Africa, Japan interrogate building of equal HE partnerships

“Until now, cooperation in higher education between Japan and Africa has mainly been centred on a support-type framework but, in recent years, there has been a demand for the transfer of knowledge and technology and for equal partnerships so that African universities can conduct education and research independently.”

This is how the Global Innovation Japan-Africa University Symposium, ‘Imagining the Future of Human Resource Development and Science and Technology Cooperation between Japan and Africa’ was introduced in material about the event.

It took place during the 9th Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD9) held under the theme, ‘Co-create Innovative Solutions with Africa’, and ended on 22 August in Japan.

The symposium was set against a background in which Africa’s international importance is increasing, given its growing youth population and potential for economic growth and strengthened by the African Union’s positioning of 2025 as the ‘Year of Youth and Innovation in Africa’. In this context, human resource development and science and technology cooperation between Japan and Africa were becoming even more important, according to the symposium’s organisers.

Echoing these statements, Selma Malika Haddadi, the African Union Commission deputy chairperson, said at the TICAD ministerial meeting: “Our continent offers many opportunities for the mutual benefit of its people and those who seek to partner with us on an equal footing.

“While we seek technological and skills transfer, we also offer abundant natural resources, a youthful and dynamic workforce, and an increasingly integrated market.

“I encourage us to work collaboratively and in synergy to ensure that strategic investments in critical infrastructure, as well as strong policies for resilient health systems and social stability, are in place to realise the prosperous, integrated and peaceful Africa we envision,” she said.

Developing cultural understanding

The university symposium enabled a further exploration of what an equal partnership between Japan and Africa – centred on human resource development, science and technology cooperation – would look like. Various speakers and commentators highlighted the areas of collaboration that should be advanced, with several foregrounding shared PhD programmes and infrastructure development as areas for partnership-building. Africa’s ownership of its research agenda when it collaborated with the Global North was another key point that was raised.

Professor Mitsuo Ochi, the president of the Hiroshima University in Japan, who delivered a keynote speech at the symposium, emphasised the importance of cultural understanding as a starting point for collaboration.

He told University World News: “Africa is a region of profound diversity. It is essential that we first develop a nuanced understanding of each nation’s systems and cultural context before embarking upon collaborative research, complementing online engagement with on-site visits when necessary.”

“The considerable geographical distances present significant challenges to travel, while the unique cultures, institutional frameworks, and often protracted decision-making processes of each country add further complexity,” Ochi said, reflecting on factors that affect partnership-building.

He said meaningful collaboration required the active involvement of a wide range of stakeholders, particularly those from industry and the business sector.

Prioritising capacity in African universities

Yoko Shimpuku, a professor in global health nursing at Hiroshima University, the vice-chair of the Young Academy of Japan and a panellist at the symposium, told University World News that, to promote equal partnerships, it was essential to prioritise capacity strengthening in African universities rather than dependency.

“This means investing in the long-term training of African researchers and educators, supporting infrastructure development, and co-designing projects that respond to locally identified needs.

“Japan can play a crucial role by sharing advanced expertise in health systems, digital health, and pedagogy, while respecting African leadership in defining priorities,” Shimpuku added.

“Exchange programmes should be two-way, enabling African and Japanese scholars to learn from one another and build sustainable collaborations,” she suggested.

A research for development approach

Professor Patrick Okori, the executive secretary of the Uganda-based Regional Universities Forum for Capacity Building in Agriculture, or RUFORUM, who was also a panellist at the event, said that, to enhance Africa’s independent growth, Japan-Africa partnerships must be based on co-created initiatives that boost the development of local capability – especially in emerging areas of science, technology and innovation.

“A focus on shared PhD degree programmes is a suitable approach, shared research-for-development, which emphasises practical, context-specific knowledge and innovations that can be applied to real-African problems, involving staff and student mobility for cross-learning and inter-regional partnerships, along with supporting Africa to build ecosystems for industry-university engagements,” Okori said, referring to areas of collaboration.

Building human resources

Hassan Virji, a visiting professor at Hiroshima University and the honorary executive director of START International, said in his keynote address at the symposium that equal partnership involved a clear understanding of well-defined goals and objectives and factors that impact a partnership.

“This includes focusing on emerging opportunities for collaborative research on pressing global challenges of climate or environmental changes and related adaptation and resilience issues, challenges of ensuring human and ecosystem health, and challenges of rapidly developing new technologies of artificial intelligence applications to analyse, manage, and manipulate large data bases from a wide variety of sources.

“[A] clear focus of collaborative programmes and projects should be on building human resources and institutional strengthening,” said Virji.

START is an international non-governmental non-profit organisation dedicated to building capacity in developing countries to deal with global environmental changes and sustainable development.

Challenges

The panellists also listed obstacles that could hinder effective partnerships. Shimpuku said one of the main challenges to establish equal Japan-Africa partnerships in higher education and in science, technology and innovation was structural inequality in resources, research funding, and publication opportunities.

“Too often, African institutions are placed in a subordinate position, with Japan or other high-income partners leading project design and decision-making. Language barriers, differences in academic systems, and limited opportunities for African universities to access cutting-edge technologies further widen the gap.

“Moreover, short-term project cycles, donor-driven agendas, and lack of continuity make it difficult to sustain equal and independent research environments,” Shimpuku said.

These aspects – co-development, co-implementation and continuous programme assessments – were also highlighted by Virji as challenges.

On a practical level, Virji added: “A significant challenge is the wide variety of cultures and languages across nations of Africa.

“While regional groupings, economic or cultural, exist, it is often difficult to perform effective collaborative partnerships over long time periods.”

Okori identified a partnership challenge as the “dynamic funding environment”, signalling, according to him, the need to rethink how the resourcing of partnerships should be done. For him, this aspect, together with a science, technology and innovation divide between developing and developed economies, were hurdles en route to more equal partnerships.

Solutions

To deal with challenges facing equal Japan-Africa partnerships, Okori said collaborative initiatives that build local capacity must be emphasised, especially in the Global South.

This could also include initiatives such as shared PhD programmes and support for industry-education partnerships that are common in Japan, but weak in Africa, using co-designed models.

Virji added that Japanese institutions could assume various impactful roles, including hosting early-career fellows, developing joint proposals for projects and supporting research communications and career development.

“[In addition, they could] create twinning relationship agreements with African universities, enabling the exchange of researchers and shared governance.

“Also, it is very important to provide writing mentorship, outreach training, [and] guidance in policy and practice briefings to support visibility – as well as emphasise impacts,” Virji said.

Expanding further, Shimpuku said a partnership model based on co-creation, in which agendas are jointly set and benefits are shared, should be adopted.

Funding mechanisms should allocate resources directly to African universities, ensuring they have ownership over research activities, she added.

Like Okori, Shimpuku also proposed joint PhD training programmes as an example of collaboration. She also said faculty exchanges, and open-access platforms for publications, could reduce inequalities in knowledge production.

According to him, building digital infrastructure and supporting African-led innovations will strengthen sustainability.

“Japan should also invest in South-South collaborations, connecting African institutions with one another as well as with Japan. [But] equal partnerships require humility, mutual respect and recognition of diverse knowledge systems,” Shimpuku stressed.

Other science experts weigh in

Professor Ahmed El-Gohary, the former president of the Egypt-Japan University of Science and Technology, told University World News equal partnerships could be promoted through the establishment of common research funding accessible to African universities and support for the development of needed infrastructure at the African universities, such as labs, digital libraries and knowledge exchanges through academic networks.

“[Partnerships] should all be based on the co-creation of research agendas involving key African leaders in science and technology,” El-Gohary said.

Professor Mohamed Hassan, the president of the Sudanese National Academy of Sciences, told University World News that Japanese universities have a significant opportunity to expand partnerships with top universities in Africa’s 33 least-developed countries, focusing on frontier science and technology and their applications to real-life problems.

“Key sectors for collaboration include renewable energy, agriculture, health, climate change adaptation, and biodiversity. To foster effective partnerships, programmes should be designed to train talented students at Japanese universities, particularly in STEM fields, artificial intelligence, and digital technologies,” Hassan added.