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A Consultation On Higher Education in Africa







5 RESEARCH ORGANIZATION, POSTGRADUATE STUDIES, STAFF DEVELOPMENT, ACADEMIC PUBLISHING, LIBRARY DEVELOPMENT AND INFORMATION TECHNOLOGY

Introduction

This chapter groups together many of the themes that cause most anxiety on African university campuses and in donor organizations. They represent realms of activity which are to a high degree mutually dependent and mutually supporting. The robust vigor of one will give others scope and encouragement. If one is in decline, all are losers.

The first section considers rather schematically the pattern of research activities outside and inside universities, and bears down on the question of centers of specialization and the organization of postgraduate studies.

The second section considers the questions of staff development (which is used here in the limited sense of measures designed to foster the academic growth of university teachers and researchers), academic disciplinary associations, and academic publishing.

The third section turns to university library development and associated information technology.

Research organization and postgraduate studies

The organization of research

Apart from the universities themselves, African research organizations comprise an ever-expanding range of ministries, councils, institutes, centers, networks, associations and academies. They operate at sub-national, national, sub-regional and Pan-African levels, or as African affiliates of world (or Third World) bodies, covering the full spectrum: state-run, parastatal, inter-governmental, independent international, national and local NGO. They are funded by government, single donor, multi-donor, membership subscriptions, or any combination of these. Their functions are equally varied, including research per se, R and D, sponsorship, representation of research bodies, communication between research bodies, and advocacy on behalf of research causes. The establishment and maintenance of a database on African research organizations, including development of a taxonomy and publication of a directory or gazetteer might be a worthy project for the newly-minted Network of African Scientific Organisations (NASO) of the African Academy of Sciences (AAS).