INTERNATIONALISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA—RESPONDING TO THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES

1. INTERNATIONALISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA—RESPONDING TO THE OPPORTUNITIES AND CHALLENGES By Pai Obanya (International Education Strategist)

2. A DISCUSSION IN FOUR PARTS

3. PART ONE- INTERNATIONALISTION FROM SIX DIFFERENT PERSPECTIVES

4. INTERNALISATION AS IMPORT

5. FOREIGN (INTERNATIONAL) STUDENTS IN AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES -- 005/006

6. SEARCHING BEYOND BORDERS FOR BEST TALENT • ‘UNQUESTIONABLY, THE WORLD’S BEST UNIVERSITIES ENROL AND EMPLOY LARGE NUMBERS OF FOREIGN STUDENTS AND FACULTY IN THEIR SEARCH FOR THE BEST TALENT’ (Salmi, 2009)

7. IMPORTATION RATIONALE - EU • PROMOTING INTERNATIONALISATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION HINGES ITS PROGRAMMES ON TWO PILLARS: • FIRST: STRENGTHENING COLLABORATION AMONG ITS OWN MEMBER STATES AND • SECOND: STRENGTHENING COLLABORATION BETWEEN COUNTRIES OF THE UNION AND ‘THIRD COUNTRIES’.

8. E U MOTIVE S– contd. • MEMBER STATES TO STRIVE TO ENSURE THAT EUROPE REMAINS THE PREFERRED ‘STUDY DESTINATION’ FOR STUDENTS FROM THIRD COUNTRIES. • WITH A VIEW TO RESPONDING TO THE CHALLENGES OF ‘GLOBAL COMPETITION TO SECURE EVER INCREASING OF THE MOBILE INTERNATIONAL STUDENT POPULATION’

9. IMPORTATION – MALAYSIA STYLE • THE HIGHER EDUCATION MINISTRY IS CONFIDENT THAT THE TARGETED INCREASED INTAKE OF FOREIGN STUDENTS WILL HELP SPUR THE ECONOMY, REPORTS THE STAR • TO ACHIEVE THE TARGET, FOUR CLUSTERS OF COURSES FOR FIRST DEGREE AND MASTER'S WOULD BE FOCUSED ON FOR FOREIGN STUDENTS • THE TARGET, IF MET, WOULD NOT ONLY HELP TURN MALAYSIA INTO A REGIONAL EDUCATION HUB, BUT COULD ALSO INCREASE THE NATION'S PER CAPITA INCOME.

10. AFRICA’s MITIGATED GAINS FROM THE IMPORTATION MODEL • OPPORTUNITIES FOR INTERNATIONAL EXPOSURE AND TO QUALITY PROGRAMMES AND FACILITIES BUT 2. CONTRIBUTES TO WORSENING’ AFRICA’S BRAIN DRAIN CHALLENGE. 3. FOREIGN STUDENTS HAVE HAD TO PAY HIGHER TUITION FEES 4. THUS, INTERNALISATION PROBABLY A CLEVER DEVICE TO GENERATE EXTRA FUNDS FOR EUROPEAN AND AMERICAN UNIVERSITIES.

11. INTERNATIONALISATION AS EXPORT • implanting foreign universities in Africa. • MODEL 1: the growing number of ‘American’ universities in a number of countries, • EXAMPLE -- American University, Yola-Nigeria. • MODEL 2: the implantation of campuses (not entirely new and autonomous institutions) of foreign universities in African countries • EXAMPLE: Norfolk University campus in Dakar-Senegal

12. AGAIN, AFRICA’S GAIN IS MITIGATED • IMPLANTED OR EXPORTED INSTITUTIONS HAVE SERVED TO INCREASE THE NUMBER OF UNIVERSITIES AND DIVERSIFIED THE HIGHER EDUCATION LANDSCAPE IN SOME COUNTRIES • BUT • SOME OF THEM TEND TO OPERATE OUTSIDE THE SUPERVISORY AMBIT OF THE NATIONAL SYSTEM. • MOST CLAIM TO OPERATE AN ‘AMERICAN’ CURRICULUM BUT BEING AMERICAN DOES NOT NECESSARILY MEAN BEING INTERNATIONAL. • CONCENTRATION (WITH 1 OR 2 EXCEPTIONS) ON A NARROW RANGE OF PROGRAMMES – BUSINESS STUDIES, INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS, ICT/COMPUTER SCIENCE.

13. MITIGATED GAINS GALORE • THEY TEND TO BE HIGH TUITION INSTITUTIONS • AND SO CANNOT CONTRIBUTE IN ANY MEANINGFUL WAY TO MEETING AFRICA’S GROWING SOCIAL DEMAND FOR HIGHER EDUCATION, AS • THEY CAN ADMIT ONLY A LIMITED NUMBER OF ABLE-TO-PAY STUDENTS. • ACADEMIC STAFF IN SOME OF THESE INSTITUTIONS IS USUALLY ANYTHING BUT ‘INTERNATIONAL’.

14. INTERNATIONALISATION AS UN-EQUAL PARTNERSHIP • COORDINATING versus SUBORDINATING CONJUNCTIONS • SENIOR PARTNER (DONOR) • JUNIOR PARTNER (BENEFICIAIRY) • EXAMPLE OF IBADAN AND WALES • FAILURE TO TAKE ON OUR OWN RESPONSIBILITIES .... Another Ibadan example

15. WHAT DOES THE BENEFICIARY BENEFIT? • AID • DOING BUSINESS WITH AFRICA • AIDS • DOING BUSINESS IN AFRICA DISTIGUISH BETWEEN THIS and THIS

16. INTERNALISATION AS SPECIAL PACKAGES FOR ‘THOSE COUNTRIES’ • PROGRAMMES DESIGNED SOLELY FOR AFRICA AND OTHER DEVELOPING COUNTRIES • THE UNIVERSITY COLLEGE, CARDIFF SPECIAL B.Ed. PROGRAMME • A RECENT PHENOMENON • AGGRESSIVE MARKETTING OF NON-FIRST-CHOICE UNIVERSITIES OVERSEAS MODEL A MODEL B

17. DOUBT AREAS of ‘GOOD-ENOUGH-FOR-THOSE-COUNTRIES’ PROGRAMMES • QUALITY OF THE PROGRAMMES • QUALITY OF STUDENTS • GHETTO- RISATION OF AFRICA (opposite of Internationalisation) • GO YE AND FURTHER UNDER-DEVELOP YOUR SYSTEM • DRAINING OF SCARCE FINANCIAL RESOURCES FROM AFRICA • WORSENING OF UN-MET SOCIAL DEMAND FOR UNIVERSITY EDUCATION

18. INTERNATIONALISATION AS NEW SCRAMBLE FOR AFRICA • AFRICA THE MUCH DERIDED CONTINENT • YET • THE MOST DESIRED CONTINENT • NEW SCRAMBLE NOT FOR PHYSICAL TERRITORY • BUT • FOR DIPLOMATIC INLUENCE • AND INCREASED MARKET SHARE IN AFRICA • SCRAMBLE BY BOTH ‘OLD’ and ‘NEW’ POWERS

19. THE CHINA SCRAMBLE (SINOLISATION) • THE ESTABLISHMENT OF THE FORUM ON CHINA-AFRICA COOPERATION IN 2000 • THE FORMULATION OF THE CHINESE GOVERNMENT'S 'AFRICA POLICY'. • POLICY INITIATED IN 2006 TO PROMOTE STUDENT AND FACULTY EXCHANGES, • TRAINING IN AFRICAN AND CHINESE LANGUAGES, AND • RESEARCH COOPERATION IN FIELDS OF MUTUAL INTEREST, SUCH AS • BIO-AGRICULTURE, MINING AND MEDICINES..

20. SINOLISATION –contd. • SINCE 2006 A LARGE NUMBER OF AFRICAN NATIONS INCLUDING EGYPT, NIGERIA AND TUNISIA HAVE SIGNED HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH AGREEMENTS WITH • IN THE PAST FOUR YEARS, CHINA HAS PROVIDED TRAINING TO AROUND 15,000 AFRICAN PROFESSIONALS INCLUDING SCIENTISTS, DOCTORS, NURSES AND ADMINISTRATORS. • IT HAS ALSO STARTED TO CONSTRUCT 26 HOSPITALS ON THE CONTINENT AND BUILT 30 CENTRES FOR THE TREATMENT OF MALARIA.

21. SINOLISATION (THE FLIP SIDE) • THE PRIME AIM OF CHINA'S AFRICA INITIATIVES, INCLUDING ITS HIGHER EDUCATION AND RESEARCH PARTNERSHIPS WITH THE CONTINENT, IS TO SECURE A SHARE OF AFRICA'S NATURAL RESOURCES • DOMESTIC ECONOMIC GROWTH, IN TURN, IS LIKELY TO GIVE CHINA MORE GLOBAL POLITICAL POWER. • BY DIVERSIFYING ITS TRADE PARTNERS AND INCLUDING AFRICAN NATIONS, CHINA APPEARS TO BE TRYING TO LIMIT THE FINANCIAL RISKS INVOLVED IN BEING DEPENDENT ON A SMALLER NUMBER OF TRADE PARTNERS. • CHINA ALSO SEES AFRICA AS A POTENTIALLY LARGE MARKET FOR ITS OWN PRODUCTS. • COLLABORATION IN AREAS SUCH AS HIGHER EDUCATION AND SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY COULD CREATE THE NETWORKS NECESSARY TO PROMOTE THESE GOALS

22. EUROPEANISATION DRIVE • EUROPE’S BOLOGNA PROCESS BEING IMPOSED IN LUSOPHONE AND FRANCOPHONE NATIONS • EXAMPLE: L-M-D STRUCTURE OF UNIVERSITY EDUCATION • CREDO: IT’S LIKELY GOING TO BE GOOD FOR EUROPE....THEREFORE .......

23. INTERNATIONALISATION AS BROADENING CURRICULAR HORIZONS • SPECIALISED INSTITUTIONS ON AFRICAN STUDIES • 31 CENTRES/INSTITUTES WORLD WIDE • 23 AMERICAN • 7 EUROPEAN • 1 JAPANESE • DEPOSITORIES OF KNOWLEDGE ON AFRICA • CONCENTRATION OF AFRICANISTS • AREA STUDIES • AFRICAN TOPICS/ISSUES/CONCERNS annexed to UNDERGRADUATE and GRADUATE STUDIES • HUMANITIES/SOCIAL SCIENCES/LAW/INTERNATIONAL RELATIONS mainly MODEL A MODEL B

24. THE DESIRABILITY • TODAY’S EDUCATED PERSON NEEDS A SOUND KNOWLEDGE OF TODAY’S GLOBALISED WORLD. • BEYOND MEMORISING FACTS AND FIGURES ON THE WORLD BEYOND ONE’S IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT, • MORE IMPORTANTLY, FOCUS ON AN APPRECIATION OF THE DYNAMICS OF LIFE IN OTHER PLACES AND • THE INTER-RELATIONSHIP BETWEEN ONE’S IMMEDIATE ENVIRONMENT AND THE REST OF THE WORLD

25. THE FALL OUTS • USEFUL AS THESE INSTITUTIONS HAVE BEEN, THE CONTRIBUTION OF AFRICANS TO THEIR DEVELOPMENT HAS BEEN MARGINAL. • THERE IS LITTLE EVIDENCE OF LOOKING AT AFRICA THROUGH AFRICAN LENSES. • AFRICAN ACHIEVEMENTS HAVE NOT BEEN ADEQUATELY DOCUMENTED. • THE PROGRAMMES THEMSELVES ARE NOT USUALLY PART OF THE MAINSTREAM ACTIVITIES OF UNIVERSITIES

26. FALL OUTS – contd. • COLLABORATIVE EFFORTS BETWEEN THESE INSTITUTIONS AND AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES HAVE BEEN MINIMAL. • NOT EASY TO DETERMINE THE EXTENT TO WHICH THESE INSTITUTIONS ARE PURELY ACADEMIC IN THEIR ORIENTATION. • AN OVER-CONCENTRATION ON SOCIAL-POLITICAL-ECONOMIC AFFAIRS • IMPRESSION THAT THE INSTITUTIONS EXIST MAINLY TO GENERATE KNOWLEDGE TO INFORM THE DIPLOMATIC AND NATIONAL SECURITY POLICIES OF THEIR PROPRIETOR COUNTRIES

27. PART TWO

28. THE TEN IDEALS: 1-3 • COLLABORATIVE MECHANISMS FOR KNOWLEDGE GENERATION AND KNOWLEDGE TRANSMISSION THAT PROHIBITS ALL FORMS OF EXCLUSION AND UN-EQUAL PARTNERSHIPS • MULTI-NATIONAL AND MULTI-CULTURAL UNINHIBITED FREE FLOW OF IDEAS, AS WELL AS SHARING AND APPLICATION OF KNOWLEDGE • CAPACITY BUILDING IN LESS ENDOWED COUNTRIES FOR STRONG UNIVERSITY INSTITUTIONS AND KNOWLEDGEABLE ACADEMICS AND STUDENTS THAT WOULD CONTRIBUTE TO THE CONTINUED DEVELOPMENT OF THE WORLD’S COMMON UNIVERSE OF LEARNING

29. THE IDEALS: 4 - 6 4. A COMMON-ATTACK FRAMEWORK FOR IDENTIFYING THE WORLD’S SHARED DEVELOPMENT CONCERNS AND DEVELOPING APPROPRIATE METHODOLOGIES FOR ACADEMICS OF ALL NATIONS RESEARCHING ON THEM 5. INCREASED EMPHASIS ON THE STRICTLY ACADEMIC AND HUMAN DEVELOPMENT DIMENSIONS OF INTERNATIONALISATION, AS OPPOSED TO THE ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL DIMENSIONS 6. NEGOTIATIONS, CONSENSUS AND RESPONSIBILITY-SHARING AND JOINT PROPRIETORSHIP AS MODUS OPERANDI FOR COLLABORATIVE EDUCATION, TRAINING AND RESEARCH VENTURES

30. THE IDEALS: 7 - 10 7. ELIMINATION OF POLITICAL BARRIERS TO SOUTH-NORTH MOBILITY OF STUDENTS AND ACADEMICS 8. MULTI-DIRECTIONAL (AS AGAINST UNI-DIRECTIONAL) COLLABORATION ARRANGEMENTS AMONG UNIVERSITIES AND NATIONS 9. DIVERSITY AS A VIABLE ASSET FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF A COMMON UNIVERSE OF LEARNING 10. ENRICHMENT OF AREA STUDIES PROGRAMMES TO GIVE MORE EMPHASIS TO SUCCESS STORIES AND INDIGENOUS KNOWLEDGE SYSTEMS, AS WELL AS TO THE PROMOTION OF RESPECT FOR OTHER CULTURES

31. PART THREE • AFRICA • THE ‘PARENT PAUVRE’ • IN THEINTERNATIONALISATION • COMMUNITY

32. THE PREVAILING SITUATION • THE PREVAILING CONCEPTIONS OF INTERNATIONALISATION ARE BUILT ON A PHILOSOPHY THAT EMPHASISES MORE OF ITS POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC DIMENSIONS. • CHARACTERISED BY UN-EQUAL PARTNERSHIPS AND ONE-WAY TRAFFIC EXCHANGE PATTERNS. • MORE OF AMERICANISATION, EUROPEANIZATION, AND MORE RECENTLY SINOLIZATION, • INTERNATIONALISATION STILL A FAR CRY

33. AFRICA’S OWN WEAKNESS • THE SITUATION IS NOT HELPED BY AFRICA’S OWN SEVERE STATE OF WEAKNESS. • MANIFEST IN POLITICAL INSTABILITY, THE POOR STATE OF NATIONAL ECONOMIES • , INFRASTRUCTURE CHALLENGES • POOR ICT PENETRATION, THE POOR STATE OF EDUCATION IN GENERAL AND OF UNIVERSITIES IN PARTICULAR, • THE AID-DEPENDENCY SYNDROME

34. THE IMPACT • African universities have not been able to reap the full benefits of internationalisation • Africa is thus far from full membership of the common universe of learning (or the World of knowledge) • that a genuine approach to Internationalisation should open up.

35. IMPACT OF ‘PARENT PAUVRE’ – contd. • African Universities (like the continent itself) has remained a beneficiary of externally-initiated, externally funded, and often externally executed projects. • Research knowledge generated by African institutions are largely unknown (and unused), • except when the work is undertaken and published outside Africa. Africa’s best brains and even brawns are ‘drained’ towards developed societies.

36. PARENT PAUVRE -concluded • The custodians of knowledge on Africa are mostly outside Africa. • Even development projects in the modern sense are researched on and executed by outside experts who • tend to ‘brief case’ the knowledge generated out of Africa. • The ‘parent pauvre’ syndrome means that Africa is being shut out of developments

37. PART FOUR • AFRICA SHAPING ITS OWN FUTURE

38. ACTION ON THREE FRONTS

39. Action Area OneTHE SUPER-STRUCTURE • AFRICA WEAK POSITION IN INTERNATIONAL EDUCATION PARTNERSHIPS IS A REFLECTION OF ITS WEAKNESS IN INTERNATIONAL POLITICAL AND ECONOMIC RELATIONS GENERALLY. • THE FACTORS RESPONSIBLE FOR AFRICA’S WEAKNESS IN THAT SPHERE (POLITICS, THE ECONOMY, TECHNOLOGY, ETC) MUST BE ADDRESSED, TO • PROVIDE THE SOCIO-ECONOMIC AND POLITICAL BACKBONE FOR THE DEVELOPMENT OF NATIONAL EDUCATION SYSTEMS AND UNIVERSITIES

40. Action Area One (contd.)PUSHING ICT PENETRATION • A very important aspect of this in a Knowledge World context is development of ICT facilities and capacity as a sure way of accessing cutting edge developments by Africa • a way of sharing its own work with the rest of the world • a way of keeping the rest of the world informed about the continent. • developments in ICT have eliminated geographical boundaries and are capable of creating a virtual merger of institutions • Africa must push ICT penetration on the continent as fast and as widely and deeply as possible.

41. Action Area TwoTRANFORMING UNIVERSITIES INTO UNIVERSITIES • Fifty years ago : regional/sub-regional universities in Africa. • the 1970s and 1980s: ‘one -country-one –University’ --- symbol of national sovereignty. • Then, on to multiple national universities. • These days: Private universities/Open/ Off-shore • One Nigerian expression ‘as at last count’

42. EFFECTS OF PROLIFERATION • unfavourable effects on quality—resources spread too thin. • Today’s Knowledge World occupied by universities with minimum international quality standards • most African universities, in their present state of neglect, cannot approximate. These standards • preparing African universities for full membership of a Knowledge World • in which Internationalisation should stem from a shared universe of learning, • requires bringing up the institutions to minimum international quality standards.

43. URGENT ACTION WITH SIX PILLARS • Ensuring the abundance of talents • Attracting, generating, and managing resources in a sustainable manner • Entrenching democratic governance and transformative management of universities • Improving research quality and enhancing its relevance • Enriching university teaching for meaningful learning • Developing institutional accreditation frameworks

44. POLITICAL-DIPLOMATIC RE-ENGINEERING • STEP-WISE INTERNATIONALISATION: cross border, sub-regional, regional • BOLOGNA-TYPE ARUSHA CONVENTION • ELIMINATING BARRIERS TO FREE MOVEMENTs BY AFRICANS ON AFRICAN SOIL • DEMOLISHING ARTIFICIAL LINGUISTIC BARRIERS IN THE CONTINENT • SPEAKING WITH ONE AFRICA VOICE WITH INTERNATIONAL PARTNERS • GETTING OUT OF CURRENT SITUATION OF ‘INTERNALISATION COCOON’

45. FINALLY.... 10 TAKE AWAY MESSAGES • Internationalisation of university education and research is not to be seen in its restricted sense of uni-directional imposition of ideas and products. • It should also down play its economic and political motives • a paradigm shift necessary --- a re-conceptualisation of Internationalisation as Mutual Occupation of, and mutually fitting into a Shared, Common Universe of Learning.

46. TAKE AWAYS: 4 - 7 4. Africa has not reaped the desired benefits of the prevailing models of Internationalisation 5. mainly because it has remained an underdog partner in international affairs generally. 6. Its low socio-economic and politically fragile state have been the major obstacles in this regard. 7. Africa therefore has to help itself out of this position to be able to contribute to the emergence of the most desired model of Internationalisation

47. TAKE AWAY 8 8. concerted action on three fronts: a... strengthening its political, economic and technological superstructure, b..... transforming its universities into universities c...engaging in political and diplomatic engineering to (1) strengthen inter-African collaboration and (2)to use its unified strength to negotiate consensual partnership with the rest of the world.

48. TAKE AWAYS 9-10 9. Africa currently functions in an Internationalisation cocoon that ropes it in a dependent relationship with North America and Europe. 10. The continent work for the emergence of a multi-directional academic universe that links all corners of the globe in a mutual give and take Universe of Learning

49. VERY FINALLY • ASANTENI SANA