The Role of Higher Education for Sustainable Development in Africa

Abstract

This paper argues that the rising sustainability concern in Africa’s development is making new capacity-building demands on African universities, which may have a far-reaching impact not only in altering the structure and functioning of these universities but also in enhancing their relevance and utility to society. The rising capacity-building demand is for the generation of professionals who are trained in systemic and holistic thinking, familiar with field-based conditions, experienced in problem-solving approaches and endowed with leadership qualities for mediating among multiple groups of stakeholders, and who are ready to tackle complex issues such as poverty reduction, rural and urban livelihood improvement, resource development, management and conservation, biodiversity preservation and so forth. Traditional academic/disciplinary structures cannot cope with these demands adequately. The problem-driven nature of sustainable development concern is changing the relationship between university and communities. There is a need to change higher education curricular to address this changing relationship. In addition, it is important to change university departmental structures to promote inter-disciplinary approaches. This will lead to the transformation of higher education’s role to knowledge creation, exchange, and sharing for sustainable development.

Keywords: Higher Education, Sustainable Development, Africa