African Colleges - African Schools - African university - Africa Education - Africa Portal - Africa Universities

STUDY ABROAD PROGRAMS TAKING PLACE IN AFRICA CURRENTLY USED BY STUDENTS ATTENDING FIVE COLLEGES INSTITUTIONS

The word document linked below is a listing of study abroad programs in Africa currently ‘recommended’ or ‘approved’ for students attending Amherst, Mount Holyoke, Smith, and the University of Massachusetts-Amherst. Amherst, Mount Holyoke and Smith work from a list of approved programs, with a petition process for consideration of other programs. UMass has no formal approved list, but does recommend certain programs; approval must be obtained from the study abroad advisor and/or a student’s academic advisor on an individual basis. Hampshire’s approach is student-centered. It should be noted that at all institutions, current and new programs are assessed annually, and programs are added/deleted. Students of course must apply to these programs individually and be accepted by the sponsor of the program. Please click below to see the list.

The Five College African Studies Certificate Program allows students on each of the five campuses to develop a concentration of study devoted to Africa that complements any major. The certificate course of study is based on six courses on Africa to be selected with the guidance and approval of an African studies certificate program advisor.

Faculty at the five campuses sustain a range of collaborative activities through the African Studies Council, which includes representatives from each of the five institutions. Among these activities are oversight of the Five College African Studies Certificate Program, organization of a very active Five College Faculty Seminar in African Studies, and sponsorship of lectures, other cultural events, and longer residencies by distinguished visitors (most recently, Nobel laureate Wole Soyinka, film-maker Safi Faye, and writer Ama Ata Aidoo). In Spring 2005, Five Colleges, Incorporated was awarded a three-year grant from the US Department of Education (Undergraduate International Studies and Foreign Languages Program), “Expanding African Languages and African Studies at the Five Colleges: A Consortial Approach.” Members of the Council collaborate to implement components of the grant, including development of new courses by faculty outside African Studies.

Since mid-1997, the African Studies Council has acted as the editorial board of the African Studies Review, the principal journal of the African Studies Association. Council members Ralph Faulkingham (UMass) and Mitzi Goheen (Amherst) co-edit the journal, and Eugenia Herbert (Mount Holyoke) is book review editor.

A meeting of African higher education experts, organized by the African Union (AU) and hosted by the Association of African Universities (AAU) with sponsorship from the Department for International Development (DFID, UK), ended yesterday. The meeting brought together experts from regional research institutions, sub-regional higher education bodies, and international development partners who support higher education in Africa to discuss the issues, challenges and the process of revitalising higher education in Africa.

Two working documents, a synthesis report on revitalising higher education and a report of the first African Union meeting of experts on revitalisation of higher education in Africa formed the basis of discussion at the meeting. Issues surrounding student enrolment, institutional governance, gender, the brain drain, health and infrastructure were identified and discussed.

A major outcome of the meeting was a proposal to draft and disseminate an analytical report that would bring together key issues and arguments developed in previous initiatives and sessions, together with the interventions articulated during this meeting. The report will, at the same time, seek to engage with Africa’s political leadership as well as managers of higher education. This task was to be taken in hand by the African Union Commission for Human Resources, Science and Technology (HSRT), with the technical backing of the Association of African Universities.

Speaking to the media after the meeting Dr. Botlhale O. Tema, Director of HSRT, and Prof. Akilagpa Sawyerr, Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities, stressed the special role Africa’s higher education institutions contribute to continental development by coming up with ideas and the knowledge for improving Africa’s social and economic conditions.

Prof. Sawyer explained that each of the series of meetings held of stakeholders and experts had added to the understanding of the problems facing higher education and the way forward. He told the press that the just-completed Accra meeting had helped to flesh out the framework for a programme of action for the Second Decade of Education in Africa, declared by the AU Ministerial meeting held in Addis Ababa last January. For the first time, higher education was identified as one of the focus areas for the Decade.

The 63rd meeting of the Executive Board of the Association of African Universities (AAU) will be held in Harare, Zimbabwe from 8th to 10th June 2006. This meeting will focus on the review of the work of the Secretariat and discuss work programmes for 2006/2007. Among other things, the Executive Board will review:

- The Report of the Secretary-General

- The Bye-Laws of the Association

- Administrative and Financial Matters

- Programmes and Membership Matters etc.

The 15-member Board comprises Vice Chancellors from Central, Eastern, Northern, Southern and Western Africa, with Prof. Njabulo Ndebele, Vice Chancellor of the University of Cape Town in South Africa and President of the Association as its Chair. The meeting will be hosted by Prof. Abel Tswana, Vice Chancellor of Bindura University, Zimbabwe, a member of the Board.

The Association was formed on 12th November 1967 at a meeting of heads of African institutions of higher learning in Rabat, Morocco, and was temporarily located in Khartoum till in 1970 when Ghana won the bid to accommodate the Secretariat in Accra. The Association currently has 194 institutional members, with six more due to join in June.

Over the years, the Association has championed the cause of higher education in Africa and has addressed issues of access to higher education, funding of tertiary institutions and assuring quality in higher education institutions. In February 2005, the AAU was given the mandate by its members to coordinate regional initiatives and to establish a regional consortium to facilitate easier access to the Internet at lower cost. The upshot has been the establishment of a Research and Education Networking Unit at the AAU Secretariat to constitute a focal point for the promotion of the various ICT initiatives affecting higher education on the continent, and to facilitate networking among researchers and educators. During the two-day meeting, the Board will among other things, receive a full report on this important initiative from the Secretary General.