Workshop Report

Association of African Universities Strategic Planning Workshop: Strengthening Higher Education Stakeholder Relations in Africa Kenya School of Monetary Studies (KSMS) Nairobi, Kenya November 29 – 30, 2011 WORKSHOP REPORT 1 BACKROUND AND OBJECTIVES 1. The Association of African Universities (AAU) has entered into a partnership with the Association of Universities and Colleges of Canada (AUCC) to strengthen higher education stakeholder relations in Africa. Through this partnership, undertaken with financial support of the Government of Canada through the Canadian International Development Agency (CIDA), African universities will be linked more closely with the private sector, positioning them to better develop the skills and knowledge to meet their countries’ needs. 2. The three-year project, Strengthening Higher Education Stakeholder Relations in Africa (SHESRA), is the outcome of the presentation of the AAU Core Programme (2009 – 2013) to development partners at the 12th General Conference in Abuja, Nigeria in May 2009, and falls under Sub-theme 1 (Renewal and Strengthening of African Higher Education Institutions) of the Core Programme. The project has three key components: i. Strengthening African University Outreach – African universities in partnership with Canadian universities will strengthen their strategic plans for improved outreach to external stakeholders ii. University-Industry Linkages – African universities in partnership with Canadian universities will produce case studies of successful African university-industry linkages; and, iii. Strengthening AAU Stakeholder Relations – AAU will work in partnership with AUCC to strengthen its ability to support its member universities’ external stakeholder relations and to strengthen its own external stakeholder relations. 3. Following a call for Letter of Intent fifteen Strategic Planning Partnerships were selected by an African-Canadian peer review committee. 4. While directly targeting a total of 15 African universities, the project will lead to the development of strategic plans and advocacy tools for the benefit of all two hundred and seventy (270) AAU member institutions in forty-four African countries. Canadian universities, in turn, will gain an increased understanding of the role African universities’ can play in social and economic development. Armed with this insight, Canadian institutions can continue to reinforce the pivotal role of higher education in economic growth and poverty reduction in Africa. 2 5. The Nairobi workshop focused on sharing latest ideas, knowledge and international best practices on institutional strategic planning in universities and providing an opportunity for participating institutions to engage in peer discussions PARTICIPATION, WORKSHOP CONTENT AND WORKING METHODS Participation 6. A total of sixty-four participants (forty representatives of African institutions - including AAU - and twenty-four Canadians) participated in the workshop. A full list of participants is presented at the end of this report as Annex One). Workshop Content 7. In keeping with its objectives, the workshop sessions focused on the following areas of strategic planning: i. A set of four interactive lectures on strategic planning by Judith Woodsworth a. Overview of Strategic Planning b. Implementation: From Strategy to Action c. Identifying Risks d. Measuring Success ii. Three sessions on University-Productive Sector Linkages a. A scoping study on Strengthening Linkages between Industry and Productive Sector and Higher Education Institutions in Africa (by Joseph Ssebuwufu and Teralynn Ludwick) b. University-Industry Relations: The Case of Uganda GATSY Trust at Makerere University (by Joseph Byaruhanaga) c. Industry Linkages in University Strategic Plans (by Joseph Byaruhanga) – a presentation that shows that ‘it can be done in Africa’ like the earlier case study of Makerere by the same presenter. iii. Reports on the progress of eleven of the on-going strategic planning partnership arrangement a. University of Botswana, Botswana b. University of Mines and Technology, Ghana 3 c. Université Cheikh Anta Diop, Dakar, Senegal d. Université Gaston Berger St Louis, Senegal e. Université de Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso f. Hawasa University, Ethiopia g. Université de Bamako, Mali h. National University of Rwanda, Rwanda i. Njala University, Sierra Leone j. Nzumbe University, Tanzania k. University of Nairobi, Kenya l. Addis Ababa University, Ethiopia iv. The strategic plans from the following universities were also distributed in electronic versions to participants a. Hawasa University, Ethiopia b. Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Kenya c. Makerere University, Uganda d. University of Botswana, Botswana e. University of Nairobi, Kenya v. The Canadian Experience on External Stakeholder Partnerships (by Lucien Bradet) - a presentation highlighting the experiences of Canadian universities in developing outreach programmes with private sector and civil society organisations, with possible implications for African universities. vi. A Round Table on the tasks ahead and the ways forward Working Methods 8. The practical activities of the workshop were preceded by a formal opening session that featured a keynote address by the Vice Chancellor of Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, Prof Mabel Imbunga. She welcomed participants to the workshop and stressed that the SHESRA project has focussed on a key challenge area to higher education institutions in Africa. She expressed satisfaction with the progress of the partnership arrangement between her university and the University of Western Ontario under the project. 4 9. In formally declaring the workshop open, Dr. Kilemi Mwirira, Assistant Minister for Higher Education, emphasized the point that ‘no longer can the universities go it alone’ and that strong and functional partnerships with external stakeholders is a necessary step towards getting universities to become genuine partners in national development. He also emphasized the need to build university relationships at the national level as a step towards ‘venturing beyond our borders’. 10. Interactivity was the dominant methodology of the workshop. Most of the plenary sessions were introduced by lively power point presentations and were followed and/or accompanied by interactive audience contributions. Lunch hour for each of the two days were genuine bonding sessions (WORLD CAFES) during which small groups of participants attempted to focus in-depth of specific issues from a variety of perspectives. About a half of the second day of the workshop was devoted to face-to-face discussions among partner universities, reviewing progress of strategic planning processes and charting the course for future actions. 11. The final plenary session was devoted to further clarifications on issues raised during the preceding interactive sessions and in renewing commitments from AAU, AUCC, and the participating African institutions to more intensive pursuit of the partnership. Workshop organisers and participants also expressed their immense thanks to the Kenyan authorities, Jomo Kenyatta University of Agriculture and Technology, and the Kenya School of Monetary Studies for their hospitality and for the excellent arrangements made for the successful holding of the workshop. (For workshop program, see Annex Two). RESULTS AND LESSONS LEARNT 12. The rich and valuable exchanges among participants are not easily quantifiable, but the gains would become more manifest in participants’ broadened horizons on approaches to strengthening stakeholder relationships and, most importantly on the process, orientation, focus and content of strategic planning for the development of the participating African universities 13. African institutions have found the partnership with Canadian universities very helpful. They have all benefited with on-the-spot learning in partner Canadian universities. Most of the institutions have institutionalized strategic planning, with a good number of these focusing on very specific growth-need areas. Virtually all the institutions are in the process of strengthening structures for managing external linkages 5 14. Most importantly, the workshop yielded valuable lessons, to be fed into on-going institutional strategic planning process and external linkage initiatives, namely: i. The need to give strategic directions to African universities in order to facilitate constructive engagement with governments, economic actors, students/parents and civil society ii. Treating strategic plans as living entities and hence the need for periodic reviews iii. The imperative of including appropriate performance indicators in strategic plans iv. Taking Environmental Risk Management (ERM) seriously - the need to manage RISKS (internal/external) as an integral element in giving a university a strategic focus v. Need to include progress in attaining gender equity as a performance indicator vi. Need for institutions to broaden the possibilities of using University- Industry partnerships to raise a considerable proportion of funds for university programs vii. The very important lesson from the Makerere experience- extending the scope of partnerships to SMEs and grassroots communities viii. A realization that ‘If you are not going to help them to make money (or improve their living conditions) they won’t talk to you’. In other words, universities have to show businesses and social enterprises the added value of a partnership arrangement. ix. The absolute need to

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