Students’ skills depend on transformative leadership

Universities in Africa should prepare students to acquire skills and competencies for future jobs in key areas such as engineering, computing and green economies and to be problem-solvers, according to the African Union’s high-level panel on emerging technologies.

In a policy white paper, Harnessing Innovation and Emerging Technologies to Address the Impact of COVID-19 in Africa, published by the African Union Development Agency, AUDA-NEPAD, the panel called for investment in universities in particular in the fields of science, technology, engineering and mathematics.

According to the chair of the panel, Professor Yaye Kene Gassama, the coronavirus pandemic has not just exposed the unpreparedness of many universities in Africa to migrate online but has made higher education managers aware of the need to empower students to traverse disruptions.


“COVID-19 brings sharply to the fore, a realisation of the need to maximise knowledge as a key strategy to empower African citizens in an increasingly competitive world,” said Gassama, who is also a professor of plant biotechnology at the University of Cheikh Anta Diop in Dakar, Senegal.

Skills are needed in new technologies

He urged African universities to start training a new generation of scientists and innovators who would be problem-solvers.

Universities are being asked to be on the frontline of responding to the changing job market by embracing professions of the future in engineering, computing and green economy. The panel noted there are indicators that there was a rising demand for skill sets in new technologies.

To meet the increase in the demand for jobs for the youth in Africa, the panel said African education systems must be recalibrated to address emerging challenges. According to the panel, a paradigm shift has emerged, encouraging not just e-learning but also remote working and flexible work schedules using virtual platforms. “This implies that universities need to start providing the required skills for Africa’s new labour force,” said the panel.

Revitalised universities will be required to find solutions to the existing problems in health, food security, remote learning on digital platforms, and innovation adaptations. To achieve the new objective, the panel said, transformative university leaders will be expected to craft academic missions that will encourage and inspire staff to carry out innovations, as smart technological breakthroughs will be required to drive Africa into the future.

Ministries should play their part

The panel decried slow adoption of emerging innovation and technologies in Africa, as a result of limiting regulations, even when it was clear they would benefit many people. “Scaling technologies so that everyone, including the most vulnerable in Africa, can benefit from affordable and unrestricted access [to technologies] requires a coordinated approach,” said Professor Sarah Agbor, the African Union Commission’s commissioner for human resources, science and technology.

Amid efforts made by some African universities to meet the challenges of the COVID-19 pandemic, the panel called on African policy-makers to make rapid decisions on closing skills gaps.

It was also recommended that African countries should leverage public-private partnerships for enhancing internet connectivity. Ministries of education, science and technology were urged to coordinate the availability of digital platforms and devices, in order to encourage home learning and reduce rural-urban divides in accessing higher education through e-learning.

The African Union was tasked to encourage more member states to establish more centres of excellence and innovation hubs and that these should be adequately funded. The panel pointed at similar initiatives in South Africa and Nigeria that could be used as models.

Universities working individually are encouraged to utilise platforms such as the African Academy of Sciences, the African Institute for Mathematical Sciences and the Next Einstein Initiative to enhance capacity building.

The panel also called for the establishment of intra-Africa university networks and joint research activities.

African universities’ role in COVID-19

The panel highlighted current innovations and emerging technologies by African universities aimed at alleviating the impact of COVID-19.

Stellenbosch University in South Africa in partnership with a local company, AzarGen Biotechnologies, have been developing human therapeutic proteins which could assist in the treatment of COVID-19 patients.

Similarly, the University of Pretoria in collaboration with the World Health Organization’s multicentre clinical trial for Africa have been working on how to accurately estimate the effects of antiviral treatment of COVID-19 patients in hospitals. The University of Cape Town is also serving as a research site for three leading global clinical trials on COVID-19.

Researchers at the University of Ghana have successfully sequenced the genome of the coronavirus. According to the white paper, the feat was achieved through collaboration between scientists from the university’s Noguchi Memorial Institute for Medical Research and the West African Centre for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens.

At Addis Ababa University, a COVID-19 research working group comprising faculty from different colleges and research institutes in Ethiopia has been working on psychosocial, economic, clinical and diagnostics aspects of COVID-19.

Following the start of the pandemic, engineers at the University of Sousse in Tunisia developed and manufactured respirators on a national scale, while engineering students 3D-printed protective masks for medical workers.

The University of Pretoria’s MakerSpace Centre, the 3D-printing laboratory of orthopaedic surgery at Stellenbosch University and the University of the Witwatersrand’s faculty of engineering and built environment have all been involved in initiatives to support health workers during the pandemic.

For instance, Coenie Koegelenberg, a professor of pulmonology at Stellenbosch University’s faculty of medicine and health sciences, has designed a robot that allows medical staff to perform ward rounds virtually, among intensive care patients, thereby protecting medical staff from the risk of infection.

At the school of public health at Makerere University, researchers have been collaborating with government and private entities to develop low-cost ventilators to meet local demands. The university has also developed an online coronavirus resource centre to provide comprehensive data and fact-based information on the virus to the public and policy-makers in Uganda.

What will employability mean in the digital age and how should higher education adapt? This free webinar, hosted by University World News in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation, is being held on 28 October 2020 at 10am in New York, 2pm in London (GMT) and 4pm in South Africa. You can find out more details and register to participate here.