IT was a major feat for Nigeria when the Vice Chancellor of the Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta, Ogun State, Prof. Olusola Oyewole, was appointed as president of the Association of African Universities (AAU) at the 13th general conference of the body, which was concluded in Libreville, Gabon, at the weekend.
Oyewole will oversee the affairs of AAU for the next four years.
At the event, the 300 delegates from 30 African countries that attended the conference recommended that African universities should pay serious and strategic attention to relevant curricula, teaching and research to guarantee graduate employability.
They also, in a statement, insisted that African universities "must engage in socially-responsive and research-backed activities, to make the need of our societies the centre of activities by universities," using all the resources at their disposal.
Noting the low level of graduate employment and the seeming unwillingness by African governments, universities, and the Organised Private Sector to confront the problem, the conference urged African governments to declare the next decade as the period to, in a concerted effort, comprehensively deal with the high rate of unemployment of graduates on the continent. The forum insists that universities must now devise deliberate intervention activities to focus on graduate employability.
Already, the participants agreed to also evolve and engage in available means that could provide effective solutions to graduate unemployment and transform higher education in Africa. They also agreed to encourage networking and partnerships among universities, with the private sector and other stakeholders, in the search for how to make graduates employable.
Besides, they resolved to advise various African governments on the advantages of deepening the democratisation process, to engender development and to insist on transparency in elections and judicial systems. The forum said universities should be accountable through the public presentation of reports of their activities and be transparent in the management and allocation of resources.
Noting the need for more research on areas that could contribute remarkably to Africa's development, participants recommended that stakeholders in African higher education should ensure that meritocracy, rather than mediocrity, be the prime driving factor in the selection of the leadership and management teams in universities.
While commending the few African countries that have allocated up to 30 per cent of their annual budgets to education, participants urged other African governments to substantially increase their financial contributions to higher education.
Although the conference commended the World Bank for shifting from placing emphasis on basic education to higher education, it advised funding agencies and international development partners to consult adequately with African universities in the setting of African Development Agenda.
Oyewole, who was appointed UNAB vice chancellor barely a year ago, is replacing Prof. Ishaq Oloyede, the immediate past vice chancellor of the University of Ilorin as AAU's president.
The Guardian
African universities still has a long way to go in terms of proper university standard. I just feel like they're still things that needs to be done.