ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES AAU CONFERENCE OF RECTORS VICE CHANCELLORS AND PRESIDENTS COREVI

1
ASSOCIATION OF AFRICAN UNIVERSITIES
(AAU)CONFERENCE OF RECTORS VICE CHANCELLORS AND
PRESIDENTS (COREVIP)TRIPOLI, LIBYA 21-25 OCTOBER
2007

• RAPPORTEURS REPORT

2
THEME

• Main Theme
• The African Brain Drain Managing the Drain,
  Working
  
• with the Diaspora
• Sub-themes
• Brain Drain and African Development
• The African Diaspora as a resource

3
PARTICIPANTS PROFILE

• Vice Chancellors
• Rectors
• Presidents
• Senior HE institutional managers
• Researchers and networks
• Education policy makers
• AAU Funding partners
• Media

4
OPENNING CEREMONY

• Presided over by
• Deputy Prime Minister (Libya)
• Rector 7th April University
• President AAU Executive Board
• Goodwill messages from
• Deputy Minister, Education of South Africa
• African Union (Commissioner)
• Vice President AfDB
• World Bank

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ELECTION OF BUREAU

• The Conference elected a Bureau constituted as
  follows
  
• The President of AAU
• The three Vice-Presidents of the AAU
• The Secretary General of the AAU
• The Rector of the 7th April University
• The Bureau formed 3 Working Groups

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HIGHER EDUCATION IN LIBYA

• Dr Idriss EL-MAKROUB, Director, Centre for
  Quality Assurance and
  
• Accreditation Libya Provision of higher
  education in Libya based on three
  
• principles
• Human right
• Accurate response to needs of labour market
• Adherence to quality assurance requirements
• Outlined the recent developments improvement of
  curricula and
  
• programmes, re-organisation of private higher
  education, funding through a variety of
  arrangements
  
• Types of institutions
• Growing numbers of staff and students past four
  years
  
• Increases in budget for postgraduate studies

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BUSINESS SESSION

• Conference ratified the admission of 23 new
  members (20 full Members and 3 Associates)
  
• Interim Report focused four areas visibility,
  relevance, funding, Secretariat revamping
  
• New financial management information software
• Strategic program implementation emphasis on
  coordinating and networking role
  
• Perennial high default in membership
  subscription
  
• Strategies proposed by Board on defaulting
  members
  

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BUSINESS SESSION Cont..

• KEY ISSUES DISCUSSED
• Membership
• Benefits vis a vis subscription payments/ non
  payments
  
• Secretariat to analyse underlying causes for
  non-payment
  
• Secretariat to implement the decisions 11th
  General Conference
  
• Board apply existing membership rules and
  regulations
  
• New Program Implementation Direction
• Concerns that over-emphasis on networking and
  regional implementation might further
  weaken/reduce membership
  
• Not all sub-regions have appropriate associations
  as alternative
  
• Secretariat Response and Appeal
• Confirmation that accounts are externally audited
  annually
  
• Appeal to Members d to patronize Academic
  Mobility Programme

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Brain Drain and African Development

• A total of 20 Presentations in Plenary
• Diverse definitions (brain drain, brain gain,
  brain in the drain, brain waste)
  
• Scope, dimensions, magnitude, remittances
• Diverse classifications (internal, external)
• Agreed that poses challenges to continents
  development
  
• Specifically to education and health sectors
• Strategies for reversing / containing / managing
  including use of ICTs
  
• Efforts by various stakeholders (institutions,
  academic unions, development partners,
  multi-laterals, bi-laterals national governments,
  regional bodies etc.)

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IMPACT OF BRAIN DRAIN

• Globally and Africa not exception
• Human and financial costs implications
• Health and education sectors most impacted terms
  enrolment and quality of education delivery and
  outputs
  
• Life expectancy, morbidity, child mortality,
  maternal health,
  
• Contributes to cycles of poverty

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African Diasporaas a Resource

• Not a homogeneous group
• Forced migrants including those through slave
  trade
  
• Includes students and mid-career professionals in
  search of work or training opportunities
  
• Those born to migrants
• Focus in this conference loss of highly skilled
  personnel and its specific impact on higher
  education delivery and management

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Collaboration with DiasporaKey Academic
Activities

• Revamping of curriculum
• Teaching (including e-tutoring, open and distance
  learning and open course)
  
• Joint courses
• Vacation schools
• Collaborative seminars
• Visiting professorships
• Joint research and research proposals development
  
  
• Revamping laboratories and infrastructure (ICTs,
  power, water etc,)
  
• Nurturing alumni
• Joint fundraising
• Think tanks

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RETRUNEE TRENDS(Lessons from successful models)

• Ways of attracting Diaspora to return
• Returnee trends in Africa not very encouraging
• India technological capability and technical
  changes have helped to attract Diaspora back
  
• China and Korea, cultural factors, policies aimed
  at attracting the Diaspora to invest back home
  and affinity and continued attachment to home
  counties have encouraged the Diaspora to return
• South Africa democratization process encouraged
  Diaspora to return

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Pre-requisites for successful links with Diaspora

• Paradigm shift from challenge to opportunity
• Demand orientation demand and need driven on
  both sides
  
• Champions to take and continue on both sides
• Information data and databases to be updated
  regularly and disseminated
  
• Diaspora Offices at national, sub-regional,
  continental and international levels
  
• Regulations lobby for relaxation of travel,
  contacting, tax and other regulations
  
• Policies define modalities of developing and
  sustaining collaboration
  
• Incentives and rewards tangible and should
  target investments
  
• Global policy and action that links use of the
  Diaspora with global policies for knowledge
  sharing in a globalize economy
  

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PARTNERSHIPS

• African Union Second Decade Action Plan
• Higher Education one of 7 areas prioritized
• AAU identified as implementing agency for HE
  component of Plan
  
• Launch of ACBF -Supported CADRE Project
• Main Project Components
• Leadership development
• Management development
• Leadership development and management research
• Senior executive attachments
• Academic mobility (staff exchange and small
  grants)
  
• Supporting ICT development
• AAU Database of African Theses and Dissertations
  (DATAD)
  
• Institutional support (Strengthening AAU
  Secretariat)
  

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PARTNERSHIPS Cont.

• Unveiling of Telecom Africa International Inc.
  Project R D
  
• strategic African Science and Technology
  initiative
  
• Promote research and development in Africa
• Concrete innovations, intellectual property,
  products and services-oriented strategic
  enterprises
  
• Leeds Met Africa Request
• Partnerships to organize 2 Conferences
• Objectives to
• Promote deeper understanding of diversities of
  Higher Education practices in Africa, UK and
  other parts of the world
  
• Celebrate good practice of partnerships between
  Higher Education Institutions in Africa and
  Higher Education Institutions in UK and
  elsewhere
• Challenge Higher Education Institutions in
  Africa, UK and elsewhere to identify creative
  responses to achieving MDGs for Africa
  
• Question perceptions about the role of Higher
  Education in society
  

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WORKING GROUPS

• 3 WGs tasked to
• Identify key actions and recommendations for
  members
  
• Key policy actions to recommend to national
  governments and regional bodies through the AAU
  and AU partnership
  
• Other key actions and strategies and who the
  responsible stakeholders
  

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PARALLEL EVENTS

• 4 Parallel Events
• HE role in sustainable environment
• Skills building workshop on mainstreaming gender
  in our institutions
  
• ICTs - Research and Education Networks
• Successful practices by HE institutions
  responding to HIV/AIDS through AAU support

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(INSTITUTIONS)

• Deepening academic collaboration
• (a) Staff exchanges
• (b) Review curriculum based on international
  standards
  
• (c) Increased inter-institutional collaboration
  or partnerships
  
• (d) Action research on local problems, with
  global impact
  
• (e) Create endowed chairs for the Diaspora
• (f) Establish sandwich programs

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(INSTITUTIONS..2)

• Create platforms and systems for networking
  information sharing
  
• (a) Establish a living database of African
  experts
  
• (regionally or continentally) and alumni
  (institutionally)
  
• (b) Improve institutional websites and establish
  a master website
  
• (c) Create regional systems for QA, research and
  other academic activities
  
• (d) Encourage the use of ICTs in instruction and
  research
  
• (e) Sharing of academic programs/content through
  open source
  
• (f) Intra-continental conferencing and workshops
  for academics
  
• disciplinary and inter- and trans-disciplinary
• (g) Establish pan-African journals of high
  quality
  
• and international repute (tapping of resources
  from
  
• organizations like INASP), in which top class
  Diasporans could be involved
  
• (h) Establish research foundations or agencies

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(INSTITUTIONS.3)

• Create an enabling environment
• (a) Flexible, appointment, promotion, reward and
  retention systems
  
• for internal staff and the Diaspora through
  adjunct professorships etc
  
• (b) National governments to ensure universities
  do not close down because of strikes unrelated to
  academe
  
• (c) Provide for basic household needs for
  visiting staff
  
• (d) Create endowments and source matching funds
  for quality improvements
  
• (e) Provide for specialized equipment for
  research for those returning from overseas study
  establishing mirror labs
  
• (f) Provide specialized student and staff support
  services, especially to entry staff (establishing
  themselves in and staff support services,
  especially to entry staff (establishing
  themselves in research or dealing with large
  classes) and postgraduate students (learning how
  to write scientifically) mentoring of women
  should also be considered

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(INSTITUTIONS..4)

• Partnership with stakeholders
• (a) Establish links with Alumni (internal or from
  external organizations)
  
• and provide a support structure for them (e.g.
  DAAD support network
  
• after candidates finish their studies through
  DAAD)
  
• (b) Establish links with industry for course
  reference, technical support
  
• (e.g. Microsoft) purposes and income generation
  etc
  
• (c) Mobilize for endowments from alumni
• (d) Open university approach using open source
• (UNISA Open University model) collaborative
  curriculum etc.
  
• e) Consortium of open learning/distance education
  to facilitate credit transfers

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(INSTITUTIONS..5)

• Mobilize or allocate resources
• a) Set aside budget for staff exchanges to
  provide accommodation,
  
• basic needs and transport
• (b) Funding for academic stays for six months or
  more
  
• (c) Avail funding for research collaboration
• (d) Establish funding formulae with line items to
  which allocations
  
• always have to be made eg. research
• (e) Raise capital for infrastructural development
  eg. accommodation
  
• for students through Private Public
  Partnerships
  
• (f) Tap resources from philanthropists and
  multi-lateral donors
  
• ( g) The Makerere private students scheme example
  as a source of income?
  
• (h) Target donor agencies eg. World Bank
• (i) Pool resources together for high impact
  projects

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(INSTITUTIONS..6)

• Advocacy
• (a) Disseminate critical information eg. on brain
  drain to regional bodies and governments
  
• (b) Use AAU as a lobby body to pressure
  governments on behalf of institutions

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(NATIONAL)

• Increase funding for human resource development
• Formulate transparent funding formula with
  guaranteed minima
  
• Tax incentives for skills development, higher
  education and Diasporans
  
• Support Commonwealth schemes
• Encourage dual citizenship
• Encourage/facilitate mobility of Diasporans,
  staff and student exchanges (visas)
  
• Support duty free movements of research
  equipment/tax waivers
  
• Establish data bases

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(REGIONAL)

• Support ongoing advocacy
• Support programs that encourage links with the
  Diaspora
  
• Collaboration with governments to create
  databases of experts or the Diaspora
  
• Mobilise resources in support of Diasporan
  initiatives
  

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KEY RECOMMENDATIONS(FUNDING PARTENRS)

• Support establishment of databases
• Support research and wide dissemination of
  results
  
• Support scaling up of promising initiatives
• Support international advocacy and policy
  dialogue

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COMMUNIQUE

• ????????

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APPRECIATION

• Team of recorders
• Justin Wane
• John Emur
• Ransford Bekoe
• Secretary General
• Professor John Ssebuwufu
• Annick Agbotame