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Periodical article Periodical article Leiden University catalogue Leiden University catalogue WorldCat catalogue WorldCat
Title:Regional Cooperation in Higher Education in Africa: Problems and Prospects
Author:Mehretu, AssefaISNI
Year:1987
Periodical:Rural Africana
Volume:28-29
Period:Spring/Fall
Pages:131-150
Language:English
Geographic term:Africa
Subjects:international cooperation
higher education
universities
Development and Technology
Education and Oral Traditions
international relations
Abstract:The Western academic tradition in Africa is relatively new, and some of the serious problems experienced by African institutions of higher education today stem from the fact that they are European in origin. The indictment of African higher education in the late 1970s and 1980s indicates how it has not met the challenges and hopes of the independence era. It has been criticized for its excessive dependency and unwarranted preoccupation with orthodoxy in imitation of its European counterparts, its diffuse and unintegrated effort to introduce higher education to the postcolonial scene, and its failure to innovate and reflect African needs. For many the university is still seen as an agent of cultural penetration and dependency, and as a mechanism creating social inequality. Moreover, although African universities have institutional and locational advantages which could make them potent catalytic agents for inter-African cooperation and integration, the record of meaningful interuniversity cooperation to date is dismal and the Association of African Universities, founded in 1967, is faltering for lack of support. Yet the institutionalization of inter-African cooperation based on a network of university education and research could provide a permanent bond among African countries. Bibliogr.
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