PANAPRESS
Panafrican News Agency
Pan African University: Education for renaissance (News feature)
Addis Ababa, Ethiopia (PANA) – Nearly half a century ago, when the founding fathers of the Organization of African Union (OAU) – the predecessor to the decade-old African Union (AU) – embarked on rebuilding Africa, a continent quashed by slavery and colonial systems, they foresaw education at the heart of this tough mission.
The likes of Kwame Nkrumah and Emperor Haile-Selasie I, to name but very few, had a taste of education and wished the same, if not a better level of enlightenment, for the hundreds of millions of inhabitants of the continent who were dehumanized by the slave and colonial masters.
Africa’s rich cultures, identity, traditions and knowledge passed on through generations were almost entirely destroyed systematically to ease the exploitation of its human and rich natural resources and make the West a world ecstasy.
And the way to regain all the lost riches of the continent is by educating its children which, in turn, will facilitate its integration, according to the stewards of Pan-Africanism.
And as if it wanted its action to coincide with the 10th year since its birth from the OAU, the AU last week made the first move to take on one of the Pan-African ideals, establishing the Pan African University.
Launched at a ceremony in Addis Ababa, home to the AU Headquarters, the new Pan African University will have five colleges – one in every region of the continent each specializing in a specific field of science.
A college to become the breeding ground of the continent’s space scientists will be in South Africa while that of water and energy sciences will be located in Algeria.
Another institution for the study of basic sciences, technology and innovation will be hosted by Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
The University of Ibadan in Nigeria will be home to a college for life and earth sciences, and the University of Yaounde in Cameroon – representing central Africa – will house a school for governance, humanities and social sciences.
“The lack of adequately-trained academic staff has rendered African universities globally less competitive, leading to brain drain from the continent,” said AU Commission Chairperson, Jean Ping, in a statement at the launch ceremony.
According to a 2008 ranking of world universities, only four African universities were featured among the top 500 universities of the world. Despite the influx of students into African universities, only 6 percent of Africans have access to higher education, compared to a world average of 30 percent.
“This is regrettable, given the acknowledged correlation between the percentage of a society’s university-educated population and the society’s social and economic progress,” Ping said.
The European Union is the major financier of the first continental educational institution in Africa to be run by the AU Commission for Human Resources, Science and Technology tasked with coordinating the five components of the University and ensuring their smooth operation.
EU diplomat Harry Debaker said the idea is to foster a European-like environment where African universities attract students from all over the continent. “I very much hope that in a future speech I could end by saying that 'across Africa, millions of students are pursuing their studies in countries which are not their own, often in languages which are not their own',” he said.
An Egyptian representative at the launch noted that much of North Africa had gone through its Arab Spring in politics. Now it is the time for the continent to experience a spring in science and technology, according to him.
First discussed in 2005, the Pan-African University is designed to boost education standards, science and technological innovations across Africa to facilitate faster regional integration and development.
In line with the wishes of the founders of the OAU, the vision of the Pan African University is “an integrated, prosperous peaceful Africa, an Africa driven and managed by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena,” reads a publication by the AU and the Association of African Universities.
It is also at the launch of this University that the AU on Thursday honoured several of the continent’s top women scientists for the second time with the Kwame Nkrumah Science Awards.
The continental prize honouring the achievements of women scientists was started in 2010.
This year, the prize of US$ 20,000 and a silver medal went to each of the seven women for outstanding achievements and valuable scientific discoveries.
Etheresia Pretorius of South Africa won for electron microscopy research into inflammations within the human body. She calls microscopy an open field because it's an older technique, often overlooked by scientists looking for something more exciting to investigate.
Rose Gana Fomban Leke of Cameroon was honoured for her ground-breaking research on prevention of malaria and other parasitic infections, and Ebtehal El-Demerdash of Egypt, for research on modern drugs used in treating forms of cancer most resistant to chemotherapy.
Dosso Mireille Carmen and Kakou Yao Rita of Cote d'Ivoire were chosen for studies on epidemiological surveillance of infectious diseases, and for contributions to the understanding of infrared spectroscopy and crystallography, respectively.
Maureen Coetzee of South Africa, a world renowned entomologist, was recognized for malaria research, including insecticide resistance and novel ways of controlling the disease. Nermin El Semary of Egypt was named for her investigations into the biotechnological aspects of microalgae.
A marriage between the Pan-African University and these women and many more other scientists across the continent, will perhaps give Africa children who would herald its renaissance.
“It is incumbent on Africa, as the cradle of humanity, to cultivate excellence and strive to take its rightful place on the world stage,” Ping remarked.
-0- PANA-OR/VAO 18Dec2011
By Omar Redi,
PANA Correspondent
The likes of Kwame Nkrumah and Emperor Haile-Selasie I, to name but very few, had a taste of education and wished the same, if not a better level of enlightenment, for the hundreds of millions of inhabitants of the continent who were dehumanized by the slave and colonial masters.
Africa’s rich cultures, identity, traditions and knowledge passed on through generations were almost entirely destroyed systematically to ease the exploitation of its human and rich natural resources and make the West a world ecstasy.
And the way to regain all the lost riches of the continent is by educating its children which, in turn, will facilitate its integration, according to the stewards of Pan-Africanism.
And as if it wanted its action to coincide with the 10th year since its birth from the OAU, the AU last week made the first move to take on one of the Pan-African ideals, establishing the Pan African University.
Launched at a ceremony in Addis Ababa, home to the AU Headquarters, the new Pan African University will have five colleges – one in every region of the continent each specializing in a specific field of science.
A college to become the breeding ground of the continent’s space scientists will be in South Africa while that of water and energy sciences will be located in Algeria.
Another institution for the study of basic sciences, technology and innovation will be hosted by Kenya's Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology (JKUAT).
The University of Ibadan in Nigeria will be home to a college for life and earth sciences, and the University of Yaounde in Cameroon – representing central Africa – will house a school for governance, humanities and social sciences.
“The lack of adequately-trained academic staff has rendered African universities globally less competitive, leading to brain drain from the continent,” said AU Commission Chairperson, Jean Ping, in a statement at the launch ceremony.
According to a 2008 ranking of world universities, only four African universities were featured among the top 500 universities of the world. Despite the influx of students into African universities, only 6 percent of Africans have access to higher education, compared to a world average of 30 percent.
“This is regrettable, given the acknowledged correlation between the percentage of a society’s university-educated population and the society’s social and economic progress,” Ping said.
The European Union is the major financier of the first continental educational institution in Africa to be run by the AU Commission for Human Resources, Science and Technology tasked with coordinating the five components of the University and ensuring their smooth operation.
EU diplomat Harry Debaker said the idea is to foster a European-like environment where African universities attract students from all over the continent. “I very much hope that in a future speech I could end by saying that 'across Africa, millions of students are pursuing their studies in countries which are not their own, often in languages which are not their own',” he said.
An Egyptian representative at the launch noted that much of North Africa had gone through its Arab Spring in politics. Now it is the time for the continent to experience a spring in science and technology, according to him.
First discussed in 2005, the Pan-African University is designed to boost education standards, science and technological innovations across Africa to facilitate faster regional integration and development.
In line with the wishes of the founders of the OAU, the vision of the Pan African University is “an integrated, prosperous peaceful Africa, an Africa driven and managed by its own citizens and representing a dynamic force in the international arena,” reads a publication by the AU and the Association of African Universities.
It is also at the launch of this University that the AU on Thursday honoured several of the continent’s top women scientists for the second time with the Kwame Nkrumah Science Awards.
The continental prize honouring the achievements of women scientists was started in 2010.
This year, the prize of US$ 20,000 and a silver medal went to each of the seven women for outstanding achievements and valuable scientific discoveries.
Etheresia Pretorius of South Africa won for electron microscopy research into inflammations within the human body. She calls microscopy an open field because it's an older technique, often overlooked by scientists looking for something more exciting to investigate.
Rose Gana Fomban Leke of Cameroon was honoured for her ground-breaking research on prevention of malaria and other parasitic infections, and Ebtehal El-Demerdash of Egypt, for research on modern drugs used in treating forms of cancer most resistant to chemotherapy.
Dosso Mireille Carmen and Kakou Yao Rita of Cote d'Ivoire were chosen for studies on epidemiological surveillance of infectious diseases, and for contributions to the understanding of infrared spectroscopy and crystallography, respectively.
Maureen Coetzee of South Africa, a world renowned entomologist, was recognized for malaria research, including insecticide resistance and novel ways of controlling the disease. Nermin El Semary of Egypt was named for her investigations into the biotechnological aspects of microalgae.
A marriage between the Pan-African University and these women and many more other scientists across the continent, will perhaps give Africa children who would herald its renaissance.
“It is incumbent on Africa, as the cradle of humanity, to cultivate excellence and strive to take its rightful place on the world stage,” Ping remarked.
-0- PANA-OR/VAO 18Dec2011
By Omar Redi,
PANA Correspondent
