AAU NEWSLETTER English Vol. 17 Issue 1 2011 - AAU Resource ...

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Vol. 17, No. 1 (May, 2011) AAU NewsletterPage 2PRESS RELEASETHE IMPORTANCE OFGOVERNANCEIN UNIVERSITY RESEARCHniversities play a vital role in the socio-economicdevelopment of nations through their three traditional rolesof training human resource, producing knowledge throughUresearch, and extension services to the society. The onset of aglobally competitive knowledge-driven economy has furtherunderscored the importance of universities and higher educationinstitutions in building national capacities to support social,economic, and political progress.Developed countries have registered much growth, becauseuniversities and higher education institutions have been in theforefront of the development process. Countries like South Korea,Singapore, Malaysia, and Thailand have experienced accelerateddevelopment due to increasing and sustained development of theirnational competences in developing and applying science,technology and innovations (STI) developed by universities andother knowledge institutions.For Africa to experience the growth of the South Asiancountries, research has to take the centre stage in higher educationinstitutions. Being the apex organisation and principal forum foraddressing issues of higher education in Africa, the Association ofAfrican Universities (AAU) is implementing a project on researchgovernance in West and Central Africa. The Project is beingexecuted in collaboration with the International DevelopmentResearch Centre (IDRC) and the Science and Technology PolicyResearch Institute (STEPRI) of the Council for Scientific andIndustrial Research (CSIR) in Ghana. The AAU is the strategicpartner in the research, because of its capacity to readily bringAfrican universities together to take part in the Project.In January this year, the AAU organised a 5-dayMethodology Workshop on Governance of University Research inAccra as an activity under the knowledge production component ofthe Project on Governance of University Research withinNational Innovation Systems (NIS) in West and Central Africa.This component seeks to provide analysis of the status of scienceand technology research and innovation policy and the state ofuniversity research governance within national innovation systemsavailable in West and Central Africa, and to propose measures tomake university research more relevant to local needs and nationaldevelopment priorities.This issue of the AAU's Newsletter is mainly dedicated toarticles on governance of university research, including a casestudy of Obafemi Awolowo University at Ile Ife in Nigeria. TheAAU continues to be committed to promoting quality assurance, aswell as responding to problems of HIV and AIDS in African highereducation. Articles on these programmes are also featured in theissue.The AAU will wishes to inform all its member institutions,partners and development partners that its Conference of Rectors,Vice Chancellors and Presidents of African Universities takesplace from May 30 to June 3 2011 at the Spier Conference Centre,Stellenbosch, South Africa. The Conference which is beingorganised in collaboration with the Stellenbosch University has asits theme, Strengthening the Space of Higher Education in Africa.It is expected that about 250 delegates from African and other partsof the world will converge at Stellenbosch to discuss issuespertaining to the Implementing the Arusha Convention;Harmonisation of Degree Structures; Promoting QualityAssurance in Higher Education; Effectively Using Informationand Communication Technologies; Creating Regional Centres ofExcellence; and Promoting Open and Distance Learning – subthemeswhich fall under the general theme of the Conference.We will feature articles of the Conference proceedings in thenext issue of the AAU Newsletter.THE ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN UNIVERSITIESORGANISES CONFERENCE OF RECTORS, VICECHANCELLORS AND PRESIDENT INSTELLENBOSCH, SOUTH AFRICAThe Association of African Universities (AAU) in collaborationwith Stellenbosch University, South Africa, will organise itsConference of Rectors, Vice Chancellors and Presidents of AfricanUniversities (COREVIP) from May 30 to June 3, 2011 inStellenbosch, South Africa at the Spier Conference Centre.The Conference of Rectors, Vice-Chancellors and Presidentsof African Universities (COREVIP) is an assembly of the chiefexecutive officers of member institutions or their representatives.It meets every two years with the purpose of examining collectivelythemes identified as common concerns and priorities for thedevelopment of higher education in member institutions; makingrecommendations primarily to members, as well as to theGoverning Board, and to the Secretariat; and acting as a mid-termforum for taking stock of the implementation of the decisions of theGeneral Conference and recommending corrective measures.The theme for the Conference is: Strengthening the Space ofHigher Education in Africa.There will be invited papers and presentations by distinguishedscholars and practitioners in plenary sessions as well as groupsessions for more intensive work dealing with the main theme andthe sub-themes, namely:Creating an African Higher Education Space: With focus onthe Arusha Convention; Establishment of AfriQAN; LMDReform in Francophone Higher Education Institutions;Establishment of a Credit Transfer System.The Role of ICT: With focus on the creation of Research andEducation Networks nationally and regionally: Promoting theuse of ICT in African higher education institutions.Regional Centres of Excellence: With focus on the AUC's PanAfrican University; Pan African Institute of Governance inHigher Education; Examples of other Centres of Excellence(AIMS in South Africa; 2IE in Burkina Faso; ICIPE in Kenya).Promoting Open and Distance Learning: With focus onOpen Educational Resources; Creation of Open Universities;Use of Open Distance Learning (ODL) in traditionaluniversities.The Conference will provide an excellent opportunity for leaders ofAfrican higher education institutions to exchange experiences anddraw on the lessons from institutions on issues relating to the themeof the conference. There will also be an opportunity to hear fromboth regional and international organisations involved in highereducation initiatives.The 250 or more participants who are expected to attend theconference will comprise executive heads of AAU memberinstitutions, acclaimed African scholars, representatives of subregional,regional and international organisations, as well as donorand development agencies that partner with the AAU. In additionto the executive heads and other senior members of Africanuniversities, participants will include Ministers of HigherEducation and other policy makers.It is expected that the outcomes of this Conference willstrengthen the Space of Higher Education in Africa to assure qualityand equivalence in the delivery of higher educational servicesacross the continent, as well as sensitise the African highereducation community on the need for the ratification of the ArushaConvention by all African countries.Visithttp:// http://events.aau.org/eventapplication.php?id=15&/lang=en&mid=4/for more information on the AAU COREVIP 2011
Vol. 17, No. 1 (May, 2011) AAU NewsletterPage 3The 24 participants who attended the Workshopincluded members of national research teams fromBurkina Faso, Cameroon, La Côte d'Ivoire, Ghana,and Senegal; resource persons and experts in therelated fields; and AAU staff.The Workshop was intended to provide the opportunityfor the national research teams to gain a better understandingof the Project and the various methods thatwould be used to undertake the study. It also provided aplatform to expose the country teams to the conceptualframework for the study and foster networking amongthe country teams. Specifically, the Workshop coveredareas such as Introduction to the Concept of theNational Innovation System, Analytical Frameworkfor the Analysis of National Innovation Systems, andThe Role of Universities in National InnovationSystems; and provided inputs to be included in the toolsof investigation (questionnaires, interview guide, etc.)and guidelines to map existing national innovationsystems to determine the role and place of universityresearch and interactions with other actors.BackgroundIn 2009, considering the increased interest in highereducation as a critical factor in development, the WestAfrica Regional Office of the Canadian IDRC commissioneda study on the state of university researchgovernance in West and Central Africa. After the study,a meeting was held in October 2009 to validate thefindings, which mainly showed a lack of appropriatestructures and noted deficiencies in research administration.Subsequently, in collaboration with the AAUand STEPRI of Ghana's CSIR, the IDRC developed aproject proposal to address these issues and contributetoward a better system of university research andmanagement.In March 2010, the IDRC approved the project onImproving the Quality and Relevance of UniversityResearch within National Innovation Systems inWest and Central Africa, which is being implementedby the AAU in partnership with Ghana Institute ofManagement and Public Administration (GIMPA),Centre d'Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG),STEPRI of Ghana's CSIR, West African Research andInnovation Management (WARIMA), and CanadianAssociation of University Research Administrators(CAURA).To keep the discussions on the Project ongoing, an e-platform was created to conduct discussion groups sothat participants could continue to interact with oneanother concerning the research methodologies andother technical issues after the Workshop.What is Research Governance?By Prof. Mazonda , University of Botswanahe main aim of university research governance is to createconducive environments and supportive policies andpractices to enable the university to be more responsive toTpublic expectations so that it may achieve the public good. It is alsomeant to spare the researchers the tedium of arranging complianceissues, which would compete with their research time.In Europe and the UK, higher education is at the centre of nationaldevelopment planning. The government uses universities as theengine of development. The universities serve as the vehicles forimplementing the national development plans. The government andthe universities collaborate closely.By contrast, the situation across much of Africa now is that there aregaps in linking university research with development priorities, aswell as weak linkages between knowledge producers and knowledgeusers, and between knowledge production and innovations. With thenew perception of universities as instruments for knowledge-basedeconomic development and change, universities are shifting fromconducting research merely for knowledge generation to researchthat addresses societal issues. In that sense, university research
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