Higher Education in Africa. Crises, Reforms and Transformation

Chapter SIx - Structural Change, Transformation, and Localisation of Higher Education as a Public Good

Chapter Six Structural Change, Transformation, and Localisation of Higher Education as a Public Good This sixth and final chapter points to areas of reflection and action for the transformation of higher education in African societies. It is argued that African higher education must be re-conceptualised as a public good. Such an articulation can be effective and meaningful only if it is accomplished on the ground of domestication of the institutions and their ownership by the people and the state while forging constructive and empowering partnerships around the world. As alluded to above, special relations with the historic and new Diasporas can bring particular boosts. By securing a safe position and agency on these grounds, new tools such as the information and communication technologies can be fruitfully used and contribute to achieve new goals toward social progress. Re-conceptualising Higher Education as a Public Good The notion of the localisation of African education includes various objective dimensions and social outcomes of Africa’s historical contingencies and assets. Its major presumption is that there are some realities that, even in the context of revolution, will not lead to a tabula rasa. Indeed, in their attempt to control African societies, people, and minds, the Europeans intended to perform a social surgery whose outcome would be to produce totally new African societies, people, and minds. They succeeded only partially. Despite the global impact of European colonial policies as already discussed, the sheer number of Africans who did not attend or are not in European-type schools has limited the targeted outcome of this social surgery. Furthermore, even among those who are exposed the longest time to the European type of formal education through the higher education level (in Africa or abroad) and Higher Education in Africa: Crises, Reforms, and Transformation 130 the Westernised elites in general, education in Africa did not miss its intrinsic property as an institution with two contradictory sides. Expected by guardians of the formal systems and the dominant class at each historical moment to be an instrument of reproduction of the existing social structure by virtue of its role in forming the minds for the future, formal education also contained the ability of producing critical minds among the dominated or colonised people. What type of higher education institution is best suited for Africans and to promote structural change? How can education be re-conceptualised to meet the needs of national development? In ‘Rethinking Educational Paradigms in Africa :ImperativesforSocialProgressintheNewMillennium’,Lumumba-Kasongo (2000) argues that education in its various disciplinary forms, including its philosophy, science, technology, and knowledge base, must be reconnected to Africa’s culture. In ‘African Philosophy and Educational Discourse’, Letseka (2000) argues that it is imperative that African philosophy provide the foundation of African education. This philosophy of botho or ubuntu that is defined by its humanistic nature can help re-centre African education around the collective well-being of the African people. As Mudimbe (1988), in contrasting the Western and African modes of thinking and self-definition in society, states: Western philosophy accepts as its starting point the notion of an unconstrained and uncontextualized ‘I’—that is, an ‘I’ defined in relation to the self and its inner being, rather than in relation to others. The African mode, however, seems more communal and emphasizes an ‘I’ that is always connected to and in relationship with others (Mudimbe 1988:1) In the general African ethos, ‘to be is necessarily to be in relation’ to others and the ‘centre is a human being who is free and at the same time highly dependent upon others, on the memory of the past, and on emphasising the balance between nature and culture’. In the African ethos and practical life, this connection with others is essential. The connection transits through the common culture . The connection to others is not a mere juxtaposition of individuals living side by side who only draw resources from the same cultural source and have the same reference. Rather, they experience together their cultural expression and the use of culture. Lumumba-Kasongo(2000)madethepointthatAfricamustrethinkanddemocratically design an indigenous educational paradigm from pan-African or continental perspectives. The issues of democratisation of education and collective well-being are related to the notion of public good. Structural Change, Transformation, and Localisation of Higher Education 131 The illustration of the front cover of the book Providing Global Public Goods: Managing Globalization (Kaul et al. 2003) is a triangle that is...