USA Africa Dialogue Series - Report on the Carnegie/AU Deliberations on Continental Forum on the role of the diaspora in higher education, research and innovation in Africa, No. 5

 

 

From: Toyin Falola <toyinfalola@austin.utexas.edu>
Date: Wednesday, November 13, 2019 at 10:05 AM
To: dialogue <usaafricadialogue@googlegroups.com>
Subject: Report on the Carnegie/AU Deliberations on Continental Forum on the role of the diaspora in higher education, research and innovation in Africa, No. 5

 

REGIONAL POLICY AND PRACTICE OF ACADEMIC DIASPORA ENGAGEMENTS

Session 3

What are the outcomes of existing African Diaspora Programs in Higher Education?

This covers the rationales and distinguishing features of various program approaches.

 

Professor Beverly Kramer: Director, Carnegie-Wits Alumni Diaspora Program, University of Witwatersrand.

 

Talks about the development of public health affected by brain drain. Between 1975 and 95, many health professionals left South Africa. They created an Alumni Diaspora Program. The program nurtures the emergence of a new set of professional. Created a short-term program of about two weeks for people with skills to engage in collaboration. The diasporan comes back, sponsored by a fund from Carnegie, attached to a host. 68 have engaged in the visit. The program has a positive outcome in terms of new research, collaboration on new projects, knowledge sharing and development, joint research proposals, scientific writing, the creation of an electronic data base. Young people have mentors and those from the diaspora contribute to early career developments, leading to supervision, publications, etc. Significant joint publications have been generated.

Professor Yaa Ntiamoah, University of Ghana

Cross-disciplinary institutional approach

In 2010-11, University of Ghana decided to become a world-class research institution. Less than 50% of the Faculty have PhDs. They face the problems of aging faculty, excessive workload, etc. They decided to create more PhDs, and they needed supervisors. To do this, they tapped into the professors in the Diaspora. They got Carnegie grant that has been with them for over ten years that allow those in the diaspora to go to Ghana where they get regular salaries that the University of Ghana pay, they work full time, teach and supervise, examine PhDs, collect stipends from Carnegie. Over the period, they have attracted 80 professors from abroad. Majority of those who visit are in the humanities and others from STEM. The values of the linkages are visible even in engineering, leading to the development of a vibrant postgraduate program. The Mathematics Dept which was dying was revived. She concludes that the program is successful.

There are lessons: do you link with individuals or institutions? When the diasporan fellow leaves, there is a problem. She hopes that the link with Carleton will not break. There must be a relationship between the person in Ghana and the diasporan fellow. There must be a clear agenda to be clear about the nature of the collaboration. There must be honesty and genuineness—the diasporan is not supposed to come for a holiday. One must manage the diasporan expectations in terms of accommodation, transportation, how to survive. There must be sustainability.

Prof Godwin Murunga, Executive Secretary, CODESRIA

Some interventions are addressed to weak academic structures, bad leadership, seminar culture is dead, supervision is poor, marketability of students after their degrees. CODESRIA tries to improve the situation. He warns that diaspora is not homogenous, and we must understand the varieties. There are self-organizing diasporas. CODESRIA treats the diaspora as part of its overall program. We must think in specific ways. With Carnegie, they developed a program on curricular, with folks from the diaspora assisting with visiting professorship to design programs and curricula. They build early career academics, reproducing social science careers and research. High quality research has been produced by the collaboration.

CODESRIA also supports doctoral students, engaging diaspora scholars. The prospect of staying in Africa diminishes every day, thus producing more diasporans.

Prof. Gibril Faal, African Diaspora Fellowship Program Advisory Council Member

Research has shown that global linkages work. Carnegie has supported different programs. Africa-born scholars in the US apply, for a period of between 21 and 90 days, and open to some countries in Africa. The scholar work on research, graduate supervision, and curricula development. 385 fellows have been sponsored, hosted by 140 institutions, 700 curricula have been revised. Some have developed graduate programs, new research programs. One has to leverage the support of the Carnegie Foundation.

Questions and Comments

 

 

Lessons from Ghana. Can a toolkit be developed so that future diasporan fellows can learn?

How do you take care of research needs?

Are there guidelines for the diaspora fellows—how do you punish those who don't obey?

Can other countries be added?

 

Answers

Documents summarizing what the fellows can do exist.

 

There is matching to support research collaboration

 

A Pan African doctoral academy has been established, with a business plan, to ensure sustainability

 

Attempts are being made to look for additional funding. A Consortium has been created to fund raise.

CODESRIA is thinking of broadening the program but will look for the most important areas of interventions.

Maximum benefits happen during the terms, and not during break.

The African Union does not have money but it can give endorsements.