‘African universities are becoming more and more ambitious’

African universities are increasingly showing a keen interest in innovative governance, internationalisation and collaboration, and are investing resources in technology to enhance teaching, learning and research, says Professor Ernest Aryeetey, the former vice-chancellor of the University of Ghana, who recently retired as the secretary-general of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA).

Noting that the universities on the continent are becoming increasingly ambitious – although still not ambitious enough – Aryeetey argues that their capacity to act autonomously determines the success or otherwise of their efforts to govern in new, progressive ways.

“I have found that the universities that do well tend to be those that are managed quite autonomously. It appears that academic freedom is crucial as a driver of innovation in the management of universities – and the relative absence of such freedom can inhibit innovation in governance,” he says.

Interfering politicians

In this regard, he gives warning that national politicians are interfering in the governance, and the teaching and knowledge-production functions of African universities in “worrying” ways.

“It is a cause for concern that governments are dictating how many students should be admitted, regardless of what resources are available,” he notes.

“It is [also] a cause for concern that governments want to know how faculty staff are being hired and want to influence this process. [And] it would be a great cause for concern where the research agenda of universities are to be dictated by a ministry of education.”

Aryeetey cites cases of ministers overseeing the appointment of faculty deans and instances of senior politicians exerting overweening control over the movements of university leaders.

“I become worried when I learn that a vice-chancellor has to obtain permission from the office of the president or the office of the prime minister in order to travel,” he says.

“Such permission, which may take weeks to procure, as well as official immigration restrictions that can inhibit free movement, can prevent university leaders from travelling to meet funders or potential researchers, limiting their capacity to manage in a fundamental way.”

‘Tremendous improvements’

At the same time, and notwithstanding the “worrying signs” of political interference, Aryeetey asserts that there have been “tremendous improvements” at some African universities and a broader scope in terms of their outlook.

“Increasingly, African universities are beginning to understand and accept that they have to compete with other universities in the rest of the world,” he says.

“They are beginning to appreciate the fact that it is no longer acceptable to assert: ‘We work with African standards as opposed to global standards ...’ Although this does not mean that they have become ambitious enough, they are certainly looking outside of their own campuses.”

In particular, he says, African universities are prioritising investment in the latest technologies and a drive towards internationalisation and greater inter-institutional collaboration, as well as the adoption of new forms of governance.

Building digital infrastructure

Aryeetey says that African universities are increasingly using their own resources to build their digital infrastructure and acquire new technologies which has led to improved engagement between lecturers and students and has enabled researchers to undertake fieldwork and store the data that they are gathering more effectively.

He describes how local investment in new software has led to faculty members becoming more engaged in using digital technologies to undertake research.

“In particular,” he says, “there has been an increase in the number of articles published in high-impact journals, in large part as a result of the way in which the new technologies have facilitated the collection and processing of quality data.”

Aryeetey also describes how improvements in the quality of available data have boosted the confidence of African scholars who already have a strong grasp of established research methodologies, leading to their increasingly taking the lead in international projects and producing research “of a standard that would have been unthinkable until recently”.

“Over the past five years, African scholars have become increasingly willing to take the initiative and become principal investigators, or PIs, inviting collaboration from peers in the Global North rather than passively waiting for such.”

He asserts that there is now significant new research being undertaken in a range of fields, citing the case of behavioural economics, in which “young economists on the continent are increasingly taking advantage of the new data that is available to foster interdisciplinary collaboration with psychologists, sociologists, political scientists and even natural scientists”.

Governance and optimism

In this context, Aryeetey also notes the increasing recognition by African universities of the role that effective institutional governance can play in boosting performance, including in relation to the quality of their teaching and knowledge-production outputs.

“Universities on the continent are increasingly willing to discuss governance on their campuses,” he says. “They are more interested in how governance affects the students and the faculty and how governance helps them to achieve their objectives.”

In this regard, he says that the missions that African higher education institutions are setting for themselves are being “properly guided” in many places, including at national flagship universities which enjoy relative freedom from political meddling in their affairs.

“The strategic plans of a number of universities that I have seen go beyond the usual clichés, offering a vision beyond what has typically been associated with African universities, which is a cause for optimism, despite the impediments that continue to inhibit the realisation of such visions.”

Internationalisation

He cites the greater interest shown by many African universities in internationalisation and inter-institutional collaboration as evidence of a broadening of horizons.

In addition, Aryeetey says that relationships with external donors can enhance institutional governance by introducing new avenues for accountability.

“When there is considerable engagement from international and outside donor institutions, the university must account for its efforts to a broad constituency of external stakeholders, which can be beneficial in terms of governance and also has the effect of discouraging national governments from interfering too much,” he notes.

At the same time, Aryeetey is keenly aware of African universities’ dependence on national governments for much of their income.

“The salaries of faculty, which comprise about 80% to 85% of the total budget, come from government sources,” he says. “So, the significance of the role played by governments is not to be downplayed.”

In particular, he notes that much of the investment in infrastructure comes from “within”, either from the universities, themselves, or from their governments.

In this regard, he calls on African governments and universities to bolster the external support that they receive in appropriate ways while using their own resources to complement such funding.

The approach should be to “gradually reduce reliance on external funding – with the long-term aim of supporting universities in Africa in the same way that governments and funders in the Global North support their own universities”.

To this end, Aryeetey advises that “there is a particular need to find ways of encouraging African philanthropists to invest in African research and higher education” while noting that “you will not find much of that outside South Africa”.

“In general, outside South Africa, philanthropy is not organised or structured so that sustainable funding is made available to support research in a systematic manner,” he points out.

This article is based on an interview conducted by Professor Crain Soudien for ‘The Imprint of Education’ project, which is being implemented by the Human Sciences Research Council (HSRC), South Africa, in partnership with the Mastercard Foundation. This project, which includes a series of critical engagements with experienced scholars and thought leaders on their reimaginings of higher education in Africa, investigates current and future challenges facing the sector, including best practices and innovations. Mark Paterson and Professor Thierry Luescher edited the transcript for focus and length. Features already published in the series can be downloaded from the HSRC’s website.