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Abstract
Global challenges demand more competitiveness from cities, calling for quick adaptation to changes brought about by the current knowledge economy. Innovation Districts (ID) stand out as the most favourable ecosystems to create economic, urban, social and governance solutions proactively and at the speed demanded by this rapid renewal of knowledge. Effective assessment is important in these areas to ensure efforts are guided to achieve the objectives set. Following validation by a panel of 17 experts through an international Fuzzy Delphi survey, and 15 experts in the DEMATEL multi-criteria decision-making approach, this study builds a conceptual framework in four dimensions (Urban, Economic, Social and Governance), with a set of 37 indicators identified as relevant to assess performance in ID and the power of influences among them. The resulting multidimensional innovation assessment framework is a powerful tool, being useful in determining the key impact indicators of existing innovation districts.
Abstract
The international nature of higher education is not new. The development of partnerships to facilitate the international mobility of scholars, students and knowledge has been happening for centuries. But in the last three decades, there has been a powerful transformation in the international landscape of higher education. It is no longer just people who are moving across borders, so are education programmes, providers, projects and policies. Research on student mobility, internal and external to Africa, exists but there is very little analysis on international programme and provider mobility (IPPM). The purpose of this chapter is therefore to explore the scope and scale of IPPM within Africa and with international partners. The focus is primarily on partnership programmes, international branch campuses, franchise arrangements, distance education and international joint universities. In general, the level of IPPM activity in Africa is seen to be moderate. But this is very difficult to assess given the lack of reliable data and the inconsistent use of terms. Nevertheless, preliminary research indicates that IPPM is increasing significantly and most often in a vacuum of necessary policies and regulations by the host African country. An IPPM classification framework is used to explain and give examples of the scope of IPPM activities in Africa. In addition, a brief case study on IPPM activities in Mauritius is provided to illustrate how about 35% of their students have increased access to higher education through IPPM. Another key objective of the chapter is to advocate for the importance of African universities and national governments to develop IPPM policies and data collections system and undertake further research on the benefits, risks and unintended consequences of IPPM.
Abstract
The relationships among higher education institutions (HEI s), states and society have always defined the nature of the transformation of higher education sectors. African higher education systems have passed through different transitions and carried out various roles since the time of their respective inceptions. Thus, it is crucial to understand their historical, socio-economic and political context to properly conceptualise HEI s’ roles and functions. Higher education interacts with an increasing number and variety of stakeholders within a constantly changing socio-economic and political landscape. The chapter provides an overview of the ongoing and changing roles and functions in African higher education in precolonial, postcolonial and contemporary contexts. It sets the scene for higher education transformation, reflecting on historical contexts, current realities and the future of African universities. The discussions in the chapter are framed by questions including: What roles and functions do African HEI s play in their respective societies? How can we design African universities that are optimally structured and calibrated within African contexts to facilitate the production of knowledge that diffuses into action for the common good? The chapter argues that African HEI s and their associated roles should be responsive to the needs, demands, capacities and aspirations of African societies. The policies of African universities need to be responsive to the changing environment and become progressive, thereby embracing innovative approaches as the hallmarks of quality.
Abstract
From the literature on decolonisation and decoloniality, one might conclude that global higher education conversations currently divide into two irreconcilable discourses. On the one side, there is the dominant paradigm of a hegemonic, neoliberal, Eurocentric, Western standard model of the university. On the other side, there is the discourse of an insurrectionist decolonial movement fighting for a viable alternative to the dominant paradigm. These opposing discourses, one may further conclude, play out very visibly in Africa in particular, hence the call for a New African University. My thesis in this chapter is that the assumption of two irreconcilable discourses is too simplistic. Within the apparent hegemony of the Western standard model, there are various voices calling for change. I argue that a discernible change is taking place on a broad front in our understanding of the mission of higher education and that much of this change is congruent with what the decolonial voices are advocating.
Abstract
Higher education in Africa seemed to have been biased towards Eurocentricism that often misrecognises legitimate knowledge claims in and about transformative change in the sector. Literature on higher education studies is replete with claims about how a primary focus on only Eurocentric knowledge (re)constructions seems to undermine forms of authentic knowledges. Like many universities on the African continent, allegiance to the hegemonic knowledge interests of a Global North seems to undermine attempts on the part of higher education institutions to cultivate more democratically inclusive knowledge spaces. There seems to be some misunderstanding of the (ir)relevance of knowledge produced in the north for communities in the south as if such forms of knowledge production invariably have a universalist potential. Consequently, legitimate transformative initiatives in the forms of decolonisation and decoloniality commensurate with post-humanist inquiry seem to remain disentangled from genuine epistemological actions to produce a New African University. The argument of this contribution is constituted by the pursuit of an autonomous African university enframed by virtues of objective freedom, just action and moral responsibility. In this way, the possibility that a New African University will manifest along a post-humanist discourse of higher education seems highly likely. Therefore, it is argued that a notion of entanglement that conceptually and pragmatically connects the imaginary of an African university with-in its higher education priorities seems to be a defensible act of higher education transformation. Hence, bringing decolonisation, decoloniality and post-humanism into conversation with justice in and about higher education seems to be apt and constructive for the enhancement of legitimate knowledge claims.
Abstract
This chapter departs from the notion that indigenous knowledge production is vital to development in Africa and goes on to point out the challenges to its production and dissemination concerning development in post-independence Africa. The chapter argues that development in the contemporaneous world demands the production of highly technical, scientific and organisational forms of rationalistic knowledge with concomitant epistemic virtues, and moral and social values. Therefore, Africa needs an epistemic orientational shift from the more intuitionist epistemic orientation of the traditional society, its epistemic virtues and its more partialist, particularistic moral and social values to a more rationalistic one; this shift, nevertheless, should integrate the beneficial processes and knowledge gains in the traditional paradigm. Therefore, the orientational shift expected is not one of discarding the traditional epistemic orientation but superseding and subsuming it into a modern knowledge production system that is thereby Africanised. The chapter examines how this is to be accomplished in the context of contestations about post-independence decolonisation and trans-colonisation. The chapter critiques decolonisation conceived as radical de-westernisation and identitarian essentialism, showing its inadequacy. It argues in favour of trans-colonisation (transcending colonisation), which emphasises indigenous epistemic creativity, freedom from the dictates of non-functional identitarian essentialism and the freedom of the African to appropriate and adapt from African knowledge resources, the colonial legacy and global resources, guided by truth, functionality and aesthetics. It is argued that trans-colonisation supports interculturality and heterosis (vigorous hybridity) in knowledge production and is also positioned to address issues of epistemic injustice and epistemicide. The chapter also looks generally at the implications of this perspective for the research and pedagogical agenda of educational institutions in Africa. The research design in this work is basically philosophical content analysis and evaluation involving conceptual exposition and clarification, logical and philosophical analysis and hermeneutics.
Abstract
Historical events across the African continent have negatively impacted on society, with the common denominators being inequality, unemployment and poverty. Providing solutions to these deep-rooted problems requires reconfiguration of African Higher Education: a reimagined “New African University” which could be positioned to address numerous socio-economic challenges. For instance, deepening the mission of a university towards developing knowledge and skills-based graduates able to become the custodians of alternative economies could organically address the factors currently responsible for small and medium-sized enterprise (SME) failure. Incorporating transformative education informed by culturally directed innovations generated by the New African University paradigm, coupled with technologies made available by the fourth industrial revolution (4IR), could serve to forge a pathway to these alternative economies. This alternative economy could facilitate a symbiotic relationship between innovation-led start-ups and SME s through factors such as relative economies of scale and relatively low market entry barriers. Students from impoverished backgrounds could draw on the knowledge and skills gained from university education to solve societal problems within their communities based on their first-hand experiences. This speaks to the value system of empathy underpinning the first phase in the design thinking process. The proposed reconfiguration may serve as a driver for social entrepreneurship which addresses community problems in collaboration between the university and the community, resulting in the inclusion and participation of society in university-led activities. In principle, qualifications in science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) could integrate aspects of business and commerce through a transformative education paradigm, using SME s as a conduit, ultimately creating an entrepreneurial ecosystem. To achieve this, we propose an “engineered” 4IR-enabled entrepreneurial ecosystem supported by SME s where scientists, engineers and technologists can successfully commercialise innovations. Housed within and between universities across the African continent, such an entrepreneurial ecosystem could solve the triple challenge of unemployment, inequality and poverty.
Abstract
How are new universities in Africa conceptualising their role in the African context? This chapter looks at the emergent directions that are taking shape in a selection of new universities across the African continent. It does so through an analysis of the institutions’ strategic plans to ascertain what their priorities are in relation to concerning the broad questions of social, cultural and economic development. The selected universities come from South Africa, the Cameroon, Kenya, Botswana, Rwanda, Zimbabwe, Nigeria and a continentwide virtual university. With one exception, they were all started in the last twenty years and are also largely public. The analysis found that institutions struggled to articulate for themselves strategic orientations that were distinct and directly responsive to their contexts. Instead, they generally described themselves through terms and phrases that were resonant with the strategic plans of the world’s most elite institutions. Of interest is how the institutions understand themselves in relation to: their local environments; the wider global situation; their locatedness in time and space; and the possibilities that define their status and standing as universities.