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Africa Regional Higher Education Summit - Opening Ceremony
October 21 - 24, 2008
Welcome And Moderator:
Sarah Moten,
Chief, Education Division,
Bureau For Africa, USAID
Speakers:
The Honorable Margaret Spellings,
Secretary, U.S. Department Of Education
The Honorable Daphrose Gahakwa,
Minister Of Education, Republic Of Rwanda
The Honorable Goolam Mohamedbhai,
Secretary General, Association Of African Universities
Vincent Biruta,
President, Rwandan Senate
Cheryl Sim,
Charge D'affaires, U.S. Embassy, Rwanda
Iqbal Noor-Ali,
President, Aga Khan Foundation USA
Peter McPherson,
President, NASULGC
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
SARAH MOTEN: (In progress) - for these few days, specifically, Africa's capacity, prosperity, and global competitiveness. We have here, people from over 30 countries on the continent as well as the United States and we welcome you - (inaudible, audio break) - that you've taken the time out of your busy schedule to be here with us for these few days.
I would like to introduce our head table and distinguished guests who are seated here. I would like, first, to have the Honorable Goolam Mohamedbhai to bring greetings from the secretary - (inaudible, audio break) - the new secretary general of the Association of African Universities and he'll be followed by Iqbal Noor-Ali - (inaudible, audio break) - of the Aga Khan Foundation USA. And then - (inaudible, audio break) - asking about him - Peter McPherson, president of the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges. I'll ask them if they would come to the podium and bring you - (inaudible) - in that order.
Thank you.
GOOLAM MOHAMEDBHAI: Excellencies, honorable ministers, distinguished guests, colleagues and friends, ladies and gentlemen, I bring you great - (inaudible, audio break) - which is headquartered in Accra, Ghana. It is such a pleasure to the AAU to participate in this important African Higher Education Summit and I wish to sincerely thank USAID - (inaudible, audio break) - for this gathering.
First, allow me to say a few words about the Association of African Universities. It is an international nongovernmental organization, set up in 1967 - (inaudible, audio break) - universities and with the international community. It is, in fact, the apex organization and principle forum for consultation and exchange of information among higher education institutions in Africa. It has some 210 members from all parts of Africa and it operates in three official languages, English, French, and Arabic. The AAU can be considered as the voice of the African higher education community, both within and outside Africa.
Next, let me situate the context and importance of this summit to African higher education. After having suffered from decades of neglect, ignored by the international development and funding agencies, and abandoned by their own governments, African higher education institutions are now widely acknowledged as having a fundamental role to play in the economic, social, and political development of Africa. But to effectively play that role, they need to undergo major reform and revitalization.
Many of them have already embarked on the process, but more, much more needs to be done. The majority of the African institutions, especially those that are public-funded, face major challenges such as truncated funds, coping with masses of students, foreign access of what the campuses accommodate, severe shortage of highly qualified faculty, poor quality of teaching and learning, an ineffective - (inaudible) - environment, negligible output of research, outmoded methods of institutional governance, and poor linkages with the productive sectors of the economy.
In the fast-growing knowledge economy, Africa cannot afford to lag behind any further. Its higher-education institutions must become key and participating institutions from knowledge production and knowledge dissemination that are so vital for economic and social transformation. African higher education institutions will never be able to achieve that goal if they do not collaborate among themselves, both nationally and regionally. That is where the AAU has an important contribution to make.
Over the past few years, the many programs and activities of the AAU, funded by development donor and funding agencies have helped to bring African universities together to take up the quality-assurance systems to cope with the effects of HIV/AIDS and promote gender equity, to form consortia to negotiate lower prices for Internet access, and to create sub-regional networks of institutions codifying policies according practice approaches to alleviate poverty and achieve the millennium development goals.
African higher education institutions need also to create strong linkages with the private and industrial sectors, the rural communities, the nongovernmental organizations - in fact, all of the key agents of national and regional development so as to create a synergy that can help the African continent to meet the millennium development goals, to achieve economic growth, and to bring its development at par with the other rapidly growing developing regions of the world.
It is for this reason that the African Union of the wide consultation with all the stakeholders has included higher education as one of the seven priority areas of its action plan of education for Africa, starting with the period 2006 to 2015. And the African Union has designated the Association of African Universities as the lead agency for the implementation of the higher education components of that action plan.
However, in this age of globalization, no region, no country, no institution can remain isolated from the rest of the world. African higher education institutions must therefore create partnership and collaborate with institutions outside the continent, which is one of the objectives of this summit. African and U.S. higher education institutions can collaborate in so many areas, including promoting research, including teaching and learning, facilitating faculty and student exchanges, and improving institutional governance.
A major strength of U.S. higher education institutions is that most of them have a pool of faculty from the African diaspora, who undoubtedly are willing to assist universities in their conflicts of origin. All these factors go very well for close collaboration between African and U.S. higher education institution, some in their creation of partnerships. And in this venture, the AAU stands ready to assist in any way possible. Indeed, the AAU is already collaborating with the National Association of State Universities and Land-Grant Colleges in conducting a five-week electronic consultation on African-U.S. higher education initiative that was launched in July, 2007.
I'm sure that this summit will provide an opportunity to many participants to share the experiences on national, regional, and international partnerships and there have been many successful ones. Other participants will benefit from learning from these experiences, and to encourage them to create their own partnerships. The end result cannot but be salutary to higher education in Africa and to African development, generally.
I wish you all fruitful and successful deliberations. Thank you.
(Applause.)
IQBAL NOOR-ALI: Your excellencies, distinguished guests, ladies and gentlemen, good morning. First of all, I want to express my deep gratitude to USAID, the U.S. government, the Department of Education, Department of State, for hosting this summit and for inviting me to yet again, be part of such a distinguished panel. I think it is important that this summit has chosen its objective to focus on the opportunities in this great continent of Africa, the continent of opportunity as has been mentioned before.
And I'm particularly thankful to the U.S. government and its agencies for having the widely held interest of higher education, something that has been off the radar for many years. And then the first global summit was called in Washington back in April, only less than six months ago. And then this summit - (inaudible) - the one on Asia, we were delighted to be a part of it. And I think I might be just one of two or a handful people in this room that has not had the good fortune to participate in all these summits. So thank you for having me.
I'd like to thank the African development network for the Aga Khan Foundation and many in this room who know what the Aga Khan Development Network is but for the benefit of those, let me briefly introduce ourselves. The Aga Khan Development Network is headed by His Highness , the Aga Khan, who is the 49th hereditary imam of the Ismaili Muslims. It's a tradition that in the rich variety of Islam and all of the set of organizations that are headed by religious leaders that benefit all, regardless of religion, faith, ethnicity, or any other linguistic division.
We have, within the network, three foundations and I represent one of them. We have three service organizations that in addition to planning and building services, provide health and education. We have an ethics-based economic development fund that invests in developing countries to stimulate growth, to create employment, to bring better management practices, and to encourage foreign investment. In fact, the hotel we sit in, the Serena Hotel, is part of the Aga Khan Fund for Economic Development for Change in East Africa and elsewhere.
And two universities - the University of Central Asia and the Aga Khan University, which is now in its 26th year, has established roots in East Africa is looking to establish two faculties - a faculty of health sciences in Nairobi and the faculty of arts and sciences in Arusha will benefit the East Africa community, having invested $700 million. So as you can see, we have a long tradition of being involved in education. And our history of being involved in Africa's development goes back to the 19th century. In fact, the first Aga Khan school was established in Zanzibar in 1903 and I believe it still stands to this day.
Our cause to education is one that we refer to as a ladder of education. They evolve from early childhood development to improving the quality of education, providing access to education and also concern the issue that many of you are - retention, transition, access, and the rest. I wanted to talk just a minute - I have about five minutes in which to cover a very wide subject, so I will not take much of your time doing it.
But I wanted to talk about one thing in particular, which is partnerships. As I indicated a minute ago, we are a conglomeration of agencies under the umbrella, the Aga Khan Development Network Foundation. We know how to do partnerships. We've worked with each other in partnerships but more importantly, we work with 70 or 80 other partners outside the Aga Khan Development Network. So at the risk of being presumptuous, allow me to make a few points about what makes partnerships work.
But let me first quote from His Highness, the Aga Khan about partnerships. His highness said, "The key to building partnerships, whether they're among social sectors or among countries, is a profound spirit of reciprocal obligation, a willingness to share the work, to share the costs, to share the risks, to share the credit, and in the end, what it will require the most, is the spirit of mutual trust and hope." So quick thoughts on what makes partnerships work.
First and foremost, the objectives of the partnering institutions must be aligned. There must be mutual benefit and mutual trust within the partnership. Secondly, the partnerships that last have to be built from the bottom up and not from the top down because the people who implement the partnerships are the ones who must be convinced, who must have bought into it and must see real value that help them achieve their objectives. Confidence building and early demonstrable successes are an essential part to building sustainable partnerships.
Thirdly, it requires a systematic approach because partnerships need to have defined scope in terms of direction, mutual expectations should be expressed and agreed upon, regular information sharing, and revisions for review and amendments should be built in. There should be a designated internal champion for partnership and I've talked to people who work within our organization and outside about what makes a partnership work. And unless somebody is there responsible for driving them to see it through, it might simply remain a memorandum of understanding.
And, lastly, there should be a commitment of resources because no partnership works without funding. Everything costs money and everything requires an investment of time, talent, travel costs, and the rest. I'm that this meeting of such great minds, the leaders of Africa today who are responsible for creating the leaders of Africa tomorrow will help develop the partnerships that will bring education to a different level, introduce pluralism into the education as we are trying to do to establish - the establishment of the Aga Khan academies, some 18 academies, many in Africa, one that is up and running in Mombasa, one being built in Maputo, another in Kampala, and several more, where the objective is to help create the leaders of tomorrow that are grounded in their national cultures, their national identities, but are able to be effective, broad-minded, global citizens to function productively in a globalized world.
I wish all of us very happy deliberations and very productive results at the end. Thank you.
(Applause.)
PETER MCPHERSON: Good morning. It's nice to see everybody: madam chargé d'affaires, minister of education, my good friend Margaret Spellings, and my old colleague at the Aga Khan Foundation. We talked this morning about how we worked together 25 years ago at the AAU collaboration that we have - I'm working with this project. It's good to see everyone here and, Sarah, we appreciate your leadership.
I'd like to make six points here as we begin the session. One, what we're doing is about people. Educated people are the foundation in the country's economic growth and its source for progress. Two, we need strong universities throughout the country, including certainly, in Africa. High school educations are not enough to build the country. They're a critical block, but they're not enough. We need those strong universities.
Three, that this is a long-term effort. The work we're about is generational. As I said earlier, we were in this together for 25 years, but the last generation, the donor community, and to some extent, the governments of the continent back the way for higher education for a range of complex reasons, whether it's moved back, but it's the long-term effort that needs to be measurable steps along the way. We cannot tell our folks, wait 20 years and we'll see whether it's worked. But we have to realize that it is 10, 15, 20 years to be able to see the full impact and more of what's said.
Four, we've done this before. We did have those successful relationships in the '60s after independence of so many countries in Africa, '60s, '70s, and into the '80s. But my fifth point would be that those lessons of success - and there were many - are not enough. The problem is bigger and I don't think we can just say we'll just do more of what we used to do. In Africa, over almost 20 years, every five years, there's been a doubling of student populations - a doubling. I was president at Michigan State for a long time and suppose we had doubled every five years; that would make us well over, you know, 150,000 students, compounded. I mean, this is an incredible figure.
Our lessons are available. We know how to do it but we can't be constrained by less enrollment. I think that if we think about, together, the education of faculty, training, expanding, problem-solving, we've got to realize that think about whether there are new ways to do this. Frankly, one of the reasons, a chief reason why I proposed to AID before the summit that we have this competitive grant program, was because I thought that the idea that a competitive grant program that known group of people setting aside some place to figure out. We've got many tools, and the Web, the cell phones. The mass media is really a lot different than it was 25 years ago and how it reaches communications in a range of ways.
We've got to figure out how to do this differently using, but not, as I say, limited by our experiences. And my sixth point would be that this needs to be African-led. Yes, I think that in the past, there's been a lot of excellent partnerships but when I think about today as opposed to the '80s, the strength of leadership - the concept of leadership - this needs to be Africa-led because there's so many points, many ideas which are critical for success that others won't see. And when you look over successes around the world as well as in Africa over the last generation, it's been by and large countries that took charge of themselves.
So in summary, one, it's all about people. Two, we need strong universities. Three, this is a long-term effort. Four, we've done this before, but five, we can't be limited by our successes in the past, the bigger issue. And six, it's an Africa program. Thank you.
(Applause.)
MS. MOTEN: Thank you very, very much, all three of you. Now, the minister, I didn't say your name when you came in and I just want everyone to know that our minister of education here in Rwanda is also here at the podium with us.
(Applause.)
Thank you. Please accept my apology. At this time, I would like to ask our chargé, Ms. Cheryl Sim, who has been here a short period of time in Rwanda. By doing such a dynamite job, you came in August of 2007 and I know that as we visit the school that went around yesterday, everybody knows her, which means that she's doing a bang-up job here in Rwanda. So I would like to ask our chargé d'affaires for the American Embassy, if she would come forward now.
(Applause.)
CHERYL SIM: Thank you very much, Sarah. I have two simple, but really pleasurable tasks this morning. The first is to welcome all of you to this conference, especially those of you who have travelled. It is really a distinct pleasure for us at the U.S. mission to be hosting this conference for you. For those of you who aren't familiar with our mission, our mission is a five-agency organization that represents Department of State, USAID, Centers for Disease Control, the Department of Defense, and most recently, the Peace Corps.
We have almost 300 people working at the U.S. mission here, which is in fact, an enormous sign of the great partnership we have with the government of Rwanda. We were so excited when we heard that President Kagame had offered Kigali as the venue for the follow-up to the meeting that was held in April. And we were even more excited to learn from Sarah Moten and her team, that Kigali was selected. So thank you very much, USAID, thank you, government of Rwanda, and we're delighted that you're all here.
The second of my very pleasurable tasks this morning is to introduce the secretary of education, Margaret Spellings. Secretary Spellings has been involved in education policy throughout her career. When she was confirmed as secretary of Education, she became the first mother of school-aged children to serve in this capacity. Prior to being appointed as secretary of Education, she served as assistant to the president for domestic policy. In that capacity, the secretary was instrumental in the creation of the No Child Left Behind Act, which she has since implemented.
Secretary Spellings is a strong advocate for higher education. She believes in the community college system, which combines elements of traditional universities with practical vocational training and is a key part of the U.S. education system. The community college system is also a model that can be adapted to meet the needs of local economies around the world. The secretary is passionate about strengthening the quality of higher education and forging partnerships between governments, businesses, and philanthropic organizations.
In her address to the participants of the Global Higher Education Summit that took place in Washington, D.C., Secretary Spellings remarked, "the quality of education we deliver is a key determinant to the future we can expect. It is central to world peace, prosperity, and civic development. The more we share, the better quality of education we will be able to deliver." So please join me in welcoming Secretary Spellings.
(Applause.)
SECRETARY MARGARET SPELLINGS: Cheryl, thank you for that kind introduction. Sarah, thank you for your leadership; everybody knows Sarah, also, like Cheryl. I met many of your colleagues at USAID and have a wonderful opportunity to see you hard at work across this globe and I thank you for your service. His Excellency, thank you for honoring our work with your presence here today - that speaks volumes about our partnership and our commitment to each other. Madam Minister, my new good friend, I am thrilled that you're here.
Iqbal Noor-Ali, thank you very much for your participation in all of these mighty events and more, thank you even more for all of the great work you do, all around the world. Peter McPherson, thank you for your wisdom. He has a lot of it, with all his experience, thank you for representing American universities so well and thank you for leaving us, not only in our country, but with your wisdom from what you've learned around the world. He has been tremendous - a tremendous partner in the last four years with me as he has worked to improve and strengthen, always, American higher education to make it more student-centered and more open to all learners. To the Honorable Goolam Mohamedbhai - I want to - from the Association of African Universities - thank you for your work.
Thank you to all of my colleagues in the higher education community for your participation today. I have met so many hopeful students during my first visit to Africa. This is the third country I have visited on this trip. I've also been to Zambia and Kenya. Yesterday, I had the wonderful opportunity to visit the FAWE Girls School here in Kigali. Many of the students here, some of whom you met last night, lost their parents to genocide; others were orphaned by AIDS. Few of them have a mother but today, because of their persistence and the hard work of those who believe in them, they are looking ahead to college. They share their dreams and goals and aspirations with us. Many of them aspire to be doctors, scientists, and legislators. Mr. Senator, they'll be joining you and your colleagues. Last night, we met them and we enjoyed their beautiful and powerful dancing and music.
They share the same enthusiasm that I see in students all around the world. In my own country, many parents put their own financial security on hold so that their country can gain higher education. Education is a universally held value. That's what we have going for us in our work. It is the key to opportunity, prosperity, and civic engagement. And it is our most powerful tool in addressing our world's greatest challenges, world hunger, poverty, energy dependency, financial instability, global conflict, especially in countries with such young populations like this one. Nowhere, of course, is this more evident than here.
Fourteen years ago, more than 1 million people were killed in the genocide. Today, Rwanda honors their memory in multiple ways, including by investing in education in the next generation. Minister Gahakwa, I know you are so proud that 44,000 students are now enrolled in Rwandan universities, 20 times more than the number of earned degrees for the three decades between 1963 and 1964. As Peter pointed out, this phenomenon is apparent here and all over the region. I'm reminded of what my friend, Secretary Rice says. She says that education is a way to remake yourself, a way to become who you should be, who you want to be, who you ought to be. Supporting that transformation is the heart of what we do and as a university leader herself, Condi understands the value of high-quality education that is rich in diversity and opportunity.
And I'm very proud that she and I have worked together for the last three years to encourage and expand partnerships and exchanges in higher education with a vital and vigorous U.S. government role. I'm pleased that the number of U.S. universities are represented on our agenda here today, including Penn State, George Washington University, Texas A&M, as well as other organizations like IBM, Google and the Gates Foundation.
I've been honored to lead delegations of U.S. university presidents to nations all around the world. We've touted student and faculty exchange as a way of broadening one's perspective and experience new cultures. In the same way, this summit is an opportunity to broaden our own horizons, to learn from each other, and to become stronger partners. Many of you attended the Higher Education Summit for Global Development in Washington earlier this year. At that time, Administrator Henrietta Fore, who'll be with us here on Friday, announced that the U.S. will provide a $1 million to encourage collaborations between universities in the U.S. and Africa. This funding will enable us to continue our work together, so that we can conduct research to create new medicines, new approaches to agriculture, and build new technologies.
Universities have long been the incubators of great ideas, the birthplaces of great inventions, the testing grounds of great individuals. Higher education fans the flames of intellectual discourse that keeps democracies and civic societies strong. It empowers individuals to live out their fullest potential and helps nations live out their ideals. We are already witnessing the cascading benefits that higher education partnerships can yield toward improving the lives of millions. Our challenge is to extend and amplify those benefits to more students in more places from more backgrounds. Every single teacher we train will affect generations. Every research project we fund can save lives.
During my travels this week, I've been asked whether I believe the next president of the United States, no matter who wins on November 4th, will continue to provide historic levels of commitment to Africa. And I tell them this: There are has been tremendous bipartisan support for the resources that have been sent to Africa and strong recognition that the dollars we have invested have yielded sizable results and tangible benefits for all of us, and I see no reason to believe that that will change. But I must say, I am very proud to be a part of the historic effort led by President Bush to set a new standard of responsibility and effectiveness.
But even so, my government's investment makes up just one-ninth of all U.S. investment here in Africa. The remainder comes from you - from universities, from businesses, from foundations and faith-based organizations like those here today. And ultimately, it will be up to us to turn those investments into results. One area that I believe has yet to be fully mined, particularly at this time, is of course the potential to support development in higher education, and it's time to change that. Rwanda's president, Paul Kagame, has said that American universities prove that an effective education system is always anchored in the needs of society and must become accessible to all. We all agree with him. Worldwide, about 77 million children remain out of school. Thirty-eight million of them are in sub-Saharan Africa. Think about that. In Zambia, 20 percent of students are orphans or vulnerable children, often because of AIDS. Despite strong gains, Rwanda produces fewer teachers than it needs to accommodate all students.
But the United States remains committed to UNESCO's goal of education for all, in all countries, by 2015, and I commend Rwanda's vision of becoming a knowledge-based, middle-income country by 2020. To meet these goals, we must advance systemic change. We must knock down barriers to progress by preparing more students earlier, as the University of Nebraska is doing. We must build human capital by educating more people from diverse backgrounds, as the Aga Khan Foundation is doing. We must help more students leverage technology and innovation, as Carnegie Mellon is doing through its graduate computer-science program in Rwanda. We must continue our traditional emphasis on excellence in research and scholarship, as well as to nurture partnerships, such as that of the National University of Rwanda, Michigan State and my home state's Texas A&M. With their help, Rwandan farmers are now exporting specialty coffees that have quadrupled their earnings over the last seven years. But we can and must do more. Simply put, higher education must become more student-centered, more agile, more transparent. In doing so, we in the U.S. can learn from what is happening in Africa. Many African communities are rapidly moving to embrace change.
Africa's lack of precedent is one of its greatest assets - it's universities are free to take risks and challenge assumptions. That freedom to experiment and innovate has produced many new technologies: doctors diagnosing and treating AIDS with the help of cell-phones and children in remote areas learning through radio. The internet has been tapped to exponentially multiply opportunity. But, like all technologies, it is only a tool. Human hands and minds must guide it, and its people like you and educators in our own countries who must develop the diverse and abundant strengths of our populations. Achieving education for all will help prevent seven million cases of AIDS. Providing just five years of primary education for women increases their chances for survival by 40 percent. Raising the average level of higher education in sub-Saharan Africa by just one year will elevate incomes by nearly 12 percent, translating to an additional $64 billion in regional GDP and a rise in productivity, sustainability and quality of life. Together, we can and will make these visions a reality, and I can imagine no more important or exciting work for a sector that excels in advancing opportunity and developing potential. Our students look to us as leaders to show them the way forward. Let's not let them down. Let's get to work. Let's get moving. Thank you for your participation. Thank you.
(Applause.)
MS. MOTEN: Thank you very much, Madam Secretary. I have the pleasure at this time of introducing and bringing to the podium the minister of education here in Rwanda, Minister Gahakwa, who - (inaudible, audio break) - and science. I bring you the minister of education, Minister Gahakwa.
(Applause.)
DAPHROSE GAHAKWA: Thank you, Dr. Sara Moten, for such a nice introduction. (inaudible, audio break) - the president of the Senate, the secretary of - (inaudible, audio break) - chargé d'affaires - (inaudible, audio break) - Dr. Sara Moten, and distinguished participants, ladies and gentlemen. It's - (inaudible, audio break) - for me to welcome you - (inaudible, audio break). Today is a historic moment for higher education in Rwanda, and indeed - (inaudible, audio break) - time. And I think, with this - (inaudible, audio break) - easier than the previous - (inaudible, audio break) - ministers. Today I have the pleasure of introducing - (inaudible, audio break) - Dr. Vincent Biruta, the president of the senate, Republic of Rwanda.
His Excellence, Dr. Vincent Biruta has had a long and illustrious career in politics. He served as the president of the National Transition Assembly from July of 2000 to August 2003 and from 1997 to 1999 as the minister of health. He also served as the minister for public works, transport and communication during the period of 1999 to 2000. He currently is the president of the senate of the republic of Rwanda. He is the second most important man in this country. (Applause.) But Biruta is a medical doctor by training and attended - (inaudible, audio break) - in the planning and management of - (inaudible, audio break) - services in developing countries in the University - (inaudible, audio break) - in Brussels, Belgium. He has published work in the public health sector policy. Your Excellency, thank you for honoring us with your presence and I invite you to address the government. Thank you.
(Applause.)
VINCENT BIRUTA: Honorable Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of education, Honorable Ministers, members of the diplomatic corps accredited - (inaudible) - representatives of - (inaudible) - government agencies in Rwanda, leaders from academia, government, business, informations, summit participant from Rwanda, Africa and overseas, distinguished ladies and gentlemen. On behalf of His Excellency, president of the Republic of Rwanda, who has designated me to officiate a group meeting of African Regional Higher Education Summit, and indeed on my own behalf, I would like to welcome you all, Kigali.
I would like to specifically warmly welcome our brothers and sisters, friends and eloquent partners from the nations of Angola, Benin, Botswana, Burundi, Djibouti, Ethiopia, Kenya, Lesotho, Liberia, Malawi, Mali, Mauritius, Mozambique, Namibia, Nigeria, Senegal, South Africa, Uganda, Zambia, the United States of America and those from various bilateral or multilateral organizations, foundations and companies. Allow me to thank and wish a warm welcome to Mrs. Margaret Spellings, U.S. secretary of education for having honored the summit with her presence. I would like to thank USAID for convening the summit on higher education, which is a follow-up on the April 2008 summit hosted in Washington, D.C.
I thank you for choosing Kigali as the venue and also for availing the resources needed for this important summit. The resources and time invested in organizing these summits, six months apart, show how importance you have attached to Africa's human development. I want to thank the USAID mission director Mr. Dennis Weller and his team on the wonderful work they have done on getting and keeping - (inaudible) - here. Ladies and gentlemen, as you are aware, my president gave the keynote address at the April 2008 Higher Education Summit in Washington and presented the critical role higher education plays by creating knowledge assets upon which a socioeconomic reformation is based. In her opening remarks at the April 2008 summit, the U.S. education secretary, Margaret Spellings, said, and I quote, "Education and higher education in particular can enhance regular enrollment strategies and enable collaboration on shared challenges from poverty to health care to energy. It's a most powerful tool for overcoming fear, ignorance and extremists and promoting respect and mutual apperception. The quality of education, we believe, is a key determinant of the future we can expect." End of quote.
At the same summit, President Paul Kagame posed the following questions, and I quote: "What particular hindrances are we, in Africa, and in Rwanda, facing in building a more relevant and dynamic higher education - (inaudible, audio break) - that addresses all the government needs? What are our prospects of removing these obstacles and what lesson can we draw from countries such as the United States of America? And finally, how can we strengthen global collaborative efforts for better results in building more viable higher education institutions on our continent?" End of quote.
The current summit should take into consideration these questions as it deliberates in the coming three days. Ladies and gentlemen, as we progress in this summit, we need to come up with implementable solutions, particularly for strengthening the African universities and other higher institutions. According to the World Edition 2020, in the millennium development growth, education is - (inaudible, audio break) - is one of the many pillars of development. Some countries that don't even have many natural resources have made significant economic strides - (inaudible, audio break) - of having a critical mass of well-educated people.
Rwanda is a small, landlocked country but we are aiming big. Our major hope is attaining the vision of 2020 in the millennium development goals is very much contingent on having a well-educated young generation. No country has succeeded in delineating sustainable socioeconomic development without long-term investment in human and social development, of which higher education is central and crucial. The government policy is to have specialized public institutions of higher learning provide specialized training in the courses relevant to our economic development. For example, our school of finance and banking is to be the hub of business education and this is why you have the collaboration with the University of Michigan in the USA to raise our school of finance and banking to international standards.
One of expectations of public specialized institutions is to facilitate the government to obtain the six-pillar official 2020 - that is - (inaudible, audio break) - government, of entrepreneurship and the private sector. These institutions need to create centers of excellence in education and innovation to contribute to economic development. Gone are the days when people thought everybody could do business regardless of whether he or she has basic training in business management. Therefore, we need to develop our entrepreneurs who will constitute a competitive private sector. Businesspeople need to be equipped with tools that will make them to be creative and to use the available natural resources to create wealth.
Our local businesspeople are subjected to merciless global competition and they are desperately looking around for the skills that will assist them to compete effectively. The role of the universities and other higher learning institutions can play in this respect is unbelievably enormous. Our businesspeople need to be continuously trained, exposed and equipped with new skills - (inaudible, audio break) - have to survive in the global business village.
Ladies and gentleman, I have been discussing on higher education, more or less specific on Rwanda, but what portends to Rwanda also happen to the rest of Africa. We suffer from the same challenges of low access as compared to - (inaudible) - increase in demand for higher education. Low investment in higher education in Africa resulting to low quality of graduates who are not fit for the purpose as far as labor markets are concerned, resulting in non-competiveness of our economies on the global market. The growth - (inaudible, audio break) - local economies in Africa - that of Rwanda included - are creating higher demand for higher education in the region and it is my conviction that we need to rethink on how much we are investing in education. With growing interdependence in the world, there is a need that nations have institutional capacity to interact globally to solve common problems and to create opportunities for development, security, peace and justice.
African higher education institutions have, therefore, to cooperate and work together amongst themselves and with partners in the U.S. and elsewhere. It is also important to develop private-public - (inaudible, audio break) - partnerships as government in African and elsewhere cannot develop the sector alone. In addition, universities should be comfortable enough to train a higher caliber of current and future leaders, educationists and managers that will eventually emancipate our continent from abject poverty. Finally, in the process of going international, African universities should brushing shoulders with - in reality - with better higher learning institutions in Africa and worldwide, see they have a lot to learn from each other.
Ladies and gentlemen, once again, I commend the organizers of the Africa Regional Higher Education Summit for their foresight. I wish all the participants from outside Rwanda a very enjoyable stay in Kigali during the time of the summit and a safe trip back home. I wish you all - (inaudible) - for the deliberations and I take this opportunity to declare the Africa Regional Higher Education Summit officially open. I thank you all for your kind attention.
(Applause.)
MS. MOTEN: (Inaudible, background noise.) Thank you so very much for your comments as president of the senate. I also want to thank all of our speakers this morning for not only your interesting comments but comments that also will allow us to even go to the next step as we proceed in developing these additional relationships so that we can look forward to the next century on them. At this time, I would like ask you if you would remain seated while our guests can exit the auditorium and then we will 15-minute break and proceed with the rest of the program. Thank you. Let's give our guests a round of applause as they're leaving. Thank you.
(Applause.)
(Break.)
MS. MOTEN: - morning. And we are going to continue with the program as in your summary here. We are off to a great start and we've had such great participation from Minister Gahakwa, Secretary Spellings and a warm welcome from such diverse groups of distinguished guests - Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai, Igbal Noor-Ali and Peter McPherson. We are all here because we understand the critical role of higher education institutions and the role that higher education institutions play in developing the skills and human capital necessary for building a professional workforce for the 21st century.
African universities have operated under significant challenges and I'd say even some U.S. universities have operated under significant challenges. As the number of primary and secondary graduates have increased and moved on to tertiary education, many higher education institutions have locked the infrastructure and capacity to absorb the increasing number of students. This summit is an opportunity to discuss these and other challenges and to identify solutions and to make connections with partners from all over the world - partners from all sectors to expand the possibilities of ways to address these issues. The summit, by the way, is also about listening. We heard your interest in continuing the dialogue that began in Washington at the Department of State last April. We also heard your feedback from the Africa Day at Howard University and we have attempted to incorporate your feedback into the design of this Africa Regional Summit - the first - being held here in Kigali, Rwanda.
The content of this summit is driven not by us, but by you, the participants, the theme being "Strengthening Africa's Human Capacity for Prosperity and Global Competitiveness." This addresses the role of higher education institutions and reflects the challenges many of you brought up last spring. We, USAID, and other donors and NGOs in the higher education field, are here to listen - to listen to the issues - those issues that were discussed and ideas to be generated at this summit. At the final day of this summit, we will reflect again on what we have accomplished and try to figure where will we go for our next steps because, as Peter and others said this morning, we are looking at a new way of doing business. This summit is also about forging that new way of doing business.
This summit has brought together the brightest minds in Africa to engage in a dialogue with leaders from the United States' institutions, the private sector and foundations, to work together to discuss the most pressing issues affecting the African higher education institutions and American institutions and indentify the innovative ways and resources necessary for higher education institutions to address these issues. But the onus is on all of us - it's on all of us to own this process, this process of collectively putting forward our best thinking to develop new ways of thinking and operation so that we can all link our assets and resources to the needs and opportunities by developing new strategies for partnerships. Together, we will continue the dialogue about how universities truly do contribute to the changing world.
The summit will begin with a plenary on the theme: "Strengthening Africa's Human and Institutional Capacity for Prosperity and Growth." This plenary includes three examples of partnerships between African and U.S. universities, the private sector and foundations to develop capacity to meet the specific market and social needs. These partnerships embody the new ways of doing business that we hope to foster through this summit - one that goes far beyond the traditional donor/recipient model of development.
And later today, we will hear from the private sector about how universities can leverage the assets and resources that they already have as research centers and incubators for social - (inaudible, audio break) - development and to design academic programs that prepare students for the jobs the local, regional and international private sector is looking for. Throughout the summit, there is a clear focus on networking - networking opportunities - opportunities to engage in conversations about how your organization, your university, foundation, company, NGO, can work with other institutions to expand existing successful partnerships to other universities, countries and sectors and to, without a doubt, plant the seeds for new partnerships which are built into our schedule here for the next couple of days.
By the way, each break is a networking break. Tonight, there is a specific networking activity and on Friday, one of the last sessions is specifically designated for networking. We have brought you together to talk to talk to each other, to discuss what partnerships your university has engaged in and the best practices you have learned from the process; to discuss the areas you are interested in expanding or developing partnerships in and to discuss the resources and assets your university can bring to partnerships. Tonight's dinner - and by the way, we are going to feed you - will also address the cross-cutting theme of gender in higher education. Any of you who know me know that there would be no summit, no workshop, no nothing - that we don't talk about gender. So tonight, we're going to talk about gender - and not just about females but gender. (Laughter.)
On Thursday, the real work of a summit will take place during two concurrent sessions. As you are the experts, we have brought you here to work - to apply your collective knowledge, expertise and creativity - to work together to first, identify key challenges and then collectively determine innovative ways to which higher education institutions can solve them. And - (inaudible, audio break) - on the four themes of the summit, which are: food security, linking basic and higher education, health and human capacity development and economic growth. You will work together to identify key challenges and propose innovative ideas to address each theme. The four most innovative ideas - now I want you to hear this. The four most innovative ideas, as determined by each of the - (inaudible, audio break) - thematic groups will be presented and showcased at the closing ceremony. Now, that means that you've got to be created and come up with some great ideas when it down to your group and that can be a lot of fun but it can also be a truly learning process.
One question many of you probably have in mind is the state of the planning grant. As a matter of fact, people have been cornering ever since we arrived. (Laughter.) I think - (inaudible) - got me back there just a few minutes ago - Jimmy. Well, an information session on the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative is planned for Thursday afternoon. As the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative is much larger than the planning grants, your active participation is crucial to shaping the important new initiative working to enhance the capacity of higher education institutions in Africa and the U.S. And your contribution to this process is also critical. So there's going to be a session on this as well.
Friday morning's plenary on expanding partnerships to strengthen Africa's higher education institutions is an opportunity to present, share and discuss the best practices in developing and implementing partnerships. The last cross-cutting theme this summit will address is ICT - ICT in higher education - cultivating innovation and expending access. In addition to Thursday morning's plenary session and discussion on this topic, I hope you will consider this topic throughout all of the sessions - not just for that one session. But let's think of it as a cross-cutting theme. This new way of doing business and development requires new tools.
New and emerging technologies - computers, the Internet, mobile phones - they are all providing opportunities to gather data and share knowledge in order to forge forward and ahead. And to make better decisions. As generators of knowledge and information and cultivators of innovations, higher education institutions can play an even greater transformational role when connected to such de-marketizing tools. USAID is advancing a vision of global development commons, which is a virtual space - and you've been hearing a little bit about this - a virtual space where development beneficiaries and donors can access and share information and collaborate to foster development. To demonstrate the concept of the Global Development Commons, I would like to share a video to provide a tangible example of how the global development commons is developing partnerships and using innovative technologies to support the African Union's efforts to build better-functioning trade corridors to improve agriculture trade and address the food security crisis. At this time, I would like for you to view this video, and then we'll go through the next.
(Applause.)
(Begin video segment.)
ADMINISTRATOR HENRIETTA FORE: Partnerships are the future of sustainable international development. USAID is embracing a new approach to partnerships that makes information and resources more open and accessible to everyone. We call this the Global Development Commons. In West Africa, a commons is emerging to connect the full spectrum of development practitioners, farmers and traders to information, tools and infrastructure to help optimize regional agricultural trade. The following video shows three examples of innovative and collaborative efforts in West Africa to highlight the potential of a commons to build agricultural capacity. For example, you'll see how a forward-looking company called tradenet.biz connects West African farmers and traders to market price information through mobile phones and online social networking. By enabling people to share information, make better-informed decisions in real time and trade goods and services more efficiently, a commons can extend the promise of improved food security to a region where millions of people face malnutrition.
(Music.)
VOICEOVER: The West Africa trade corridors flow over 3,000 miles from Senegal to Nigeria and points in between. USAID and its partners are embracing a commons approach to improve agriculture markets around these corridors. By promoting collaboration through new technologies, the open approach of the commons can help link producers to markets, provide farmers with high-yield inputs and enable traders to access market-pricing information.
MR. : Africa need to be developed. Need to fight poverty and hunger. The best way to do it is to make alliance with the African people, to let them lead their own development because we know what we need.
VOICEOVER: The African Union articulated the need for transnational trade corridors in its Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program or CAADP.
MR. : CAADP - (inaudible) - is a real framework to develop agriculture. (Inaudible) - is raising all the market infrastructure to be sure that we can carry goods from one point to another.
VOICEOVER: Responding to this need, USAID and partners are connecting agricultural producers to markets, helping to improve food security in the region.
MR. : There is a potential in trade in West Africa. Estimates go up to $20 billion, which is 50 times more than what we have right now.
MR. : The overland transport cost to move a ton of goods is the highest in West Africa of anywhere else in the developing world. Our main focus has been to work with civil society organizations, nongovernmental organizations in trying to identify barriers to trade such as unofficial stops by government and other officials where truck drivers are harassed or are forced to pay bribes.
MR. : And then these barriers - charges prices that we pay before we come past with our onions, knowing very well that onions are perishable goods and they can get destroyed.
VOICEOVER: To help enhance regional trade, USAID is developing innovative mapping technologies to link food in secure areas with areas of high agricultural production and eliminate barriers to trade between them.
MR. : Information is the key. Before making a good, you have to know who needs this good, where you have to move your good, what is the prices of market? This is also information system.
VOICEOVER: Rice is an important staple across West Africa, but Liberia produces relatively little. This mapping technology shows that there are many optimal areas for rice production. It also shows how infrastructure investments can link farmers in these areas to regional markets. In a commons, leading universities and regional associations like the Africa Rice Center, or WARDA, are collaborating to share emerging science and new technologies in staple food products like rice.
MS. : I think it's very important to put more emphasis on the importance of rice in Africa.
MR. : The Global Development Commons helps to move the latest innovations out of the laboratory and into the field.
MS. : NERICA is the acronym for New Rice for Africa.
MR. : The impact of NERICA can be seen everywhere in Africa, in every country that we've taken the NERICAs. In all of these countries, we've got much higher yield. With this level of production, then Africa is saving something like $100 million USD which otherwise would have gone into the importation of crops from Thailand and from China and from other places.
VOICEOVER: Ultimately, the Global Development Commons empowers people with information. TradeNet is an enterprising private firm in West Africa that puts market-pricing information into the hands of ordinary farmers and traders.
MR. : TradeNet is an innovation. We're using technology to help people within markets move information around faster and more cheaply. It's particularly important in rural areas, because often you'll find producers at quite some disadvantage in terms of selecting a price, or knowing what kind of price to set for their product.
MR. : A farmer on his farm harvests, let's say, 500 kilograms of maize and wishes to find busses. So while he does his day, he will pick his mobile phone and send a text message, so let's say, "have MAIW to sell", maize white to sell, and immediately our system receives this message on a GSM modem, processes it, and looks for all the prospective buyers across Africa.
MR. : So we're finding that really, what we're building is a technology platform that is really a rural computing platform, where you're just facilitating the move of information, and the information can be any kind of information, not just price data. But it can also be microfinance. It can also be health information. It could even be government information. So we're seeing all of these applications emerging that could be plugged into a platform like TradeNet.
VOICEOVER: The challenges of long-term food security require an innovative approach. The Global Development Commons empowers people to find solutions and prosper in the global marketplace.
(End video segment.)
MS. MOTEN: Thank you. In case you didn't know who the woman was at the beginning, that is the administrator of USAID, Henrietta Fore. I will ask the next presentation presenters if they would please kindly come forward. Thank you very much.
(Applause.)
MR. MOHAMEDBAI: This - of this summit. Ladies and gentlemen, colleagues, you heard this morning about partnerships between African higher-education institutions and U.S. higher-education institutions. Well, what this session is going to do is basically to showcase three examples of this partnership between institutions in the U.S. and institutions in Africa. And they're three very concrete and - but they're also very different examples from different parts of Africa: West Africa, East Africa, Central Africa and so on. And covering different areas as well, as you will see over in the - (inaudible, audio break). What I - I'd just like to explain, I didn't have a chance to - (inaudible, audio break) - your own, but what I'd like to explain is how we propose to conduct this particular session. We have three presentations. I'll invite the presenters of each of the example, first to make the presentation. I'll introduce the people who are going to present, and also, because there are multi-partners involved here, there are some partners who are present here but not sitting on the podium, I'll identify them as well.
And then, at the end of each presentation - which should not exceed 20 minutes, please. You have a time limit of not more than 20 minutes, otherwise we'll bust the session and we'll be late for lunch. But just to allow interaction after each section, I'll invite, let's say about four questions specifically on that presentation. And seeking clarification more than anything else, not wanting discussion or anything, just seek clarification. And we go on to the second and to the third with, again with a little question session in between. When all - (inaudible, audio break) - over, we'll throw the discussion open to the floor and there we can talk about not only the cases that we've looked at but also talk about, generally, problems of partnerships, advantages of partnerships, any difficulties, how to go about it and so on. Then it can be a very general discussion about partnerships between African higher-education institutions and U.S. institutions. Okay - (inaudible, audio break) - round, and I'll take, I'll introduce the people and I'll present the example case by case, I won't do the whole thing at one go, so you will see how we proceed.
And the first case we're going to look at is mentioned in your program, if I'm not mistaken. It's the interesting partnership between Kansas State University and University of Lagos, basically to improve the postgraduate- and undergraduate-level business administration and computer studies teaching and learning. And to present - to make the presentation - if I can go back to my - yeah, we have - I have it, yeah. To make the presentation, we have two persons from - both from Kansas State University, which is the partner institution in the U.S. and these are Dr. - excuse me if I don't pronounce your name very well - Dr. Ike Ehie - Ehie, associate professor, Kansas State University, who's next to me here and Dr. Myra Gordon, just next to him, if I'm not mistaken, who is the associate provost of Kansas State University. So the two of them are going to present this example to you and partner - the other partner institution is, of course, University of Lagos.
And from University of Lagos, although not present here - I think Professor Fajana is not here, is he? Professor Fajana from Nigeria? No - not yet. But we have - we have another very important representative from University of Lagos - that's the vice chancellor of University of Lagos himself. And that's Professor Tolu Odugbemi - vice chancellor of - (inaudible) - and here he is just standing and being recognized. (Applause.)
Right, so Dr. - he and Dr. Gordon, the floor is yours. Remember my limit of 20 minutes please. I apply the guillotine, unfortunately. Share the 20 minutes between yourselves. Go ahead.
DR. GORDON: Thank you.
(END)
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