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Mathematics in the Countries of Southern Africa, Realities and Aspirations Edward Lungu and Precious Sibanda

The following article was submitted to the sity of and the National University of Notices by Herbert Clemens of the University Science and Technology (also in Zimbabwe) are of Utah. Clemens is a member of the Commis- the only two which offer honours degrees in sion on Development and Exchange of the In- mathematics. As a result, the application of ternational Mathematical Union and is working mathematics in modeling industrial, environ- with the authors of this article and their Euro- mental, or other real-life problems is fairly un- pean research partners to increase interest in known in this part of the world, since there is a and support for the project MUSA, described dire shortage of qualified personnel. below. The governments of our various countries tried hard to train manpower when our economies were “strong”. As the economies have Currently there is a dearth of qualified math- declined, less money is being spent on man- ematics teachers both at high school and uni- power training. For this reason, the universities versity levels in the entire southern African re- in the region are pooling their resources by es- gion. In a continuing effort to remedy this basic tablishing regional programs. Recently, for ex- structural problem in our countries, each uni- ample, through partnerships with the University versity in the region aims to train its staff through of Oslo and with the Austrian government small staff development programs. These are pro- combined regional masters programs in math- grams where the best students are encouraged ematical modeling and in graph theory have to go for M.Sc. degrees in the hope that upon been established at the . completion they will become members of the uni- To widen the pool of graduates entering these versity staff. Even these programs are currently local programs as well as programs abroad, the hampered by the lack of financial resources. As region requires a “pre-M.Sc.” program, through an example, the University of Zimbabwe used to which many people will be raised to the required send its graduates overseas for M.Sc./Ph.D. stud- level. ies, but cannot afford to do so now because A 12-month intensive “B.Sc. Honours” pro- there is no longer any money to fund these stu- gram at the University of is currently dents. Locally the facilities for their advanced being contemplated to bridge the gap between training are either inadequate or simply nonex- the university preparation in mathematics avail- istent. able in many surrounding countries and ad- Funding for mathematics education and math- vanced programs such as those in Zimbabwe. It ematics programs by the various governments can also be used as preparation for various staff of the region is simply inadequate. Most uni- development fellows from Southern Africa De- versities have neither the resources nor the ex- velopment Corporation countries. There are also pertise to offer mathematics courses with suf- good students who pursue combined majors in ficient specialization at bachelor’s-degree level mathematics with another science subject. Upon or above. For example, in the region the Univer- completion of their studies, these students will not have done enough advanced courses in math- Edward Lungu is senior lecturer in mathematics, Uni- versity of Botswana, [email protected], and Pre- ematics. The 12-month program can be used to cious Sibanda is lecturer, Department of Mathematics, raise the standard of these students to “pre- University of Zimbabwe, [email protected]. M.Sc.” level. This program at the University of

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Botswana can and will go a long way towards ad- cooperation with existing activities of the South- dressing the problems of advanced undergrad- ern African Mathematical Sciences Association. uate mathematics education in the region. The site of this meeting would rotate among the With colleagues from Europe who have countries having students/teachers/researchers worked in the region, we are currently attempt- participating in the program at any level. In ad- ing to formalize these efforts, incorporate them dition, the content of this meeting would in- into a several-year cooperative plan, and, with clude minicourses, mini-research projects, and the help of the international mathematical com- research talks, as well as a pedagogical compo- munity, find the financial and human resources nent. The emphasis of each component would that will help us to a full and fruitful imple- change from year to year depending on the math- mentation. We are calling the project MUSA ematical situation of the country in which it is (Mathematics and its Uses in Southern Africa). held. The goal of MUSA is to foster dialogue and co- In addition, and again with the help of the in- operative activities involving mathematicians ternational mathematical community, MUSA and students of mathematics from a geograph- hopes to establish a series of small pilot pro- ically connected region of sub-Saharan Africa, grams: hopefully including Botswana, , Mozam- i) A visiting program for research math- bique, , , and Zimbabwe, as well ematicians from established centers outside the as and Swaziland. Ties with the South region to participating southern African cen- African mathematical community would also be ters. These visiting mathematicians would teach sought. MUSA will focus on regional development undergraduate and postgraduate courses and of a vigorous community of mathematicians, participate in research activities. (Preference students of mathematics, and users of math- would be given to those involved in longer-term ematics in government and business. MUSA con- joint research or learning projects.) templates three components: ii) A program of visits to established centers 1) A 12-month full-time program called a for the African mathematicians, again with pref- “B.Sc. with Honours in Mathematics” at the Uni- erence for those involved in longer-term joint re- versity of Botswana in consisting of search or learning projects. four year-long courses: iii) A program of 1–2 year “visiting lecture- Abstract Algebra/Linear Algebra ships” for young mathematicians with degrees Real/Complex Analysis from established centers outside the region to Topology/Geometry work on-site, teaching and collaborating in the Functional Analysis/Applied Mathematics above activities. We would design such posi- With the help of the international math- tions so as to allow the young mathematicians ematical community, MUSA hopes to generate a ample time to continue their own research pro- scholarship fund to enable qualified students grams during their lectureships. from participating countries to complete this iv) A program of research and teaching visits program. for mathematicians from one participating 2) The 18-month M.Sc. in Mathematical Mod- Southern African country to teach advanced un- eling program at the University of Zimbabwe, dergraduate and postgraduate courses and to do which has been established in recent years under research in other participating countries. a cooperative agreement with the Norwegian These annual teaching/research meetings and Universities’ Committee for Development, Re- the visiting programs, although long-term pro- search and Education (NUFU). Again with the jects, would greatly benefit a lot of young math- help of the international mathematical commu- ematicians in the region who after their Ph.D. find nity, MUSA hopes to generate a scholarship fund themselves overburdened by teaching demands for this program. The support of countries in the and with no prospects of promotion by author- region will also be sought in the form of con- ities requiring “a good research record”. tinuing the salaries of mathematics teachers and Alone our countries do not yet have the others employed as mathematicians during a human and financial resources to realize these leave of absence to complete this program. In ad- aspirations for our mathematical community. dition, visiting students from government, in- Indeed, a good part of the program outlined dustry, and other countries would be encour- above will require funding from abroad, either aged. in the form of foundation grants or cooperative 3) The gradual formation and strengthening agreements. In the hope that we can gradually of a community of researchers/teachers con- find friends for our efforts in America and other nected with a small number of mathematical re- countries, we wish to draw the attention of the search centers in Europe, the Americas, and American mathematical community to our cur- Asia. We envision the establishment of an annual rent work and future aspirations here in south- teaching/research meeting in consultation and ern Africa.

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576 NOTICES OF THE AMS VOLUME 42, NUMBER 4