university leaders’ forum developing and retaining the next generation of academics...

UNIVERSITY LEADERS’ FORUMDEVELOPING AND RETAINING THE NEXT

GENERATION OF ACADEMICS“Understanding the

Problem: The Global Context” Prof. Takyiwaa Manuh

Institute of African Studies

University of Ghana

Takyiwaa Manuh Nov 23, 2008

Presentation Overview

1. Introduction- Global Context2. HEIs in Africa3. Challenges in African Higher Education 4. African Developmental Challenges5. Contemporary African Migrations6. The Global Hunt for ‘Talent’7. Brain-Drain/Brain-Gain/Brain Circulation8. Why is a vital African Academy

important ?9. Possible Sustainable Solutions


Global Context- Knowledge Societies

Cf. World Bank (2002)- Convergent impacts of globalization and

increasing importance of knowledge as main driver of growth. Knowledge as a primary factor of production throughout world

economy- cause and result of transformations in technologies,

innovations, services, communications Combination of the skill-bias of much recent technological

advancement with governments’ desire to have a competitive

advantage in emerging knowledge-based industries. Modern growth is about innovation and it is here, rather than

in labor market effects, that the long-term gains of human capital

inflows are probably most manifest

Global context-knowledge societies and emigration

Second, the aging of rich-country populations- likely to increase demand for service providers for an older population

But huge fiscal costs of population aging also likely to drive targeted attempts to attract higher-earning foreign workers to help pay for pension and health care benefits for the domestic population. With the alternatives being greater tax increases on the working population or more substantial benefit cuts for the retired population, there will be strong pressures to “import” taxpayers at the margin.

WTO, GATS and the commodification of education New providers, in-country and offshore Finally, the broader globalization of production and trade.


HEIs in Africa HEIs in Africa and Caribbean established in lead up to independence

with clear role in post-colonial nation building and in the Africanization process of institutions. Financed, often wholly, from public purse.

Systems of universities, polytechnics, research institutes- anglo/franco/luso/phone variants. Changes over years. Regulatory mechanisms

Over the years, economic turmoil, disruptions of democratic governments, shift towards a global knowledge economy putting enormous pressures on the African universities.

Economic hardship reinforced by a policy environment that pitted basic education against secondary and tertiary education, based on faulty rate of return studies that ignored developments in the knowledge economy


Challenges in African HE

Burgeoning enrolments, but still not enough State of Human Resources and Infrastructure- staffing, pay

and working conditions, teaching and research infrastructure – libraries, laboratories, teaching aids

Knowledge Production and output- declining output? 1% in 1987 to 0.7% in 1996 in ISI. Africa has lost 11% of its share in global science since its peak in 1987; SSA science has lost almost a third (31%). Part of this decline of SSA science can be attributed to discarding African journals from the Citation Indexes.

On Reproducing the Next Generation of Academics- graduate training


African HEs Dilemmas- I: Enrolments-Over the years, high and increasing demand vs. low human, physical and financial resources-cf. University of Ghana, 2001: 18,252 students applied, <a third or 5,986 students were finally enrolled. -Cf. UG enrolments- 10,000 in yr 2000, to over 28,000 in 2006, due largely to the Education Sector Reforms initiated in 1986 under pressure from the World Bank – Total continental enrolments: 181,000 students in 1975 vs. 1,750,000 by 1995 across Africa. Cf. ECA (2006)- Aggregate enrollment rate in TEIs for all of Africa =1 percent in 1965, and 5 percent by 2003/04 -Emergence of new private universities- Increased enrolments to some extent, but as yet not substantially-Limited range of courses offered, but appear to provide marketable skills


African HEs Dilemmas- Staffing-Graduate enrolments- cf. UCC, Ghana, 2005/06:

5,000 new students enrolled. Out of these, only 17 were in doctorate and 172 in masters progs.-Cf. the UK in 2003/4, there were 13,000 African post-graduate students (Teng Zeng 2005). Cf. recent financial crises and decreasing value of pound- potential for attracting more- Staffing – Numbers, ageing, terminal qualifications -Funding- ability of African states to support the institutions has reduced, partly due to self-imposed policy on substantially extending admission.-Economies not sufficiently diversified to support theinstitutions


African HE Dilemmas-Knowledge Production and Scientific Systems UNESCO report on National Research Systems-17countries:

‘tendency to imitate’ rather uncritically – S& T and innovation policy approaches and paradigms from elsewhere’.

By the 1990s much of African science stood at a “very delicate position of crumbling both professionally and from the perspective of institutionalization of science’ as conventionally understood

4 factors: The continuing legacy of colonial science in many countries; destabilizing influence of political events and civil wars- effectively put science

back many decades; devastating influence of World Bank policies on higher education in Africa; role of international agencies in shaping African sciences- positives and

negatives.


African HE- Knowledge prodn and Science Science practised in African countries described as “assemblages”

of science. Three-fold typology- Academic science in the universities;• Consultancy science; mission-oriented science mostly in international agencies

“Academic” science, or science done by individuals or groups of scientists within universities. Usually under-funded, driven by priorities and interests of the individual scientist with ultimate aim of advancing career of the individual academic.

Rarely converts into building institutional capacity- often not linked to a group of doctoral or even post-doctoral students; not accumulative over time, or culminate in the building of a programme or centre of excellence that can act as a node for future research and post-graduate training. But cf. Ethiopian Flora project that has been supported by Sida/Sarec since 1975


African HE-Mandates and Directions

-Increasing loss of mandates- HEIs trying to be all things to all- cf. Prof. Kwami at Ho Polytechnic graduation-Direction of the institutions- what do we really want? Where are the future plans? What kind of institutions do we want? How many? When? Cf- Sawyerr (2004):“While universities can ill afford to ignore stakeholder interest and demands, the cumulative burden of such demands in the last two decades or so has put into very serious jeopardy the autonomy of the university in designing and executing its intellectual agenda”


Africa’s Developmental Challenges-I Africa- rich in known resources, but most underdeveloped Poor economic performance- low econ growth rates Balance of payments problems; Unequal exchange and terms

of trade between Africa and the rest, particularly the North. Share of world exports only 1% in 2000, cf. to 4 % in 1960

FDI/ODA on decline, despite some increases bet. 2000-2003. cf. current financial crisis and implications for Africa

Neo-liberal reforms in an era of globalization- mixed results. Social and income inequalities- widespread migration as a response

Democratization waves from early 1990s


Africa’s Developmental Challenges-II

Poverty in Africa- affects 40-60 % of 800m pop. Mostly rural dwellers, women, the aged, disabled. Increasing urban poverty

High rates of unemployment- up to 40% in some countries. Low wages for majority of employed

Disease burdens in Africa- malaria, TB. Cf. HIV/AIDS- 10 % of world pop, 63% of global AIDS cases

Conflict, wars and environmental degradation- DRC, Somalia- attendant refugeeism and displacement

Africa and the MDGs- few chances of most countries meeting targets on recuing poverty, infant and maternal mortality etc.


Contemporary African Migrations-I Different types-intra- and inter-state migration; permanent and

temporary; forced and voluntary; intra-and extra- African migration

Mix of factors fuelling- economic, environmental, demographic, political, conflict

Continuities, diversifications of routes and destinations- push-pull factors, growth of networks, information, ease and cost of transportation

Several countries simultaneously generating and attracting migrants, refugees

Remittances- Mozambican miners in S. Africa- 1/3 of foreign exchange; BF in la Cote D’Ivoire; Ghana- $2bn in 2004, exceeding earnings from cocoa by 100%; Somalia- $ 500m/yr.


Contemporary African Migrations-IIDebate on remittances and development- unsettled Positives, but overstated, incomplete? Remittances as private transfers that do not directly augment

government budget. Control over use and destination- who receives? Cf. Ghana-

not necessarily the poorest Risky and unreliable? –cf. current crisis. Central Bank’s

controls on outflows Effect on l-t development- mask poverty, lead gvt to relax


Contemporary African Migrations-III Remittances as the cost of the brain-drain? Cf. health and

education sectors- 60% of Gh. Doctors; 21,000 Nigerian doctors in US; more Beninois doctors in France than in Benin- cf. reliance on expatriate doctors- Cuban, Egyptian, Bulgarian

Cf. Africa has ¼ of world’s disease burden, but less that 2% of world’s health care professionals

Remittances growing, but in the words of the late professor Kwesi Andam, “nations are built with brains, not with absentee dollar remittance” (quoted by Adomako, Appiah Kusi 2006 Ghanaweb Feature, 29 August 2006).


Emigration of Highly Educated Africans: Brain-Drain/Gain/Circulation? -Cf. UN report on International Migration to 61st UN GA 2006:

"Bet. 33 and 55 per cent of the highly-educated people of

Angola, Burundi, Kenya, Mauritius, Mozambique, Sierra Leone,

Uganda and the United Republic of Tanzania live in the OECD

countries. c. 50% per cent of the 'highly-educated' Ghanaians

have migrated mainly to more developed countries such as the

United States, Britain and others within the OECD ECA/IOM: c. 27,000 skilled Africans left the continent for

industrialised countries between 1960 and 1975. Bet. 975-1984,

the figures increased to 40,000. Since 1990, at least 20,000

qualified people have left Africa every year (Education Today,

2006:4). Cf. 100,000 foreign experts in Africa offering “technical

assistance” amounting to >a third of ODA, or about USD 4bn

annually (Onsando 2007) Takyiwaa Manuh Nov 23, 2008

Talent Programmes

Globalization and evolution of ‘Talent’ programs- Talent defined as ‘individuals of high impact. That impact can be in science and technology, business, culture and politics’ (Kuznetsov 2006)

US’ “Professional, Technical and Kindred programme; the UK’s “Highly Skilled Professional Recruitment”;France’s “Talent Work Permit” and Germany’s “Green Card” scheme specifically targetting highly skilled individuals from the developing countries.

Increasing nos. of African under/graduate students in overseas universities- diversification- (Australia)

-cf. Colombo Plan, etc- 2 yr home stay for foreign Asian students in Australia- now scrapped



Causes of Brain-Drain

“The Educational System” or a system focused more on global than local knowledge,

“Institutional Factors” or highly bureaucratic and hierarchical educational institutions,

“Human Resources Management” with incentive schemes not managed well

“Political Factors” including for example lack of academic freedom and the so called “Trafficking of African Intellectuals”

African professionals/academics migrate abroad in search of better opportunities leaving the hospitals, infrastructure projects, private sector as well as tertiary institutions understaffed.

The Debate-I Cf. Patterson (2007) claim that the brain-drain/gain debate will

likely become increasingly irrelevant because of what he calls ‘Internet-Age emigration, leading to creation of transnational

societies (transmigrants living in multiple locations, relations, activities and identifications); and

Global competition for talent leading to increased labour mobility- (global mobile working force)

Together, supposed to provide a context for sustained brain circulation (outward-return flows), which recognizes ‘universal inevitability of fleeing talent for greener pastures ‘.

Contingent nature of process- emigrant talent from the South can be either an overall brain drain or gain- mix of domestic and external enabling environments

, 2008

The Debate-II

But brain circulation not yet much in place among African transnationals, cf. East and South Asians. Systematic collaborations required between states, institutions, and diasporic communties

Patterson-p.13- problem is not that talent leaves, but that the complex of capital that they generate abroad does not get systematically invested into their respective homelands.-

Makes comparison with South Korea, China, Taiwan, and India to show that they have moved themselves out of poverty despite high emigration. Uses S. Korean example to advance theory that reverse migration is an important factor in dev’t.



New Diasporas and Contributions to National Development

Claim that they are a resource for their countries of origin Level of influence that can accrue- attempts to affect domestic

and foreign policy of host societies in favour of homelands Can stimulate flows of ideas, transfer of technologies, and

inclusion in networks, with possible greater developmental impacts than remittances

Can mitigate the peripheral role of African academies; foster better understanding of African issues, develop joint projects, in research, publishing, and participation in networks

Long way before Africa can reverse its brain drain into positive brain gain


Why is a vital African Academy important

For the delivery and quality of essential services like health care, and education

To provide staff and new technologies for industries, knowledgeable entrepreneurs to the job market.

For job creation, diversification of the economy. Support good governance. Highly skilled people have been singled out as institution

builders, but ‘dilemma is that those most likely to be institution-builders are those most likely to emigrate’

Creation of critical mass necessary to solve problems and crises independently and contribute to Africa’s share of global knowledge production and dissemination


Sustainable Solutions-I

1. Dealing with/remedying causes –cf. Slide 152. Setting clear directions and mandates for the HEIs3. Reforms from within • Provide high quality education at home by: • -Improving the existing infrastructure• -Constantly review and update curricula, teaching materials,

pedagogies and governance structures

4. Need for some specialization to reach international standards in research.

5. Collaborations within countries and within the African continent and outside should be strengthened and extended.


Sustainable Solutions

Harness the Diaspora by identifying and maintaining a roster of foreign-based academics for temporary assignments

Encouraging joint research, Joint consultancies to governments or international organizations in Africa

Information about highly-skilled migrants should be organized and tapped for staffing the African universities or for offering PhD-positions

Sustained collaboration within Africa and with other world regions, especially through sandwich-programs.

Policy Responses- 4 Cs- Control, Creation, Compensation, Connection-(Kapur and McHale, 2005)-’The Global Migration of Talent: What Does it Mean for Developing Countries?’

Developing and retaining the next generation

Recreating Intellectual Communities Identifying and targetting promising undergraduate students:

recognition- Dean’s List; living-learning centres, mentorship programmes

Increasing graduate training and making local training attractive- housing, realistic stipends, accessibility of supervisors, joint supervision, fellowships, attendance at conferences, provision of books and journals



Contact:

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university leaders’ forum developing and retaining the next generation of academics...

Documents

global knowledge economy

importance of knowledge

african universities

african higher education

introduction global

global science

global hunt

working population