US$45 Million Grant for Creation of Pan African University for Science, Technology and Innovation
The African Development Bank’s (AfDB) Board of Executive Directors approved on Wednesday, July 24 an African Development Fund (ADF) grant of US$ 45 million to support the creation of a Pan African University (PAU). The new university consisting of five Pan African Institutes will focus mainly on science, technology and innovation.
The new universitywould bea groundbreaking step in strengthening
higher education and building human capital in Africa. Africa has been
slow to develop its science and technology sectors and commercialize its
innovations. Currently the best African university ranks just 113th
globally. Of the 400 top universities worldwide, only fourare in Africa,
all of which are in the Republic of South Africa.Also, while Africa
accounts for 13.4 per centof the world’s people, it produces only 1.1
per centof world scientific knowledge
The Pan African University will
establish an academic network of already existing post-graduate and
research institutionsintended to serve all African countries. Consisting
of five thematic institutes based in East, West, Central, North and
Southern Africa the PAU will deliver programs in:
- Basic sciences, technology and innovation (East Africa)
- Earth and life sciences including health and agriculture (West Africa)
- Governance, humanities and social sciences (Central Africa)
- Water and energy sciences including climate change (North Africa)
- Space sciences (Southern Africa)
“Thousands of students all over Africa will benefit from this project. This is truly an amazing regional effort to help African universities achieve world-class status. It will increase the pool of African scientists and researchers not only to serve the needs of the continent but to help youth become competitive in international labour markets,” said Agnes Soucat, Director of the Human Development Department, AfDB.
The PAU is also major step towards establishing the African Higher Education and Research Space by contributing to:
(i) Efficient regional higher education governance system;
(ii) Improved quality of higher education at the regional level creating strong links with the labour market;
(iii) equitable access to quality higher education in science, technology and engineering fields; and (iv) increased number of institutions achieving world-class status.
This project will also help set up the governance structure of the
PAU at central and country levels as well as academic and research
capacity. The first three threePAU thematic institutes will be based in
Kenya, Nigeria and Cameroon:
- PAU Institute for Basic Sciences, Technology and Innovation (Kenya)
- PAU Institute for Life and Earth Sciences (Nigeria)
- PAU Institute for Governance, Humanities and Social Sciences (Cameroon).
This important operation is a response to a request from the African
Union for technical assistance and financial resources for the design
and operation of a network of hubs of excellence in higher education to
help meet the need for education, training and research in five key
areas of African development.
Background
Africa has only 35 scientists and engineers per million inhabitants,
compared with 168 for Brazil, 2,457 for Europe and 4,103 for the United
States. Shortage of skills has been a major constraint to Africa’s
progress in science, technology and innovation. Due to low investment in
research and development, Africa ranks low in global competitiveness
and productivity. African students tend to opt for economics, business,
law and social sciences rather than science, engineering and technology,
hampering the continent’s competitiveness and growth. The result is a
mismatch between skills produced and private sector jobs.
This project is in line with the Bank’s newly approved Ten Year Strategy for 2013-2022 and
responds to the Regional Integrationand Skills and Technology Core
Operational Priorities of the Bank’s 2013-2022 Strategy. It also
addresses the strategy’s areas of special emphasis such as Gender and
Food Security. It is also fully in line with the Bank’s draft Human
Capital Strategy and New Education Model in Africa (NEMA).Source: African Development Bank
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