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The three-day continental summit will be officially
opened by his Excellency Macky Sall, President of the Republic of Senegal on
Tuesday, 10 March 2015. The summit, whose theme is “Revitalizing Higher
Education for Africa’s Future,” is being organized by TrustAfrica, a
pan-African development organization based in Dakar, with 11 organizing
partners.
“Higher education plays a critical role in social
development and economic transformation across the continent. We, as the
Government of Senegal, are pleased to have been recognized among nations as a
suitable partner and host for this summit”, said Honorable Minister Niane.
The primary goal of the summit is to develop a common
vision and contribute towards the development of an action plan to transform
the African higher education sector in the next 50 years. This fits in with the
African Union’s development Agenda 2063.
"Over the past few years, as we consulted with many
of the continent’s leading educators about the challenges facing higher
education, it became clear that there is a need for such a summit—a need to
engage and in some instances re-evaluate.” said Dr. Tendai Murisa, Executive
Director, TrustAfrica. “TrustAfrica often serves as a convener and
interlocutor, helping those with a stake in a critical issue such as this to
harness the best ideas and chart a path to the future.”
The summit expects to attract about 500 participants.
These will include Heads of States, namely Mr. Macky Sall, President of the
Republic of Senegal, Mr. H.E. Mr. Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of
Rwanda, Ms. Ellen Johnson Sirleaf, President of the Republic of Liberia and
Chair of the APRM Forum of Heads of State, and Mr. Uhuru Kenyatta, President of
the Republic of Kenya; and former Heads of State including Mr. Thabo Mbeki,
former President of Republic of South Africa, Mr. Olusegun Obasanjo, former
President of Nigeria, and H.E. Mr. Benjamin Mkapa, Former President of the
United Republic of Tanzania.
Other dignitaries who will attend the summit are: Dr.
Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chair of the African Union Commission, Mr. Kofi Annan, former
Secretary-General of the United Nations; Mrs. Oby Ezekwesili, Former Minister
of Education of the Federal Republic of Nigeria and Former Vice-President for
Africa, World Bank; Mr. Mukhtar Diop, Vice President for Africa of the World
Bank and Dr. Vartan Gregorian, President of the Carnegie Corporation of New
York.
The summit will also be attended by African ministers
(Education, Finance and Science and Technology); administrators of institutions
of higher learning; scholars; the business community; representatives of
academic and non-academic unions; and students.
"We look forward to hosting our guests from
different parts of the continent and the world and to the task of both
identifying issues facing the African higher education sector and developing
common solutions to solve them." said Niane.
Topics to be addressed include graduate employability,
gender, science, technology and innovation; nation building and democratic
citizenship; equity and access; differentiation and harmonization; role of
business in revitalizing African higher education sector; and quality,
excellence and relevance.
“When we talk about transformation in higher education,
it is not merely an isolated concept conjured up by academics. Transformation
in higher education captures the need for better governance, a need for better
access and equity, increased investment, and enhanced research capacity,
developing new pedagogy, improved regulatory regimes, promoting excellence,
quality and the relevance of the sector,” said Murisa.
Murisa explains that transformation in African higher
education is about Africans defining collective and national needs and taking
ownership of the change that needs to happen in institutions of higher learning
to align national and continental priorities to those interests so as to
benefit the continent. He describes this as a collective challenge for business
and government leaders, administrators of tertiary institutions, academic and
non-academic unions, students and parents.
“We need to think seriously about declining revenues of institutions
of higher learning, meeting the increasing demands for higher education, poor
infrastructure, inadequate staffing, insufficient research, outdated curricula
and poor regulatory regimes in the sector.” Says Murisa.
A key outcome of the summit will be the formulation and
adoption of an African Higher Education Charter, as a framework and an
implementable action plan for the transformation of the sector in the next 50
years.
“There is a renewed focus on the importance of higher
education to the continent’s development, and this presents an opportunity to
work together towards a common vision – ensuring that efforts to create a
robust African higher education and research space are both relevant and
responsive to the needs of the continent and its people in the 21st century”,
said Dr. Omano Edigheji, Summit Director, TrustAfrica.
The summit is the culmination of a three-year initiative
undertaken by TrustAfrica in partnership with the Carnegie Corporation and
others to broaden the dialogue about the role of the higher education sector in
Africa. Convenings consisted of broad-based, inclusive dialogue and took part
in Ghana, Nigeria, Tanzania and Uganda.
“What we immediately identified from this work was that
there were no inclusive national and continental platforms for stakeholders to come
together to discuss and seek solutions to the issues facing the African higher
education sector. The continental summit will therefore provide a platform for
key stakeholders to engage and come up with an agenda to transform the sector,”
said Murisa.
The summit will present a world-class panel of speakers
who will offer solutions to revitalize the African higher education sector.
They will represent governments; academic institutions; foundations and
bi-lateral organizations; researchers; business leaders and private sector
players.
Higher education is now widely recognized as critical to
promoting faster technological growth, value addition to raw materials and
natural resources, and to improving countries’ ability to maximise economic
output. The sector plays an integral role in the African Union development
agenda, whose theme is the “Africa We Want in 2063”.
“Higher education builds human capabilities. We need to
establish strategic alliances across social and economic sectors in order to
develop the human capacity needed to achieve this new future,”” said Dr. Omano
Edigheji: Summit Director, TrustAfrica.
“The summit will provide a wonderful new opportunity for
those in the sector to explore learn and debate a wide spectrum of topics
including regulatory, technological and supply issues. With the continuing boom
in enrollment figures and the rise in the number of higher education
institutions, there is an urgent need to build a quality higher education
sector,” said Dr Edigheji.
Murisa concludes: “As an independent and interested
party, we are committed to fostering an environment that will promote the
success of the sector.”
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