Welcome: Conference banner outside of La Palm Royal Beach Hotel in Accra, Ghana.
Wednesday, August 26, 2009 - Evening Reception
The Africa-U.S. Higher Education Partners Conference participants were welcomed with an evening reception ceremony and brief addresses from the United States Agency for International Development and Higher Education for Development. HED Executive Director Tully Cornick shared 
the general expectations he holds for the initiative in his welcome speech. "While this conference is certainly the result of an initiative created to focus attention and resources on building higher education capacity in Africa, I think it’s also important to note this event is part of a much broader effort under way, one that involves multiple stakeholders throughout public, nonprofit and private sectors," said Cornick (pictured).
USAID’s Africa Bureau Chief at the Office of Sustainable Development
Sarah Moten said partnerships such as those present are like a marriage and should be mutually beneficial and committed to long-term success. She said she hopes these partnerships will strengthen as they evolve.
Silas Lwakabamba, rector of the National University of Rwanda, welcomed the participants and encouraged the development of their plans in the coming days. He is also co-chair of the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative Advisory Board.
Poster session: Partners display partnerships problem models and problem-solving plans in the conference hall.
Thursday, August 28, 2009 -Opening Ceremony
Planning for the road ahead
The morning opening welcome remarks reveal recognition and appreciation for the long-term outcome of the 20 planning grants. The speakers included Peter McPherson, president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities; Terry Hartle, HED board chair and senior vice president of government and public relations at the American Council of Education; Clifford Tagoe, vice-chancellor at the University of Ghana; Alex Tettey-Enyo, Ghana’s minister of Education; and U.S. Ambassador Donald Teitelbaum.
Many showed great confidence in the development of these grants as it relates to impact on a local and national level. Although Ghana’s Minister of Education highlighted the deficiencies in African higher education such as low enrollment, weak infrastructure ICT, weak linkages with other African school, aging faculty and brain drain, he was optimistic about being able to overcome them through higher education initiatives. “African higher education institutions have produced high-level manpower” that continues to contribute to the development the continent, Alex Tettey-Enyo said, adding that the strength of every nation depends on the strength of each human’s capacity. He recalled earlier ties in education between the United States, “Soon after Ghana gained independence, USAID provided Ghanaian students” opportunities to study in Ghana, he said. He noted that the return of similar attention given through supported higher education partnerships was pleasing.
Clifford Tagoe said his institution now has 850 faculty members and 34, 000 students studying in areas such as liberal arts, social sciences, agriculture now evolves to include information technology and post-graduate studies. “African universities are still struggling to mend from decades of neglect,” Tagoe said, highlighting reasons such as inadequate resources. However he acknowledges that there are positive changes and his hopes for the conference include cross-fertilization of ideas and agenda setting for the Initiative.
Association of African Universities Secretary-General Goolam Mohamedbhai, Association of Public and Land-grant Universities President Peter McPherson and USAID Africa Bureau Chief Sarah Moten.
Peter McPherson spoke directly to the partners about developing plans that are problem solving and that never lose sight of the people. “We cannot see entrepreneurship as the domain of the private sector. We all have to be entrepreneurs,” McPherson said as he called partners to consider funding opportunities.
“When we all look back over a year’s time, we have collectively and separately developed a vision that has the real possibilities over the next decade of having a huge impact,” he said.
Read McPherson's complete remarks.
Terry Hartle presented the partnership directors one task: Define the vision more specifically. The work before the 20 partnerships in the days ahead will include fine-tuning plans which took months to prepare.
U.S. Ambassador Donald Teitelbaum said “Education makes countries competitive and people employable." Teitelbaum recognized the many benefits that higher education will yield, particularly in terms of increasing the number of skilled workers and their ability to be self-sufficient. People who have jobs will take care of their own health care and housing, he noted. “Investment in education pays for itself many times over.”
Highlighting the partnerships in Kenya, Sudan and Ghana, the ambassador cited how the successful implementation of the partnership plans would influence today’s most challenging issues. “Here in Ghana we all see the impact of teacher shortages in Ghana.” He referred to the Wheelock College/University of Education Winneba partnership with hope that such a partnership would help.
Education opportunities were key in Teitelbaum’s life and he spoke of social mobility in his personal family history.
“We all see the power of higher education to change lives,” said Teitelbaum. It allows people to “rise from the place that they are to the place that they can be.”
African Union shares its goals in education and calls partners to work together
Vera Brenda Ngosi is working at the African Union Commission in the area of education. The African Union is advocating harmonization in all areas and education has not been left out their mission. Ngosi said since 1982 the AU has been seeking certificate equivalence across member nations for the sake of mobility. “We are all aware that in Africa we have many universities, but they are not of international standards.”
She offered some principles of success to the new higher education partnerships under the Africa Initiative calling them to work collaborative with the African Union goals, “If you want to very fast, go alone, if you want to go very far, go with others.” View Ngosi's complete presentation.
Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative Fellow Earl Kellogg, University of Cape Coast Vice Chancellor Prof Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, and Association of African Universities Secretary-General Goolam Mohamedbhai.
Higher Education Development in Africa
Goolam Mohamedbhai, secretary-general of the Association of African Universities (AAU), announced six areas of development in higher education that could benefit from partnerships. These areas are 1) teaching and learning; 2) postgraduate studies; 3) research; 4) use of information communication technologies; 5) institutional governance and management; and 6) community engagement. Infrastructure though commonly cited as a need in developing higher education is not among the areas Mohamedbhai included as he said this type of development would benefit from other types of aid.
In the area of institutional governance, Mohamedbhai highlighted surveying students and acknowledging their feedback as an important exercise. “Students must have a say, they must contribute.” Problems are cropping up and they are not heard at the high level, he notes. In addition, as academics are promoted as managers, they should engage in some management training to facilitate the transition from the one role to another and better management. See Mohamedbhai's presentation.
Contributions of Higher Education Investment to Development
Higher education for development sounds like a nice idea, but does it really help? What does it provide beyond the direct partnership plan objectives? Earl Kellogg addressed those issues in his presentation. Higher education “strengthens core values for responsible citizenship by improving health, the environment, governance, and education, and reducing poverty, inequality, and crime. [Higher education] has a critical role to play in achieving these goals,” according to Kellogg. These benefits also provide for a better educated and more versatile workforce to face the challenges of globalization and increased mobility. View Kellogg's presentation.
Friday, August 28, 2009 - Speaker Presentations
Vision and broad strategies of the Africa Higher Education Initiative
Silas Lwakabamba (pictured at left), Co-chair of the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative Advisory Board
Tertiary education to economic growth and competitiveness in Africa
Peter Materu, Senior Education Specialist at the World Bank
Higher Educaiton Strategies of the African Development Bank
Boukary Savadogo, Division Manager of Education, Science and Technology at the African Development Bank
Sarah Moten is pictured above with Teshome Alemneh, Africa program officer at HED.
U.S. Government/USAID Higher Educaiton Programs and Overall Priorities
Sarah Moten, USAID’s Africa Bureau Chief at the Office of Sustainable Development
Economic development through partnerships building capacity of higher educaton
Julius Ayuk Tabe, Manager for West and Central Africa at Cisco Networking Academy
Support to institutional partnerships to build capacities of higher education institutions in
sub-Saharan Africa
Amir Ramzan, Deputy Country Director, British Council
Strategies and consensus of World Higher Education Summits convened by UN agencies and their implications for higher educaiton development in Africa
Alice Lamptey, Senior Coordinator at ADEA
Pascal Hoba of the Association of African Universities and Senior Coordinator Alice Lamptey at the Association for the Development of Africa.
Saturday, August 29, 2009
Guidance to partnerships in Africa
Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang, Vice-Chancellor of the University of Cape Coast
“We have a common enterprise and our common enterprise is education,” said Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang in her address to the partners on Saturday morning. The vice chancellor of the University of Cape Coast said there are many positive impacts of partnerships when they are equal. With the challenges in African institutions of large classrooms and brain drain, which was consistently noted during the conference, Opoku-Agyemang acknowledged the need for collaborative partnerships at the higher education level but emphasized that partners must consider one another as equals. Although each partner will contribute something different, the value of the contributions should be considered as significant.
Opoku-Agyemang thanked USAID for the Africa-U.S. Initiative concept and the events that led to the three-day conference. “I’ve learned so much and the interactions have been healthy,” she said. Reflecting on her position as vice chancellor of the University of Cape Coast, she noted “This position was not conceived for a woman,” and that it is not a warm feeling being the only woman among male counterparts. She directly addressed the Association of African Universities, calling on the organization to support mentoring programs for girls and create an encouraging atmosphere for building their leadership skills.
Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang
Professor Naana Jane Opku-Agyemang is the first woman vice chancellor of a university in Ghana, Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang has BA (Hons) with a Diploma in Education from the University of Cape Coast, Ghana, Diplome Superiere D’Etudes Francais from the University of Dakar, Senegal ; MA and PhD degrees from York University in Toronto, Canada.
At the University of Cape Coast she has been head of the Department of English, Dean of the Faculty of Arts, andFounding Dean of the School of Graduate Studies and Research.
Until her appointment as Vice Chancellor she was:
• Academic Director, World Learning/School for International Training, USA (WL/SIT) [History and Cultures of the African Diaspora from 1997-2008]
• Member of the Dean’s Advisory Board of WL/SIT.
• Twice honored for outstanding performance in Advancing International Education by SIT/WL, in 2003 and 2007.
• Exchange Professor, Eastern Washington University, Cheney, WA USA Spring Quarter, 1993
She is the country Director of Ohio University’s Teach in Ghana program.
She has researched and published in areas including Literature by Women from Africa, Oral Literature in Ghana, and issues relating to the Trade in Enslaved Africans. Professor Naana Jane Opoku-Agyemang is the Vice President of the UCC National Alumni Association and member of a number of national and international associations/committees and boards.
Tully Cornick – Higher Education for Development
Executive Director Tully Cornick leads Higher Education for Development in strengthening ties between U.S. and host country higher education institutions and other partners to yield strong partnerships and sustainable results in developing countries. Cornick was most recently a senior administrator in the Bureau for Latin America and Caribbean Affairs at the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). Previously, he was deputy mission director for USAID/El Salvador. He has extensive experience and knowledge in international development and 23 years of experience at USAID. Cornick holds a doctorate in Development Sociology from Cornell University and a master’s degree in Rural Sociology and Agricultural Economics from Ohio State University.
Earl Kellogg – Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative/APLU
Earl D. Kellogg is a Senior Fellow at APLU and professor emeritus at the University of Illinois. He directed the Africa-U.S. Higher Education Initiative from 2007 - 2008. Dr. Kellogg was also the former Associate Provost for International Affairs at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). His other previous positions have included Senior Vice President and Chief Operating Officer of Winrock International (1992-1997) and Executive Director of the Consortium for International Development (1985-1992). He was a Professor of Agricultural Economics at the University of Illinois from 1971-1986 and 1997 - 2005. As Associate Provost for International Affairs, Dr. Kellogg provided leadership for expanding and enriching the international dimension throughout UIUC and supervised eleven international academic and administrative units.
Dr. Kellogg has extensive research and teaching related to the economics of agricultural development, technology development and transfer systems, and the effects in the U.S. of agricultural development in developing countries. He is a leading international authority on the international dimension of the university. He has worked in more than 15 countries for numerous international and U.S. institutions including USAID, FAO, CGIAR, IFPRI and the Ford Foundation. He has worked on issues of development in Africa for more than 32 years, having written his PhD thesis on livestock development in Nigeria. Dr. Kellogg earned his Ph.D. degree in agricultural economics from Michigan State University.
Alice Lamptey – Association for the Development of Education in Africa
Alice Sena Lamptey is the Coordinator of the Working Group on Higher Education (WGHE) of the Association for the Development of Education in Africa (ADEA), which has been based at the AAU in Accra since 2002. She specializes in program design, management, monitoring and evaluation for the fields of education, reproduction health (HIV/AIDS and family planning), gender and women and child rights. She was the NGO Main Delegate for Africa on the Program Coordination Board of UNADIS (2000 -2003). Alice earned her BA in Political Science and History and an MBA from the University of Ghana, Legon.
Silas Lwakabamba – National University of Rwanda
Born in 1947 and educated in Tanzania, Professor Silas Lwakabamba went to the University of Leeds for his training in engineering. After graduating with B.Sc (1971) and PhD (1975) in Mechanical Engineering from Leeds, he returned to Tanzania to join the staff of the Faculty of Engineering, which had just started in the University of Dar es Salaam. During his time at the University of Dar es Salaam he progressed rapidly through the ranks and attained his professorship in 1981. He gained managerial experience along the way, becoming Head of Department, Associate Dean and eventually Dean of the Faculty of Engineering. He worked for 12 years as Director of Training and Extension Services for the African Region Centre for Engineering Design and Manufacturing (ARCEDEM), Ibadan, Nigeria. Professor Lwakabamba is the founding Rector of the Rwandan Institute of Science and Technology (KIST) until his current appointment as the Rector of the National University of Rwanda in 2006. He has also been appointed as Chairman of several Boards of Directors, including Rwanda Information Technology Agency (RITA) and Rwandatel and others. He holds several University distinctions and honorary degrees and is member of various scholarly societies and higher education oriented associations.
Peter Materu – World Bank
Peter Materu is a Senior Education Specialist in the World Bank currently located at the Headquarters in Washington DC where he focuses on tertiary education and skills development. Prior to joining the World Bank, Dr. Materu was a Professor of Electrical Engineering at the University of Dar es Salaam (UDSM), Tanzania where he also served as Dean of the Faculty of Engineering and later as Director for Postgraduate Studies. He holds graduate degrees in both engineering and education.
Peter McPherson – Association of Public and Land-grant Universities
Peter McPherson is president of the Association of Public and Land-grant Universities (APLU). McPherson is the former Chair of Dow Jones and Company. He is the founding Co-chair of the Partnership to Cut Hunger and Poverty in Africa and the Chair of the Boards of IFDC, an organization working on fertilizer and seed issues in the developing world. He is also Chair of the Board of Harvest Plus, an organization working on breeding crops for better nutrition.
Prior to joining APLU, McPherson was president of Michigan State University for 11 years. McPherson was an Executive Vice President with Bank of America and Deputy Secretary of the U.S. Treasury. He also was Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development and, in that role, was responsible for the U. S. effort for famine relief in Africa in 1984-85. He was a partner and head of the Washington office of a large Ohio law firm. He was a Special Assistant to President Gerald Ford in the White House.
Goolam Mohamedbhai – Association of African Universities
Professor Goolam Mohamedbhai is the former Vice-Chancellor of the University of Mauritius, a position he held from 1995 to 2005. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Doctorate degrees in Civil Engineering from the University of Manchester, UK, and did his postdoctoral research at the University of California, Berkeley, under a Fulbright-Hays award. He has also been conferred an honorary doctorate by the Mykolas Romeris University, Lithuania, and the Institute of Business Management of Karachi, Pakistan. He is presently the Secretary-General of the Association of African Universities, a position he took up on 1st August 2008. He was the President of the International Association of Universities, based at UNESCO, Paris, from 2004-2008. He has also been Chairman of several other university associations, including the Association of Commonwealth Universities (2003-2004), the University Mobility in the Indian Ocean Rim (2001-2004), and the University of the Indian Ocean (1998-2005). He is currently Chairman of the Regional Scientific Committee for Africa of the UNESCO Global Forum on Higher Education, Research and Knowledge and a member of the governing Council of the United Nations University.
Sarah E. Moten - U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)
Dr. Sarah E. Moten currently serves as both Chief of the USAID Africa Bureau Office of Sustainable Development, Education Division and Deputy Coordinator for Basic Education for the U.S. Government. As Division Chief, Dr. Moten manages a team of education professionals that provides guidance and technical assistance to 21 African bilateral education programs which provides $200+ million per year. She is the manager for the Africa Education Initiative which will provide $600 million of funds to support Africa’s education programs in teacher training, working with marginalized populations, textbooks and learning materials development and production, and the provision of girls’ scholarships. In addition, Dr. Moten manages a $30 million School Fees Program that works with countries to develop a holistic approach to education to provide access and opportunities for children to stay in school until completion of high a school.
Dr. Moten was Director of International Affairs at the University of the District of Columbia; an International Affairs Consultant; Special Assistant to the President Emerita for the National Council of Negro Women; Deputy Assistant Secretary for International Refugee Assistance (Department of State); and Peace Corps Country Director in Swaziland, Kenya and Sierra Leone.
Dr. Moten has expertise in the areas of Diplomacy, Education, Refugee Affairs, Population Issues, Women and Children Issues, Economic Development and Environmental Policies. She has traveled extensively and has spoken to audiences in many countries.
Dr. Moten has an earned Doctorate from Clark Atlanta University and Honorary Doctorates from Elizabeth City State University, Chicago State University and University of Massachusetts/Boston. In 2008 Dr. Moten received The Medal of Freedom from The Foundation for Democracy in Africa and Swarthmore’s Worldwide Award for Women in Education and Government.
Boukary Savadogo - The African Development Bank Group (ADB)
Dr. Boukary Savadogo is the Manager of the Division of Education, Science and Technology of the African Development Bank (ADB) that is responsible for managing the ADB’s portfolio of operations in education, science and technology for the 53 Regional member countries (RMCs). He joined the ADB in 1997, as Senior Education Specialist. He has been the Task Team Leader of more than 60 projects, programs and studies, successively in the five sub-regions of African, including multinational operations.
Dr. Savadogo has about 20 years of professional experience, mostly in higher education. He started his full time career in 1978 with an appointment to a senior level position in the Office of the Minister of National Education of Burkina Faso. He joined the Faculty of the University of Ouagadougou in Burkina Faso in September 1984 as Lecturer in Management and Director of Studies of the Institut Universitaire de Technologie (IUT). He was a member of the University Committee for the Evaluation of Faculty Research and of the University-based Center for Economic Studies and Research in the School of Economics (CEDRES).
From 1987 to 1997, he was full Professor of Management and Policy at the Centre Africain d'Etudes Supérieures en Gestion (CESAG), a regional graduate management training institution located in Dakar, Senegal. Dr. Savadogo lectured and wrote on education, management, and other development issues.
Dr Savadogo holds a Ph.D. in Educational Administration from the University of Iowa, USA (1983). He also holds several professional certificates including Training of Trainers in Management from the Lyon Graduate School of Business, France (1987) and Strategic Management and International Affairs from the University of Pittsburgh, USA (The Katz Graduate School of Business and the University Center for International Studies, 1989).
Julius Ayuk Tabe - Cisco Networking Academy
Julius Ayuk Tabe is the Area Academy Manager for West and Central Africa. Before joining the Cisco Networking Academy, Tabe worked in utility distribution (electricity) in Cameroon for almost fourteen years and rose to the position of Business Unit Leader. Tabe has headed the Cisco Networking Academy in West and Central Africa for the past three years where over 10000 students are now studying in more than 200 Academies. The Academies specialize in training students from all walks-of-life, helping them become more employable and giving them opportunities in ICT careers.
Tabe has spoken to thousands of people (mostly students, graduates and job-seekers) and has met with high-level people in administrations across the region, in an effort to create opportunities to better peoples’ lives. He takes pride in the fact that he plays a role in positively impacting the lives of others. Tabe holds a Bachelors degree in computer science and mathematics from Keele University (UK) and a Master’s degree in control engineering from the University of Sheffield, also in the United Kingdom.
Clifford Tagoe – University of Ghana
Clifford Tagoe is Vice-Chancellor of the University of Ghana. A Professor of Anatomy, he has taught and held administrative positions at the University of Ghana Medical School. He has also taught and conducted research at Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, the college of Medicine at the University of Ibadan, the University of Leicester in the United Kingdom and Tulane University School of Medicine in the United States.