Accra, Dec. 13, GNA - Professor Akilagpa Sawyerr, Secretary-General, Association of African Universities (AAU), on Thursday expressed regret about the belief that investment in higher education in Africa yielded little social return, as compared to investments in basic education.

"That view, together with the economic decline in most African countries led to inadequate support for the higher education sector, which in turn, resulted in a decrease in the effectiveness and quality of higher education at a time of exploding enrolments throughout the continent," he said.

Prof. Sawyerr said this at the launch of AAU's latest project- "Mobilising Regional Capacity Initiative (MRCI) and the Challenge Fund for Revitalising Higher Education in Africa," with financial support from the Department for International Development (DFID) of the United Kingdom.

Under the Memorandum of Understanding signed between the two, DFID would provide 3.5 million pounds sterling over a three-year period to support AAU in its aim of enhancing partnerships with sub-regional networks of higher education institutions, as a means of fostering a long-term, collective action for revitalising higher education institutions in Africa.

The project would also aim at promoting the contribution of higher education institutions to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals by building on AAU's existing networks and initiatives and seeking synergies among current and planned programmes and work of higher education bodies within and across linguistic boundaries. Grants would also be awarded on a competitive basis under a "Challenge Fund", the central feature of the MRCI, for projects that enhance the capacity of African higher education institutions and networks to support sustainable development.

Prof. Sawyerr said the last few years had however, seen a significant shift, resulting in the explicit acknowledgement by Africa's political leaders as well as the donor community that revitalised and refocused higher education systems were indispensable to any credible programme for the development of Africa in the 21st centuries. "--- a position long advocated by Africa's higher education leadership and other far-seeing people, and reinforced by recent studies," he added.

He said the MRCI project had come at a time when African higher education institutions needed a boost, to enable them to play their due roles as centres of knowledge creation and dissemination, of social transformation, and of nurturing Africa's new leadership. "The MRCI was, thus, one of the first major manifestations of the new policy posture, which symbolised a dramatic change in the policy of the United Kingdom Government," he said, and commended the UK government for the gesture.

"Apart from its symbolic value, a distinguishing feature of this initiative is the explicit linkage of support for higher education to the attainment of the Millennium Development Goals and poverty reduction. This throws a major challenge to the established ways of thinking and of doing within Africa's higher education institutions and its leadership," he said.

Expected outcomes of the initiative include enhanced information sharing on innovation and reform, policy-oriented research and briefs on new ways for higher education to contribute to national development programmes, and policy frameworks that would address key issues confronting African higher education.

Mr. Paul Effah, Executive Secretary of the National Council for Tertiary Education, said it was heartening to note that the goal of MCRI and the Challenge Fund was to strengthen African Higher Education institutions to act as catalysts for poverty eradication and sustainable development and for the renewal and strengthening of African higher education institutions.

"After considerable dip in their operations, particularly since the 1980s, which also affected their productivity and contribution to national development, African higher education institutions are very much in need of revival and revitalisation, "Beyond their traditional roles of knowledge generation and dissemination, manpower development and service, African higher education institutions are being called upon to play a more active role in social transformation and development," he said.

He, therefore, commended the DFID and AAU and all those who have contributed in diverse ways towards the realisation of the initiative and expressed the hope that African higher education institutions would be revitalised to become a beacon of hope for the continent and a catalyst for accelerated development.

The South African Regional Universities Association's (SARUA) project proposal which was adjudged the best received 80,000 pounds sterling as its wining package of the first Challenge Fund Pilot Award. 13 Dec. 07