Universities should invest in ICT infrastructure

African universities and other tertiary institutions have been urged to collaborate with industries in establishing apprenticeships and other job-specific skills in business training programmes, as one way of increasing employment opportunities during the COVID-19 pandemic and beyond.

The call was made by Dr Akinwumi Adesina, the president of the African Development Bank, during the Nobel Prize Dialogue, a discussion involving Nobel Prize-winners and various experts, hosted virtually by the University of Pretoria, South Africa, on 18 May.

The gathering considered the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on the future of work, noting how lockdowns not only contributed to job losses but also reduced learning activities at all levels.

In this regard, the group of panellists said COVID-19 has not only permanently changed how education is delivered, but predicted that the situation is going to be the new normal.

According to Adesina, this situation is going to challenge Africa, especially when higher education systems will be trying to adopt new policies that would link students to new jobs.

Towards this goal, universities will have to invest in ICT infrastructure in order to improve on their current weak remote learning capability that is often overwhelmed by the large number of students.

Africa’s youth bulge

But, whereas Africa’s youth bulge is often seen as a silver lining, Adesina said he was worried as most of the young people who will be looking for jobs from 2030 and beyond will have limited digital skills that will be in demand at that time.

According to a World Bank study, ‘The Future of Work in Africa: Harnessing the Potential of Digital Technologies for All’ relative to other regions, Sub-Saharan Africa has the fastest-growing labour force, relative to other regions, yet it has the lowest levels of human capital and the largest stock of ill-equipped adults.

Amid efforts to equip young Africans with skills, Adesina said plans are under way to build a vibrant technology ecosystem that will provide the right digital skills such as coding, data science and cloud computing.

The underlying principle is that digital technologies are expected to generate new formal private-sector jobs adapted to the current stock of skills.

This pathway is similar to the generation of new activities observed in the rest of the world, especially in developed countries, the World Bank had noted in its study on the future of work in Africa.

Highlighting the issue, Adesina said Africa should invest in its young people and, to make this a reality, the African Development Bank is going to spend about US$2 billion dollars in ICT infrastructure and two satellites in order to enhance broadband internet connectivity in Africa.

Massive investment in ICT

The African Development Bank has invested more than US$20 million in the Kigali Institute of Science and Technology, Rwanda, a regional centre of excellence that had been established in collaboration with Carnegie Mellon University in the US.

According to Adesina, the African Development Bank has spent another US$70 million in supporting Senegal to establish a digital technology park. It will serve as an incubation centre that will help young people to establish start-ups, develop business skills and management efficiencies and attract multinational companies to invest in promoting ideas.

From Adesina’s remarks, it appeared that the aim of the African Development Bank and other stakeholders is to develop an enabling environment that will create a critical mass of inventors and entrepreneurs in Africa who, in turn, will eventually develop more digital technologies and provide skills to workers.

The aim is also to reskill workers who are likely to lose jobs in the future as their jobs become obsolete, or get taken over by machines in the labour markets.

What this means is that, as elsewhere in the world, African higher education, and universities in particular, are likely to change as more countries appear interested in opening digital hubs.

According to the World Bank, in 2019, the number of technology hubs in Sub-Saharan Africa had grown by more than 50%, from 314 in 2016.

But, as Adesina, considering the future of work in Africa, said, education systems and labour experts have to ensure that they train people and create jobs that are needed in the job market.