Joint workshop: ”How can Nordic Countries Support Higher Education and Research in Africa? An Initiative by Nordic Academic Institutions”

As the general issue of the extension or ”third mission” of universities is widely discussed in the Scandinavian countries, it was decided instead to do a workshop together with African partners on the above theme. The workshop gathered over 30 researchers and representatives from the donor community from the Nordic countries as well as from Africa. Participating countries included Denmark, Ethiopia, Mozambique, Norway, Senegal, South Africa, Sweden, Tanzania & Uganda. The workshop addressed issues related to how Nordic universities can become more active partners in the development of HER in Africa.

The 1st half of the workshop was devoted to presentations and the other half to group discussion. The following topics were covered in the presentations:
– Peter Maassen (HEENA, University of Oslo, Norway), ”Crossing the Divide Strengthening of Higher Education Institutions in Africa: Trends and Initiatives”
– Ousmane Kane (ARCT, Dakar, Senegal), ”Managing STI for Africa’s Sustainable Development”
– Mammo Muchie (Aalborg University, Denmark), ”The Challenges and opportunities of re-inventing higher education institutions as centres of research capacity building”
– Anastassios Pouris (University of Pretoria, South Africa), “Support for Research in Africa: Horses for Courses”
– Bengt-Åke Lundvall (DBS, Aalborg University, Denmark), “Building Africa-Lics: What can be learnt from the Globelics experience?”
– Tomas Kjellqvist (Sida/Sarec, Sweden), ”Towards a strategy for Swedish Research Cooperation: Aligning with African strategies and systems for research?”

The 2nd half of workshop was divided into three parallel session: “National Higher Education & Research (HER) Strategies in Africa”, “Regional HER Strategies in Africa”, and “Nordic HER Collaboration with Africa”. Initial outcomes of these parallel sessions were then fed back into a plenary and a draft set of outcomes were agreed to.

Among the issues that the ”National” session touched upon were:
– The Nordic countries ability to contribute with methods of teaching, learning and research.
– The necessity of achieving a shift from a linear to a more cooperative model in interactions among different actors in African countries.
– The need to overcome fragmentation among educational organizations and other stakeholders surrounding HER institutions.

The ”Regional” session developed a consensual proposal that as a contribution to the re-integration of Africa was through the five regional economic communities, more effort should be devoted to assisting them as building blocks of the African Union.

The ”Nordic” session resulted in discussions and recommendations on the following topics:
– The ambition to identify ”best practices” in concerned countries and to develop fora for information about such practices.
– The role of the recipients (academic institutions and staff) and the potential to improve absorptive capacity through e.g. incentive schemes.
– The potential for coordination among Nordic actors in their collaboration with African partners.

List of Participants

Mats Benner (RPI, Lund University, Sweden): mats.benner@fpi.lu.se
Claes Brundenius (RPI, Lund University, Sweden): claes.brundenius@fpi.lu.se
Lennart Bångens (Chalmers, Sweden): lennart.bangens@gmail.com
Bitrina Diyamett (S&T Commission, Tanzania): bitrind@yahoo.com
Jacob Fuchs (Ministry of Science, Technology and Development, Denmark): JFU@ubst.dk
Birgitte Gregersen (DBS, Aalborg University, Denmark): bg@business.aau.dk
Jørgen Gulddahl Rasmussen (DBS, Aalborg University, Denmark): jgr@business.aau.dk
Bo Göransson (RPI, Lund University, Sweden): bo.goransson@fpi.lu.se
Jens Aage Hansen (Aalborg University): jaah@bio.aau.dk
Merle Jacob (RPI, Lund University, Sweden and Norway): merle.jacob@circle.lu.se
Ousmane Kane (ARCT, Dakar, Senegal): ouskane@sentoo.sn
Tomas Kjellqvist (Sida/Sarec, Sweden): tomas.kjellqvist@sida.se
Erika Kraemer-Mbula, (Currently at SPRU, England): erikakm@gmail.com
Tove Kvil (Norad, Norway): Tove.Kvil@norad.no
Bengt-Åke Lundvall (DBS, Aalborg University, Denmark): bal@business.aau.dk
Rasigan Maharajh (Tshwane University of Technology, South Africa: rasigan@antfarm.co.za
Burton Mwamila (University of Dar es Salaam, Tanzania): mwamila@udsm.ac.tz
Ana Maria Mondjana (University Mondlane, Mozambique): amondjana@uem.mz
John Mugabe (NEPAD-OST, South Africa): john@nrf.ac.za
Barnabas Nawangwe, (Makerere University, Uganda): nawangwe@tech.mak.ac.ug
Anastassios Pouris (University of Pretoria, South Africa): anastassios.pouris@up.ac.za
Peter Maassen (HEENA, University of Oslo, Norway): peter.maassen@ped.uio.no
Mammo Muchie (Aalborg University, Denmark): mammo@ihis.aau.dk
Katri Pohjolainen (Sida/Sarec, Sweden): katri.pohjolainenYap@sida.se
Carl-Magnus Pålsson (RPI, Lund University, Sweden): cmp@fpi.lu.se
Sari Scheinberg (Chalmers, Sweden): sari@recomate.se
Sylvia Schwaag-Serger (RPI, Lund University, Sweden): sylvia.schwaagserger@itps.se
Dan Sjögren (Vinnova, Sweden), dan.sjogren@vinnova.se
Abye Tasse (Vice President, Addis Abeba University, Ethiopia): abyetasse@yahoo.fr
Lena Trojer (Blekinge Technical University, Sweden): lenatrojer@gmail.com