institutions need to be streamlined to suit our requirements and strict accreditation conditions be put in place to ensure that they keep high standards in terms of resources, qualified staff and adequate facilities.This conclusion does not rule out the fact that in future the number of universities may increase gradually based on a real need, feasibility studies and availability of funds. There can be no place for brief-case universities; we must avoid the experience of Sudan in that respect.
The argument that not having a university in each State in South Sudan is "social injustice" is mere demagoguery meant to score political mileage. Most of us did not study in universities near our homes. Social justice is associated with catering for the basic needs of the people. A travesty of a university in one's homestead that produces semi-illiterate graduates is the greatest disservice to that community. Communities will clamour for having all kinds of things including universities.
It is our role as intellectuals to tell them what is possible now, tomorrow or not possible at all. If need be, to cater for the lack of qualified personnel in some States of the country, a special admission system similar to the arrangement made with the University of Khartoum in 1969 by the then Minister of Southern Affairs, the late Joseph Garang, or that of the least developed States in Sudan from the 1990s may be considered. In all these cases, the prospective student must satisfy the minimum admission requirements.
This is the bottom line.Review of Higher Education The independence of South Sudan is a golden opportunity for the government to review higher education in the country with a view for meaningful reform of the system. There are good ideas in this respect [5,6]. The review must include establishing a technical and technological stream separate and parallel from the academic system of education right from the primary level to the tertiary level.
The system must be so designed that a graduate at each level will be useful in the job market as apprentices and technicians. The pay scale of these graduates must be as good as, if not better than, their academic stream counterparts if the mistakes of the past that killed technical education are to be avoided.
In order to achieve meaningful development there is a certain number of technicians for every professional. This is not the case now, and was the purpose of introducing technical education in the late 1950s and for proposing the new stream now.To be specific, the review of the higher education should consider the following areas among others:
1. Current Staffing: Number and qualifications of: the teaching staff, teaching assistants and administration personnel.
2. Human Resource Development: How much from University resources and how much through collaboration with other universities and colleges.
3. Physical Structures and Equipment: Lecture theatres, Libraries and ICT centres, Laboratories and workshops, Hostels, Staff houses and guesthouses, and Equipment and materials.
4. Quality Assurance: Students' admission standards, Criteria for staff employment, Salary structure, Research, and Performance evaluation.
5. Technical and technological tertiary education
6. Financing public tertiary education: How shall the universities and institutes of higher learning be financed?
7. Private Higher Education: - Requirements of licensing and accreditation.
8. Future Projections: How to meet the expected increase in the number of qualified students seeking tertiary education and what specializations, if any, to plan for.
ConclusionThe role of higher education in socio-economic development cannot be overemphasised. However, given the many competing demands over limited resources, the Government of the Republic of South Sudan is well advised to carry out a review of higher education, including introducing research centres.
The review is to achieve the desired reform in the educational system avoiding the mistakes of opening universities that have not undergone thorough feasibility studies. Realities on the ground today clearly point out that the way forward is consolidation of the resources available for the reconstruction and staffing the current three universities to an acceptable level.
Then in the future as more resources become available and real demand arises, gradual and studied increase in public universities may be considered. Private education that satisfies rigorous conditions for accreditation can be allowed at this stage to absorb some of the qualified students.The Government has to make use of the current good will of the donor community to urge them to include support for higher education in terms of funds, material, transfer of technology and scholarships in their aid packages.
References:1. Akol, Lam, "Tertiary Education in South Sudan", Speaking notes at a conference on Higher Education in South Sudan, 14-15 November 2011, Juba.2. USAID, "Government of Southern Sudan Strategic Capacity Building Study", 2010.3. Bakhiet, Charles, "The Challenges to the Revival and Role of Higher Education in Post-Conflict Construction of South Sudan" , A paper presented at a conference on post-Conflict Construction in Southern Sudan, Juba, Southern Sudan, November 29th - December 2nd 2006.4. Ibid.5. Saki, Sam, "Proposal to Reorganize Higher Education in South Sudan", 2004.6. Bakhiet, op cit.

The Role of the African University in Promoting Integration, and Intra-African Trade. Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, 13th - 14th December 2011 at the Africa Union Commission Conference Centre. A Side Event of the January 2012 Summit of Heads of State and Government of the African Union.
Concept paper. Introduction and Background
Regional integration is a key intermediate step toward the integration of African countries into the world economy. Regional integration has been accompanied by the development of intra-regional trade agreements with the most recent being the implementation of the Southern African Development Community (SADC) Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in 2008. Africa’s regional economic communities are making progress in certain areas but the integration process still faces numerous challenges. The selection of ‘Promoting intra-Africa Trade’ by Africa’s Heads of State and Government as the theme for their next  Summit in January, 2012 could not have come at a more opportune time.
Africa is diverse in terms of its geographic, natural resource and linguistic distributions. Her higher education system is also diversely structured along colonial (and therefore linguistic) systems, mainly the Anglophone, Arabophone, Francophone, Lusophone and colonial patterns. Despite this diversity, the offerings from the internationalisation of higher education through privatisation and commercialisation as well as the proliferation of open and distance learning opportunities has, until recently, seen a strong African resentment, given the level of development of her higher education system relative to that of industrialised countries. Responding to the challenges of internationalisation therefore involves innovations not only in course provision to ensure relevance, but also in revenue generation, quality assurance, institutional governance, and human resource management.
The Arusha Convention, developed under the auspices of UNESCO in 1980, sets the framework for the recognition of degrees and certificates among African universities and holds the key for the harmonization of higher education programmes in Africa. The Convention thus seeks to foster cooperation in information exchange, harmonization of procedures and policies, and attainment of comparability of qualifications to facilitate mobility of Africans across African countries for employment and further study. Click here to download the concept note and the programme.

By Francis Kokutsi. The World Bank has urged African governments to expand access to post-secondary education and ensure that it serves as a ladder for Africans to climb out of poverty. Obiageli Ezekwesili, the bank's vice-president for Africa, made the call at a conference in Ghana's capital Accra this week.
The conference, convened to discuss ways of transforming the University of Ghana, Legon, into a world-class institution, stressed the need for university training to boost job creation and income-generating opportunities, especially for girls and women and for students who are talented but poor. Up to 10 million African youngsters join the ranks of job seekers every year. Ezekwesili said: "Universities need to pay more attention to the quality and relevance of higher education to economic growth and competitiveness."
She added that Ghana was "the perfect example of how the expansion of access to higher education is interlinked with solid economic growth and sharp declines in poverty". University enrolment in Ghana has increased 13-fold to more than 150,000 by 2010, the conference heard. Elite universities play a key role in training skilled workers to be fluent in the latest technologies and to apply their learning to industries, Ezekwesili said.
A recent World Bank study concluded that a knowledge-intensive approach to development is likely the only path for sustained development in Africa in an interwoven and interdependent global economy. To bring about the game-changing transformations needed in Africa's tertiary education sector, Ezekwesili argued, the approach must be "business unusual".
Students must work hard and strive to excel at all times if African universities are to attain world-class status. Faculty members must continue to make enormous sacrifices to foster education. And universities must have a more dynamic and visionary leadership at the helm. She observed that Ghana's founding president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, probably assumed that Africans would prioritise achieving the education kingdom as a prerequisite for seeking the political kingdom and hoping that the economic kingdom would be added onto them.
"We need to leverage our collective strengths across national boundaries and build linkages with existing pools of world-class knowledge," she said, calling for more dynamic and visionary leadership of African universities and for regional collaboration among African higher education institutions keen to achieve excellence, particularly in science, technology and innovation.
World-class universities would emerge in Africa only if governments accepted that these institutions have to be run by education specialists, not political appointees; and only if they were treated as laboratories where students and academics could experiment, think independently and express themselves freely. Ezekwesili also stressed the importance of believing in the creative genius of Africans to find solutions to problems.
She called on African governments to do more with research grants and to help create the kind of environment that made it possible for people like the co-founder of Apple, Steve Jobs, and the founder of Microsoft, Bill Gates, to succeed - despite being college dropouts. With about 30% of its budget spent on education, Ghana has grown the number of its public and private universities to more than 120. Between 2004 and 2011, the conference was told, World Bank funding to support innovation in teaching and learning in Ghana amounted to US$35 million.
But across Africa only about 6% of the potential tertiary education age group is enrolled at a tertiary institution, compared to a world average of 25.5%. Nine of the 10 countries with the lowest tertiary enrolment in the world are in Africa. It was imperative to expand access to post-secondary eduction on the continent, the conference heard. The vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana, Professor Ernest Aryeetey, said he was focusing on seven areas to pursue the vision of making Legon a world-class university.
These included promoting academic excellence through enhanced teaching, learning and leadership training, and through significantly expanded and relevant research and extension. In addition, there was the need to overhaul governance arrangements, teaching and research; to ensure better management of assets and facilities; and to scale up efforts towards equal opportunities in terms of gender and diversity. The conference stressed the importance of private-sector participation in funding universities, warning that African governments would never have enough money to shoulder the responsibility of funding higher education on their own.
The private sector has a stake in ensuring that students graduating from universities are skilled workers, innovators and entrepreneurs, able to translate their knowledge into contributions at work or in society, participants agreed. The World Bank has called on African governments to encourage private sector participation through policies and actions such as tax incentives and access to student loans.

A new report published today presents the outcomes of a two-year pilot project designed to support the development of quality assurance (QA) in African higher education.
The project, entitled Europe-Africa Quality Connect: Building Institutional Capacity through Partnership (QA Connect), was carried out by a consortium led by EUA and the Association of African Universities (AAU)*. It was designed to assess the feasibility of using EUA’s Institutional Evaluation Programme (IEP) methodology in African universities. The IEP is an independent service of EUA that is designed to support participating institutions in the continuing development of their strategic management and internal quality culture. Since the IEP was established, it has carried out over 300 evaluations in Europe and worldwide.
As in other parts of the world, the growth in higher education participation (and the number of institutions) in Africa over the last 50 years has highlighted the need to develop formal QA processes. QA agencies started to emerge in Africa in the 1990s and cooperation at the regional level has been developing in recent years. In 2009, the AAU set up the first pan-African network for QA which has been an important step for QA development in Africa. While QA is developing rapidly, it still remains in a formative stage in many countries. QA agencies are still relatively scarce (the report cites that 19 African states out of 55 have a national QA agency) and more efforts are still required to develop a shared understanding of QA and practices across the continent. Furthermore, the African Union has indentified QA cooperation as a key element in its ‘Harmonisation of African Higher Education Strategy’.
Within this context, the QA Connect project set out not only to test the suitability of the IEP methodology in different universities and national contexts in Africa, but also to promote dialogue on QA developments between Europe and Africa. Quality assurance was one of several priority topics identified by a previous EUA-AAU-led project ‘Access to Success: Fostering Trust and Exchange between Europe and Africa’ (2008-2010), a project which resulted in a White Paper on university cooperation principles for Africa and Europe. QA Connect, while targeting capacity development in African universities, was also based on the principle of mutual exchange between quality assurance actors in Europe and Africa, and was used to inform EUA’s work in supporting the internationalisation of QA in Europe.
The QA Connect methodology consisted of a call for participation and selection by AAU of five universities, offering a balance in terms of geography, size of institution, and their relationship to the government. The evaluation visits were conducted by a team of European and African experts, and were preceded by a training workshop for the experts and a preparatory workshop for the institutions being evaluated. Following the publication of the evaluation reports for each of the five universities on the project website, the strengths and weaknesses of the exercise were discussed at a workshop bringing together the institutions and a wide range of HE stakeholders.
The results of the project confirm the need to conduct institutional evaluations in Africa, in the context of the changing HE landscape across the continent. The report recommends that a programme similar to the IEP and managed by the AAU would be useful in preparing universities for their national exercises and would strengthen the role of universities in managing quality, thus raising overall quality levels. These evaluations would therefore complement national QA processes and activities. The development of an Africa-wide pool of experts for implementing such a programme would also help to gather and pool comprehensive knowledge on QA and governance of African universities, and thus develop expertise in institutional development. It would also be important to continue to promote dialogue on QA and exchange of practices between Africa and Europe and other parts of the world – which were valuable aspects for the African and European partners involved in the project.
The report also concludes that AAU is committed to looking for additional funding to lead and continue such an evaluation programme, and will look to work with regional and national bodies across Africa to assist in alleviating the differences in QA that exist across the continent. EUA and AAU will continue their dialogue and partnership around this and other topics.
* Europe-Africa Quality Connect is a two-year Erasmus Mundus Action 3 project implemented by EUA, AAU, the University of Aveiro and the Irish Universities Quality Board (IUQB), in partnership with the African Chapter of the Erasmus Mundus Alumni Association.
The full report can be downloaded here in English or French.

Conference of Rectors, Vice Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities (COREVIP) from May 30 to June 3, 2011 in Stellenbosch, South Africa.
The Conference of Rectors, Vice-Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities (COREVIP) is an assembly of the chief executive officers of member institutions or their representatives.
The Conference is held every two years with the purpose of examining collectively themes identified as common concerns and priorities for the development of higher education in member institutions in particular and Africa in general; making recommendations primarily to members, as well as to the Governing Board, and to the Secretariat; and acting as a mid-term forum for taking stock of the implementation of the decisions of the General Conference and recommending corrective action.
THEME FOR COREVIP 2011
The theme for the Conference is: Strengthening the Space of Higher Education in Africa.
There will be invited papers and presentations by distinguished scholars and practitioners in plenary sessions as well as group sessions for more intensive work dealing with the main theme and the sub-themes below:
Creating an African Higher Education Space
With focus on the Arusha Convention; Establishment of AfriQAN; LMD Reform in Francophone Higher Education Institutions; Establishment of a Credit Transfer System.
The Role of ICT
With focus on the creation of Research and Education Networks nationally and regionally: Promoting the use of ICT in African higher education institutions.
Regional Centres of Excellence
With focus on the AUC’s Pan African University; Pan African Institute of Governance in Higher Education; Examples of other Centres of Excellence (AIMS in South Africa; IIEE in Burkina Faso; ICIPE in Kenya)
Promoting Open and Distance Learning
With focus on Open Educational Resources; Creation of Open Universities; Use of ODL in traditional universities
The Conference will provide an excellent opportunity for leaders of African higher education institutions to exchange experiences and draw on the lessons from institutions on issues relating to the theme of the conference. There will also be an opportunity to hear from both regional and international organisations involved in higher education initiatives.
In addition to the executive heads and other senior members of African universities, participants will include Ministers of Higher Education, other policy makers, representatives of international and regional organizations and development partners.  Please find attached to this invitation a Registration Form.

Quatrième conférence internationale sur l’assurance qualité dans l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique et Atelier de renforcement des capacités (ICQAHEA-2010) Bamako, 5-9 octobre 2010.
La première décennie du 21e siècle a connu plusieurs développements positifs dans l'enseignement supérieur en Afrique. L'accès a été élargi, l'utilisation des TIC a pris une importance accrue et plusieurs agences nationales d'assurance qualité ont été créées. En outre, l’enseignement ouvert et à distance a acquis une reconnaissance accrue en tant que système d’apprentissage  et la question d'équité a été abordée de manière plus résolue. Pourtant, à la fin de la dernière décennie, la qualité des « inputs », des processus et des produits constitue  une source majeure de préoccupation. Les éléments ci-dessus caractérisent la situation générale de l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique mais quelques détails émergents méritent une attention particulière.
Concernant l’élargissement de l’accès, on note que plusieurs institutions ont été créées. Elles ont permis d’accroitre de plus de 10% les effectifs d’étudiants disponibles au cours de la dernière décennie. Une augmentation d’au  moins  5%  du nombre d'étudiants a été enregistrée dans plusieurs pays africains, notamment en Ethiopie, au Kenya, au Ghana, au Nigeria, en Egypte et en Tunisie. Cette augmentation d’effectifs a à peine effleuré la surface de la forte demande d’admission dans l'enseignement supérieur. Les gains réalisés en matière d'accès, se sont traduits par une certaine perte de qualité. La qualité des diplômés formés au cours de la dernière décennie n'a pas répondu aux attentes du marché du travail et à la compétitivité internationale. Il est estimé que moins de 30% des diplômés des systèmes d'enseignement supérieur à travers l'Afrique sont en mesure d'obtenir un emploi dans les deux ans suivant l'obtention du diplôme. Cette situation est en partie expliquée par la  préparation insuffisante aux exigences du marché du travail et la faible capacité d'absorption de ce marché. Si l'éducation à l’entreprenariat gagne rapidement du terrain, le potentiel de création d'emploi des diplômés n’a pas suivi le même rythme au cours de la dernière décennie.
Plusieurs événements complémentaires visant à améliorer l'enseignement supérieur en Afrique ont été lancés au cours des quatre dernières années de la dernière décennie. Il s’agit notamment de la deuxième Décennie de l'éducation (2006-2015) lancée par l’Union africaine. Dont le Plan d'action donne une visibilité au développement de l'enseignement supérieur dans la région. La Banque mondiale a également lancé son initiative sur l'enseignement supérieur comme moteur du développement en Afrique subsaharienne. L'Association des universités africaines (AUA) soutenu par des partenaires dont la Banque mondiale a lancé le Réseau africain d'assurance qualité (AfriQAN).
Un événement important qui a eu lieu à la fin de la dernière décennie porte sur l’organisation en juillet 2009 de la conférence mondiale de l’UNESCO sur l'enseignement supérieur. La réunion régionale préparatoire à cette conférence, organisée par le BREDA a rassemblé plusieurs partenaires de l'enseignement supérieur. Une des conclusions principales de cette réunion régionale est que malgré les progrès significatifs enregistrés dans les domaines de l'accès, la gestion, la qualité, le financement et l'équité au cours de la période de 1999 à 2009, un fossé énorme  existe encore entre la position actuelle de l'Afrique  et là où elle devrait se trouver dans tous les domaines mais surtout celui de la qualité. La Conférence mondiale sur l'enseignement supérieur de 2009 a adopté cette conclusion et a instamment demandé dans son communiqué final que des mesures urgentes soient prises pour relever le défi de la qualité de l'enseignement supérieur en Afrique dans la décennie à venir. La 4ème conférence internationale sur l'assurance qualité dans l'enseignement supérieur (ICQAHEA) est organisée dans le cadre du suivi de cette recommandation de la Conférence mondiale de 2009 sur l'enseignement supérieur.

Les étudiants d'Afrique subsaharienne sont les plus mobiles au monde. Pourtant, aucun salon n'avait encore été organisé sur le continent. Bamako a accueilli du 28 février au 1er mars 2009 le premier salon international sur la mobilité étudiante. L'ambassade de France au Mali était l'initiateur de cette opération, avec l'appui de l'agence Campus France. Les ambassades des Etats-Unis, du Canada, de la Belgique et de l'Espagne ont proposé des pavillons en plus de celui de la France. Les universités Paris 1, Paris 8, Paris 13, Metz, Tours, Grenoble 1, l'INSA de Lyon, Ecole des hautes études de santé publique et l'Ecole de chimie de Clermont-Ferrand avaient délégué des représentants, à côté des écoles et université locales. Quelque 1500 étudiants essentiellement de licence et master sont venus les rencontrer.
« Est-ce que l’Afrique intéresse les établissements d’enseignement supérieur ? Comment travaille-t-on avec ce continent qui fait l’objet de toutes les tentations et de toutes les tentatives, notamment chinoises ? ». Celui qui tient ces propos, c’est André Siganos, le directeur général de l’agence CampusFrance lors de ses Rencontres annuelles à Paris organisées en décembre 2008.
Jusqu’à 110 000 étudiants africains s'inscrivent chaque année dans des établissements d’enseignement supérieur français (chiffres 2005-2006). Ce fort contingent est aussi à relativiser avec la forte mobilité des étudiants africains à l’étranger. « Les étudiants africains sont les plus mobiles au monde », explique Pierre-Antoine Gioan, responsable géographique Afrique de CampusFrance. « 10 % d’entre eux partent étudier dans un pays étranger. Entre 30 % et 40 % en France, puis en Afrique du Sud, aux Etats-Unis, au Royaume Uni et en Allemagne ».
La France n’est pas seule à attirer des étudiants africains. Elle fait même face à de sérieux concurrents dans la formation de ces élites. La moitié des étudiants d’Afrique noire en mobilité se tourne vers les trois pays du Maghreb : Maroc (largement en tête), Algérie et Tunisie.
« Depuis quelques années, la mobilité intra-africaine augmente, notamment vers le Maroc, a remarqué Pierre-Antoine Gioan, auteur de rapports sur l'enseignement supérieur en Afrique pour la Banque mondiale. Ce pays a construit une offre de formations assez complète, notamment privée, avec des partenariats interuniversitaires. Depuis quatre ans, la mobilité sortante marocaine diminue et son offre de formation attire des étudiants d’Afrique subsaharienne qui trouvent au Maroc des diplômes français pour des coûts moindre et sans subir trop de dépaysement ». Source. Allez plus loin : - BEM Dakar accueille ses premiers étudiants - Les grandes écoles françaises s’exportent au Maroc - Inauguration en Afrique du Sud d’une école d’ingénieurs créée en partenariat avec la CCIP.
"Is what Africa interested higher education institutions? How does working on this continent that has undergone all the temptations and all attempts, including Chinese." Exported French great schools in Morocco. More...