Cloete, N., Bunting, I., van Schalkwyk, F. (Eds.), 2018. Research Universities in Africa. African Minds, Cape Town. (Open Access)
A network on higher education research
This renewed interest in higher education in developing countries and specifically the African continent is the backdrop and context for the formation of the Higher Education Research and Advocacy Network in Africa (Herana) project led by the South African Centre for Higher Education Trust (CHET). The book Research Universities in Africa is the last in a series of project publications offering a concluding summary of the research results after the project ended. The Herana project encompasses two networks: a higher education studies network of South African and South Africa-based, Norwegian and U.S. American scholars and a network of university representatives of the eight preeminent universities researched in the project: University of Botswana (Botswana), University of Cape Town (South Africa), University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania), Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique), University of Ghana (Ghana), Makerere University (Uganda), University of Mauritius (Mauritius), University of Nairobi (Kenya).
Universities as core engines of development
The main authors of this publication, Nico Cloete, Ian Bunting and François van Schalkwyk, who are preeminent scholars and experts in the field of higher education studies in Africa make the case that scientific knowledge production should be at the core of the university’s role in development and that African universities should be viewed as engines of development instead of service providers or instruments of development, which are so often the models used by international donor agencies and African governments. Competing models, goals for and expectations of universities form the common theme of the book.
The first chapter introduces the historical context of higher education development in Africa and the conceptual and historical trajectory of the Herana project. Data was generated through international, national and institutional documents, institutional academic input and output data and interviews. In Chapter 2, which focuses on the research performance of the eight universities, the choice and collection of data and the development of target indicators are explained. Here the researchers offer an indicator-based operationalisation of research productivity and subsequently a typology of the universities from research-aspirational to research-led university. In the following chapters, the authors explain the different hurdles for the universities on their way to become research-led. There is a divergence of expectations and conceptual models with regard to the role of universities in development between international donors, national policy-makers as well as university leadership and academic staff which is shown in the inconsistencies between donor programmes, national frameworks and strategic plans respectively (Chapter 3). Chapter 4 focuses on the tension between teaching, research and community service to the detriment of the research function, due to the heavy focus on undergraduate teaching and consultancy.
The observed tension is also connected to the current incentive structure on the institutional level which favors teaching, while sufficient public funding for research is lacking. This gives international research incentives that are based on external interests an outsize role (Chapter 5). Chapter 6 is focusing on the capacity building part of the project. The goal was to collaboratively define target indicators, institutionalize data collection and to develop a common data framework. This chapter, therefore, shows the role that data accessibility, capacity and infrastructure in administrative offices play in implementing institutional strategies to become a research-led university.
Foster long-term international collaboration
In chapter 7, the authors discuss the strategies and chances for higher education systems, institutions and individual scholars to enter global research networks and increase their visibility. They suggest that national policy-makers and institutional leaders should facilitate doctoral and postdoctoral research stays at prestigious universities abroad for individual researchers in order to foster long-term international collaboration in research and publishing. International donors should also support research networks in addition to funding institutions and individuals. The Herana project itself is a good example of a research network that produces internationally visible high level as well as locally relevant research. The book concludes with the academic core profiles of the eight African universities researched.
What development is needed?
The book, unfortunately, does not offer a conceptualization or definition of national (economic) development itself, while this concept is the origin of a renewed interest of international and national actors in a marketized version of higher education. It is this marketization that led many African universities to commercialize teaching and exacerbate the de-emphasization of research. The strength of the book, however, is that it presents the result of a higher education research and development project focused on the role of higher education research in development. It is, therefore, an insightful read not only for higher education researchers but also for policy-makers and university administrators in African countries, international development agencies and representatives of donor countries. It offers evidence where oftentimes assumptions dominate. Future research based on this publication should reflect on the opportunities and challenges of the primacy of data and the dynamics of development discourse, marketization and governance by numbers in African higher education.
Akiiki Babyesiza is an independent researcher in the field of higher education studies. Trained at the University of Cologne (African Studies) and the University of Kassel (Sociology of Higher Education), she has been conducting higher education research projects at the Bayreuth International Graduate School of African Studies (BIGSAS), the Robert Bosch Academy and CHE Consult – Centre for Higher Education. Contact: Akiiki.Babyesiza@online.de or visit https://akiiki-babyesiza.de/