DOCUMENT RESUME

ED 405 749 HE 027 183

TITLE Priority: Africa Programme of Action Proposed by theDirector-General (1990-1995). Development of HigherEducation in Africa--The DAKAR Seminar on theRestructuration of the African Universities (19 24November 1992).

INSTITUTION Association of African Universities, Accra-North(Ghana).; United Nations Educational, Scientific, andCultural Organization, Paris (France).

REPORT NO CAB-93/WS.1PUB DATE 93NOTE 73p.; For related documents, see HE 027 181-184.PUB TYPE Viewpoints (Opinion/Position Papers, Essays, etc.)

(120) Collected Works Conference Proceedings(021)

EDRS PRICE MF01/PC03 Plus Postage.DESCRIPTORS College Administration; College Admission; Developing

Nations; *Educational Change; *EducationalDevelopment; Educational Policy; EducationalTechnology; Foreign Countries; Higher Education;*Institutional Cooperation; *Resource Allocation;School Policy; Technology; Telecommunications;Universities

IDENTIFIERS *Africa

ABSTRACTA seminar was held in Dakar (Senegal) to bring

together African university presidents, vice-chancellors, rectors,and top-level administrators to discuss the following themes:policies and modalities of admissions, planning and allocation ofresources, structures of postsecondary education, and newtechnologies and interuniversity cooperation. This proceedingsdocument summarizes the presentations made and the discussion thattook place in these theme areas. Appendixes provide the Dakarstatement on the restructuring of the African universities, which isa summary of the seminar's views and discussions; the texts of fiveseminar presentations; a report on several workshops; a list ofreference documents; and a list of participants. (JDD)

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I> FR. I C3 R= 9r IC AF ER. I CI: 211 PROGRAMME

RE PORT

Development of Higher Education in Africa

The DAKAR Seminaron the

Restructuration of the African Universities19 24 November 1992

In co-operation withthe Association of African Universities (AAU)

CAB-93/WS.1

A 13 L E Co F" C ONT ENTS

Page

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND 1

GENERAL STRATEGIES FOR THE IMPROVEMENTOF HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA 3

THE DAKAR SEMINAR ON THE RESTRUCTURINGOF THE AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES 6

OPENING SESSION 6

PROCEEDINGS 7

Objectives of the seminar 8

SUB-THEME 1 : POLICIES AND MODALITIESOF ADMISSION 12

SUB-THEME 2 : PLANNING AND ALLOCATIONOF RESOURCES 13

SUB-THEME 3 : POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONALSTRUCTURES 15

SUB-THEME 4 : NEW TECHNOLOGIES ANDINTERUNIVERSITY CO-OPERATION 19

CLOSING SESSION 24

THE DAKAR STATEMENT ON THE RESTRUCTURING OF THEAFRICAN UNIVERSITIES 27

ANNEXES

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- OPENING ADDRESSES

ADDRESS BY THE RECTOR OF THE CHEIKH ANTA DIOPUNIVERSITY, DAKAR (Annex I) 31

ADDRESS BY THE REPRESENTATIVE OF THEDIRECTOR-GENERAL OF UNESCO (Annex II) 35

ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER OF EDUCATIONOF SENEGAL (Annex III) 43

PRESENTATION OF THE OBJECTIVES AND PROGRAMMEFOR THE SEMINAR (Annex IV) 47

CLOSING ADDRESS

CLOSING ADDRESS BY THE MINISTER IN CHARGEOF STATE MODERNIZATION, TECHNOLOGY, LABOURAND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING OF SENEGAL (Annex V) 59

REPORT ON THE WORKSHOPS (Annex VI) 63

LIST OF DOCUMENTS (Annex VII) 65

LIST OF PARTICIPANTS (Annex VIII) 67

( ii )

HISTORICAL BACKGROUND

Over the past ten years, a deeper insight has been soughtinto the situation of higher education in Africa. The subjecthas been on the agenda of a number of high-level meetingsinvolving all African Member States. These meetings haveexamined trends and issues and made recommendations for a specialprogramme of action as indicated below.

Organized by UNESCO with the co-operation of theOrganization of African Unity and the Economic Commission forAfrica, the fifth Conference of African Ministers of Educationand those responsible for Economic Planning was held in Hararein July 1982. It had on its agenda an item devoted toconsideration of the role of higher education in nationaldevelopment. Particularly, attention was focused on the partwhich African Higher Education should play in training indigenousskilled personnel in the development-oriented scientific andtechnical research in preserving cultural identity, and promotingthe cultures of African peoples and in modernizing educationalsystems.

In the Declaration adopted at the close of the Conference,African Member States resolved to strengthen their co-operationin the sphere of higher education. Specific recommendations weremade regarding the development and modernization of highereducation. In particular, the Conference recommended that UNESCOshould "carry out a Special Programme on thd future of highereducation in Africa with a view to raising the standards ofinstruction, promoting the collective use of trained personneland potential, and coordinating the higher education policies ofAfrican Member States" (Recommendation no. 8).

Since the adoption of this declaration, many activities havebeen undertaken by such organizations as the Association ofAfrican Universities (AAU), the United Nations EconomicCommission for Africa (ECA), the World Bank, the Commonwealth ofLearning, the Association of Commonwealth Universities, theAgency for Cultural and Technical Co-operation (ACCT), theAssociation des Universites partiellement ou entierement delangue frangaise (AUPELF), the Conseil africain et malgache pourl'enseignement superieur (CAMES) and other NGOs interested in thedevelopment of higher education in Africa. Various aid agencies,foundations and institutions have also been active in extendingsupport to the development of national systems and to individualinstitutions of higher education in Africa.

As far as UNESCO is concerned, between 1983 and 1987, aseries of activities were carried out, in co-operation with theUNESCO Regional Bureau for Education in Africa (BREDA) to definethe general thrust of the proposed special programme, identifyits main features, and select the methods of action to be used.In October 1984, a regional Advisory Committee for HigherEducation in Africa was created, with responsibility for advisingon the strategy to be adopted to carry out the programme.

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This Committee identified two main priority lines ofemphasis, namely,

i) the pedagogical and scientific training of highereducational personnel, and

ii) the production of documents and text-books forhigher education.

Practical suggestions encompassing other fields of interest forhigher education in Africa, were made by a regional symposium onhigher education held in BREDA, Dakar, in May 1987.

Critical assessment of the situation

Specific studies and field activities conducted since 1983have shown that the unsatisfactory situation of higher educationin Africa, was the result of the combined effects of a range offactors such as those described below.

Economic difficulties at the national level have ledfrequently to drastic financial constraints limiting seriouslythe resources allocated to higher education generally and touniversities in particular at a time when the demand for highereducation has been at a high level.

The lack of professional training. There is often a dearthof qualified experienced teachers.

Absence of a clear-cut higher education policy and of aclear definition of the tasks which higher education shouldundertake to contribute to the search for solutions ofdevelopment problems. As a consequence, study and researchprogrammes are not always relevant to the socio-culturalsituation in the country nor do they always match the economicdevelopment efforts being exerted.

There is a lack of motivation among teaching staff whosestatus and remuneration are felt to offer little incentive. Thelack of motivation is also present among students whose generalbehaviour reflects the uncertainties and apprehension aroused bythe dismal employment prospects facing them.

Efforts of harmonization, coordination and collaboration inframing higher education policies for the different AfricanStates are lacking.

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GENERAL STRATEGIESFOR THE IMPROVEMENT OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA

I. STRUCTURE FOR THE SPECIAL PROGRAMME

The Special Programme for the improvement of highereducation in Africa consists of activities organized either inthe form of projects or sequential series implemented under aregional co-operation mechanism. It gives support to action atthe national, sub-regional and regional levels.

At the sub-regional level plans have been made to set up 5programme-based networks : two in West Africa, one in CentralAfrica, one in East Africa and one in Southern Africa. Eachprogramme network will be supported by a centre of excellence ata university where resources needed for the programme will beassembled. Three priority strategic areas have been identifiednamely : training, scientific and educational documentation andjoint utilization of resources. In each of these areas, thespecial programme will pursue specific objectives and make useof appropriate modalities of action.

II. ACTION UNDER THE PRIORITY AFRICA PROGRAMME

The programme Priority Africa was established by theDirector-General and approved by the General Conference of UNESCO(25C/Resolution 27) as a contribution to the implementation ofthe United Nations Programme of Action for African EconomicRecovery and Development. Concerning higher education, theDirector-General stated in the Priority Africa programme :

"I have reached the conclusion that the main lines ofthe priority assistance that UNESCO could be asked toprovide in the area of higher education are thefollowing:

(a) action at the initial training stage and through in-service training to raise the level of teachingpersonnel;

(b) improvement of the quality of research conditions andfacilities (computer equipment, subscriptions to scientificand technical journals and to data banks);

(c) modernization of the storage, monitoring, managementand exploitation of scientific and technical information,through appropriate equipment and high-quality staff;

(d) improvements in both the quality and professionalefficiency of university management and administrativepersonnel;

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(e) revision of the content of curricula and teachingequipment with the aim of making them more relevant to theproblems of economic and social development to beundertaken in all subjects, with particular emphasis onscientific and technological subjects and on thedevelopment of the social sciences;

(f) help to governments for the improved planning of thescholarships they award, with particular reference toensuring that the courses of study followed by Africanstudents abroad are relevant to the needs and problems oftheir own countries and qualify them for employment ontheir return to Africa;

(g) strengthening the capacity of universities tocommunicate among themselves, whether through the promotionof joint activities, through exchanges of teaching staff orstudents, through participation in joint research projects,through the free and rapid circulation among them of theteaching tools and data they possess, or through co-ordination to avoid duplication involving a negotiatedregional division of specializations, whereby as a resultof a clear definition of priorities increased resourcescould be made available so as to achieve internationalstandards of excellence;

(h) efforts to help African universities break out oftheir too frequent isolation by bringing them into contactwith the cultural, scientific, technological, economic andindustrial communities of other regions.

This array of measures, all of which are aimed at anoptimal use of university resources and potential, could becarried out under two existing institutional mechanisms.These are the committee set up in 1987 to advise me onstrategies for improving the quality and relevance ofhigher education in Africa and the special programme forthe improvement of higher education in Africa, currentlyunder consideration by UNDP, which provides for a regionalmechanism for implementing projects aimed at strengtheningthe scientific and technological potential of highereducation institutions."

For the planning of this programme, AAU convened in Accra,from 1 to 2 November 1990, at the request of UNESCO, apreparatory meeting of experts from universities and donoragencies. As a result of their deliberations, a programme outlinewas drawn up focusing on three major themes :

1) Mission

Higher Education Institutions: nature and functions

Higher Education: past, present and major trends

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The African Higher Education Institution: history,philosophy, issues and environment

Possible Agenda for Higher Education InstitutionalDevelopment in Africa.

2) Function

Leadership and Organization of the Higher EducationInstitution:

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Charters and Structures

Decision making and policy formation

Communication and Interaction within the institution

Research.

Efficiency

Resource Planning/Allocation and Cost Effectiveness:

Higher Education Financing : trends

Institutional quality, relevance and effectiveness

Use of impact of new information and communicationtechnologies

Networking for efficiency

Evaluation strategies.

It was envisaged to organize a modular series of reflectionand training workshops of 5 days duration each for some 40university rectors, vice-chancellors and presidents of Africanuniversities (one university per Member State of the Africanregion). The first workshop was held in Accra (Ghana) from 25to 29 November 1991. The second workshop took place in Dakar(Senegal) from 19 to 24 November 1992 and the third workshop willtake place in Alexandria (Egypt) from 26 to 30 April 1993.Logistic support for the organization will be assured on acontract basis with the UNESCO national commissions and the hostuniversities in the respective countries. The AAU, as well asintergovernmental and non-governmental organizations which areactive in supporting Africa Higher Education will be involved inthis undertaking.

By bringing together a specific target audience of Africanuniversity presidents, vice-chancellors, rectors and top-leveladministrators, the seminars aim at forging a consensus of viewsand concerted plans for action in these areas.

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The conclusions and recommendations of each seminar will beincorporated in a plan of action which will complement existinginitiatives in the field of development of African highereducation.

III. THE DAKAR SEMINAR ON THE RESTRUCTURING OF THE AFRICANUNIVERSITIES (19 24 November 1992)

OPENING SESSION

The opening session was held in the Great Auditorium ofCheikh Anta Diop University, Dakar, in the presence ofrepresentatives of the Diplomatic corps and many personalitiesof the political, cultural, university, research and scientificworld. The session was chaired by Mr Andre SONKO, Minister ofEducation of Senegal. It was addressed by Professor SouleymaneNIANG, Rector of the host university, Mr Eric ARMERDING,Director, Co-operation with African States of UNESCO,representing the Director-General of UNESCO, and the Chairman.Their statements are attached as Annexes I, II and III.

In his introductory speech, Professor Souleymane NIANGwelcomed the participants recapitulating briefly the objectivesand the university dimension of UNESCO's programme "PriorityAfrica". He then expressed the wish to see our universitieschange into true development universities where institutions withthe requisite competence provide the necessary refined trainingfor leadership.

Mr Eric ARMERDING conveyed the regrets of Mr Federico Mayor,the Director-General of UNESCO, for being unable to participatein the second seminar. Mr ARMERDING recalled UNESCO's interestin higher education in Africa. "The Director-General nourishesthe hope" he said, "of seeing Heads of African Universities playan important role in the action in progress for bringing aboutradical changes in the management of institutions of highereducation".

As recommended by the Sixth Conference of Ministers ofEducation and Those Responsible for Economic Planning in AfricanMember States, which was held in Dakar from 8 to 11 July 1991,the strengthening of higher education should help build up a bankof ideas and knowledge to assist in the development of educationand of society itself. For this, among other reasons, UNESCO,thanks to its programme "Priority Africa", offers to theprincipal actors in the field of higher education a forum forreflection and discussion where trends can be analyzed andorientations and strategies necessary to operate changes can bedefined with a view to bringing about necessary changes and topromoting good quality higher education. The Dakar seminar wouldbring its contribution to this process. It would be analyzing thefollowing three principal themes :

Policies and modalities of admissions

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Planning and allocation of resourcesStructures of post-secondary education.

UNESCO, added Mr ARMERDING, continues to listen to the needsof Africa and would put at the disposal of African Universitiesits programme UNITWIN and its key component, UNESCO chairs. Hethanked the Senegalese Government and the Cheikh Anta DiopUniversity for their hospitality. He also thanked all theinstitutions which could be contributing to the success of theseminar on higher education, among them UNDP, ACCT, AAU, IAU,CAMES, AUPELF and UREF.

In his address opening the seminar, Mr Andre SONKO, Ministerof Education of Senegal, welcomed the Heads of AfricanUniversities and international bodies associated with theorganization of the second seminar of Vice-Chancellors. Recallirigthe causes of the worsening of working conditions of students anduniversity teachers, he emphasized the need for a better controlof university admissions to ensure that measures taken do notproduce long term adverse effects. Students must especially beplaced in a favourable academic environment and offeredsufficiently varied courses to enable each one of them to develophis potentialities. Mr SONKO recalled the financial difficultiesdue to the present hard economic situation. He stated that abetter allocation of available resources will increase theinternal productivity of our universities and institutes ofhigher education. It is also important that universities improvetheir external effectiveness by including in their centralpreoccupations a professional training that will guarantee todegree holders the ability to adapt themselves to new workingconditions and to new knowledge and know-how. Hence the need toincrease relations between universities and the economic world.

Mr SONKO ended his address by thanking all the organizationsand associations which were working for the success of the secondseminar, especially UNESCO and the Association of AfricanUniversities. Senegal based much hope, he added on UNESCO'sprogramme "Priority Africa", and would draw inspiration fromreflexions contained in the programme to nourish a nationalconcerted effort for the development of higher education.

PROCEEDINGS

After a brief pause, delegates proceeded to the election ofthe bureau of the seminar, as follows :

President

1st Vice-President

2nd Vice-President

Professor S. NIANG, Rector of CheikhAnta Diop University of Dakar, Senegal,

Dr L. T. JONATHAN, Pro-Vice Chancellorof the University of Lesotho,

Professor A. HENDAOUI, President of theUniversity of Tunis III, Tunisia,

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1st Rapporteur

2nd Rapporteur

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Professor Komlavi F. SEDDOH, Rector ofUniversity du Benin, Lome-Togo, and

Mr R. JACOB, representing the Vice-Chancellor of the University ofNamibia.

A FIRST PLENARY SESSION

The first plenary session was chaired by Professor S. NIANG.In introduction, Mr ARMERDING, Director, Co-operation withAfrican States of UNESCO, presented the objectives and theprogramme of the seminar, the main theme of which bears on"Restructuring of African Universities" including sub-themes.This presentation was followed by short communications presentedby the Universities of Namibia, St-Louis in Senegal and Algierson the impact of the first seminar in Accra on their respectiveinstitutions.

1. Introduction of the objectives and programme of the seminar

After recalling the methodology that could direct thereflexion, namely the taking into account of the long term andthe analysis of the great orientations of development andeconomic management, Mr ARMERDING introduced the sub-themes ofthe seminar, as summarized below. The full text is in Annex IV.

Sub-Theme 1 : Policies and Modalities of Admission

a)

Two preoccupations to be considered were:

The unjustifiable partitioning of courses, which sets"traditional" universities in opposition to respondingrealistically to the challenging call for structural changearising from the rapid increase of knowledge thatnecessitates interdisciplinary approach, and

b) The rapid growth of students numbers. (Current estimatesare 2.900.000 students for the whole of the Africancontinent, of whom 30 % are females).

The problem of numbers was linked with that of generallyhigh rates of failures in African universities, which constituteda source of worry for teachers and political authorities. Thechanges in academic practices which could be introduced shouldtake the causes of the failures into account if suitablesolutions were to be found for resolving university problems ofstructures and human resources development.

Another cause for worry was the high rate of unemployedgraduates. This posed the problem of the inadequacy of profiles

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on the labour market due to a poor knowledge of what public andprivate enterprises required by way of qualified personnel.

There was the need for a better control by universities ofthe distortions between student numbers in the variousspecialities and the needs of the labour market. It was hopedthat discussions on the themes of policies and modalities ofadmissions would lead to new ways of tackling the problem ofmismatch between students preparation and the world of work.

Sub-Theme 2 : Planning and Allocation of Resources

The financing of higher education was entirely being borneby Government. Consequently, as economic output declined, inalmost all the African countries, national capacities to financeuniversity education dropped, and universities had beenprogressively forced to accept sizeable cuts in governmentfinancial provision. University budgets become insufficient inrelation to needs. Universities must, therefore, make an effortwith judicious management of available resources, to be cost-effective.

Sub-Theme 3 : Structures of Post-Secondary Education

Structures of the entire system of post-secondary educationrequire being diversified in order to meet the needs ofdevelopment. The organization of the university in mono-disciplinary modules imposed an artificial partitioning. Amongthe consequences were cases of ill-adapted syllabuses, imbalancein orientation of students and of research programmes ofinadequate relevance. Greater emphasis on interdisciplinaryorganization of post-secondary structures might help solve theproblems of development currently facing the African continent.

Sub-Theme 4 : New Technologies and Interuniversity Co-operation

a) Efforts should be made towards the utilization of newinformation and communication technologies by post-secondaryinstitutions in Africa. This would provide a useful tool for theexamination and resolution of pluridisciplinary problems such asAIDS. The UNESCO/WHO programme of Co-operation for the Preventionof AIDS had its roots in the emphasis that needed to be placedon interdisciplinary teaching, learning and research and theformation of networks of training and research institutions. Herethe latter would facilitate the utilization of new technologiesfor distance education as well and help to promote the requisitemastery of its technical, administrative and academic aspects.

It is in this perspective that are situated the action plansenvisaged on distance education in ARUSHA as well as in LOME for

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computer science. And so will be formed the wide scientificexchange spaces stretching beyond the linguistic divisions of theAfrican continent.

b) Round Tables on Co-operation

These Round Tables will be an opportunity to reflect on thepossibilities of exchanges between African universities byorganizing a true interactivity in the use of new communicationtechnologies.

Conclusion

The proposals above were in time with the wish expressed bythe OAU Heads of State and Government at their Summit meeting inDakar in June 1992, in a resolution adopted on higher educationinstitutions in Africa "calling on Member States and UNESCO toassist African Institutions of higher education and Universitiesin fully accomplishing their mission and carrying out theirfunctions with better adapted structures and the utilization ofmethods of management enabling the use of efficient innovations".

2. Brief communications

Participants followed with accounts of the impact which theAccra seminar had made on the functioning of the institutionsthey represented :

a) University of Namibia

At the time the first seminar on higher education tookplace at Legon, Accra, the University of Namibia was stillin its preparatory phase. It could, therefore, implementsome of the recommendations with the result that :

a MISSION Statement for the University of Namibia had beenworked on.

ii) an agreement had been signed in conformity with the UNITWINProject organizing a South-South and North-South co-operation.

iii) the Vice-Chancellor had set up a strategic planning anddevelopment unit and appointed an administrative assistant,and,

iv) a University foundation had been created to explorefinancing possibilities.

b) University of St-Louis (Senegal)

This institution, which had also been recently created,benefitted from the Accra seminar. Besides, the Rectorinformed participants about an emerging national concerted

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effort in respect of higher education in his country. Thisendeavour aimed at bringing together all the peopleinterested in the mission of the University, would use theresults of the reflection at the Accra meeting.

c) Algeria

The representative of Algeria-informed the seminar of hiscountry's experience of the "open university". Theinstitution was charged with continuous training and wascontributing to the solution of the problems of highereducation in Algeria. It operated on a small budget. Itemployed part-time teachers and functioned in partnershipwith large-scale enterprises. This university of the secondchance for Algeria used distance teaching technology.

d) Morocco

Professor NIANG, Rector of Dakar University spoke about thecreation in Fez, Morocco, of a private scientificuniversity which would be charged with high level training.It would welcome teachers and students from all walks oflife. The construction of this university would becompleted in July 1993.

The seminar then turned to the following four sub-themes,which were introduced by four experts:

Sub-theme 1 Policies and Modalities of Admission

Principal speaker Professor J.F. ADE AJAYI (Nigeria)

Sub-theme 2 Planning and allocation of resources :

Optimal utilization of government grants

Principal speaker Professor K.W. GOMA (Zambia)

Sub-theme 3 Structures of Post-Secondary Education in Africa.Innovations and reforms

Principal speaker Professor Souleymane NIANG (Senegal).

Sub-theme 4 Restructuring interdisciplinary courses,new communication technologies and inter-university co-operation

(Document prepared by a group of specialists).

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B. SECOND PLENARY SESSION

Chairpersons : Rector NIANG and Vice-Chancellor JONATHAN

1. SUB-THEME 1 POLICIES AND MODALITIES OF ADMISSION

In his introduction, Professor AJAYI stressed the followingmain points :.

a) In the face of a growing demand from school-leavers from avery democratized secondary education and of limitedfinancial means at the disposal of higher education,admission policies and practices require beingrationalized, account being taken of the need for balancebetween student numbers, available resources and manpowerrequirements.

b) It is important to define precisely the role ofuniversities by insisting on research, creativity and thecapacity to generate new knowledge. Efficiency must not bemeasured by the number of graduates produced, but rather bytheir ability to produce the knowledge that will help toreduce the dependence and the marginalisation of Africanpeoples. Universities seen in this way are essentialdevelopment factors.

If, for the individual, the primary or first level ofeducation constitutes the foundations of education, at thenational level only a good higher education crowning thewhole educational system can guarantee the requisitestrengths of structure to the entire edifice.

d) Like universities, other forms of higher educationstructures deserve the greatest attention.

e) Admission policies should be part of the national planningof the economy and manpower needs. Universities must beinvolved in their conception and be able to maintain theirautonomy in implementing them particularly in reaching aconsensus on training units, optimal size of institutions,teacher student ratio and the cost of training.

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g)

Admissions must essentially be based on merit. This doesnot mean that measures should not be taken to encourage theadmission of women and candidates from less wealthy groups.In the latter case also merit criteria should be taken intoaccount.

Other methods and techniques of higher education, likedistance education and open universities, can help to solvethe problem of student numbers in relation with availablemeans.

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The theme of admission policies was the subject of a verylively discussion whose main points were the following :

a) In many countries, higher education is directed byMinisters of education rather than Vice-Chancellors orRectors. The involvement of university heads in nationalplanning and elaboration of admission policies needs to beencouraged.

b) The policy of higher education must remain flexible inorder to facilitate its adaptation to our constantlychanging world.

c) Faced with the decline of the economic situation and thegrowing number of unemployed graduates, the Universitiesmust develop links with the business and industrial worldparticularly through the creation of professional courses.

d) Institutions of interuniversity cooperation like the AAUand AUPELF can contribute to the elaboration of plans forhigher education for the African continent. This will helpto deiine a policy for the creation of regional courses andcentres of excellence. They are in a position to bringtogether the necessary material and human resources for thepurpose.

e)

f

The development of research will facilitate theorganization of services in African universities to meetthe needs of national development. Students must be closelyassociated with such services.

Selection and training policies must take into account therealities of the labour market while aiming at capacity tomeet such criteria as student and professional mobility.Training for self-employment must also be encouraged.

g) Admission policies must go hand in hand with a rationalorientation of students, based on diversified courses andstructures.

h) By valorizing careers in higher education it will bepossible to have a sufficient number of competent staff toimplement policies of orientation which is one of the"pillars of citizens right" to higher education.

C. THIRD PLENARY SESSION

Chairmen : Rector NIANG and Professor HENDAOUI

SUB-THEME 2 PLANNING AND ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES

Professor L. K. H. GOMA of the University of Zambia spoketo his paper on the sub-theme and underlined the followingpoints:

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a) At first, African states were able to finance sufficientlytheir universities. But the worsening economic conditionshave prevented them from meeting adequately the demand ofthese universities as they grow and their needs increase.This situation compels institutions to seek other sourcesof finance. However, it is important to ensure that incomegenerating activities do not divert the university from itsprincipal mission.

b) Very often, state grants cannot be used at the discretionof universities. This makes difficult the realization offinancial autonomy so much desired by universities.

c) Faced with the growing insufficiency of state grants,Universities must explore other sources of funding. Amongthese are the pulling of resources together for thecreation of regional structures and courses, and thepossibility of providing saleable services. Unfortunately,the latter can also be hampered by the financialdifficulties facing African countries.

d) Moreover, higher education must not continue to beconsidered a state monopoly. It is possible to envisage thecreation of high-quality private institutions, due carebeing taken, however, not to generate a feeling amongstudents of being discriminated against through money andthe drain of the best teachers towards such independentestablishments.

e) Confronted by the difficult economic situation of theircountries, African universities must strengthen managementof the resources made available to them.

f) The cost of social services constitutes one of the greatestdifficulties facing universities. In view of the need forthe universities to contribute to the rapid transformationof the continent, state financial grants must besupplemented by that of the private sector and students'own contribution. One might envisage the cost of municipalservices being borne by local authorities, and that of thewell-being of students by the students themselves.

g)

h

Planning is a difficult task when everything constitutes apriority. But it is urgent that universities have strategicplans in order to give an orientation and set a goal totheir effort. The recognition of the importance of goodpublic relations adding value to the potentialities ofuniversities is also necessary.

Certain norms were suggested to guide internal sharing ofuniversity funds by allocating lump sums to sectors whichhave for long been insufficiently provided for, likedocumentation, research, training of trainers andmaintenance of infrastructure and equipment. Studentteacher ratios were also suggested as a basis for theallocation of government resources.

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A very rich and lively discussion followed the presentationof the theme by Professor GOMA in the course of whichparticipants stressed the following main ideas :

a) African universities must elaborate strategies that wouldenable them to put on a clear basis rules capable ofguiding their relations with states. These strategies musttake into account their long-term needs and should not beshort-term survival strategies.

b) The creation and development of a sound public relationssystem within the universities to increase contacts withfinancing sources.

c) Management autonomy seems to be the best means of enablingthe university to manage its resources efficiently. It is,however, essential that such resources should be put at thedisposal of the university in good time.

d) Sectors which were for a long time not given sufficientattention, like documentation, research, maintenance ofequipment and training of trainers, must be givenparticular attention. Opinions differed, however, as to theproportion of available funds to be allocated to suchsectors.

e) Faced with limited state subsidies, universities must makethe effort to diversify their sources of financing by usingtheir expertise in the fields of training, research andservices. Funds for higher education development should becreated for the setting up of centres of excellence.

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g)

Universities must bear in mind the cost of training andpool together, anytime it is possible, their material andhuman resources to develop regional courses and structures.Their management must be transparent, particularly in thepreparation, presentation and implementation of theirbudgets. Such transparency will reinforce the state's anddonors' confidence in them.

Finally the state should no longer be considered to havethe monopoly of higher education. It was suggested that thecreation of private good quality higher educationinstitutions should be encouraged to lighten the load ongovernments.

D. FOURTH PLENARY SESSION

Chairpersons : Dr L.T. JONATHAN and Professor HENDAOUI

SUB-THEME 3 POST-SECONDARY EDUCATIONAL STRUCTURES

Professor NIANG, Rector of Cheikh Anta Diop University ofDakar, developed ideas under the following headings :

?a

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a) Crisis of Post-secondary education

Post-secondary educational structures in Africa are goingthrough a serious crisis whose causes are many ; among which are:

i) economic difficulties of African countries that haveaffected universities and led to their dysfunctioning.

ii) the large numbers of students entering or leaving theuniversities and those in transit, leading tooverpopulation in the first cycle;

iii) lack of global scientific and educational policies;

iv) dearth of motivation for teachers who are not involvedin the solution of the crisis or in the planning ofacademic strategies, and

v) tendency to lose sight of the ethics and the rules ofmoral conduct.

b) Present Post-Secondary Structures

Structures have been inherited from metropolitan traditionsof the colonial era.

i) The inherited structures are of four types :

universities, professional higher schools, researchinstitutes and a combination of universities, higherschools and institutes.

ii) As structures, these on the whole do not achieve theobjectives of educational systems to meet the needs ofnational development. Their restructuring is, therefore, anecessity.

c) The objective of restructuring

The objective aimed at, must be the training of nationaldevelopment personnel through teaching and research so as to putan end to material and moral poverty on the African continent;it being understood that :

i) material poverty prevents African countries fromowning the scientific tools necessary to exploit thecontinent's wealth. We must lessen this poverty byrestructuring the training system so as to avail ourselvesnot only of knowledge but also the know-how and how to be.

ii) moral poverty results from leaving aside African basicvalues and making dependence a way of life.

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d) The basis of restructuring :

Restructuring must be based on the training of :

i) development personnel and an elite who will enableAfrica to possess its own development actors, and

ii) men and women with humanistic knowledge who will takemoral responsibility for development.

e) Requisite conditions for restructuring

To restructure to effect, higher education institutionswould need to have a large amount of :

i) academic autonomy, especially in relation to decision-making regarding numbers or enrolments, and

ii) administrative and management autonomy as regardsresources for self-development like services.

All of this must be over-arched by a mechanism whichguarantees authority in both the administrative and academicfields.

f) The kinds of restructuring to be promoted

The restructuring aimed at fall into three principalcategories :

i) Category 1 : New training strategies for developmentbased on :

the creation of professional training coursesleading to work;

the renovation of pedagogic strategies to achievebetter training;

the redefinition of research structures leading tothe creation of development structures that integrateall the dimensions of research, in particular throughthe creation of post university training and centresof excellence (development research structures may beorganized in networks), and

the redefinition of control structures for a moreefficient evaluation.

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ii) Category 2 : Structures of concertation fordevelopment which are capable of generating an environmentof peace in order to create the stability necessary forlasting and good quality training and research andtherefore create networks of :

local or internal mechanisms for relating positivelyto social partners;

external relations charged with external co-operation for the search of resources and thedevelopment of scientific links with otheruniversities. These networks will be responsible forthe external preparation of teachers.

systems for the transmission and circulation ofinformation, and

arrangements for the control of equivalence ofdegrees in order to facilitate the mobility ofteachers and students.

iii) Category 3 : Cultural activities on University Campuswhich will help improve the living and working conditionsof the whole university community by restoring to theuniversity campus its role as a place for culturalactivities.

The presentation by Professor NIANG was followed by a verylively discussion. Participants in general agreed with his pointsof view and the proposals he made. They stressed, in particular,the need for :

a) a large amount of autonomy in :

i) the management in the academic and administrativefields and in the diversification of sources of financing,

ii) the creation within the institutions of structuresthat would generate and manage the peace necessary foruniversity training and research.

b) establishing a moral code capable of controlling people'sbehaviour on the university campus.

c) not losing sight, of the indispensable articulation thatmust exist between higher education and the other degreesof the educational system, and

d) the planning of courses and syllabuses on amultidisciplinary base that will allow universities toimprove their contribution to a lasting development of theAfrican continent by facilitating a global approach to theproblems facing it.

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E. FIFTH PLENARY SESSION AND WORKSHOP

SUB-THEME 4 : NEW TECHNOLOGIES AND INTERUNIVERSITY CO-OPERATION

Chairman: Professor S. NIANG

Discussion of this topic was centred mainly on:

the intensification of existing awareness of thesubject, and the transmission of informationadditional to that communicated at the Accra Seminar.

triggering thought and discussion with a view tohighlighting the real possibilities of, constraintson, and practical conditions and ways and means ofintroducing, new technologies (NT) in Africanuniversities so as to improve their quantitative andqualitative efficiency.

examining the objectives of inter-universityco-operation, and ways and means of strengthening it,particularly in the framework of existing mechanisms.

THE INTRODUCTION OF NEW TECHNOLOGIES IN AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES

(a) General introduction

To establish the conceptual framework of this thought anddiscussion in pragmatic and concrete terms, an overall pictureof NT and their utilization in higher education and research waspresented at the outset by:

Regine Thomas and Philippe Perrey, French expertsengaged in a European-scale university distance educationoperation (the OLYMPUS Programme). They screened representativevideos of the programmes already undertaken in this context, andoutlined projects in preparation which could be of interest toAfrican universities.

Didier Oillo and Rene Bourrel, experts working withAUPELF/UREF, one of whose major concerns is the improvement ofscientific and technical information and its dissemination inFrench-speaking university circles by facilitating access toknowledge, improving communication, and favouring the developmentof co-operation among all French-speaking universities (UNISATProgramme and SYFED centres).

Ray Patten, an Irish expert, who illustrated hisaddress with practical examples of the use of new technologiesin Ireland and in Anglo-Saxon education systems, and referredalso to the possibilities offered to higher educationalinstitutions in Africa, citing in particular the case of Namibia.

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(b) Workshops

Several practical workshops were held in parallel* andprovided an opportunity for each participant to try outmultimedia sets of material, including one set on the fightagainst AIDS (written material, CD/ROM, interactive videodisk,video cassettes, on-line interrogation of specializeddata-banks), thereby enabling them to acquire a practical graspof the various possibilities of optimum utilization of thesefacilities in the context of initial and on-going training, forthe further training of existing instructors and practicians, andvery broadly speaking for the information of research workers andall those involved in the education system.

(c) Discussions

The demonstrations and the discussions which followed themhighlighted the advantages and benefits which Africanuniversities could derive from the use of NT and distanceeducation methods which could undoubtedly constitute positivefactors of response in cases where traditional systems arenowadays of no avail (too many students, shortages of highlyskilled personnel to teach certain specialized or new subjects,lack of reference material, inadequate back-up and updating ofknowledge, etc.). But the use of NT also raises problems, and issubject to constraints; these too were examined.

First and foremost, administrative, technical andorganizational preliminaries were noted and analysed in detailin the light of the physical nature of the material and thepossible ways in which it can be used, either for scientific andtechnical information or for teaching purposes (face-to-face ordistance teaching, self-instruction or learning in the presenceof a teacher, individual or collective learning). This aspectraises problems relating to:

The reception, recording, reproduction, archivingand storage of material.

Conditions of circulation and use.

Forms of training and how they are used.

Furthermore, the sociological consequences of theintroduction of NT in higher education were identified. Severalparticipants emphasized the risk of subordinating the role of theteacher to the use of these facilities, and the consequent needto place due value on the innovative activities of the "pioneer"teachers who embark upon their use. In any case, the Rectors andVice-Chancellors present recommended that a number of importantparameters be taken into account, notably with regard to:

cf. the detailed report of the workshops in Annex VI

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Institutional criteria: having regard to the officialacceptance in academic circles of the use of NT, the lattershould be given due recognition in the scientific career recordof the teacher concerned.

Administrative management criteria: steps to be takenby the authorities for the incorporation of these new factors inthe universities.

Pedagogic criteria: a study of the adaptability ofteaching methods, curricula, examination systems, etc.

Economic criteria: the need to give precedence tosub-categories of functional utilization in order to makecapital outlay on premises, equipment, etc. economicallyprofitable.

Cultural development criteria: difficulties inherentin a cultural environment that is perhaps not fully prepared toabsorb innovations of this kind.

The crucial point, which was constantly at the core of thediscussions, was that of the costs generated by the introductionof these innovations and the capital outlay required, at the verytime when the financial, material and human resources availableto African universities are manifestly inadequate for them tofulfill the mission assigned to them. It was generally agreedthat for those of them whose authorities decide to forge ahead,what is called for first and foremost is a genuine politicaldetermination on the part of the State, together with themobilization of the energies and resources of the universitycommunities concerned. Moreover, they will have to have recourseto the aid and experience of the international universitycommunity and rely on joint projects such as those described atthe Seminar: UNITWIN and UNESCO CHAIRS, UNISAT, "POST OLYMPUS",Volunteers in Technical Assistance (VITA), the CODE Data System,and other mechanisms such as TCDC.

(d) Conclusion and recommendations

Many of the participants expressed their satisfaction withthe demonstrations and with the practical experiments they wereable to engage in. Several participants spoke during thesumming-up session of Sub-theme IV, declaring that:

It would be a pity if African universities did not takeadvantage of these technological advances in order to try tobring about a rapid and significant improvement in the qualityand relevance of university education, training and research.

African universities should resolutely look ahead andprofit from the contemplated restructuring to incorporate theseinnovations in a judicious, reasonable and progressive manner.That is to say:

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i) NT should not give the impression of takingprecedence over formal lectures, but should be seen asa useful and necessary adjunct to them.

ii) NT must be introduced in accordance with amethodical programme established in conjunction withthe target groups and protagonists concerned, specifictraining courses being organized and detailedinformation being made available to all.

In this perspective, the wish was expressed that:

a few pilot operations should be launched withoutfurther delay where the context appears at the present time tobe most favourable and propitious. These operations could bebacked by existing relay centres in Africa such as the SYFEDcentres, the one in Dakar having already proven its worth inrespect of its organization, its aid, co-ordination andleadership potential, the high level of participation andassiduity of teachers and research workers, its relevance, andthe essential role it plays in the Cheikh Anta Diop University.The Donogh O'Malley Regional Technical College in Ireland is alsoprepared to play a part in pilot projects.

On these assumptions, it was recommended that:

A particularly rigorous preliminary study be undertakenof the adequation and adaptability of these programmes to theneeds to be met and to the specific and practical circumstancesin which they are to be put into effect.

So far as is possible, the education and trainingcontent and the choice of suitable teaching media be prepared ona regional scale so as to rationalize the costs of production,circulation and use.

Recourse be had to high-level pluridisciplinary teamsfor the preparation and implementation of this process.

The target groups (research teams, teachers andstudents) be brought into the picture at every stage of theprocess of defining teaching needs, selecting the curricularmodules and media or categories of media to be employed, and theproduction and finalizing of instructional material.

Efforts be deployed to help strengthen North-South andSouth-South co-operation, the joint design and application ofcurricula providing an excellent opportunity for interactivityin this respect.

Lastly, the Rectors and Vice-Chancellors present appealedfor solidarity on the part of the international community (theUnited Nations System, funding agencies, and bilateral andmultilateral English-speaking, French-speaking,Portuguese-speaking and Arabic-speaking co-operation agencies)

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without which African universities, in their present difficultcircumstances, will not be able to conduct the desired pilotoperations in the short term, nor will they be able to envisage,in the medium and long term, the introduction of NT for thebenefit of the African community as a whole.

F. SIXTH PLENARY SESSION

ROUND TABLES ON INTER-UNIVERSITY CO-OPERATION

Chairpersons : Professor S. NIANG and Dr JONATHAN

Round tables took place where presentations were made byrepresentatives of the following institutions involved in theprogramme of co-operation in the field of higher education asindicated overleaf :

a) Mr POWER, Assistant Director-General in charge of Education,UNESCO and Mr AGUESSY, Head of higher education in theOrganization's regional Education Office in Dakar, presented theUNITWIN programme and its UNESCO Chairs component. Thisprogramme, initiated on a worldwide scale, aims at reinforcingcooperation between higher educational institutions and morespecially at making full use of North-South and East-West co-operation. It is based on the promotion of better integration ofhigher education into the economic contexts, and on thestrengthening of national capacities through twinning ofinstitutions. UNITWIN and UNESCO Chairs can help to bring aboutthe rapid transfer of knowledge by means of tailor-madeprogrammes that correspond to specific needs and can be taughton the spot at the sub-regional level. The UNESCO Chairs werecreated in many African countries in many key disciplines. Theorganization has declared its readiness to support projects thatwill be submitted to it for the creation of Chairs on the basisof established criteria and with extra-budgetary sources offinance.

b) Professor OUIMINGA, Secretary-General of the African andMalagasy Council for Higher Education (CANES) described theprogrammes of his Organization and their contribution to co-operation in the field of higher education in Africa andMadagascar, namely, the programmes on equivalence ofqualifications, research in the field of pharmacology, and on theevaluation of teachers and researchers for promotion to variousacademic posts.

c) Professor M. GUILLOU, Rector of AUPELF/UREF, an associationof 260 partially or entirely French-speaking universities andresearch centres in Europe, Africa and Canada, spoke about theprogrammes of his association. They are aimed at reinforcing thecapacity of member institutions and comprise:

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i) Programme "Viatique" Gifts of specialized books toinstitutions for distribution as prizes to students,teachers and researchers for academic excellence,

ii) Research and Training Programme.

iii) Student Exchange Programme (CIME, and Scholarships forexcellence).

iv) Programme UNISAT and University by satellite.

v) Regional Courses Programme.

vi) SYFED Centres, and

vii) An out-reach programme to other linguistic spheres ofthe world by departments of French Studies.

d) Mr NDORUKWIGIRA, representative of the African CapacityBuilding Foundation (ACBF) made the following points regardinghis Organization's aims and activities in initiating programmesfor endogenous capacity building and in those of economicplanning and development management. The Foundation ensures thepromotion of management institutions, in particular in the fieldof analysis of economic crisis, and contributes to the creationof development institutes. It had just approved six requests forthe reinforcement of institutions and the creation of regionalinstitutions.

In the course of the discussion which followed thepresentations, Vice-Chancellors and Rectors obtainedcomplementary information on the operation of the variousprogrammes, in particular their financing and modes ofintervention. They expressed the hope that the programmes willreceive the support of financing agencies and of states, andrecommended the establishment among themselves of co-operationto avoid duplication of services.

They also reaffirmed their faith in co-operation in thefield of higher education, in particular among Africaninstitutions on the one hand, and between them and bilateral aswell as multilateral financing sources, on the other hand.

CLOSING SESSION

Presided over by Mr Magued DIOUF, Senegalese Deputy Ministerof State Modernization, Technology, Labour and ProfessionalTraining, the closing session was addressed by five speakers.

After the presentation of the main ideas of the DakarDeclaration on the restructuring of African Universities by

on

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Professor K. F. SEDDOH, Rapporteur General of the seminar,Professor NIANG, President of the seminar, recalled some of thesalient results of the discussions, and thanked all those whosecontribution made the Dakar meeting possible.

Professor HENDAOUI, Vice-President of the seminar then spokeon behalf of all the participants. He expressed his joy thatseminars like that of Dakar constitute moments of privilege toreflect on the future of African universities. He thanked theSenegalese government, the University of Dakar, the Director-General of UNESCO and those responsible for the Programme"Priority Africa" for providing the necessary favourableconditions, which made it possible for the seminar to achieve itsobjectives.

In turn, and on behalf of the Director-General of UNESCO,Mr POWER, Assistant Director-General of UNESCO in charge ofEducation thanked once more the Senegalese government as well asthe AAU and AUPELF/UREF for their contribution to the success ofthe Seminar.

For Mr POWER, the Accra and Dakar seminars are importantsteps taken by Vice-Chancellors and Rectors of AfricanUniversities for the development of higher education in Africa.The Dakar declaration agrees with the principles established byUNESCO for the improvement of this level of education. It isfortunate that it rightly insists on the importance of qualityin the field of teaching and research. Quality will enable theuniversity to bring its contribution to development; and that isthe reason why stress must be put on the selection of the bestin the policy of university admission, while, however, particularattention is habitually given to less wealthy groups.

Mr POWER added that the final report of the Dakar seminarwill be valuable for the preparation of the next UNESCO Programmeand Budget, In spite of the critical economic situation, UNESCOwill pay particular attention to projects submitted to it, inparticular those connected with the UNITWIN programme and UNESCOchairs.

In his closing address (Annex V), Mr Magued DIOUF, recalledthe principal themes of the Dakar seminar and made suggestionsregarding those subjects which constitute key fields for thedevelopment of higher education on the African continent.

As regards the modalities of admission, he observed thatdiversification of courses would facilitate an orientation whichshould allow students to choose sufficiently attractive coursesbecause of the employment opportunities they offer.

Considering the renovation of post-secondary structures, MrDIOUF called on university institutions to open out to society,take into account the aspirations of the people and suggestsolutions to the many problems assailing the continent.

3:a,

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Universities should be concerned with more functional groupsof disciplines and opt for flexible systems which will allow thecreation of a range of options in order to reduce the risk ofglobal failures when the best orientation has not been adoptedfrom the beginning. Modern communication techniques and multi-media materials should increase productivity in education andtraining, he added.

Mr DIOUF ended his address by congratulating all those whohad worked for the success of the seminar, expressing the hopethat all the recommendations of the Dakar meeting would be giventhe greatest attention by the various governments.

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THE DAKAR STATEMENTON THE

RESTRUCTURING OF THE AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES

1. The Dakar Seminar on "Restructuring of the AfricanUniversity" was organized by UNESCO within its Priority AfricaProgramme from 19 to 24 November 1992, with the collaboration ofthe Association of African Universities (AAU) and the Cheikh AntaDiop University of Dakar. It is the second of a series of threeseminars on Higher Education in Africa designed to bring togetherAfrican Vice-Chancellors, Rectors and top-level administratorsand to provide them with the opportunity of finding ways andmeans of overcoming the obstacles which have been preventing theAfrican University from taking its place as a partner in theefforts of the African continent to emerge from its situation ofunder-development. The obstacles identified at this Seminar inrelation to its main theme are as follows:

a) the increase in student enrolments exceeds intakecapacities and available human and material resources.

b) the financial means are insufficient for theaccomplishment of the important mission vested inAfrican universities.

c) the existing organization and structures of Africanuniversities considerably reduce their chances ofsuccess.

Student enrolment policy

2. The aspiration of African universities to achieve therequisite standard of excellence in training and research,requires them to regulate their intake through a realistic policyconceived by the academic authorities in close collaboration withthe political authorities. Such a policy must combine ajudicious selection of students for admission with studentsguidance based on the diversification of courses within theentire system of higher education considered as a coherent whole.Consideration should be constantly given to the job opportunitiesand the requirements of the labour market, the possibility ofoccupational mobility and preparation for self-employment.

3. Special attention should be given to improving the accessto higher education of girls and young people from under-privileged backgrounds and refugees.

4. Inter-University co-operation, with emphasis on the creationof regional courses and centres of excellence, should make itpossible to pool efforts to teach specialized high-level coursesat reasonable cost. Specializations should be undertaken withthe use of new technologies such as distance education and newstructures, like the open university.

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Financing of Universities

5. The financing of universities must form part of plansstrictly based on long-term requirements, the objective being tomeet priorities which have been set while at the same timemaintaining a balance within each university.

6. Financial autonomy, based on actually available resources,is the most coherent form of management and is the best suitedto facilitate the diversification of sources of financing.

7. Certain sectors which have for long been neglected, such asdocumentation, research, the training of teaching personnel andthe maintenance of equipment, should be given preference, if needbe by the allocation of quotas.

8. Maximum transparency must be observed in management,especially with regard to the preparation, submission andallocation of budgets.

9. Furthermore, steps should be taken to promote thedevelopment of universities and higher educational establishmentsof a high standard to be financed by private sources. Suchestablishment will enable the private sector to complement thefacilities provided by the State.

The restructuring of African universities

10. The Vice-Chancellors and Rectors consider that therenovation of university structures is a necessary condition forthe attainment of the development objectives of an efficienthigher education system. This renovation should be supported bynew strategies of training for development. Precedence should begiven to the renewal of teaching and learning methods andtechniques, the creation of vocational training courses, and theestablishment of potentially-creative research and developmentstructures.

11. Within higher educational institutions, participatorycombined-operation structures should be created and strengthenedby internal and external networks. One important aim, amongothers, would be to restore the cultural role of the universitycampus, which should, in turn, co-ordinate efforts among thepartners involved and create a peaceful setting conducive todevelopment.

The use of new technologies

12. African universities will attain their objectives by lookingahead and incorporating in their concepts and methods, newtechnologies, for example distance education, data processing andcommunication.

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13. These new technologies must be carefully chosen and aidedby teaching and learning techniques of a high standard designedfor large regional units by competent pluridisciplinary teamsincluding teachers and research fellows with, experience fromdeveloping countries.

14. The constitution of networks of training and researchinstitutions while helping to reduce costs, will also facilitatethe pooling together of experience and know-how so as to masterthe administrative, technical and pedagogical aspects of the useof these new technologies. These networks should be associatedwith UNESCO's UNITWIN programme and its key component, the UNESCOChairs.

The mobilization of the international community

The strengthening of higher education in Africa calls fora mobilization and an awareness on the part of the universitycommunity itself, backed by a genuine political will on the partof the States concerned and by aid from the internationalcommunity, principally through United Nations Agencies (UNESCO,UNDP), various sources of funding (the World Bank, the AfricanDevelopment Bank), and the contribution of various groups suchas the British Commonwealth and "Francophonie".

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Annex I

Address by Professor Souleymane NIANG,Vice-Chancellor of the University Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar

Your Excellency, the Minister of Education,Ladies and Gentlemen,

The economic and social structures of most Africancountries, especially countries subjected to continued"adjustments or readjustments" are in such a weak state that ithas become necessary for the United Nations to envisage a specialrecovery and salvaging programme for those sectors in permanentcrisis.

In support of this initiative, UNESCO adopted a plan ofaction "Priority Africa" of which one of the primary objectivesis the restructuring of the management of institutions of highereducation for a better functioning and more efficient trainingof national personnel for development.

To this effect it appears that the basic tools for economicand social development of a country are first and foremostuniversities and other institutions of higher education, toolsthat must continually be refined for optimizing the effectivenessof training strategies.

Now, it appears that structural policies in Africa, theobservable effects of which are not always positive, havepostulated "ex cathedra" the marginalization of higher education,particularly universities, in favour of elementary education.This has happened at the very time another basic postulate hasbeen stated, with good reason, for other continents, the prioritythat must be given to higher education and Universities in everycoherent process of national development and the urgent need togive these Universities sufficient resources and means for theirmission of training men.

This discrimination between the "adjusted" and their"adjusters", clearly established and constantly re-affirmed isobviously unacceptable. It has been vigorously contested butunfortunately, it will remain for a long time the subjugatingrule.

The negative effects of this imposition have, however, ledto the reappraisal of these postulates. Fortunately, today, aunified and global theory has been elaborated and adopted, thebasic axiom making the university, wherever it is, the primefactor in every development and placing it in a privilegedposition in the local or regional models of economic and socio-cultural recovery.

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This new basic notion of development has led to thereappraisal of the problems of University education on ourcontinent, and especially of those universities that have beencompletely shattered and, even at times, disrupted by adjustmentpolicies to such a point that they are often, here and there, ina severe state of disfunctioning.

Doubtless the dynamics of this all embracing axiom, thoseof integrating the university dimension of UNESCO's programme"Priority Africa", that we, African Vice-Chancellors, Rectors andother authorities of higher education, are meeting in Dakar,after the Accra meeting, to reflect on the modes of restructuringour Universities and Schools in order to help endow them withreal "poles" of competence and creativity for development.

The development in question is defined as a continuingimprovement of the quality of living of people within anenlightening, physical and socio-cultural environment. Thisnaturally raises "the problems of educational and cultural levelsthat are necessarily linked to the degree of democratic freedomsto be created within areas of secured peaceful and open growthpolicies"*.

In general, this notion of development is equivalent to thatof a development conceived as a two dimensional democratic spacewith a component that is internal, moral and humanistic, andanother external, physical, scientific and technological.

The dimensions of this type of development presuppose thatthe society possesses humanistic structures for a better capacityfor people to assume their social and moral responsibilities andscientific and technological structures for the elaboration andtransmission of knowledge for the physical development of man.

Consequently it is up to the University, through its owneducation and training mission to offer each individual thepossibility of self-accomplishment for the good of all, withindemocratic environment of growth and academic freedom.

African Universities are not yet equipped to exercise atpresent this development function; their resources in general donot allow that and much less their status and their environment.There is therefore reason to look for ways and means of modifyingin a significant manner this environment and this status in orderto equip institutions of higher education with autonomous andhigher creative university status and open humanistic fields ofjoint development, cooperation with areas of solidarity,exchanges and conveyance for the mobility of people within theframework of a bold reorganization of administrative and academicstructures of management. These organized areas of autonomy will

S. NIANG Discours inaugural du "Cours MultidisciplinaireUniversitaire d'Education au Developpement; Universite deRome decembre 1991

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have to be areas of stable peace and academic freedom for qualityresearch and training, areas implying for their emergence, "theexistence of external political spaces of scientific impulse"**similarly organized.

Our universities therefore, have to change through specifictransformations into true development universities with therequisite concentration of competence for the refined trainingof national elite, "the real problems of Africa being first andforemost how to become a producer of science and technology"**and not only a consumer. This means that Africa must become,thanks to training and high-level qualitative research, acultural field for scientific extension and transfer of knowledgeand not a closed field only for so-called "endogenous"technologies of which one of the prime and adverse effects isthat it hides a state of persistent under-development; and it isused as an argument if not an easy slogan by a number of pseudo-development theorists who are more concerned with their statusas international experts than the quality of their expertise.

This being the case, which "poles of competence", whichstructures and which courses should be created? For whichteachers and which students? With what resources and what meansof management ? With, or for, what cooperation ? And in whichopen spaces of communication and concertation ?

These are some of the difficult problems to solve and onwhich we have to reflect together. There is no doubt that ourexchanges will be fruitful and that ways of achieving forpositive solutions will be found. That will surely be the caseif the University world is equipped with structures respected byall; if the structures are defined in such a manner that thedemocratic spaces of academic autonomy, truth and freedom areavailable for training and research development.

To conclude, I wish to thank, first of all, UNESCO and itsDirector-General for their important role of continuingparticipation in the elaboration of educational policies fordevelopment and for their decisive contribution to theorganization of this second meeting of African Vice-Chancellorsand Rectors. I am pleased to welcome here the representatives ofthe Director-General whose sustained efforts have led to theDakar meeting.

I also wish to welcome the representatives of all countriesand international organizations who have supported, and continueto support firmly, by a policy of open cooperation the effortsof our universities and our schools of higher education. Allowme to welcome especially the representatives of the friendlycountry which has built up the University of Dakar, directed andassisted it to develop positively to its maturity, and stillcontinues to support and help it to consolidate its work in itsfield of responsibility.

* * S. NIANG L'Universite du Developpement, son role et samise en oeuvre locale PUD; decembre 1990

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Finally, I wish to welcome the authorities of AfricanUniversities, Presidents, Vice-Chancellors, Rectors and otherrepresentatives. I welcome the professors, members ofinternational scientific organizations and all those who havecome to take part in the seminar. To all of you, I say "welcomeand a happy stay in Senegal".

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Annex II

Address by Mr Eric ARMERDING, Representative of theDirector-General of UNESCO

Your Excellency the Minister of Education,The Rector of Universite CHEIKH ANTA DIOP,The Vice-Chancellors of African Universities,Your Excellencies,Ladies and Gentlemen,

I INTRODUCTION

I am pleased to greet you, on behalf of the Director-Generalof UNESCO, Mr Federico MAYOR, and to bring to you his best wishesfor the success of this seminar on restructuring which is thesecond of a series devoted to the management of AfricanUniversities within the framework of the UNESCO programme"Priority Africa".

Mr MAYOR regrets he is unable to join you on this occasion.You know better than I that he gives priority attention to highereducation in Africa, and so awaits with great interest theresults of your discussions. Indeed, he counts on you Vice-Chancellors and Rectors of African Universities to play animportant role in the action in progress for major changes in themanagement of your institutions of higher education. Thesechanges will have a bearing on the process of lasting developmentitself, and they must be brought about even if there isresistance from certain groups of decision-makers. Theircontribution to the future of Africa and her societies is soimportant that they should be fully supported. Mr MAYOR hasasked me to state here the great hopes he nourishes for thesuccess of this series of Seminars and to reaffirm his confidencein your ability to promote the changes that are so necessary forhigher education in the Africa region.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

It seems perfectly right that this meeting on therestructuring of African Universities takes place in Senegal, acountry whose Cheikh Anta Diop University which is offering usits hospitality today, is the first of francophone universitiesin sub-Saharan Africa, and to which a good number of highexecutives now working in our countries owe their training. Ithas remained, over the years, one of the leading institutions ofour continent, and now has the young university of Saint-Louisto complement its work.

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This dynamism of Senegalese higher education has contributedto making President Abdou DIOUF one of the promoters of thesearch for true integration of our African Universities, whichis the sole means of increasing their participation in ourcontinent's development. In this regard, the recent conferenceof Vice-Chancellors of francophone and lusophone universities ofECOWAS countries, has decisively paved the way.

Besides, about some eighteen months ago, UNESCO convenedhere in Dakar the Conference of Ministers of Education andEducational Planning (MINEDAF VI), presided over by HisExcellency Mr Andre SONKO, Minister of Education of Senegal. ThisConference laid particular emphasis on the importance ofstrategies capable of reinforcing literacy and basic educationduring the last decade of this century. At the same time itrecommended the strengthening of higher education with a view toproviding a bank of ideas and knowledge which will help to ensurethe development of education and society itself.

In this context, the seminar whose opening session you arechairing, Your Excellency the Minister, is in direct line of theexpectations of MINEDAF VI, and constitutes a confirmation ofUNESCO's efforts in the past three decades, to promoteinternational co-operation in respect of a higher education whichmeets the present, and shall meet the future needs of Africa.Thus, through its programme "Priority Africa" and with the co-operation of the Association of African Universities, UNESCO has,once more, brought together the principal actors in the field ofhigher education in order to afford them a forum for reflexionand discussion in which they can, on the one hand, make athorough analysis of trends in and most urgent problems of,African Universities and, on the other hand, set forth thestrategies and orientations to adopt to bring about the necessarychanges.

II RECENT MANIFESTATIONS

Other occasions have already made it possible, as you areaware, to analyze the principal trends and present weaknesses ofhigher education in Africa, to indicate measures for improvingthe quality and the relevance of that level of education and tosituate its role in the service of African societies the solutionof whose problems constitutes one of its principal objectives.The aspiration of higher education to assume this role impliesthe permanent deepening of the system of development indicatorson the one hand, and assumption by higher education of a leadingposition in diagnosis of the situation and the identification ofpriorities on the other hand. It is on this basis of taking intoaccount the great orientations of development, of the evolutionof policy, of the systemic involvement of indicators of

development, that a long-term coherent plan of action waselaborated, together with strategies and clearly definedpriorities, the examination of whose different axes will make it

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possible to appreciate their nature and importance with regardto the structures, contents and orientation of the courses andthe training and research programmes.

These axes contain four fields in which a major effort mustbe assumed by the African University Community, namely : a)relations between higher education and employers of futuregraduates ; b) a constant analysis of crucial problems, whichimplies the existence of mechanisms to ensure that there areexciting tasks for the academic community ; c) innovations andreforms ; and d) the assembling of resources. It is inaccordance with this impressive agenda for the future of highereducation in Africa that UNESCO has initiated, in the frameworkof its programme "Priority Africa", the present series ofseminars on the management of African Universities. For, it isat this basic stage, in the institutions themselves, among theacademic community itself, that the stimulus towards change andimprovement must begin.

III RESULTS OF THE ACCRA SEMINAR

The first seminar of the series took place in Accra just ayear ago. It was very important not only because of the themediscussed, namely the mission of African Universities, but alsobecause it assembled for the first time, under the auspices ofUNESCO and in the framework of its programme "Priority Africa",all the academic heads of the continent.

In his opening address, Mr MAYOR stressed that the missionof the African University must be evaluated, for the institutionsof higher education are not adapted to the societies of whichthey form part. It is therefore urgent to examine the modelswhich suit better the needs of the African society ; the AfricanUniversity being in conflict with a prolonged "crisis ofconscience" which is polarized especially on its identity, itsfunctions and the human, financial and material resources itpossesses for development, and which is imputable to thedifficult economic and social situation now prevailing in Africancountries.

If the University recognizes the needs of the society andof the state, it can accomplish a mission of the highestimportance through its teaching, training, research and serviceto the society. You expressed very clearly this challenge inAccra, and on that occasion you declared your readiness to worktogether in order to ensure that the ideals laying the groundsof that mission are translated into concrete and efficient actionin the management of universities.

In fact, the Legon Statement, adopted at the end of theAccra seminar stated with conviction and loud and clear yourintention to adopt a sustained and vigorous approach. I amcertain that this spirit and enthusiasm are even stronger todayas we face the tasks of the second seminar.

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IV THE DAKAR SEMINAR

Ladies and Gentlemen,

In the four coming days, you will examine complex questionswhich give evidence of your will to act. The questions concern:

a) policy and modality of admission ; b) planning and allocationof resources ; and c) structures of post-secondary education. Itis not UNESCO's intention to prejudge your conclusions. Besides,as presentation of objectives and of the programme later on, willgo into detail as regards each of these three themes, I shalllimit myself at this opening session to some brief remarks andraise some problems.

(i) Policies and modalities of admission

As far as the first sub-theme is concerned, you will discussdelicate questions at the centre of a dilemma which is not onlyAfrican but worldwide namely the growing demand for highereducation and urgent necessity to give advice to future graduatesto undertake professionally useful and profitable courses ingeneral education.

Moreover, it will be necessary to ask questions on thecourse contents as well as the teaching methodology in use. Dothese meet the basic needs of the region as regards lastingdevelopment ? Do the courses have quality and relevance whichhave become the criteria of a good university education nowadays?Is there a regular and sincere dialogue between national highereducation policy-makers and institutional heads ?

An answer in the positive to the last question is necessaryif the university wishes to ensure that national forecasts ofemployment are undertaken and that it is able to orient studentsin directions leading to work and professional activities. Ofcourse, there are many things to do to build up a highereducation whose contents and degrees equip Africa for the thirdmillennium.

(ii) Planning and allocation of resources

The second sub-theme will provide the opportunity fortackling the most difficult questions of all educational levels,including higher education, nowadays : I mean the question ofhuman and material resources. Have African countries efficientlyplanned resources available for higher education, now and for thenear future ? Have the universities themselves adopted strategiesfor the judicious use of limited resources ? What are the modelinstitutions, in this respect, which can give useful lessons totheir colleagues ? What possibilities are there for mobilizingsupplementary resources? This needs an analysis of the capacityof universities to develop the spirit of entrepreneurship intheir relations with their societies. How course programmesshould be prepared within- limited resources ? This question

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stresses, once more, the difficulty to ensure the quality andrelevance of university products in the present economic climate.

Of course, the question of "Resources" constitutes the mostdifficult question for each country today. Hence, in the contextof the crisis that is strangling the economies of African states,draconian solutions will be needed in your management. Theexercise will be hard but beneficial if rational use of resourcesare assured.

(iii) Post-secondary educational structures

The third sub-theme of your discussions will centre on post-secondary educational structures. The links between this questionand the first two points are clear.

Before proposing any change, the academic community mustfirst of all agree on the contribution of universities to thedevelopment of Africa. This aspect recalls your Accra discussionson the mission of institutions.

In Africa, the importation of classical foreign modelscontinues as far as the university is concerned, whileindustrialized countries are operating a change of the structuresof their own higher educational institutions.

In order to study as a whole the best structures for Africanuniversities in the twenty-first century, it would be advisableto orient your discussions in three directions towards : first,the remote past of Africa, the period of its rich and indigenoustraditions ; secondly, the more recent past, taking advantage ofexperience of building independent nations, each with its ownspecific identity ; and lastly, the future of the region with aview to forecasting the eventual challenges of the comingmillennium and the role of higher education in this new period.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

The challenges always exist ! Let us not underestimate theircomplexity, but with courage and determination, we can togetherundertake this task which is so necessary for the future ofhigher education in Africa.

V CONCLUSION

Ladies and Gentlemen,

UNESCO is ready to study the needs and demands of Africa.This continent continues to be one of its priorities; and theprogramme "Priority Africa" is a testimony of UNESCO's will tocollaborate closely with member countries so as to solve thedifficult problems which stand in the way of a lastingdevelopment of the continent. In this respect, higher educationand reinforcement of African Universities occupy an importantplace in UNESCO's present activities.

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One of these activities is the UNITWIN project and its keycomponent, the UNESCO chairs programme. Their aim is tofacilitate an efficient co-operation among African universitiesthemselves, and with universities in the world in order to ensurethe rapid transfer of knowledge.

This project has been surprisingly successful since itsinception a year ago. UNESCO is seeking your support andparticipation in this initiative which aims at ensuring thecreation, transfer and equal distribution of expertise andtechnology, essential elements of lasting development.

UNITWIN will contribute towards the maintenance and re-inforcement of your centres of excellence on the continent ; atthe same time, it will encourage your contacts with theinternational academic community. This will enable yourspecialists to participate in discoveries which favour thecomprehension and, of course, the solution of global problems.

No one doubts that the principal trend in higher educationin the 1990s and for the coming century will beinternationalization, which implies more mobility, more contactsand more co-operation among university teachers. Theirinstitutions must benefit from this trend. Africa mustparticipate in this progress in a manner which lessens ratherthan worsens the problems.

To conclude, I wish to express UNESCO's thanks to all theorganizations which contributed to the success of the seminar :

the UNDP, the Commonwealth of learning, the Agency for Culturaland Technical cooperation, the African and Malagasy Council forHigher Education and non-governmental Organizations like the IAUand the AUPELF. I wish to greet especially the Association ofAfrican Universities, the first partner of UNESCO in this work,which, by reason of its long and wide experience, has contributedso much to the analysis of the basic questions of highereducation on the African continent and to the elaboration ofconcrete strategies to solve them.

And how would I not, in these circumstances, recognize thedebt we owe the eminent Professor Souleymane NIANG, Rector ofCheikh Anta DIOP University of Dakar, whose cooperative spiritand the dynamism he has instilled into his staff for thepreparation of this meeting, augur well for the success of ourseries of seminars.

And, as for your Excellency the Minister of Education, whohave always stood by UNESCO on the occasions of great educationalmeetings, we send through you our sincere thanks to theGovernment of Senegal for its hospitality, and we know UNESCO canalways count on your support.

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Ladies and Gentlemen,

As in Accra, the conclusions and recommendations of yourdiscussions are awaited with much interest. UNESCO reaffirms itswillingness to contribute to the realizations of the solutionsyou will propose. Together we'll prove that it is possible toachieve many things even with little means.

I wish this seminar full success, and thank you forlistening.

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Annex III

Address by Mr Andre SONKO, Minister of Education of Senegal

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish, first of all, to welcome the Heads of AfricanUniversities assembled here this morning, and the representativesof associated international organizations to this second Seminarof Vice-Chancellors. The Dakar meeting, after that of Accra, willprovide the opportunity for stating precisely the reforms neededby our universities to perform effectively and fulfil theirmission better.

The diagnosis of the disease of African Universities hasalready been made; and it is the subject of a wide consensus,even though there still remains to refine this, or that, aspectof it. I wish to recall briefly the guidelines.

First of all, we cannot but be struck by the low internaloutput of our university systems. This is due to many reasons allof which traceable to the worsening working conditions ofstudents and teachers, a situation expressed most vividly by theabnormally high proportion of failures in examinations, theconsiderable number of dropouts and the high rates of repeaters.

The rapid increase in student numbers is, in part, the causeof the overpopulation in our faculties, and most especially thefirst years. A liberal admission policy in a difficult economicenvironment that limits increases of resources, leads todifficulties and causes bad functioning. It is, therefore,necessary to control admissions better, ensuring however, thatmeasures taken do not produce adverse effects in the long run.A strictly malthusian policy in this matter may seem tempting,but it is not certain it is actually in the best interest of ourcountries. All things considered, our student numbers are notexcessive. The needs of staff, research fellows and seniortechnicians are all far from being satisfied, and it will beparadoxal, indeed, if at a time the general tendency inindustrialized countries is to raise the level of training ofeconomic agents, developing countries move in the oppositedirection.

So, more important than the control of admission is, in myopinion, the control of numbers already in institutions. Thismeans fighting against failures, and not being satisfied with themore or less obscure mechanisms of selection and orientationinvolved. It also means, among other things, placing students ina favourable learning environment and offering them sufficiently

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varied courses to enable each one of them develop hispotentialities. The wherewithal to do this, is, of course,needed.

The present economic situation and concern to balancenational budgets render improbable an increase of resourcesallocated to higher education today. However, it is possible touse allocations well. A more strict management can certainlyproduce favourable results; and so we have to work in thatdirection. Above all, it is urgent to redefine the structure ofthe resources our states agree to make available to theiruniversities.

In this regard, it is becoming increasingly clear that theshare of transfers and subventions of a social nature is indeedtoo high, and that its constant increase has taken place at theexpense of investments, and pedagogical work taken in its widestsense. We inherited a situation, created soon afterindependence, at a time when strengthening national personnel wasa priority. It was then normal that our young African statesmake as attractive as possible the training they required oftheir high school certificate holders before entrusting them withposts of responsibility.

It is no more a matter, thirty years after, of creatingvocations, but of enabling the greatest possible number ofstudents to pursue higher studies, since it is agreed each oneof them, like any other citizen, will contribute further to thecost of his own accommodation, food and health. I am notadvocating a total disengagement of the state from universitylife and work, or that of students aid donor organizations. Butthere certainly is a just balance to find between a policy whichswears by nothing but the truth of prices and the all powerfulmarket forces, leaving the poorest and the weakest in contemptof national solidarity and democracy on the one hand, and apolicy of subsidy which, because of the lack of proper judgment,leads to the deadlock we know today. It is, in any case, I think,a subject for reflexion, a subject to explore.

But, if a better definition of the criteria for universityadmission and a better allocation of available resources arelikely to increase the internal output of our faculties andinstitutes, it still remains to improve their external output.

Of what use, in fact, are a more satisfactory functioningof the university, a flattering rate of success in examinations,a greater number of graduates after a few years of studies, ifthe university operates, in isolation and works only to reproduceitself through successive generations, if the degrees it awardsonly sanction its own excellence, and if the students it producesare found inadequately prepared for integrating into active lifethe day they begin that process?

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We have inherited at least in Francophone Africa a modelfrom the nineteenth century when a university's essentialvocation was, according to BOURDIEU, to give "heirs" the generalknowledge they came to seek without caring much aboutprofessional integration, which was a foregone conclusion attheir birth. This model, of course, developed, but we may doubtif it did so sufficiently when we know the number of ourgraduates who are condemned to unemployment.

Although it is a fact that the best university reform in theworld will never create a single additional job on the labourmarket, we may still wish to call on the university to putprofessional training at the centre of its preoccupations. I amadvocating the diversification of courses. Prominent among themshould be established professional studies. But, there still, wemust avoid moving from one extreme to another, and sacrificingthe long-term for the short-term.

The effort of adaptation required of university trainingtakes place in a changing economic world. The profiles of jobschange. Some of them disappear. Others, unknown up to now, willappear; we have only a very hazy idea of them now. In theseconditions, adaptation of training must integrate the fact thatpresent day graduates will see their jobs develop, and that theywill even have to change their jobs several times perhaps duringtheir career. Degrees must, therefore, guarantee that theirholders are capable of adapting themselves to new workingconditions, acquiring new knowledge and know-how, adopting newbehaviour, and capable of doing many things which a solid basictraining qualifies an individual for doing. Such trainingrejects narrow specialization and calls for interdisciplinarycourses without necessarily falling into the hollow generalityof a "passe-partout" methodology.

Hence, the interest there should be in increasing relationsbetween the university and the economic world. Be it a questionof conception, production, or management, it is necessary thatenterprises make known their training needs, that they contributeto define the modalities and take their part alternatively inactual training. In response to this, there should be on the partof the university an equal effort of listening and collaborationprovided that it valorizes the capital of expertise it possessesand involves itself in the continued training economic actorswill need constantly.

The points above are obviously mere headings which needfurther development I have no doubt you will, in the course ofyour discussions, have the occasion to come back and bring usefuladditions to these questions and throw more light on them.

To conclude, I wish to thank, on behalf of the President ofthe Republic, on behalf of the Prime Minister and his governmentand on my own behalf, all those who have worked for the successof this seminar. My thanks go in particular to UNESCO and theAssociation of African Universities, co-organizers of thismeeting, and untiring promoters of South-South co-operation.

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We base much hope on the programme of action "PriorityAfrica" proposed by the Director-General of UNESCO, and arecertain that it will embody the reflexions carried out at thelevel of our states. Senegal will, as far as it is concerned,draw inspiration from these reflexions to nourish a nationalconsultation convened on higher education by the Head of State.

Wishing full success in your discussions, I declare open thesecond Seminar of Rectors of African Universities.

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Annex IV

PRESENTATION OF THE OBJECTIVESAND PROGRAMME FOR THE SEMINAR

(By Mr E. ARMERDING)

1. In December 1991, in Legon, Accra, the first of a series ofthree seminars spelt out the various aspects of thevocation of African universities. The current meeting, thesecond, is concerned with the consequences of theresponsibilities resulting from this vocation, those ofrenovating the structures of universities as well as theirprogrammes and methods.

2. In attempting to elucidate the many problems arising fromthe themes for this seminar, one might be guided by twomain methodological principles which served as the basisfor the consultation by experts on the trends and issues atstake in African University education in the twenty-firstcentury organized by UNESCO at this very place, in Dakarfrom 28 February to 1 March 1991. The first principle isthe need to consider the long term in our analyses. Thesecond is the requirement to take into account the majororientations of development and economic management withoutforgetting to apply the systems approach which should helpto define the landscape of the research to be undertaken.

THEME 1 POLICIES AND MODALITIES OF ADMISSION

3. The final report of the Accra seminar indicates that amongthe problems met by the University is the unjustifiableseparation of disciplines, a problem underlined any way byMr Federico MAYOR right at the opening session. TheDirector-General, in fact, attaches great importance tothis question which he had previously raised at the NinthGeneral Conference of the International Association ofUniversities held in Helsinski in 1990. He had, on thatoccasion, stated that university institutions traditionallyorganized on classical lines in terms of separatedisciplines are now faced with a real structural challengebecause of the rapid increase of knowledge which imposes aninterdisciplinary approach. It seems absolutely essentialto work for conditions of maximum coherence in the datathat pile up in a disorderly manner; for each discipline,while adding considerably to content, is running the riskof contributing to excessive fragmentation of knowledge asa whole.

4. As regards the large number of students in differentbranches of learning in higher education, I would like toquote from a document entitled "The Experience of BREDA"presented at the Accra seminar by the UNESCO Regionaloffice in Dakar:

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From 1975 to 1988, the number of students in the Africanregion has progressed in a relatively constant manner "from820,000 in 1975 to 2.2 million in 1988; this represents anincrease of 168% ; the proportion of registered women hasalso increased, from 25% in 1975 to 31% in 1988".Concerning Sub-Saharan Africa, from 1975 to 1988 "the totalnumber of students has grown from 200,000 in 1975 to700,000 in 1985, this represents a growth of 285% ; theproportion of registered women has constantly increased,from 17% in 1975 to 26% in 1988 ; as a result of theincrease of the number of students, in as much as in theAfrica region and Sub-saharan Africa, a high proportion ofthe population has been registered in senior secondaryschools, which means that the growth of the number ofstudents has been stronger than that of the population ofthe same age-group".

5. Finally, for the whole region, the estimates for 1990 were2,900,000 students, of which 30% were women. There werewide differences, though, between countries. For example,statistical figures showed 6,328 students for Togo in 1986,and 122,935 for Nigeria.

6. In addition to this unchanging problem of growing number ofstudents, there are the disturbing questions of failuresand unemployment; and we should not forget the obstacles toaccess of women to institutions of higher education.

7. I do not wish to over-play the problem of failures, whichmay be said to constitute a symptomatic phenomenon of badplanning and management of academic programmes in Africa.Let us say that institutions of higher education generallyexperience high rates of failure which revolts students;-upset parents; embarrass educationists, and preoccupypolitical authorities. Are they not one of the objectivecriteria for assessing the efficiency of Universityeducation ? The change in pedagogical practice whichshould be introduced, on the basis of a clearer conceptionof the imperatives of management of higher education,should take into account the many causes of failures(external and internal) and be directed towards the searchfor appropriate solutions at the level of structures aswell as at the level of human resources.

8. Let us turn to another preoccupation related to largenumber of students, unemployment. This is one of thefrightening consequences of the critical social conditionin which graduates find themselves. Even if, in the finalanalysis, it is not the responsibility of institutions ofhigher education to secure jobs for their graduates, theycannot remain indifferent to the high and embarrassing rateof unemployment and cannot refuse to question the relevanceof the education they provide. Is the trained productadapted to the labour market ? Are the needs for qualifiedpersonnel in the public and private sectors, in businessand services, well-catered for by higher education ? Is

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the personnel required by the labour market limited to thepersonnel needed by the job market ? Is it not essential todefine the imbalance between the numbers of students takingthe various courses and the corresponding levels of needsin the labour market ? Should not the problem of thenarrowness of the job market be solved by a betterconception of the market ? Can we stick to a staticposition as regards the relation between theappropriateness of training and employment when we knowfrom surveys, such as that by MINEDAF V, that "therelationships between education and employment are socomplex that they defy highly simplified models ofquantitative correspondence between the product of aneducational system and what, according to predictions, canbe absorbed by the labour market ? The operation of thismarket and especially the ways of recruiting and salaryincrement as well as the conceptions, attitudes andexpectations of students, graduates and employers play amajor role."

9. You are obliged to look for innovative solutions to thecrucial question of Policies and modalities of admissionand deal with the problems of channels, jobs, careers etc.You will take action, bearing in mind perhaps the Director-General's reflexion communicated to the Accra Seminar inthe following words : "The objective is that all studentsshould leave the university not only with a degree, butalso with a know-how, know-how that should satisfy therequirements of social life, and competences that make itpossible to apply this knowledge and to adapt it to achanging world."

.10. As far as this point is concerned, higher education mustchange or perish.

11. I am convinced that the guidance from the working documentprepared by Professor AJAYI, followed by relevant purposiveplanning and management action, will be a lifebuoy with thehelp of which higher education can be prevented fromperishing.

THEME II : PLANNING AND ALLOCATION OF RESOURCES

12. In spite of the attempts of the private sector directedtowards higher education, the trends of which you will haveto examine, it is right to acknowledge that in Africa, thegovernment is the major provider of funds.

13. But everywhere, the rate of growth of funds allocated toinstitutions of higher education is diminishing. There isa freeze or a decrease of resources in real terms.Consequently, there is a shortage of means for studies andresearch bearing the mark of financial constraintscharacterized by the reduction in budget allocations

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earmarked for education in general, and for highereducation in particular. As a result, the preoccupations ofhigher education, concern priorities in the use ofresources and the management of the institutions as well.

14. Most of the time, the greatest part of the allocatedfinancial resources is used in the following order ofpriority :

i) salaries,ii) scholarships,

iii) social services,iv) maintenance of buildings,v) libraries,

vi) equipment and laboratories,vii) loans to students,

viii) research.

Furthermore, the preoccupation relative to student unitarycost is particularly high in Africa, where the ratio ofunitary costs of university teachers to primary teachersrange from 30 : 1 to 50 : 1, compared to 10 : 1 in Asiaor in Latin America". It is in this connection thatgovernments intervene, demanding not only for a bettercost-efficiency ratio and an efficient management but alsoimproved accountability within institutions of highereducation.

15. In short, financial constraints call for another method ofmanagement to which the working document prepared byProfessor GOMA draws our attention.

THEME III : STRUCTURES OF POST SECONDARY EDUCATION

16. This theme will deepen our awareness of the necessity tothe diversify the models of institutions of highereducation in order to be more conversant with thedevelopment needs.

17. The classical models were characterized by the conceptionof higher education as far as the university is concerned,as monodisciplinary structures. Should this model, whichhas been imposed in the course of history enforced withincertain socio economic and cultural contexts, continue todominate thought and action? It is up to you to examinethis problem by analyzing it in all its aspects. Perhaps,you would during such an examination, recall the words ofMr. MAYOR, Director-General of UNESCO : "It seems that animposed history appears to weigh heavily at many points onAfrican higher educational institutions, which appear farfrom being organically adapted to the societies of whichthey are a part. The problems are well known : theirrelevance of certain aspects of the curriculum,artificial compartmentalization between subjects,

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imbalances in enrolments as between the sciences and thehumanities and in the orientation of research, insufficientemphasis on African languages of instruction shortcomingsthat crate and perpetuate the chronic shortage of qualifiedpersonnel for development work. The persistence ofinappropriate structures can give the impression thatdespite the progress towards the development of an Africanacademic identity since the creation of the AAU in 1967the special relationship with the European universitiesthat nourished many of the independent African institutionsat their origin lingers on like an unwanted dependency."

18. In this regard, UNESCO maintains two considerations. First,the university model is a formula, among other things, forthe organization of the institutions of higher education.A quite big typology of institutions of higher learningshort -term, medium-term and long-term, professional andacademic education etc. may be envisaged. Secondly,interdisciplinary courses can help solve many developmentproblems which cannot be elucidated by the monodisciplinaryapproach.

19. It was with the latter consideration in mind that UNESCOorganized, in 1991, an International Symposium on theInterdisciplinary Approach. According to the final report,"the concept of interdisciplinary approach has beenaccepted as a characteristic of present day society, andits relevance has not been challenged but it has beenrecognized that its implementation is sometimes rendereddifficult by the problems arising from the refusal toparticipate in certain disciplines such as the human andsocial sciences as well as natural and pure sciences andsome branches of the central government to participate". Itis up to the university authorities to identify theseobstacles, taking into account the need for aninterdisciplinary, or at least pluridisciplinary, approach,and in all cases, major problems of development that existespecially in Africa, and have been identified by theUnited Nations New Agenda for the Development of Africa inthe 1990s : poverty, degradation of the environment due todesertification or to deforestation, social consequences ofstructural adjustments, conditions of women, and the braindrain. These are global problems which encompass factors ofa pluridisciplinary nature. They are also complex, relatedas they do to both the environment and development asanalyzed by the Rio Conference (UNCED). As shown in theworking document presented by the Director-General to theExecutive Board of UNESCO (140 EX/10), these problems, "areby their very nature, interwoven and transectoral.Therefore, whichever approach is adopted, whatever thetarget and whatever the professionals involved may be, thesociety continues to tackle the problems in terms ofdisciplines and of a sectorisation stemming from systems ofhigher education which require up-dating."

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20. The same Executive Board document specifies that "manygovernments emphasize the fact that action by theOrganization should specially be designed to highlight thecontributions of the natural, pure and social sciences, andof education and culture, and to implement the programme"Agenda 21" of the Rio Conference on the Environment.In this respect, much effort would need to be made toensure co-operation and coordination between sectors andbetween institutions, especially the latter in order toavoid the overlapping of activities and also to encouragethe co-operation with financial institution such as UNDPand the World Bank".

21. These references have been made to the practical resultsthat can accrue to UNESCO's work from orientations definedby the Rio Conference and its programme "Agenda 21",because useful lessons can also be drawn from them forreflexion as one considers the renewal of universitystructures or, more generally, of all post-secondaryeducation and research. If educational institutions of thislevel wish to see themselves in the perspective of whatthey can contribute to the sustainable development ofAfrica, that is to say of men and women of this continentand of their offsprings, they cannot avoid adoptingtogether a pluridisciplinary approach to global problemsand solutions to them. Such a posture cannot be achievedwithout those concerned undergoing an often difficultmental conversion. The French physicist, Philippe deGennes, a recent Nobel Prize-winner, has expressed regretthat students know theorems but they do not know how tosolve problems ; an evaluation of acquired knowledge in theAfrican Universities would, perhaps, lead to a similarconclusion.

22. Let me refer also to the International Conference onEducation for All, held in Jomtien, Thailand, in March1990, and the World Universal Declaration and the Frameworkof Action it adopted. The two instruments recommendedgreater effort in research and training at the universitylevel, which would define strategies and supply thenecessary teachers for ensure the education, at least, ofall children at primary level. The responsibility of theUniversity vis-à-vis secondary education is no lessdeterminative or crucial. The Harare Declaration adopted in1982 by MINEDAF V* remains no doubt as valid regardingthese points as it is on others. It underlined the need toorient the development of higher education in itsorganization, programmes and its research activities so asto enable it, by diversifying institutions and increasingefficiency, to make increasing contribution to thedevelopment and to the improvement of the educationalsystem.

Fifth Conference of Ministers of Education and Ministers incharge of Economic Planning of African Member States(Harare, 28 June to 3 July 1982) Final Report, page 45)

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23. The "Priority Africa" programme provides two recentexamples of the action taken by UNESCO to support effortsof Member States in this regard.

24. The first example is the seminar organized in Lome (Togo)in December 1990, in collaboration with the Agency ofCultural and Technical Co-operation and the University ofBenin, Togo. The very fact that the latter institution ofhigher education participated in the organization and inthe conducting of this meeting on the theme Informatics inthe Service of the Development of Education illustrates therole that it hopes to play vis-à-vis the overall system ofeducation. The working sessions and the final report of theseminar have, to a large extent, shown that participants,from 37 African countries, defining the broad lines of astrategy for the introduction of teaching computer science,saw themselves led to point out the need to involveinstitutions of higher education in both research andtraining, for example, the training of trainers for whichcomputer science is both a pre-requisite and an imperative,as a discipline, or a teaching tool or an instrument forthe management of the educational system.

25. The second example of absolute interdependence among alllevels of education is in the domain of distance educationthat extends from primary to higher education. At a meetingin Arusha (Tanzania) in September 1990, specialists from 33African states examined, again within the framework of the"Priority Africa" programme, practical steps to strengthentheir co-operation at the regional and sub-regional levelwith the aim of satisfying their needs in the use ofdifferent communication technologies for educationalpurposes. It became clear, as in the case of computerscience that the intervention of institutions of highereducation in this matter, is indispensable in the planningof distance education systems, the elaboration ofprogrammes and the training of various specialists andevaluation.

26. Other aspects of the articulation necessary between theobjectives, structures, programmes and methods of highereducation and those of other levels of education have to beconsidered. Some of them are mentioned in several documentssubmitted to this seminar for discussion; so is theimportance given to qualitative improvement and thenecessary quantitative progress of scientific, technicaland technological education in secondary schools. All theseare an indispensable condition for the development of thetraining of executive personnel in the productive sector.Similarly the articulation within the same secondaryeducation of the relationship between education andsocially-useful jobs can better prepare pupils to undertaketraining related to the labour market, through, forinstance, sandwich courses. And these various orientationscan, and must even be initiated right from the primarylevel of education. Similarly the spreading of scientific

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and technical thought in the adult population recommendedby the CASTAFRICA II Conference (Arusha 1988) is also amatter that deserves a more favourable consideration byparents before their children can be successfully guidedtowards branches of study other than the literary, judicialor administrative.

27. These sketchy remarks are meant to illustrate the key roleof university institutions in the whole educational systemof every country and consequently in seeking solutions tothe crucial problems of national development through theentire system and not from the action of universitiesalone.

28. As regards this total engagement in the cause ofdevelopment, the working document prepared by Rector NIANGwill give us some indications as to the way to follow inorder to restructure better the institutions of highereducation in Africa.

THEME IV : RESTRUCTURING AND NEW COMMUNICATION TECHNOLOGIES

29. It is, moreover, in this spirit that it has been proposedto put in concrete terms the analysis of the questionsraised by the restructuring of post secondary institutionsand, notably, to expose them, by the use of new techniquesof information and communication, to the examination of aproblem which is not only global, pluridisciplinary butalso particularly severe for Africa today and in thefuture. The problem in question is AIDs. How, at the levelof higher education, would one fight this plague employinga better articulation of disciplines, naturally at the sametime within a regional or sub-regional co-operationendeavour which reinforces collaboration among institutionsof the United Nations system ? The WHO is particularlyconcerned with the action to be undertaken. It is useful toconsider here the competence and the experience of thisspecialized institution which has also recommendedinterdisciplinary action at the level of higher education,in the elaboration and the implementation of a wholestrategy of health for all. In fact, as far back as 1984,the 37th World Health Assembly adopted a resolution relativeto the role of universities in the strategies of health forall. The resolution, addressed to the universities andother institutions of higher education, invites themparticularly "to carry out the necessary biomedical,epidemiological, technological, social, economic andbehavioural research in order to elaborate and implementthe strategies of health for all" and also to step up theircollaboration with the ministries concerned and otherorganizations.

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30. The UNESCO-WHO programme of co-operation for the preventionof AIDS naturally falls within this interdisciplinaryperspective. It has to be acknowledged, however, that thecollaboration called for has, up to now, taken place at thelevel of preventive education in primary and secondaryschools.

31. This observation brings one to another aspect of thereflexion on the renovation of the structures of theinstitutions of higher education the role of highereducation within the overall system of education. Whetherone thinks of the fight against AIDS or solutions to quitedifferent crucial problems of the African continent, it isessential to keep in focus many aspects of theinterindependence among the sub-systems of the primary,secondary and high schools, without losing sight of theformal, informal and non-formal education of youth andadults.

32. The scrutiny of the increasingly numerous possibilities ofsetting up or reinforcing networks, especially in thedomains of distance education, and technologies ofinformation and communication should lead to a definitionof modalities that truly encourage necessary exchanges. Andin this regard, it is, no doubt, timely to examine, assuggested to you by several of the documents before you,the technical, administrative and pedagogical aspects ofsuch relationships as can be established, particularly andsometimes, by satellites.

It would be appropriate, however, to advocate twofundamental features of regional co-operation. The actionplans envisaged at Arusha concerning distance education aswell as those of Lome with respect to computer science needto be seen in the perspective of a truly panafricanintellectual community, embracing to all the linguisticzones, and intending to encourage exchanges betweenfrancophones, anglophones, lusophones and arabophones.Clearly, UNESCO cannot but encourage this extendedsolidarity which does not only have cultural implicationsbut also economic and social. It is also clear that a jointresearch for solutions to the global problems such as thoseconcerning drought or the rational use of the ecosystems oftropical forests cannot but go beyond linguisticboundaries.

ROUND TABLES :

34. I would like to say a word about round tables andemphasize, in the first place, the need for the kind ofreflexion which would have a bearing on the design ofAfrican community projects, African models of development,according to which training objectives can be defined interms of an endogenous approach. As the Director-General

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said at the Nigerian National Assembly in Lagos (Nigeria)on April 3rd, 1989 : "Africa is not another Europe, anotherAmerica, another Asia.. but Africa is African. The modelsand the scenarios, conceived for other social structuresand other mentalities, have not worked..." in thiscontinent.

35 This observation leads to one of the essential themes ofthis seminar : that of co-operation between institutions ofhigher education, at different levels : South-South, andNorth-South; regional and sub regional.

36. As regards exchanges between African institutions, UNESCOhas not ceased recommending and backing them since the 1962Tananarive Conference on the Development of HigherEducation in Africa. During the Accra seminar in December1991, the representative of United Nations DevelopmentProgramme underlined the readiness of his Organization tocollaborate with UNESCO and with African States to fosterco-operation especially within the framework of the TCDCmechanism of technical co-operation between developingcountries, and that of South-South.

37. Another topic for reflexion relative to co-operation, whichalso raises technical and practical questions, is theorganization of a genuine interactivity in the utilizationof technologies of communication such as the use ofsatellites. It is, in fact, extremely important to createa real atmosphere of exchange.

38. As there is a special paper on the experience of UNESCO inthe framework of UNITWIN Programme and UNESCO chairs, I

would like to limit myself to the few remarks I have madeon the round tables. I must, however, say that theDirector-General expects you to identify and formulatemaximum co-operation projects leading to the setting up ofa greater, or rather very large, number of UNESCO chairs.

CONCLUSION

39. Such are the problems before our seminar which are alsotaken into account within activities of the UNESCOprogramme. These activities will be reinforced in the nextprogramme to the extent the UNESCO General Conference willconfirm the suggestions that have already been made by manyMember States and by the Director-General. They are inkeeping with the wishes of Heads of State and Government ofthe OAU, expressed in a resolution at their last conferenceheld in Dakar from June 29 to July 1, 1992, that the roleof institutions of higher education in Africa bereinforced. The Director-General, in fact, firmly hopes toanswer the appeal made to him through that resolution, inclose collaboration with the United Nations Development

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Programme (UNDP) and the Association of AfricanUniversities, especially in the framework of the programme"Priority Africa". He will bear in mind the preoccupationsstated in the United Nations New Agenda for the Developmentof Africa in 1990s (UN-NADAF), by paying particularattention to the proposals your seminar will make.

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Annex VCLOSING ADDRESS BY MR MAGUED DIOUF,

DEPUTY MINISTER IN CHARGE OF STATE MODERNIZATION, TECHNOLOGY,LABOUR AND PROFESSIONAL TRAINING

Your Excellency the Minister,Your Excellencies the Ambassadors,Representatives of Regional, Governmental and Non-GovernmentalInternational Organizations,Representatives of United Nations Agencies,Vice-Chancellors, Rectors, Deans, Directors, Professors,Lecturers, Students,Ladies and Gentlemen,

You have now come to the end of your five days' reflexioncentered, for this second Seminar, on the restructuring of HigherEducation in Africa. Your seminar directed its thoughtsparticularly, to the policies and modalities of admission to thevarious training courses, planning and allocation of resources,and to structures and interdisciplinary studies within thecontext of new communication technologies.

The problem of modalities of admission, and therefore of thepolicy of orientation towards different training courses, recallsthe question of unemployment of graduates, of the relationbetween training and employment, and of the numerous students wholeave the university with nothing connected with their initialhopes.

Though you represent many countries, different from oneanother due to differences in the language of instruction and insocio-cultural origins, which indeed constitute a major elementin the wealth of your contributions, you do not think it rationalto maintain two separate systems are managed through a systematicselection accompanied by bursaries, and the other by a freeentry, more or less, linked only to success in a series ofexaminations at the end of secondary studies. You have recognizedthat a public service and, in general, an administration, likeany other management structure, needs a productive, dynamic andcompetitive sector. Having taken the full measure of thisinterdependence between the tertiary education and the productivesector, you have shown quite clearly that diversification ofcourses is no longer a mere slogan which appears in one reportafter another, but an objective necessity corresponding to noless objective needs of our societies. Still it is necessary, asyou stressed, that orientation provided for students should notsanction negatively an ineptitude or insufficiencies, butpositively allow the choice of courses sufficiently attractivein terms of employment prospects. And the realities are there toremind us that neither authoritative decisions nor freeliberalism gives satisfaction, in the long run. Besides the factthat neither of these attitudes corresponds to our humanistethics, the upheavals in a whole half of Eastern Europe and theglaring inadequacies of certain North American types of educationshow that genuinely democratic planning constitutes the narrowbut essential way to our development as free men.

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This planning includes, of course, not only that ofallocated resources but increasingly also of those generated bythe institution itself. It is no more a question of noting, everyten years, the growing inequalities of salaries, scholarships,aid and loans to students, and the continuing small grant givento education and research again. It is no more a question ofdepending on the state for all expenses, of claiming autonomy inthe management of allocated means, without comment, vis-à-vis theservices the university renders. Autonomy calls for a spirit ofcreativity allied to an awareness of responsibility. There again,production and management are closely linked, and it isencouraging that our universities, even the older ones, arebeginning to impose on themselves the tasks of developing suchservices as a judicial and accounting consultancy, clinical andbacteriological analysis, and general or specialist health carein relation with an indispensable policy of prevention as wellas self-financed publishing centres.

The state, on its part, cannot but congratulate universitieson these initiatives which can motivate state specificintervention when heavy investment becomes indispensable.

Another subject which has been given a great deal ofattention in your discussion is the renovation of post secondarystructures.

You stressed their inadequate nature shown through out-datedsyllabuses and courses which are too academic and are unrelatedto present day realities.

In this connection, I wish to underline the need for AfricanUniversities to refuse to be what EINSTEIN called "this silenttemple" where formulae and concepts are manipulated withoutcaring about their impact on the life of citizens. The Universitymust undertake its renovation work, open itself to society, takeinto consideration the aspirations of the people, and suggestsolutions to the many problems which assail us from everywhere.It is at this price that the University can gain credibility andbe rehabilitated.

If traditional models can continue to suit the elite, themost functional partitioning and regroupings of disciplines amonginstitutions constitute nowadays a necessity, considering thenumber of students, and also the cost of training adapted totechnological and cultural necessities in the last years of thetwentieth century. Some courses will always remain annual; butothers can perfectly be grouped into units or modules for severalperiods and types of study long and short, geographical andgeological, technological and didactic among many others. Suchstructuring is perfectly suited not only to the elimination ofduplication, but also to the continuing training of adultsengaged in professional life, an aspect which has for a long timebeen neglected by our institutions of higher education.

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But, as one should know, every advantage derived from asystem has its own demands. Just as doctors have always refusedto compensate a weakness in cardiology by a good result inurology or vice-versa, so must students quickly realize theconsiderable selectivity and, therefore, the increasing effortrequired of them. This effort is necessary in respect of eachmodule of study; and, in the end, success in earning a degreewill depend, not as previously on an annual average mark, butsuccess in all three modules.

Let us add that the flexibility of the system allows theincrease of options and lessens the risks of global failures ifthe best orientation is made at the very first beginning.

It is in this context that integration of higher educationin Africa can demonstrate its capabilities in full, reserving ineach institution a certain number of specialities which', shouldit be otherwise, could be available everywhere, but at muchgreater cost and at much inferior level. If Europe itself haschosen this path, our countries, which are less well-providedfor, have no alternatives; otherwise they will come to possess,except in the case of very few of them, not universities butparking places where our youth will go to "kill the time".

The modern communication and information techniques and allthe multi-media materials you have tested and appreciated allowyou to perceive the productivity gains in education and trainingwhich are at our students' disposal nowadays. Mobility amongpupils and students cannot but encourage the development of theircritical mind, and the capacity to carry out an objective andrigorous analysis of facts, both of which are indispensablequalities for their future professional success and their fullcultural development.

To put the finishing touch to your seminar, as I understand,you devoted time towards its end to the study of a concrete caseof pluridisciplinary courses. You, as it were, went back to thelaboratory to challenge the models you elaborated with a dramaticproblem affecting not only our continent but also the wholeworld. It was the hour of truth. I have no doubt that the wealthof your discussions enabled you to overcome the difficultiesinvolved. I have no doubt, either, that your intellectual honestyurged you to modify this or that part of the model as soon as youdiscovered contradictions and there are always contradictionsbetween results obtained from theory and those reached throughnew observed phenomena. It is in this way that the scientist hasalways progressed. And this is as true for the director of anenterprise as for the politician.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I wish to congratulate you on the great contribution yourmeeting represents not only for the development of the pupils andstudents but also for citizens as a whole. No doubt, yourconclusions and recommendations will be carefully examined and

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given the greatest attention by our governments; so much is thesuccess of training linked in a "bi-univocal" way to the successof development.

Before I end, let met thank UNESCO and the Association ofAfrican Universities which took the fortunate initiative toorganize this meeting aimed at finding remedies for the ills ofour universities.

My thanks go also to the Vice-chancellors, Rectors, andPresidents of African Universities who have made the journey toDakar in order to bring their contribution to the dynamicreflexions aimed at the renewal of the African University. I wishall of you a safe journey back to your respective homes.

Ladies and Gentlemen,

I declare closed the Seminar on the Restructuring of AfricanUniversities organized in Dakar by UNESCO in collaboration withthe Association of African Universities.

Thank you.

A

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REPORT ON THE WORKSHOPS

AUDIOVISUAL WORKSHOP

Annex VI

Selections from various OLYMPUS and UNISAT programmes werescreened, analysed and discussed on the basis of the workingdocument prepared for the Seminar by VIDEOSCOP entitled:"Consideration of the use of audiovisual and satellite media inuniversities, based on some French experiments".

OLYMPUS FRANCE SATELLITE PROGRAMMES

ENDOSCOPIA, a training programme on endoscopy of thealimentary tract (VIDEOSCOP).

College de France courses and lectures (VIDEOSCOP):

Molecular chemistry course by Prof. Lehn, holder ofthe Nobel Prize for Chemistry.

Lecture on the Genesis of the State by Pierre Bourdieu.

Lecture on astrophysics by Prof. Antoine Labeyrie.

Science lectures (CNED):

The water cycle.

600 million years of evolution.

Course of mathematics and statistics applications inmedicine and biology.

Magazine promoting the teaching and learning of the Frenchlanguage (FRANCE 2).

UNISAT PROGRAMMES

Series of programmes on AIDS.

The epidemiological approach in developed countries of theWest, and in Africa and Asia.

Analysis of different strategies envisaged to eradicatethe pandemic (biological and clinical approaches, thevaccine problem, etc.).

Series of programmes on parisitic and tropical diseases.

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DCMEF WORKSHOP

Participants were able to question the following compactdiscs:

Sesame, published by AUPELF/IREF: a bibliography ofagronomic references.

CD Theses, published by Lasermedia, a reference list oftheses submitted in French universities.

CD MED, published by INSERM, a bibliography of medicalreferences relating to infectious diseases and AIDS.

IBRD, published by the International Children's Centre: abibliography on the general subject of children.

VIDEODISK WORKSHOP

Seventeen questions concerning AIDS: an instructionalprogramme dealing with basic questions relating to AIDS(epidemiology, detection, prevention).

Human tropical pathology: an interactive instructionalprogramme dealing comprehensively with human tropicalpathology and AIDS.

Participants were able to interrogate the disks and assessthe filmed sequences concerning laboratory techniques,parasitic cycles and microscopic sequences, as well asstatic photographs.

DATA-BANK WORKSHOP

On-line interrogation of the PASCAL multidisciplinaryscience base covering medicine and the exact sciences.

Interrogation of the MEDLINE medical base.

Multibase interrogation on the subject of AIDS on theQUESTEL server

The interrogations were prepared from various thesaurirelating to the above-mentioned data-bases.

LOCAL SERVER WORKSHOP

A demonstration of the documentary server of the SYFEDcentre of AUPELF/UREF enabled participants to interrogate thedata-base of research workers in Africa, the Caribbean and theIndian Ocean.

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Doc./CA/Dakar/1

Doc./CA/Dakar/2

Doc./CA/Dakar/3

Doc./CA/Dakar/4

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LIST OF DOCUMENTS

Agenda

Annex VII

Distribution of students amongdisciplines (presented byProfessor Ajayi, University ofIbadan, Nigeria)

Utilization of funds granted byGovernments (presented byProfessor Goma, Zambia)

Post-secondary EducationalStructures in AfricaInnovations and Reforms(presented by Professor NIANG,University Cheikh Anta Diop,Dakar (Senegal)

Doc./CA/Dakar/5 The Restructuring of AfricanUniversities Synopsis ofinformation provided byparticipants

Doc./CA/Dakar/6 Restructuring,Interdisciplinarity and newInformation and CommunicationTechnologies

Doc./CA/Dakar/7 Provisional list of participants

Doc./CA/Dakar/8 List of documents

Reference documents :

"Development of Higher Education in Africa Accra Seminar,25 29 November 1991"

"Study on Cost Effectiveness and Efficiency in AfricanUniversities" (Association of African Universities)

"Leadership and Organization of Higher EducationInstitutions" by Professor Sawyerr (University of Ghana-Legon) presented at the Accra Seminar (November 1991)

"The African University 1961 1991 : Potential, Process,Performance and Prospects"

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LISTE DES PARTICIPANTS/LIST OF PARTICIPANTS

ETATS MEMBRES/MEMBER STATES

ALGERIEProf. Omar BENBEKHTI

BENINProf Lucien CHEDE

BURKINA FASOProf. A. TRAORE

M. John B. KABORE

BURUNDIProf. G. NTUNAGUZA

REPUBLIQUECENTRAFRICAINEM. SIOKE-RAINALDY

CONGOProf. A. EKOUYA

COTE d'IVOIREProf. A. HAUHOUOT

DJIBOUTIM. NIAZI

ETHIOPIEProf J. KINFU

GABONProf. J. LEBIBI

GHANAProf. KWAMI

Mr DANIELS

6a

Annex VIII

ex-Directeur de Cabinet,Ministere des Universites

Recteur, Universitenationale du Benin, Cotonou

Recteur, Universite deOuagadougou

Conseiller, (ancien Sous-D rec teu r generall'UNESCO)

Conseiller au Recteur,Universite du Burundi

Recteur, Universite Bangui

Vice-Recteur, UniversiteMarien Ngouabi, Brazzaville

Vice- Recteur, CentreUniversitaire de Cocody

Direction Generale,Education nationale

Dean, Faculty of Businessand Economics, University ofAddis Ababa

Recteur, Universite Masuku

Vice-Chancellor, Universityof Kumasi

Registrar, University ofGhana-Legon

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GUINEEProf. SEYDOUBA CAMARA Recteur, Universite Kankan

KENYADr D.K. SEREM Deputy Principal, Maseno

University

LESOTHODr L.T. JONATHAN Pro Vice-Chancellor,

University of Lesotho

MADAGASCARMme J. DINA Recteur, Universite Tulear

MALIM. A.S. MAIGA Directeur national adjoint,

Enseignement superieur

MAROCProf. 0. MOUDDANI

MAURITANIEProf. Mohamed Yehdih TOLBA

Vice-Doyen, Faculte deDroit, Universite de Rabat

Secretaire general,Universite Nouakchott

NAMIBIEMr R. JACOBS Head, Strategy Planning,

University of Namibia

NIGERM. Boukary Mahaman SANI Doyen, Faculte Pedagogie

Universite de Niamey

NIGERIAProf. AJAYI Professor Emiritus,

University of Ibadan

Prof. ALAO Vice-Chancellor Universityof Lagos

SAO TOMEM. Victor BONFIM Conseiller au Ministere de

1 education

SENEGALProf. S. NIANG Recteur, Universite Cheikh

Anta Diop, Dakar

Prof. A. L. NDIAYE Recteur, Universite de SaintLouis

Prof. O. SOCK Directeur, Ecole normalesuperieure d'enseignementtechnique et professionnel(ENSETP), Dakar

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SUDANDr Ahmed Ali EL IMAN

SWAZILANDDr W. SUKATI

TCHADProf. T. ERDIMI

TOGOProf. K.F.SEDDOH

TUNISIEProf. A.HENDAOUI

ZAMBIAProf L. GOMA

Dr J. TEMBO

ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES

Prof Juma SHABANI

UNIVERSITE DE DAKAR

M. Oumar KANE

M. M. KASSE

M. M. D. SALL

M. M. N'DIAYE

M. A. NDIAYE

UNIVERSITE DE SAINT-LOUIS

M. M. CISSE

Vice-Chancellor, The HolyQuaran University

Registrar, University ofSwaziland

Recteur, Universite Tchad

Recteur, Universite du Benin

Recteur, Universite de TunisIII

Professor

Acting Vice-Chancellor,Copperbelt University, Kitwe

Deputy Secretary-General

Doyen, Faculte de lettres etsciences humaines

Directeur de pedagogiereformes universitaires

Professeur

Faculte de medecine

Vice-Doyen,Sciences

Faculte des

Conseiller en communication,Universite de Saint Louis

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INSTITUTS D'ENSEIGNEMENT SUPERIEUR, Dakar

M. S. FONGANG Maitre de conferences,ENSUT, Dakar

M. A. NGOM Maitre de conferences,ENSUT, Dakar

M. M. KANE Formateur, Ecole normalesuperieure, Dakar

M. B.Adama FALL Professeur, Directeurinformatique, CESAG, Dakar

M. R. KOLLESSI Professeur, Centre africaind'etudes superieures engestion (CESAG), Dakar

M. M.Z. KODI

OBSERVATEURS/OBSERVERS

Directeur de la formation,Centre africain d'etudesmonetaires, Dakar

M. D. OUATTARA Resident RepresentativeUnited Nations DevelopmentProgramme, Dakar

Mr G. LEIBBRANDT Chairman, NetherlandsNational Commission forUnesco

Dr A. NDORUKWIGIRA The African CapacityBuilding Foundation, Harare

M. R.M. OUIMINGA Secretaire general, Conseilafricain et malgache pourl'enseignement superieur(CAMES)

M. E. NTIZAYINDUSHA Secretaire general adjoint,Conseil africain et malgachepour l'enseignementsuperieur (CAMES)

M. F. MARI CONFEMEN

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FRANCE

Mme Regine THOMAS

M. PECCOUD

Chargee de mission,Direction du Developpement,et de la CooperationScientifique, Technique etEducative, Ministere desaffaires etrangeres

Sous-Directeur de1'Enseignement et de laFormation, Ministere de laCooperation et duDeveloppement

Association des Universites partiellement ou entierement delangue frangaise (AUPELF)

M. M. GUILLOU

UNESCO

Mr C. POWER

Mr E. ARMERDING

Mr P. OBANYA

Mr H. AGUESSY

Mr D. BERIDZE

Mme S. RUSSELL

Recteur

Sous-Directeur general pourl'Education

Directeur, Cooperation avecles Etats d'Afrique

Directeur du Bureau regionalpour l'Education en Afrique(BREDA), Dakar

Specialiste d el'enseignement superieur,BREDA, Dakar

Division de l'enseignementsuperieur

Cooperation avec les Etatsd'Afrique

EXPERTS CHARGES DE L'UTILISATION DES TECHNOLOGIES D'INFORMATIONET DE COMMUNICATION

M. Didier OILLO

M. J. Rene BOURREL

AUPELF/UREF (Universite desreseaux d ' Expressionfrangaise)

AUPELF/UREF

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M. P. PERREY

M. Ray PATTEN

Comite d'Organisation

Prof. O. SOCK

M. T. DIATARA

M. H. AGUESSY

M. D. BAMBOTE

M. A. BADARA BA

Directeur du VIDEOSCOP,Universite de Nancy II(France)

Donogh O'Malley RegionalTechnical College,LETTERKENNY, Co. DonegalIreland

Directeur ENSETP, Dakar

Chargé de mission auRectorat, Universite CheikhAnta Diop

Specialiste d el'enseignement superieur,BREDA

Chargé de l'information,BREDA

Chargé des a f fa re sprotocolaires, BREDA

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