Eminent
Africans back
campaign to
revitalize
universities,
research
institutions

Several of Africa’s most noted academics and scientists assembled in Accra May 28-29 to launch a campaign to revive the continent’s research and higher education systems. The meeting marked the beginning of a coalition between African scientists and academics (including many who now reside overseas), the United Nations and the Independent Commission on Africa and the Challenges of the Third Millennium, to champion the revitalization of African universities and research institutions.

Wole Soyinka

Nobel Prize-winning playwright Wole Soyinka and William Eteki, former Secretary-General of the Organization of African Unity, were among 45 African leaders, scientists and academics convening in Accra from Africa, North America, Europe and Australia for the conference, Bridging The Knowledge Gap, co-organized by the U.N. University (UNU) and The Commission, with support from the U.N. Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) and the Africa Bureau of the U.N. Development Programme (UNDP).

“Africa, with its immense wealth in natural resources, has large reserves of untapped economic potential,” says Uzo Mokwunye, Director of the Ghana-based UNU Institute for Natural Resources in Africa and the meeting’s convener.  “Developing the human capital necessary to fuel Africa’s agricultural and industrial expansion must be the first order of business – and African universities and other centers of learning must play the lead role.”

At the conference, leading experts discussed ways to enable and challenge Africans to:

• advance food security through basic research – validating and disseminating the grassroots knowledge of indigenous farmers and forest-dwellers;

• add value to Africa’s primary products through applied science and technology;

• link scientific knowledge on natural resources to policy, problem-solving, and long-term planning processes ; and

• educate and train young scientists in cutting-edge science.

A UNU study of universities and research institutions in 29 African countries revealed inadequate infrastructure for research or for training of essential personnel. A lack of access to literature was also identified. Opportunities for interaction with the global scientific community were very limited – resulting in intellectual isolation of the few African academics engaged in scientific research, even at a time that major advances in modern information and communications technology seem to help overcome such isolation.

"Africa’s scientific research output, as a fraction of global research output, is negligible," Dr. Mokwunye says. “The resulting lack of scientific and technological advancement has placed African countries at a great disadvantage.”

He says increasing and strengthening links between African universities and centres of learning in the developed world is the first priority to alleviate the intellectual isolation afflicting African scientists at home.