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AAU ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008 20 Working Group on Higher Education The period under review, May 2007- June 2008, was an extremely productive year the WGHE, as the Secretariat sought to balance implementation of the Group's approved Annual Work Programme with responding to AAU and ADEA-led activities, while selectively honouring invitations by partners and at the same time, seeking to fulfil the Secretariat's intelligence role. The WGHE annual work programmes are developed within the framework of an approved Strategic Plan with specific agreed objectives. For 2007-9 specific objectives agreed by the Groups' Steering Committee were to: • Encourage system-wide and institutional reforms. • Support the revitalization of a diverse tertiary education system. • Take WGHE initiatives from pilot to sustainability. • Promote increased recognition for the contribution of tertiary education to Africa's development. • Support efforts aimed at maximizing the use of highly skilled personnel for the development of tertiary education in Africa. ACHIEVEMENTS Publication and Dissemination of the Differentiation and Articulation Study Knowledge of the two key concepts of differentiation and articulation in tertiary systems is very scanty and a great deal of more research needs to be done with a view to anchoring differentiation and articulation within national tertiary education systems in Africa. This was the conclusion of a study, the WGHE published jointly in 2007/8 with the World Bank and the Association of African Universities (AAU) that explored the extent and nature of differentiation and articulation in African tertiary education systems in Africa. The study, conducted by Njuguna Ng'ethe (Kenya), George Subotzky (South Africa) George Afeti (Ghana) observed that differentiation in African higher education is mostly horizontal as opposed to vertical differentiation. Mainstreaming Gender in Higher Education in Africa Three activities were carried out in 2007-8 under the Gender pilot initiatives to translate the English version of a Toolkit for Mainstreaming Gender in Higher Education in Africa into French and Portuguese and to disseminate it widely through cost-effective modes on CD-ROMS. The gender content on the AAU website was also reorganized with links provided to ADEA and partners' web sites www.aau.org and www.adeanet.org. The WGHE also began efforts to mobilise resources in support of scaling up its gender pilot to become an AAU Core Programme. The WGHE has plans to partner with the UNESCO Bamako Cluster Office and the National Universities Commission of Nigeria (NUC) in September 2008 to deliver an online training course for teachers and academics using the Gender Mainstreaming Toolkit (www.viheaf.org). Supporting the Licence Masters-Doctorate Reforms In 2007, the WGHE commissioned le Réseau dÉxcellence pour lÉnseignement Supérieur en Afrique de lÓuest (REESAO) to develop a Training Manual for Stakeholders of the Licence-Master-Doctorate (LMD) Reform, and to plan a capacity building Workshop jointly with the UNESCO Bamako Cluster Office for 50 participants drawn largely from the West African Monetary and Economic Union (UEAMOA) for September 2008. The LMD reform will align the Francophone higher education degree structure to that of Anglophone system's Bachelor-Master-PhD and is expected to facilitate comparability of academic programmes and mutual recognition of degrees. Document and Share knowledge on Higher Education and Research Contribution to Education for All Goals Since 2006, the WGHE has been collaborating with the International Association of Universities (IAU) the Strengthening Linkages for Improved Education: Higher Education and Research Working for EFA and education-related MDGs project. In January 2007, the IAU and partners organised a seminar in Maputo, Mozambique to share its findings. Other forums where the findings were presented in 2007 were the UNESCO Forum on Higher Education Research and Knowledge, which was organised from March 22-25 in Accra, Ghana and the Second International Conference on Quality Assurance in Africa in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania in September. The IAU in 2007 completed a related paper, which the Global Monitoring Report (GMR) commissioned to review the role of research in generating knowledge for EFA. The paper by N.V. Varghese, Head Higher th Education Programmes, UNESCO-IIEP, will be presented at the 8 Meeting of the EFA High Level Group, from 16-18 December 2008. It will also be made available online in the middle of September on the GMR web site and published in the 2009 EFA GMR on Governance and Financing of Education. Knowledge Sharing Annual Forums on TE Reforms across Linguistic and Cultural Divides In October 2007, the WGHE participated in the AAU Conference of Rectors, Vice Chancellors and Presidents (COREVIP) on the theme: 'The African Brain Drain - Managing the Drain: Working with the Diaspora' and contributed the preliminary findings of the Staff Retention and Diaspora Study. The WGHE sponsored African members of its Steering Committee to attend the COREVIP and also organized a parallel event on gender. Participants commended the WGHE for initiating the gender pilot and recommended to AAU to scale it up by disseminating the Toolkit widely and to raise the funding needed to support its members to scale up the project. Contribution to ADEA 2008 Biennale In 2007, The WGHE collaborated with the AAU, the World Bank and the ADEA Secretariat to contribute the results of seven studies to the ADEA 2008 Biennale held from May 5-9 in Maputo, Mozambique on the theme, Beyond Primary Education: Challenges and Approaches to Expanding Learning Opportunities in Africa: 1. Study of the Differentiation and Articulation within Tertiary Education Systems: A Study of Twelve African Countries by Njuguna Ng'ethe (Kenya), George Subotzky (South Africa) George Afeti (Ghana). 2. Study of the Effects of Massification on Higher Education in Africa by Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai. 3. Staff Retention and Links with Diaspora Study by Professor Paschal Mihyo, which WGHE also contributed to the AAU Conference of Rectors Vice Chancellors and Presidents (COREVIP) held in Tripoli Libya in October 2007. 4. Results of a pilot project on Higher Education and Research Role and Contribution to the Achievement of Education for All (EFA) and Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) implemented in collaboration with the AAU ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008 21
AAU ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008 International Association of Universities (IAU) 5. The Role and Contribution of Higher Education to Improving the Quality of Basic Education: Case Study of the Centre for Research on Improving Quality of Primary Education in Ghana (CRIQPEG) by a team from University of Cape Coast. 6. The Implications of the LMD Reforms. 7. State, Markets, Faith and Proliferation of Private Higher Education in Africa by by N.V. Varghese. All the studies made specific recommendations for policy makers, higher education institutions and development partners. Arising from the Staff Retention Study, the Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA) has since hosted a one-day workshop at the Africa Grant makers' Affinity Group Conference and in 2008, is exploring ways of developing and retaining the next generation of African academics. Steering Committee Meetings During the period under review, the WGHE organised three productive meetings of its Steering Committee in Accra, Ghana in April 2007, in Tunis in October 2007 and in Maputo in May 2008, where members made significant input into the Group's 2008 and 2009 work programmes and reviewed the 2007 Activities report. The Steering Committee decided to streamline and reduce the workload of the WGHE Secretariat through shared responsibility of members for implementation of annual work programmes. An innovation was introduced to have keynote presentations at each Steering Committee meeting on topical issues affecting higher education in Africa. Professor Narciso Matos, the immediate past chair of the Steering Committee delivered the first key note on the theme, Challenges and Trends in Higher Education in Africa. Overall, the WGHE achieved a high output during the period under review. In 2007, the ADEA Steering Committee made important decisions regarding its Working Group as part of efforts to streamline their mandates and functions. In the case of the WGHE, the Steering Committee decided to maintain and resource the Group to deliver on its core mandate while it plans for its graduation. The ADEA Secretariat and Working Groups, in 2008, will jointly develop performance management frameworks (PMFs) by which Working Groups will be externally evaluated in 2010 and the results guide the Steering Committee's decisions on the future of each Working Group in terms continuation, graduation or dissolution. Achievements attributed to the Group since its inception in 1989 are: • The ability to keep higher education on the agenda of donor agencies and African governments. • Promoting dialogue between the institutions and higher education policy makers. • Promoting the sharing of good practices among institutions mainly through partnership with the AAU. • Enhancing insights and understanding of representatives of donor agencies on issues in African higher education. • Broadening of mutual understanding of one another's perspectives between African higher education leaders and donor agency representatives • Strengthening the capacity and role of the AAU to support its members. INFORMATION COMMUNICATION AND TECHNOLOGIES Supporting ICT Development/ Research and Education Network Unit (RENU) The Research and Education Network Unit ICT advocacy/promotion programme has the objective of enhancing access to, promoting effective utilisation of ICT in higher education in Africa, and acting as focal point for many ICT initiatives in education and research networking on the continent. The Programme targets AAU member institutions and research institutions in Africa. During the year under review the RENU coordinator participated in several conferences and meetings on bandwidth and research and education networking. The coordinator made presentations highlighting the present plight of African higher education institutions regarding connectivity, and the importance of creating an enabling environment for access to affordable bandwidth. During the reporting year a Guide on Research and Education Networking Policy for a better understanding of philosophy and advantages of NRENs was developed, published and disseminated. In addition, the RENU coordinator facilitated a one and a half day ICT session held at the first LEDEV workshop, which took place on August 2007, in Windhoek, Namibia, as well as at the LEDEV workshop that took place in April 2008 in Kigali. Other activities that RENU engaged in during the year under review included the development of a French version of ICT module, which will be used during the LEDEV workshop for Francophone African higher education institutions leaders scheduled for January 2009. The RENU coordinator also facilitated a parallel session on ICT held during the COREVIP 2007 held in Tripoli, Libya in October 2007. A five-day training workshop for campus network managers was also organised in Yaoundé from April 7-11 2008; it was held in cooperation with the African Regional Registry for Internet Numbers (AfriNIC), the African Network Operators Group (AfNOG), the French Research and Education Network (RENATER) and Ecole Nationale Supérieure Polytechnique of Yaoundé (ENSPY), with funding from African Capacity Building Foundation (ACBF) Partnership for Higher Education in Africa (PHEA), International Development Research Centre (IDRC) and the French Ministry of Foreign and European Affairs. The RENU Coordinator organised the annual meeting of stakeholders of African Research and Education Networking (AfREN) in Rabat, Morocco, in June 2008. The meeting was organised in collaboration with AfNOG and AfriNIC , with funding from IDRC. AfREN 2008 recorded for the first time, participation of Vice-Chancellors and representatives of regional economic communities, telecommunications regulatory authorities, donor partners and the civil society. AAU ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008 22 23
Page 1 and 2: Association of African Universities
Page 3 and 4: Contents C o n t e n t s AAU ANNUAL
Page 5 and 6: AAU ANNUAL REPORT 2007-2008 To effe
Page 7 and 8: Professor Olusola Oyewole, former P
Page 9 and 10: The AAU web site was updated with a
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Page 19 and 20: - Prof. Olusola OYEWOLE, previously
Page 21 and 22: Table 3below shows grants received

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