Adapting universities to meet local needs and priorities

My article titled “African Universities – Imitation or adaptation?” published in University World News on 12 December 2019 may be summarised as follows:

• • The Indian philosopher and economist Amartya Sen’s theory of human capability has now become dominant in international development discourse;
  
  
• • Academic imitation – defined as the blind adoption of Western universities’ course names, course contents, learning resources and pedagogies – is ruining the development of African university students’ capabilities;
  
  
• • Academic imitation in the disciplines of management, social work, archeology and classics ignores local realities and priorities;
  
  
• • Academic imitation stifles creativity, innovation and robs us of our identity; and
  
  
• • Adaptation defined as indigenising an idea, practice or model to serve local needs and priorities is suggested as the way forward.

The article has drawn a range of responses which raise an interesting discussion.

Adaptation is critical to African development

Most readers regarded adaptation as not only critical to academia but also to overall African development.

Adaptation should be redefined more broadly as the process of modifying and tweaking a foreign concept, product or service so that it dovetails with the prevailing norms, values and environment of a given society. It is essentially indigenising such concepts, products or services to serve a clearly identified purpose.

Some adaptations may require Africans to make slight changes to their attitudes and behaviours as a new culture is created through a synthesis of African and foreign cultures.

Readers noted that in this era of extraordinary information growth through instantaneous communicative technologies, African development hinges on how Africans are able to adaptively use such information to serve African needs and aspirations. Adaptation requires creativity, innovative thinking, strategic thinking and a strong sense of identity.

Courses and learning resources in natural sciences

Some readers pointed to the fact that, while in the natural sciences African universities imitate the curricula, course materials and pedagogies of Western universities, this is not necessarily the case in the social sciences and humanities.

Admittedly, in a few African universities, one or two humanities and social science courses have been developed which address local issues, needs or priorities. These courses have locally developed learning resources as well.

However, such courses have been taught for many years with the same learning resources, activities and pedagogies without any progressive changes. This suggests that such courses are rarely reviewed and that the body of learning resources developed from an African prism is grossly limited and lacks diverse perspectives.

Another criticism related to me about locally developed courses are concerns about course objectives and assessment practices. Course objectives are still rooted in academic endeavours rather than personal transformation and professional career development. Sterling examples are courses in African studies, agricultural sciences and herbal medicine whose learning objectives are invariably stated in academic terms.

Normally, pedagogies are depersonalised, not place-based and without meaningful connections to African society or its economy. Some readers stated that African universities’ courses often put a wedge between traditional African culture and the ‘imported knowledge and skills’ taught in the lecture halls.

The ‘imported knowledge and skills’ are certified as standard, whereas African traditional knowledge and skills are marginalised and ignored as insignificant. If students are being developed as critical evaluators, judges or scholars, all forms of knowledge should be subject to critique.

Assessment of student learning suffers from similar limitations and defects. One reader suggested that assessment of student learning should use a wide range of tools, including short-term and long-term projects, examinations, group work and community-based assignments. In addition, student assessment must have a clearly defined purpose.

Over-criticism of African universities

Some readers think that I singled out African universities for imitating Western universities’ curricula, course resources and pedagogies. They considered this unfair. They argued that universities in other countries, including China, imitate the West to a greater extent.

One reader even pointed out that Chinese academics translate Western academic resources into Chinese for use in Chinese universities. Nonetheless, from my perspective this is not an instance of academic imitation.

Translation of foreign learning resources into local languages in and of itself makes a concept accessible and adaptable to massive readership in the locality. In Africa colonial languages are exclusively used in universities so learning resources imported from the West are used as they are without any translations. Accordingly, language is one of the adaptation tools.

Collaboration and networking

Collectivity is the foundational stone of African culture. Yet in the African academic environment, collaboration and networking are not really fostered at all. Certainly, there are constant talks in the African academic community about collaboration, but no concrete action plans have been made or implemented on the ground.

Some readers argued that if vertical and horizontal collaborations or networking were encouraged between African universities and among African lecturers and professors in the continent’s universities, it would drastically reduce the incidence of academic imitation of the West.

Through collaboration and networking, academics would share and exchange ideas, expertise and resources. In other words, collaboration and networking would allow African universities to harness their critical human resources for the development of African-focused courses, learning resources and pedagogies.

Colonial legacy

One reader stated that African academic imitation is a classic example of the colonial legacy. According to this reader, colonial legacies in Africa have not been uprooted after many years of political independence from the colonial masters – Great Britain, France, Spain and Portugal.

The reader defined colonial legacy as “patterns of thinking by which one regards the institutions and aesthetics in the coloniser’s country as absolute standards for adopting and judging what should happen in the colonised country”. As a matter of fact, a pattern of thinking or colonial mentality in all its various manifestations has obstructed African economic development and cultural renaissance.

Nevertheless, that reader’s admonition has been around for decades as can be seen in The Colonizer and the Colonized by Albert Memmi, Decolonising the African Mind by Chinweizu Ibekwe and Black Skin, White Masks by Frantz Fanon.

The reader further observed that African flagship universities such as the University of Ibadan and Makerere University, which were built as replicas of coloniser universities, are now the standards for imitation.

New universities, whether public or private, tend to imitate these flagship universities’ curricula, pedagogies, model of student services and administration system. The tendency to imitate these universities has stifled the innovation and creativity needed to build developmental universities.

In this new decade, African universities should start transforming themselves into authentic institutions that contribute to analysing African issues and searching for appropriate solutions. This will only be possible if African universities focus on African society and economy by creating made-in-Africa theoretical concepts, philosophical orientations and analytical tools.

Eric Fredua-Kwarteng is an educator and policy consultant in Canada.