Africa Centers of Excellence

Transcription

1 Africa Centers of Excellence Meeting demand for specialized Skills and Knowledge critical for Africa s development ACA Seminar, Bruxelles, December 13, 2013 Andreas Blom, [email protected] 1

2 Content 1. World Bank Support to African Education 2. Motivation for Africa Centers of Excellence 3. ACE Project Design 2

3 WB Support to African Education World Bank working for a world free of poverty Education is the key driver to reduce poverty Africa is on the move => more need for learning and for post-basic education and skills In Africa: 80% of WB support to primary education, but increasingly post-primary, including higher education Time for Africa to re-focus on higher education WB is the largest supporter of African Higher education institutions (>600 million commitment) 3

4 Priorities for African higher education Rebalance towards jobs - Science and technology fields System and Institutional governance Target public investments towards low and middleincome and areas of public needs with a focus on results Increase private investments, also fees in public HEIs Promote growth of quality private higher education, in particular professional (shorter term) degrees Quality assurance and credible information to families 4

5 2. Africa Centers of Excellence Motivation 5

6 2a Regional Skill Needs 1. Strong Economic Growth has Led to Skill Shortages: Extractive industries, Energy, Water, environment and climate change, transport Infrastructure, Service sectors (ICT, banking, hospitality) 2. Large Unfinished Agenda on the MDGs: Health maternal and infant health, infectious diseases etc. Education (Math, sciences, quality) 3. Agricultural productivity and transformation 4. Development Challenges- Cross-Cutting Across Sector Statistics, Procurement/Anti-Corruption 6

7 2b.Tertiary Education for Development 1. Make Higher Education Work for Development 2. Build the Foundation for Excellence: Attracting and motivating talent (faculty and students) Governance Autonomy with Accountability upfront changes (if needed) Adequate and sustainable financing raising funding through fees, research/consultancies revenue, and donations 3. Support a Few Emerging Centers of Excellence 4. Build upon Existing Capacity and Partnerships 7

8 2c. Benefits of a Regional Approach 1. Regional Public Good: Promote specialization - makes no sense for each country to invest in training capacity within each specialized area due to high cost Concentrate the limited quality faculty available Keep, concentrate, and develop best talent Knowledge spill-over regionally and share best practice Demonstration Effect: Pilot Higher education reform 2. Higher education in Africa in the past: large regional aspects 3. A regional approach is a complement to national initiatives 8

9 3. Africa Centers of Excellence Project Design 9

10 Project Development Objective Promote regional specialization among participating universities within areas that address regional development challenges and strengthen the capacities of these universities to deliver high quality training and applied research. 10

11 ACE Phase 1 Launched Western and Central Africa - $159 million USD 2. Component 1: Strengthening Africa Centers of Excellence Benin, Burkina Faso, Cameroon, Ghana, Nigeria, Senegal, Togo 3. Component 2: Regional Facilitation and Support to Priority Countries Liberia, The Gambia 4. Regional Facilitation Unit: Association of African Universities 11

12 Component 1: Strengthening Centers of Excellence Scope: CoE on a specific development challenge Science, Tech, Eng, Math, Agriculture, and Health Sciences 15 CoE max US$ 8 million Regional competitive selection Bottom-up approach university led Center Activities: Outreach and impact on society Build education capacity Build research capacity Partnerships academic and industry Improve governance and management of the institution Results: Increase Regional post-graduate students Regional Faculty qualifications Meet international quality standards of education Research publications Internships and industry linkages External Revenue Generation Improve learning resources Institutional Fiduciary capacity and governance 12

13 Selection Process Principles: Transparent, Open, Merit-Based and Equitable African Working Group and WB develop draft project design Consultations Call for proposals Proposals from universities through governments Technical evaluation (by independent experts) On-site and leadership evaluation Selection Proposal improvement (technical and fiduciary) 13

14 Selected institutions Center Challenge / Development challenge Institution Discipline Genomics of Infectious Diseases Redeemers University, Ogun State, Nigeria Health PAN African Materials Institute Sciences et Technologies de l Eau, l Energie et l Environnement Centre for Agricultural Development and Sustainable Environment West African Center for Cell Biology of Infectious Pathogens Neglected Tropical Diseases and Forensic Biotechnology Training plant breeders, seed scientists and seed technologists African University of Science and Technology, Abuja, Nigeria Institut International d'ingénierie de l'eau et de l'environnement (2iE) Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Nigeria University of Ghana Ahmadu Bello University, Zaria, Nigeria University of Ghana, Legon, Ghana STEM Agriculture Agriculture Health Health Agriculture Sciences Mathématiques et Applications Université d'abomey Calavi (UAC), Bénin STEM Centre for Oil Field Chemicals University of Port Harcourt, Nigeria STEM Water and Environmental Sanitation Technologies de l information et de la Communication, TIC Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, Kumasi, Ghana l Université de Yaoundé I, Cameroon STEM STEM 14

15 Component 2: Regional Facilitation and Support to Priority Countries Regional Facilitation: Support the ACEs on capacity building Sharing best practices and Peer learning Evaluations Support to Priority Countries For 2 pilot countries with no ACEs Need support to higher education Funds to buy education services from the ACEs 15

16 Status and Success-factors Fiduciary assessments, M&E, implementation plans, and legal agreements > Launch April 2014 Success factors: University and faculty ownership and empowerment Academic and administrative support to the Centers Partnerships: Academic and industrial for each Center Administrative and funding for the program 16

17 Thank You Comments / questions? We welcome opportunities for collaboration and partnerships Andreas, [email protected] More info on Africa Centers of Excellence on WB support and analysis of Africa higher education: 17