Universities and economic development in Africa: Pact, academic core and
coordination draws together evidence and synthesises the findings from
eight African case studies. The three key findings presented in this
report are as follows: 1. There is a lack of clarity and agreement
(pact) about a development model and the role of higher education in
development, at both national and institutional levels. There is,
however, an increasing awareness, particularly at government level, of
the importance of universities in the global context of the knowledge
economy. 2. Research production at the eight African universities is not
strong enough to enable them to build on their traditional undergraduate
teaching roles and make a sustained contribution to development via new
knowledge production. A number of universities have manageable
student-staff ratios and adequately qualifi ed staff, but inadequate
funds for staff to engage in research. In addition, the incentive
regimes do not support knowledge production. 3. In none of the countries
in the sample is there a coordinated effort between government, external
stakeholders and the university to systematically strengthen the
contribution that the university can make to development. While at each
of the universities there are exemplary development projects that
connect strongly to external stakeholders and strengthen the academic
core, the challenge is how to increase the number of these projects. The
project on which this report is based forms part of a larger study on
Higher Education and Economic Development in Africa, undertaken by the
Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (HERANA).
HERANA is coordinated by the Centre for Higher Education Transformation
in South Africa.
