Academic Institutions In Africa Research Articles

Strategies and tools for knowledge management practices in selected academic libraries in Nigeria and South Africa

Background: This study investigate strategies and tools for knowledge management practices (KMPs), in selected academic libraries in Nigeria and South Africa. The rationale were due to divergent library routines, increasingly users’, influx of information resources in university library repository and Internet, among other factors. KMPs are touted key ingredients for library practices. Objectives: Based on the aforementioned statement, the study investigate strategies and tools for KMPs in selected academic libraries in Nigeria and South Africa. Methods: The quantitative research approach was based on survey, made use of questionnaire to collect data from respondents in the selected academic libraries in South Africa and Nigeria. The data collected were analysed using descriptive statistical tools. Results: Findings indicate that, knowledge management is practiced in diverse ways to include group discussions/meetings, apprenticeships, socialisation and communities of practice, seminars, conferences and workshops. KM tools of decision support systems, database management systems, web portals, electronic document management systems (EDMS), management information systems, were used for generic and specific work operations in the library. Codification strategy serves to deepen how new knowledge promoted KM practices in academic libraries. Conclusion: Universally KMPs is not new, though still at its infancy in some academic institutions in Africa. The need to continually share knowledge to advance quality service delivery in meeting users’ information needs becomes essential. The study recommends insightful methods of coding information and knowledge as a way to re-organise and disseminate local collections, while librarians apply various KM platforms to regulate planning KM activities in academic libraries.

The Usage of African Religious Symbolism, Proverbial Wisdom and Myths in Conflict Transformation and Peacebuilding

All civilizations continue to tackle the challenge of finding peaceful solutions to protracted violent conflicts arising from everyday economic and socio-political interactions. In African societies, traditional religious beliefs, symbolism, proverbs, myths, rituals and practices constitute valuable resources for conflict management strategies for resolving everyday conflicts among individuals and inter- and –intra ethno-political forces. Nonetheless, violent and deadly conflicts continue to erupt periodically which necessitates the intervention of authoritative third parties (such as traditional political actors and community elders) employing mediation strategies like consensus-building and reconciliation, in order mitigate or restrain violence and restore peace and stability in the society. This comes as a surprise considering the fact that the religious and philosophical bases of African conflict transformation mechanisms has been given less attention in most of the peace and conflict programmes in the leading academic institutions in Africa and overseas. Hence, this piece enhances our understanding of the role of African religious doctrines, canons and philosophy expressed as proverbs, myths and symbols underpinning conflict resolution and peace-building activities. These African expressive cultural elements conform to the universal values of peace, tolerance, love and the respect for human life embedded in the major world religions. In sum, they have the potential to contribute immensely to the existing peace education programmes and the development of moral values and ethical norms for the building of sustainable peace in Africa and beyond.

Open access practices: roadmap to research paper publications in academic institutions

PurposeThe purpose of this paper is to investigate open access practices (OAPs): a roadmap to research paper publications in academic institutions. The rationale that necessitates this scenario was the dwindling nature of the inability of researchers and lecturers/academics in African academic institutions to access related materials in their subject areas, while also advancing effort to publish their research papers in open access.Design/methodology/approachThis paper applied a qualitative research approach, in which literature was harvested from Web of Science for developing and writing the research paper.FindingsThis paper establishes that OAP, when embraced, could advance and transform research paper publication in higher education institutions because its practices are globally welcome. The authors reiterate that considering the benefits accrued to OAPs, knowledge gap in terms of literature and methodological approach still exists in academic institutions in Africa; hence, the authors promote OAPs as a roadmap for research paper publications in academic institutions. It is expected that by OAPs, researchers would no longer struggle to harvest literature, of theses, dissertations and other research papers, deposited in institutional repositories required for deepening their research activities because those literature studies or those documents have to be paid for through subscription fees of published papers and publishing in open access by journals. This is what most academics have experienced because, most times, the literature which academics harvest from the internet and different institutional repositories and databases is already paid for by the different institutions that housed the literature where it is domiciled. For instance, most academic library institutions in the world pay for subscription fees of research papers and documents. This is to advance and facilitate deepened research activities in their institutions, when researchers, academics and students want to harvest materials through their university library websites.Originality/valueThis paper, which considers OAP as a roadmap to research paper publications in academic institutions in Africa, is insightful and unique considering the wave of OAP globally.

Determinants of effective organisational capacity training: lessons from a training programme on health workforce development with participants from three African countries

BackgroundHealth systems in sub-Saharan Africa face multifaceted capacity challenges to fulfil their mandates of service provision and governance of their resources. Four academic institutions in Africa implemented a World Health Organisation-funded collaborative project encompassing training, curriculum development, and partnership to strengthen national leadership and training capacity for health workforce development. This paper looks into the training component of the project, a blended Masters programme in public health that sought to improve the capacity of personnel involved in teaching or management/development of human resources for health. The paper aims to explore factors influencing contribution of training to organisational capacity development.MethodsWe chose a case study design. Semi-structured interviews were held with 18 trainees that were enrolled in the training programme, and who were affiliated to health ministries or public health training institutions. We gathered additional data through document reviews, observation, and interviews with 14 key informants associated with the programme and/or working in the collaborating institutions. The evidence gathered were analysed thematically.ResultsThirteen of the 18 training participants stayed in the target institutions and contributed to improved capacity of their institutions in the fields of management, policy, planning, research, training, or curriculum development. Five left for private and international agencies due to dissatisfaction with payment, work conditions, or career prospect.Factors that were associated with the training, trainees, and the institutional and broader context, determine contribution of training to organisational capacity development. These include relevance of newly acquired knowledge and skills set of trainees to the role/position they assume in the organisation; recognition of trainees by employing organisations in terms of promotion or assignment of challenging tasks; and motivation and retention of trained staff.ConclusionTraining, even if relevant and applicable, makes no more than a ‘latent’ contribution, one which is activated and realised through alignment of clusters of interacting contextual and relational factors related to the target institutions and trained personnel. While not predictable, implementers need to focus more deliberately on the likely interaction and best possible alignments between training relevance, student selection for potential to contribute, recognition and career advancement potential.

University partnership to address the shortage of healthcare professionals in Africa

The shortage of qualified health professionals is a major obstacle to achieving better health outcomes in many parts of the world, particularly in Africa. The role of health science universities in addressing this shortage is to provide quality education and continuing professional development opportunities for the healthcare workforce. Academic institutions in Africa, however, are also short of faculty and especially under-resourced. We describe the initial phase of an institutional partnership between the Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences (MUHAS) and the University of California San Francisco (UCSF) centred on promoting medical education at MUHAS. The challenges facing the development of the partnership include the need: (1) for new funding mechanisms to provide long-term support for institutional partnerships, and (2) for institutional change at UCSF and MUHAS to recognize and support faculty activities that are important to the partnership. The growing interest in global health worldwide offers opportunities to explore new academic partnerships. It is important that their development and implementation be documented and evaluated as well as for lessons to be shared.

The perception of African students towards the host population in Pune, India

Student's migration, like any other migration involves a continuous process of interaction through which members of different social and cultural background come in contact with one another and together, with the new socio-cultural situations. In the University of Pune, students of different social, ethnic, cultural and linguistic backgrounds from different continents and countries come in search for academic knowledge. This paper about African students in Pune city, deals with their perceptions towards the host population and the inter and intra racial relationships and cross-cultural interactions. In this study both qualitative and quantitative data have been used. In order to gather information about the African students' community life: and their national and religious association, a quasi-participant observation technique was employed. In order to cross check the reliability of the observational data, many informants were interviewed. It is found out that due to many pull and push factors African students move to India. The push factors include, the shortage of higher academic institutions in Africa, and a certain extent political instability in African countries. The pull factors include, the relatively affordable educational expenses in India, the fast and less complicated University and College admission procedures in India. Keywords : integration, ethnocentrism, perception, stereotype, race, Pune IFE PsychologIA Vol. 14(1) 2006: 40-59