45th Annual Report (2003-2004) - Commonwealth Scholarship ...

EducationHigher education is probably the single sector in which the Commission has made the most impact sinceit was established. Alumni studies show that about half of all award holders return to work in universitiesand colleges in their home countries. This reflects not only the quality of our scholars, but the priority thatwe give to higher education through the Commonwealth Academic Staff Scholarship and CommonwealthFellowship schemes.Dr Salihu Bakari,Commonwealth Scholarfrom NigeriaColloquiumparticipantsat the Universityof NottinghamPart of the aim of Commission awards is to fostera more informed, just world. The work ofDr Salihu Bakari, a Commonwealth Scholar fromNigeria, is bringing such goals to fruition. Dr Bakarirecently completed his doctorate on gender andeducation at the School of Education, University ofSussex. Upon returning to his home country inOctober 2004, he was made Dean of the School ofEducation in the Federal College of Education, wherehe worked on reforms, especially with respect toequal opportunities.He has since accepted another appointment, thistime from the Federal Government of Nigeria, wherehe now works as an Assistant Director in, and theSpecial Assistant to, the Executive Secretary of theUniversal Basic Education Commission. The overallaim of the Commission is to ensure that all schoolagechildren have unfettered access to free,compulsory, universal basic education. Dr Bakarinotes: “My present position is wider in scope, as ourmandate covers the entire country. It is equally morechallenging, but certainly it is a position thatprovides me with the opportunity to have an impacton the entire nation”.Dr Bakari’s supervisor, Dr Fiona Leach, commentson the quality of his work:Salihu produced an outstanding thesis in whichhe examined issues of gender equity in teacher education,drawing on a case study of a college of education.As a man researching gender issues, he hasprovided invaluable new insights into the manyforms of institutional discrimination against womenand the barriers to achieving equality of opportunityin Nigerian society. Hopefully, his research will have apositive impact on the development of teachereducation in that country.While in her native Pakistan, Ainee ShehzadSalim also works to change educational structuresthrough her Distance Learning Scholarship with theInstitute of Education, London. She is currentlystudying for a masters in education and internationaldevelopment with a focus on gender issues, and waspart of a pilot project of Distance Learning Scholarsthat spent a three-month period of intensive study atthe Institute of Education, London.Ainee comments on the significance of her timewith professors and fellow Distance LearningScholars in London:The way that I see the educational experience hereis that it is a two-way interaction process like noother. It provides an understanding of the link betweenour lives, and those of other people throughoutthe world.It provides us with a new perspective on the linksbetween education, poverty alleviation, conflict resolution,multiculturalism and gender equality that arepriority issues on world agendas for development.The wide range of literature provided by the educationalprogrammes, the experiences that our tutorsshare with us and the exchange of ideas from adiverse group of students contributes to equippingus with the necessary knowledge and skills that canfacilitate human resource development strategies inour countries.Many Commission scholars go back to work intheir universities having honed their curriculum developmentskills under their awards. Dr PrathibaWeerasinghe, a Senior Lecturer in the Departmentof Plant Sciences, Faculty of Agriculture, RajarataUniversity of Sri Lanka, spent six months working inthe Plant Sciences Division of the University ofNottingham.Her supervisors, Professor Jerry Roberts and10 Commonwealth Scholarship Commission