To be presented at the IFIP Working Group 3.2 Working Conference Informatics Curricula, TEaching Methods and best practice

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1 To be presented at the IFIP Working Group 3.2 Working Conference Informatics Curricula, TEaching Methods and best practice July 10-12, 2002, Florianópolis, SC - Brazil Developing sustainable research education in Sub- Saharan Africa Jens Kaasbøll 1 and Esselina Macome 2 1 Department of Informatics, University of Oslo, jens.kaasboll@ifi.uio.no 2 Department of Mathematics and Informatics, Eduardo Mondlane University, macome@nambu.uem.mz Abstract: Key words: Most Sub-Saharan Universities do not have the needed capacity for Master s level education information systems. This area is becoming increasingly international, and graduates should therefore be able to relate to global aspects. In order to cater for both these needs, an international Master s degree is in the process of being established. Other universities are invited to participate in order to extend the institutional basis and possibly also the area of study. International degrees, developing countries, information systems, learning, teaching. 1. INTRODUCTION While many Asian countries have high profiled computer industries that have become major export businesses, Sub-Saharan Africa has few IT success stories to tell. The situation is rather that donor funded Western experts are paid high salaries for doing quick consultancy tasks without contributing to the development of local resources. While available capital for private investments, technological infrastructure and political stability are crucial factors for developing IT industry, no business will start without skilled specialists. India is an 1

2 2 Jens Kaasbøll1 and Esselina Macome2 example of a country where poor infrastructure and limited capital have not been insurmountable obstacles to IT development, due to its surplus of technical competence in a global market where computer experts are in demand, also in times of recession. Some of the computer specialists who are going to participate in building the IT industry or train other specialists need research qualifications at the Ph.D. and Master levels. Only these degrees will take the students to the research frontier where they get acquainted with the recent developments, learn how to keep oneself professionally updated, and become familiar with the methods used to advance the knowledge in the field. A World Bank report points to the important role played by higher education in development. This policy is repeated in the UNESCO and World Bank Task Force on Higher Education and Society (2000, p.43). Not many Sub-Saharan Universities offer teaching at the research level in informatics, as the broad field comprising computer science, information systems and computer engineering is called in this paper. Moreover, few of the scientific staff has Ph.D.s themselves, which poses a severe obstacle to developing the research education. This paper will present previous research and specialist reports on higher education in Africa. Four strategies of developing the research competence that have been suggested will be discussed, and the one chosen in the collaborative development carried out by the authors institutions is presented in more detail together with the first lessons from its implementation. 2. THE SITUATION The growing need for IT specialists is also reflected in African universities. A report from Tanzania emphasizes the large number of applicants to computer related studies. (Andersen et al, 1999, 34). Both Tanzania and Mozambique have high proportions of students in scientific and technical disciplines (Saint, 1992). Although the private sector is small, the economic infrastructure organizations, like finance institutions, power suppliers and telecom companies need IT personnel for their operation. 2.1 Brain drain Although many lecturers at African universities develop research competence through master and Ph.D.-programmes, the continent has suffered from brain drain. Some reasons for people s tendency to leave their

3 Developing sustainable research education in Sub-Saharan Africa 3 home country have been given in a study of doctorates in economics in Sub- Saharan Africa (Fine et al, 1994). In many developing countries, and particularly in Africa, the private sector has yet to be created and nurtured to a position where it can absorb university graduates. Having to take jobs that are far removed from their profession is also mentioned as a reason for brain drains. However, the situation for informatics graduates seems to be a lot better than for the average academic, as mentioned above. Fine et al mention bureaucratic obstacles as another reason for brain drain. Universities where a system of administrators is in power instead of providing service to the academics may cause faculty members to leave. The power of administrators versus academics varies both in African universities and elsewhere. The low job dissatisfaction due to poor working conditions that Fine et al mention seems to hit the working conditions in universities. At the Eduardo Mondlane University, Mozambique, informatics faculty members and students have computers and internet connections, although a slow one. However, the state of the library is below the necessary standard for proper research service. This seems to be the weakest point in the infrastructure for the faculty members and for research education, and it is also mentioned by Ransom et al as a weak point in other universities (Ransom et al, 1993, p.22) Income is obviously an issue for staying in a particular job. There are three stages in a professional s evaluation and assessment of the salary variable. The first and by far the most common is whether he is earning enough to live modestly and pursue his profession. The second is whether he is earning as much as he believes he should, and the third is what he is likely to earn if he migrates. In Africa, no professional can live on his salary alone. (Fine et al, 1994). Many faculty members in informatics get their additional income from consultancy work in private companies and public administration. Such arrangements may provide the lecturers with practical insight and examples, which are useful when teaching the subject to undergraduates. Complaints from students in highly profiled research universities that the undergraduate curriculum is too theoretical may thus be avoided. However, faculty members also need to be involved in research in order to keep their courses up to date, and research practice is obviously necessary in research education. A major part of the external income that lecturers and professors need should therefore come from research funding.

4 4 Jens Kaasbøll1 and Esselina Macome2 2.2 Research cooperation The Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries (SAREC) has summarized their experience in a number of principles (Bhagavan, 1992) outlined in this section. Any process for building research capacity must be institutionalised in the university of the South with the resources necessary for running research projects. Their links to scientifically advanced institutions must be retained in order to become self-sustaining (p.17). Projects with institutions in less scientifically developed countries should be of long duration and focus on capacity building (p.17-19). The principal aim should be to assist in the building up of local research Master s and Ph.D. programmes in the university of the South. The role of the institution in the North is to provide courses and supervision at the developing country institution (p.23). Successful cooperation requires that the research issues are of strong mutual interest such that both sides get benefits (p.41). The research groups at both sides have to have a substantial number of participants and be managed by senior scientists in central positions in their institutions. Scientific papers should be written jointly. Joint management and administration and mutual information on plans and budgets are also essential (p.41) Bhagavan (1992, 49-50) states that the public and private sector of the developing countries have to provide liveable incomes for their scientists, and that donors like SAREC cannot take on this responsibility. This principle is contrary to the policy for avoiding brain drain put forward above. 3. SOLUTIONS 3.1 Virtual universities The World Bank initiated in 1997 a distance education programme called the African Virtual University, which primarily aims at English speaking countries in Sub-Saharan Africa (AVU, 2000). Teaching is organized as broadcasting of lectures, predominantly from the US, transmitted by satellite to receiving sites across Africa. Interactivity is enabled by two-way audio during lecturing or . Courses in IT and engineering have made up a substantial part of the offerings so far. While AVU can provide teaching for university classes, the material taught from North America and Europe is often targeted at information

5 Developing sustainable research education in Sub-Saharan Africa 5 systems development in this part of the world and do not address the specific circumstances in the receiving countries. Unfortunately, the history of development aid is filled with projects that fail due to unsuccessful technology transfer, which does not take local context into consideration. So, while social and economic context have little influence on some abstract issues like programming languages, information systems development is highly dependent on the culture, politics and resources, and should therefore mainly be taught by teachers who know the local conditions. The French speaking universities did not hesitate to take up the challenge from AVU and established the Université virtuelle francophone (FVU). Contrary to the AVU, FVU provides computer supported and networked classrooms at the campuses and make the local teachers provide the contents. This policy should better enable teaching in the local context (Halvorsen and Michelsen, 2002). Apart from the most theoretical issues, research in informatics that is supposed to support the developing in its country has to be engaged in problems relevant for the local business, governmental agencies or the general public. Since master and Ph.D.-education has to be linked to ongoing research projects, research education has to be carried out by researchers taking part in the local activities. While the FVU seems to enable this connection, the AVU principles support the idea, that constructing knowledge in Africa can be done by transferring information from the West. In addition to its inadequacy as a principle for development, the general constructivist theory of learning also points to the principle that all knowledge is constructed by the learners in their context (Glasersfeld, 1989), thus useful knowledge for a country has to be constructed locally. 3.2 Student exchange and sandwich programmes Many students from Sub-Saharan Africa, especially those from affluent families, take their degrees in North America and Europe. Many European universities have found this practice to be inadequate at the graduate level, and initiated sandwich programmes where the students typically carry out coursework in the West while doing the empirical studies the their thesis in their home countries. The Swedish experience with these programmes emphasize that the two partners together decide on who should be trained, after reviewing the potential candidates academic background and performance. (Bhagavan, p.22) Research taking place in the students home countries fulfil the need for localizing the construction of knowledge

6 6 Jens Kaasbøll1 and Esselina Macome2 3.3 Shared degrees Software development has a multitude of international aspects. Asian companies are undertaking task for Western companies, multinational companies have world-wide internal information systems, software products are exported globally, developing countries using IT for supporting social and economic development, and of course the world wide web enable all minds of multinational cooperation on software issues. These aspects indicate a need for informatics graduates who can relate to international issues when developing software. An international Master s programme aims at the students becoming familiar with computer systems use and development in other parts of the world than in their home country. The main way of achieving the international orientation in a shared programme will be to require that a part of the programme be completed at a university at another continent, and this university awards the credits for the part taken there. The university awarding the degree to a student could be the institution where the student is first registered, where the thesis advisor comes from, or where the student graduates. A shared degree could offer the following benefits to the students and the institutions, both in the South and the North: Provide domestic students with an international perspective which also includes the world outside Silicon Valley Get overseas students and mix them in classes with domestic students at local master programmes, so that there could be some contact and exchange of ideas of mutual benefit Provide the opportunity for a 2 years master programme without having to offer all the subjects at one institution Be of assistance to universities which are in the process of establishing master programmes Keep up a stable relationship between the involved institutions, so that also research connections are supported Spread ideas of system development and software production also between the involved teachers, the industry or institutions where the students (will) work and possible industrial partners Provide an international programme that can attract funding from NGOs, aid agencies and international software companies. The international seminar summarized by Ransom et al (1993) recommend that African universities consider donor funding for capacity building and becoming regional centres for development, especially in science and technology. All such centres require international research cooperation and would probably also benefit from teaching cooperation in

7 Developing sustainable research education in Sub-Saharan Africa 7 the region, thereby strengthening the need for internationalisation of the education. 3.4 International Master s Degree in Information Systems While undergraduate programmes in computer science are offered in many African Universities, courses relating to information systems are scarce between South Africa and Sahara (Ruohonen and Adelakun, 1998). While empirical computer science research should be coupled to the local needs, the urge to obtain contextualization is even greater for the field of information systems. An international Master s programme in information systems has been started up by the University of Oslo, Norway, in cooperation with the Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique. Being in its prototype version, the degree is currently being established only in Oslo. The University of Oslo also has research and exchange agreements with and Indian Institute of Management, Bangalore, India. The three have shown interest in developing this into a shared Master s programme in information systems. The programme will require a common background of the students, which could be a Bachelor s degree or similar in informatics or computer science. In addition to the aims of internationalisation mentioned above, the goal of the current programme is to educate leading professionals by giving them their first research experience in the subject. Graduates will be qualified for careers in industry and public administration, or they may continue a research education through a Ph.D.-programme. 3.5 Current implementation A prototype of the Master s degree commenced in August, 2001, and it will consist of 60 ECTS credits (one year workload) thesis work and 60 credits coursework. In order for the students to work with their theses over a longer period than one year, there will be 90% coursework and 10% research the first semester, progressively more thesis work the second and the third semesters, and the last semester is completely devoted to thesis work. The joint research project between Oslo and Maputo concerns information systems in district health care, and a master thesis in this area will typically consist of studying and participate in the development and implementation of these systems. The university of Oslo also has research activities in global software outsourcing, and a master student in this area

8 8 Jens Kaasbøll1 and Esselina Macome2 could study projects where Norwegian companies cooperate with software providers in other countries. Communicating subject matter both in written reports and oral presentations is a skill that leading professionals and researchers will need, an issue which Bhagavan, (1992, 47-48) also mentions. The suggested programme includes both oral presentations in coursework and in the thesis work, and the thesis itself has to undergo many iterations of writing. The core subjects consist of Information systems in organisations Globalization, marginalization and information technology Research methods In order to develop the curriculum further, the background of the students was checked in order to know the level of proficiency in computing and information systems on which the programme should be based. A group of former graduates from the Eduardo Mondlane University was then contacted in order to find out which subjects they had missed in their studies when currently carrying out their development work for Mozambican companies. Two topics crystallized; software development tools and internet technology. Two subjects concerning these issues were consequently included in the curriculum. All the current master students are affiliated with universities and are going to teach informatics after graduating. A subject on learning and teaching informatics was therefore also included. Subjects at the Master s level in informatics change rapidly, such that the actual offering is finalized short time prior to the semester start. The programme presupposes that the students have studied sufficient computer science in their Bachelor degree to be proficient program developers. The Master s programme will shift the studies towards development of information systems in organizations and for the general public. Four students started their studies in August 2001, two from Mozambique and two from Tanzania, two female and two male. The students had good marks from their previous degrees, and they passed all exams the first semester, when they stayed in Oslo. The three last semesters will take place in Maputo, and the second semester the students take subjects awarded by the Medical Faculty, UEM, together with master students in public health. During the third semester, lecturers from Oslo will teach Oslo subjects in Maputo. The programme is funded by NORAD, which covers both teaching and student costs.

9 Developing sustainable research education in Sub-Saharan Africa 9 The international flavour of the programme is provided by the subject on global informatics, the theses topics, the studies taking place on two continents, and the awarding of credits from both institutions. 4. IMPLICATIONS More institutions should participate in a shared, international Master s degree in order to cater for a wider set of learning experiences and to open for more students who would like to take part in a Master programme with a global and developmental profile. Institutions are therefore invited to join the current effort. The Eduardo Mondlane University also wants to offer master programmes in other areas of informatics, and data communication and Internet technology will be given priority. University departments with research education in this area are therefore invited to discuss the possibilities of cooperation in this respect. 5. REFERENCES African Virtual University (2000) Conceptual Framework. Andersen, Gornitzka, Murphy, Nikundiwe, Sverdrup (1999) Norwegian research support to developing countries: the case of Tanzania. Oslo, NORAD. Bhagavan M.R. (1992) The SAREC model: institutional cooperation and the strengthening of national research capacity in developing countries. SAREC report 1992:1. Swedish Agency for Research Cooperation with Developing Countries FVU (2002) Agence universitaire de la francophonie. Glasersfeld, E.v. (1989) Cognition, Construction of Knowledge and Teaching. Synthese 80, Halvorsen, T. And Michelsen, G.G. (2002) Identity Formation or Knowledge Shopping? Globalisation and the Future of University Education and Research in Africa. Department of Administration and Organization Theory, University of Bergen, Norway. Jeffrey C. Fine, William Lyakurwa and Anne Gordon Drabek (eds.) (1994) PhD education in economics in Sub-Saharan Africa: lessons and prospects. Nairobi: East African Educational Publishers. Ransom, A., Khoo, S-M. and Selvaratnam, V. (1993) Improving Higher Education in Developing Countries. The World Bank, Washington D.C. Ruohonen, M. and Adelakun, O. (1998) The needs and challenges of Information Systems education the case of Nigerian Universities. In G. Marshall and M. Ruohonen (eds.) Capacity Building for IT in Education in Developing Countries. Chapman & Hall, London Saint, William S. (1992) Universities in Africa: strategies for stabilization and. Washington, D.C : The World Bank World Bank (2000) Higher Education in Developing Countries. Peril and Promise. The Task Force on Higher Education and Society. Washington D.C.