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| Mutharika |
President Professor Peter Mutharika has urged African Universities to produce highly qualified individy who can bring bright solutions to the continent that can make it one of the worlds robust economy.
President Mutharika was speaking this Wednesday at Kamuzu Palace in
the capital city Lilongwe where he was officially opening a Ministerial
Consultative meeting on Strengthening Higher Education, Science, Technology and Innovation in Africa for Regional Universities Forum (RUFORUM).
In his remarks President Mutharika underlined that Africa must improve
its capacity to make use of science and technology to enhance food production
and its own competitiveness in the global marketplace.
“Science, technology and innovation (STI) is underpinned by the
generation and use of knowledge through research, which itself requires the
availability of a ‘cadre’ of highly trained science professionals.
“It is the role of universities to train the future workforce for the
continent, to undertake research and to ensure that generated knowledge makes
an impact on African societies.” He said
“Education and particularly higher education is
a critical mechanism for creating a cadre of professionals to undertake and
oversee research that would create the knowledge base for technological
innovation. Our universities must
produce graduates with High level skills which are essential to deliver the
vision of African leaders through the Science, Technology and Innovation
Strategy for Africa (STISA) and the Comprehensive African Agricultural
Development Programme (CAADP) to diversify African economies through creating
new economic growth sectors with higher value added.” He emphasised
However, president Mutharika noted that there are number of critical challenges Africa’s Higher Education sector is facing that includes; low quality of education, inadequate number of qualified staff at PhD level, infrastructure, outdated curriculum and pedagogies, and inadequate funding which are further exacerbated by the high demand for access to higher education.
He therefore asked African Governments to commit to national and regional investments in Higher Education, Science and Technology, Commitment to establish an ‘African university ranking system’ that recognizes the specific need for Higher Education in Agriculture and other fields and making it easy for academia to travel across the continent.
“On its part, the Malawi Government will continue to put emphasis on higher education as set out in the National Education Sector Plan (2008-2017), and the Malawi Growth and Development Strategy (MDGS II). The goals and objectives relate to expanded equitable access to education; improved quality and relevance of education; and improved governance and management.” He said
Speaking before the president officially opened the meeting the Ugandan Minister of Higher Education, Sandy Stevens Tickodri-Togboa, emphasised that it Science and Technology that can help African countries to develop
“Your Excellency, it is important that we support the creation of critical mass of engineers, scientists and others in that related field. Without that support things will not work.” He said
“We are therefore inviting you, Your Excellency, to spearhead that support especially of returning the scientists that we have produced, this is because the challenge we are having now is that due to poor facilities, when we train these scientist they hardly stay in Africa” said the minister who assured President Mutharika that RUFORUM academia and Professors will support president Mutharika’s endeavours that intend to promote education in Africa.
The Consultative Ministerial Meeting on Higher Education, Science and Technology began on Tuesday 20th October and is expected to end on Wednesday 21st October, 2015 at Bingu International Conference Center in Lilongwe.
The contents from the discussions which academia and vice chancellors from African Universities will produce will feed into the next week meeting for Higher Education Ministers expected in Ethiopia. RUFORUM is a network of 55 universities in the continent
