Globalisation of learning—The role of the universities in the south: With a special look at sub-Saharan Africa

Abstract

The first part of the paper discusses the uneven distribution of resources to higher education between the North and South. It then takes up the attitude of the World Bank towards university education in the South and does this by going through several World Bank publications and dwells on the 1994 publication called ‘Higher Education: The Lessons of Experience’. It also discusses the likely effects for the university sector in the South, especially in Africa, of the Jomtien conference on ‘education for all’. The linkage phenomenon between universities in the North and the South is discussed. The following question is raised: Is it at all possible to establish a North South cooperation in the university sector of an empowering kind? Negative as well as positive examples are given. The link that is really missing is then discussed. This is the link between the elites in the country and the people, the link between indigenous knowledge and the imported academic knowledge. This paper argues for a transformation of the universities of the South to include local knowledge. The most common problems of the South can only be understood by analyzing local experiences. A plea is being made for discussing indigenous education. Such a discussion compels us to come to terms with the situation in which even the social construction of a people's reality is and has been constantly defined elsewhere. For Africa to find her way out of the abyss in which she finds herself an alternative national development model is needed. This model is not likely to be found unless the African universities are strengthened and transformed. The transformation would have to do with a strengthening of indigenous research based on local experience.