Presented by Mitiku Haile to the Nile BDC 'Platforms' Workshop, Addis Ababa, April 8, 2011.

1. The Role of Co-operation in Higher
Education for Development
Nile BDC Workshop, Addis Ababa, April 8, 2011
Mitiku Haile
Mekelle University
Ethiopia

2. BACKGROUND
 Higher education institutions have a long history in
institutional cooperation.
 University partnerships are one of the most frequent
forms of inter-university cooperation on the international
level.
 To bridge the world in the context of globalization and of
the achievement of the millennium development
goals, tertiary education has gained new attention in
international discussions.
 In the need to achieve sustainable development, the
Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro in 1992 already stressed
the need in “Encouraging twinning of universities in
developed and developing countries” (Agenda
21,Chapter 36).

3.  University cooperation is an effective instrument for
integrating content specific and practice related know
how in the field of sustainable development into teaching
and research in developing countries as well as in
developed countries.
 On the other hand, an involvement in development co-
operation offers strategic advantages and opportunities
to HEIs, sharpening their profile in research and in
teaching
 Through inter university cooperation HEIs are getting
into a give and take, and what they do give back is a
share in the knowledge they produce and the distribution
of that unique produced knowledge.

5. MU-IUC Research Goal: Improved livelihood of
Poverty: critical the farmers in Tigray
lack of any of the five types of capital
Human capital
health, nutrition, labour,
knowledge, ‘voice’
Social capital Natural capital
institutions, policy, soil, water, vegetation,
cooperation, gover- animals, minerals
nance, equity
Financial capital Physical capital
cash, credit, reserves infrastructure, assets

9.  Academic exchange is one traditional focus of
cooperation.
 Foreign students and academics are coming to foreign
HEIs for study and research.This is international mobility.
 Besides that, foreign lecturers/professors are coming to
HEIs in foreign countries to conduct teaching at these
HEIs.
 Exchange between HEIs in developing and developed
countries has mutual benefit for both sides.

10.  The twinning programs between HEIs in the
north and the south can help in particular to
meet the demand for quality education programs
at reasonable cost to the HEIs in developing
countries.
 Many innovations in higher education could be
said to be indirect results of these cooperation
activities.
 However, this presentation assumes that the
current international cooperation in higher
education is now no longer just import of foreign
higher education, but rather a selective
acquisition and localization of foreign knowledge
that is needed in the higher education systems
in developing countries.

11.  Inter-university cooperation between the north
and the south has produced fruitful results for
the HEIs on both sides.
 Some programs/departments of HEIs in
developing countries have made their name
internationally through this type of cooperation.
 Further, with the support from HEIs from
developed countries, the higher education
systems in developing countries have been able
to approach the new ideas in higher education
development.
 However, it must be ensured that those HEIs are
not playing the passive role of a
receiver/importer within these international
cooperation activities.

12.  The international cooperation of higher
education will develop further in the coming
years.
 There will be a major shift in cooperation
activities.
 Of course there will be a continuation of the
acquisition of knowledge in areas in which HEIs
in developing countries have little expertise but
needed for the socioeconomic development, but
the focus will be quality improvement of higher
education based on the other countries
experience.
 The cooperation will become more selective in
what and where to learn from.

13. The other aspect of future cooperation will
be the extension of exchange activities
between higher education institutions to
disseminate the specific knowledge from
HEIs in developing countries.
In this process, the cooperation activities
will take place in the context of
globalization and specialization which
constitute the major challenges for global
higher education.

14. THE CHALLENGE
• With global interdependence it is critical that nations have the
institutional capacity to interact globally to solve problems and
create opportunities related to: development, security, peace and
justice
• Mid-1970 to mid-1990 global growth was significant, SSA
declinedwith GDP growth either zero or negative. Extereme
poverty increased from 35% in 1970 to 50% in 2000.South Asia
has shown dramatic decrease in poverty(WB-ADI,2007)
• Broad based development and transformation in Africa requires
significant human and institutional capacity development
• In Africa demand for HE is rapidly increasing:large18 year old
population cohort, and a proportion of that population achieving
secondary level diplomas.
• In addition, economic growth in some African countries
contributed for post secondary education as more can now afford
at least some level of higher education

17. Major causes for such challenges and
imballances
• The last two decades most African countries committed
low funding to HEIs-more pressing problems
• External development assistance to HEIs declined
significantly
• Primary and secondary level education was given
prominence as part of the MDGs
• Pressure from external donors to focus on basic
education

18. Addressing the imballance
Quality of primary and secondaryeducation is suffering
from:
-lack of high quality teachers, education leaders,
supervisors and curriculum specialists.
• Broad-based development in Africa can’t happen
without:
.well educated leaders
.a strong human resource base
.institutions that can produce the knowledge
necessary to address critical, local, national and regional
problems

19. THE WAY FOREWARD
• Change in the perception of Africa’s
Development needs
.Reaffirm the importance of HE to overall
socio-economic development
• The neglect and lack of investment on HE in
Africa must be reversed
.Neglecting HE in Africa is not an option!
• Africa’s commitment and ownership with focused
international support leads to success

20. Continued…
• Awareness and engagement of Africans
and development partners is critical
• Interventions in African HEIs have to be
long-term and comprehensive
• Partnership has a great promise to build
Africa’s capacity
• Interventions need to be country specific
• Capacity building and faculty development
are to be prioritized

21. Continued…..
• Brain drain reversed to brain gain
• Encourage innovation through competitive
grants

22. Contd..
THANK YOU!!