My first Magazine EDUCARE MAGAZINE SPECIAL NOVEMBER EDITION 2019 | Page 18

18 great schools award
profile
great schools award
“THE CLIMATE DOESN’T
NEED AWARD”
Greta Thunberg turns down
top environmental honor
S
wedish teenage climate activist
Greta Thunberg has declined to
accept the top environmental
award from the Nordic Council, a
regional body for interparliamentary
cooperation.
Thunberg turned down the honor,
saying "the climate movement does not
need any more prizes," according to
NBC News.
Two fellow climate activists on
Tuesday spoke on Thunberg's behalf at
an award ceremony in Stockholm, with
Sofia and Isabella Axelsson quoting
Thunberg as saying that "what we need
is for our rulers and politicians to listen
to the research."
Thunberg, who has risen to
international prominence for her role in
staging global climate protests, was
nominated for her efforts by both
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Sweden and Norway.
She is currently in California and did
not make the trip to Stockholm for the
awards ceremony, where she was to be
honored and receive the 350,000
Danish kroner, equal to $52,000, that
comes with the honor.
Representatives on behalf of Thunberg
also said she would not accept the prize
money.
change this situation. There are now huge
volumes of information that can be
accessed through different ways. The shift
to online publications, such as the African
e-Journal Project, is providing new
opportunities to disseminate African
research in an economically sustainable
way and with wider reach.
The demand for talent to maintain
competitiveness and replenish the
national intellectual pool in most African
universities is related to the poor research
and teaching infrastructures in the
universities. The combination of ageing
teaching staff and the chronic shortage of
academic staff with PhD training have
made it difficult for African universities to
replace staff losses, or to expand the
capacity and quality of teaching and
r e s e a r ch ( H ay wa r d , 2 0 1 0 ) . T h e
development of the next generation of
African academics through increased
opportunities for quality doctoral training
has therefore been identified as crucial to
scaling up Africa's intellectual capacity
(Sehoole, 2011).
Internationalization also fosters academic
mobility through which knowledge
sharing and specialized training across
borders can be attained. While Africa
strives to strengthen its universities and
develop its centres of excellence in
various fields, mobility has been a way of
augmenting local capacity needs. Mobility
is not a recent phenomenon but is even
older than the onset of higher education
in Africa, as pioneering African scholars
trained abroad. While mobility is
increasing globally, African students have
become the most mobile globally
(Kishun, 2006). With its increasingly
youthful population and growing demand
for education, Africa will continue to be a
key player in mobility. Though mobility
has several benefits, one of its negative
impacts is brain drain (Tetty, 2009;
Ogachi, 2009). Many African students
who go on to study in developed countries
rarely come back, leading to the erosion
of the capacities of African universities
for self-renewal. Efforts to stem brain
drain include expanding the higher
education sector, establishing intra-Africa
mobility programmes, specialized centres
of excellence and engagements with the
African diaspora (Rizvi, 2007; Lumumba,
2009). Brain drain still remains the most
serious risk of internationalization to
Africa. The lessons leant from Africa's
internationalization efforts could enable
Africa to position itself strategically to
develop its higher education sector. More
efforts need to be focused on the
development of supportive frameworks
for meaningful international
engagements. Through this, Africa could
move from being a bystander to a real
player in the global knowledge society
(EUA, 2010).
At the same time, there are several new
initiatives in Africa's higher education that
could be seen as offshoots of
internationalization processes. These
include the ongoing efforts towards
harmonization of different country's
systems of higher education and the
development of quality assurance and
credit transfer systems that would be
useful for enhanced internationalization
both within Africa and with other
partners. These developments are
modelled on Europe's Bologna process,
and are aimed at creating and
strengthening Africa's Higher Education
and Research Space (AHERS), with a
focus on revitalization of the higher
education sector (AUC, 2011). The
implementation of the Pan African
University (PAU) and the emergence of
regional networks is part of these efforts.
These developments have taken a more
regional dimension as is evident within
the East African Community (EAC) and
the Southern African Development
Community (SADC) regions through
their regional university associations.
The tremendous expansion of Africa's
higher education sector and the rapid
growth in enrolments could have positive
benefits for internationalization. Africa's
youthful population is an inestimable
resource that, if equipped with requisite
knowledge and skills, could transform
global knowledge relations. Africa's
cur rent economic g rowth and
developments in governance, among
other things, could have an impact on the
role of Africa in global affairs, including
higher education. The rapid
developments in ICT infrastructure is a
critical tool for opening new
opportunities in almost all frontiers,
including internationalisation.
The above possibilities
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notwithstanding, African universities still
face monumental challenges in their
internationalization efforts. These include
inadequate funding, rapid expansion of
the sector, weak governance structures,
quality concerns, and weak regulatory
mechanisms, which make Africa more
vulnerable to global forces
(Mohamedbhai, 2003). Apart from the
brain drain, other challenges and negative
outcomes have included imposition of the
wrong policies, adoption of inapplicable
educational models, manipulation of
research agendas, intellectual property
concerns, and feelings of superiority from
development partners.Some of these have
led to even more imbalances in relations
between African universities and those
from other regions, thus reducing mutual
partnerships and reciprocity required in
partnerships. These drawbacks are
compounded by Africa's ad hoc and less
strategic approach to internationalization.
If unabated, these consequences could
lead to more threats, especially in
countries with weak regulator y
frameworks. Africa may also need to
urgently determine and create its
competitive advantages, which it can use
as frontiers for internationalisation
accompanied by policy frameworks. This
could be a time for Africa to take its place
by adapting to new developments, setting
new goals and adopting new approaches
to internationalisation - which could open
new prospects for strategic cooperation.
Wr i t t e n B y
James Otieno
Jowi
James Otieno
Jo w i i s t h e
founding
Executive
Director/Secret
ary General of
the African
Network for Internationalization of Education
(ANIE), an African network focused on the
international dimension of higher education in
Africa. He also teaches Comparative and
International Education at the School of
Education, Moi University, Kenya. He has
published extensively on the internationalization
of higher education in Africa
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