The delivery of business courses via the African Virtual University: a case study

In this case study the delivery of business courses as a result of the partnership between the African Virtual University (AVU) and Curtin University in Western Australia is described. From 2004 to 2008, degree and diploma business courses were delivered using WebCT in the four AVU partner locations: Addis Ababa University (Ethiopia), Kigali Institute of Science & Technology (Rwanda), Kenyatta University (Kenya) and University of Dar es Salaam (Tanzania). In spite of significant hurdles that made delivery of the business courses challenging, 188 students graduated as a result of this initiative. This case study is significant because it describes the outcomes of an AVU Phase 2 initiative.     

International Initiatives of the Virtual University and Other Forms of Distance Learning: The Case of the African Virtual University

The African Virtual University (AVU) is attempting to address the huge and unmet demand for educational services in Africa and presents the experiences, lessons, and adjustments being made to achieve improved effectiveness and relevance. This university seeks to address these issues by harnessing the power of modern information and communications technologies (ICTs) to provide cost-effective education and training. AVU is the only institution offering technology-based distance education for the whole continent and has a first-mover advantage. The intervention of the African Virtual University will result in increased access to quality education, improve access to quality literature internationally, and enhance interaction among African academics and between them and the rest of the world.     

Internationalising a learning environment instrument for evaluating transnational online university courses

This article describes the adaptation and validation of the Constructivist OnLine Learning Environment Survey (COLLES) for use in the transnational higher education context. As higher education becomes a more global phenomenon, ‘borderless’ education, either online or by distance education, is becoming a reality and there is a need for remote evaluation of course delivery and student learning. Curtin University of Technology is managing supported online delivery of Business Studies Degree and Diploma courses to four partner institutions of the African Virtual University, an initiative based in Nairobi, Kenya. Evaluation of students’ learning has included an online survey about the provision of resources and the quality of the learning environment in the various computer-based classrooms. Embedded in this instrument has been the adapted COLLES, providing a concomitant opportunity to test the properties and usefulness of the learning environment instrument. Problematic issues surrounding adaptation of the instrument have included the consequences of modifying the wording and establishing or confirming the meaning of the latent constructs in partially online courses and for transnational students. The process of establishing the validity and reliability of the scales is discussed.     

肯尼亚高等教育国际化的理念、策略与实践探析——以莫伊大学为例

肯尼亚是致力于高等教育国际化的非洲国家之一。作为肯尼亚第二所公立大学,莫伊大学自成立后一直积极地将国际化纳入其教学、科研和服务之中,制定了以人员流动、机构设置、课程国际化和国际学术与合作为主的国际化策略并进行了相关实践,但由于策略意识不足、资金无法匹配、质量难以保证以及系统机制不够完善等问题,国际化发展缓慢。历史发展表明,非洲大学的国际化必须依据大学自身的特殊需求、优先领域和强势资源,制定合适、明晰的国际化理念和策略,走一条适合自身发展的国际化道路。     

肯尼亚私立高等教育的发展和挑战

2世纪80年代以来,非洲的高等教育危机引发了私立高等教育的发展,肯尼亚是一个典型的代表.肯尼亚私立高等教育历史虽然不长,但发展速度迅猛,已经成为高等教育的重要组成部分.本文立足肯尼亚的现实,分析了该国私立高等教育发展的原因,介绍了其发展现状和私立高校的特色,最后从持续发展的角度提出了私立高等教育面临的挑战,意在全方位地展现肯尼亚私立高等教育发展的概貌.     

Improving teaching and learning of basic maths and reading in Africa: Does teacher preparation count?

Teacher education has an important role in ensuring quality of learning especially for the poorest children. The article draws on a study of teacher preparation for the early primary grades in six African countries – Ghana, Kenya, Mali, Senegal, Tanzania and Uganda – in reading and mathematics. Initial teacher education had the strongest impact on newly qualified teachers but also induced misplaced confidence leading to standardised teacher-led approaches that failed to engage learners. Learning to read was divorced from meaning while mathematical activities were not linked to learning concepts. We suggest that teacher education is reconstructed as a study of classroom practice that places children's learning at its centre.     

非洲孔子学院建设中的几个基本问题

肯尼亚内罗毕大学孔子学院是第一家在非洲落户的孔子学院。在建设中以非洲人民对中国人民兄弟般的友好情谊为基础和根本;专业建设与当地国民教育体系接轨,以满足当地学习者的根本需求为基本出发点;以“突出教师教育特色”为学科定位,以“突出实践性教学”为教学定位;开展丰富多彩的中国主题文化活动;注重典型学生的发掘和培养;运用培养应用型汉语人才的教学模式。通过以上建设,学院得到了很好的发展。     

Rethinking the place of African indigenous languages in African education

Using Kenya as a case study, the paper demonstrates how indigenous African languages have suffered delegitimization and devaluation in education both in colonial and post-colonial Africa. Ethnographic data from Kenya are presented to show how the use of English as the medium of education contributes to differential educational treatments. It is argued that this leads to the perpetuation of social inequalities. The paper advances the argument that indigenous African languages should be given greater emphasis if education in Africa is to contribute to the much needed social, economic and political transformation. The paper makes suggestions as to how indigenous African languages in education can be introduced/strengthened.     

The Virtual University of the Monterrey Technical Institute

The creation and the achievements of the Virtual University of Monterrey Tech (Instituto Tecnolo´gico y de Estudios Superiores de Monterrey) in Mexico are briefly described. Monterrey Tech itself, which was founded in 1943, has had a vocation going back a number of years to offer distance education on a number of satellite campuses. The Virtual University was founded in 1996 to carry on the distance education vocation of the institution as a whole in Mexico and in other Latin American countries with the use of the new information and communications technologies (ICTs). The Virtual University is particularly active in the domain of community education, teacher retraining, in-company training programmes, and in the offer of training for Mexican state and local officials. Although a private entity, the Virtual University and its parent organization, Monterrey Tech, are firmly committed to the public development of Mexico.     

"非洲及发展中国家基础教育论坛"会议纪要

2009年9月23日上午,浙江师范大学教育科学研究院举办了"非洲及发展中国家基础教育论坛"。会议讨论了亚、非、拉三大洲基础教育发展及经验和问题,讨论了后殖民主义背景下发展中国家教育改革模式;还特别讨论了喀麦隆、南非、肯尼亚、毛里求斯的基础教育改革与发展以及中非教育合作。     

Parental aspirations for their children's educational attainment and the realisation of universal primary education (UPE) in Kenya: Evidence from slum and non-slum residences

There is a sound research base attesting to the importance of parental involvement and to the many potential benefits it can offer for children's education. This study sought to examine differences in parental aspirations (as a mechanism of parental involvement in their children's education) for their children's educational attainment between slum and non-slum residing parents in Kenya. The study used cross-sectional household data for a sample of 4065 parents, collected in 2007 by the African Population and Health Research Centre (APHRC) in Nairobi. A multinomial logistic model was used for the analysis to explore the factors determining parental aspirations. The results indicate the following: (i) that parents who live in the slums have lower aspirations for their children's educational attainment when compared to those who live in non-slum areas; (ii) that parents in the slums have aspirations for higher levels of educational attainment for their children than their own levels of education. We conclude that parents in urban Kenya have a strong belief in the education of their children irrespective of their slum or non-slum residence but aspirations are higher in non-slums than in slums.     

从坦赞铁路到蒙内铁路 历史的传承与发扬——北京交通大学非洲铁路人才培养模式探究

20世纪后期、21世纪初期,北京交通大学先后参与到两大非洲铁路工程配套人才专项,成建制接收、培养了坦赞铁路和蒙内铁路留学生。这是北京交通大学甚至我国来华留学培养史上的标志性事件。在两个不同历史时期,北京交通大学在立项、招生、教学、管理等方面做出了有益探索,形成了行之有效的培养模式。文章挖掘史料,分析坦赞铁路人才项目的设计、实施策略,总结其历史价值、借鉴意义。进而研究了蒙内铁路留学生项目对坦赞铁路人才培养模式的继承,以及在新时代背景下,北京交通大学为其注入的新元素、新特色。文章勾勒出了蒙内铁路、坦赞铁路留学生项目既一脉相承,又与时俱进的非洲铁路人才培养模式。     

Agentive role of government in African education: North Nyanza, 1890–1920

This paper examines the agentive role of the colonial administration in accessing formal education for Africans in North Nyanza, Kenya from 1890 to 1920. It demonstrates the complexities of the colonial experience in which the ultimate application of policy and practice was shaped by the overriding principle of protection of the economic and political interests of the immigrant settler community. Africans lacked institutional agency in government functioning in the racialised society in this period. The agentive role of the colonial administration in improving conditions for African populations faltered from its earliest conception. The colonial project ultimately fell short of its goal, as the governmental commitment to improving the education for African populations was compromised by the agenda to advance the commercial interest of the colonial empire and the dominant influence of the European settler class.     

Balancing basic and post-basic education in Kenya: National versus international policy agendas

The article traces the policy history of Kenya over more than 40 years (1963–2006) in order to tease out the tensions between the key themes of its own national agenda and the priorities of its principal development partners. The national concerns with the education-and-employment connection and with the orientation of schooling towards skills for work in the formal and informal economies can be contrasted with the aid agency priorities on quality and on education-for-poverty reduction. Equally, national preoccupations have been with the whole of the education and training system—from early childhood, to technical, to university. By contrast, external donors have frequently prioritised a particular sub-sector such as primary schooling. In the most recent period, 2002–2006, the paper identifies the emergence of common ground between the national and external agendas. Thus the international education agenda, as marked out by the UN Millennium Project, the Commission for Africa, and the World Bank's most recent education policy paper, is not dissimilar in its priorities to the latest Kenyan education agenda, as expressed in the Kenya Education Sector Support Programme. There is also an agreement that the education sector, on its own, cannot deliver the many benefits so often associated with schooling; rather, there needs to be an enabling environment in other sectors of the economy, if the investment in education is to be most productive. The one area where there is serious divergence, between the Government of Kenya, and, at least, its principal Western donors is on the treatment of corruption. At the point of writing, the extent of corruption remains a major threat to the external funding so necessary to Kenya's large educational ambitions.     

Anticipated developments: East Africa's private universities and privatisation of public universities in the global context

Abstract

The growth and development of private universities has been one of the most dramatic features of African higher education in the last two decades. Using the three East African countries of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda as a case in point, this analysis examines the extent to which developments in the region echo international trends, as well as how they illustrate contrasts. The analysis focuses on three key themes: (a) growth and historical antecedents; (b) institutional developments in terms of continuity and innovation; and (c) internationalism. While only relatively recent phenomena, private universities in East Africa and the increasing privatisation of public universities mirror developments in other parts of the world with a longer tradition of private university developments in terms of growth and historical antecedents, continuity and innovation in institutional development, as well as in internationalism. However, there are some situations in which the East African case is exceptional.     

Developing a systemic approach to teacher education in sub-Saharan Africa: emerging lessons from Kenya,Tanzania and Uganda

While many countries in Eastern and Southern Africa are on track for meeting the Education for All targets, there is a growing recognition of the need to improve the quality of basic education and that a focus on pedagogy and its training implications needs to be at the heart of this commitment. By drawing on three East African countries, Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda, which are at different stages of development with regard to the reforming of teacher education, this paper explores the challenges and the lessons learned from each of the countries with regard to the development and strengthening of pre- and in-service training. The tension between quality, breadth and cost-effectiveness is explored together with a broader discussion of key principles to be taken into account when enhancing teacher education in the region as a whole.     

Ecojustice education and communitarianism: Exploring the possibility for African eco-communitarianism

Abstract

In this article, we explore the concept of African communitarianism and reflect on its potential value for ecojustice education as a localised response to the wider ecological crises that impacts on African communities. We argue for an African eco-communitarian perspective and propose that this perspective extends ecojustice education. Such extension occurs firstly through foregrounding and emphasising the establishment of harmonious and co-constitutive relationships that is characterised by intersubjectivity and secondly, by extending community to beyond humans (and ancestors) to be inclusive of the more-than human world. We contend that ecojustice education, framed within an African eco-communitarianism, constitutes a localised response to the ecological crises in the form of critical place-based education, that it enables co-constitutive dialogue and interaction between the human and non-human elements of an eco-community and is an ethico-political praxis characterised by an African environmental ethic.     

African Higher Education and Training: Opportunities and Challenges

Although African countries have been continuously expanding their tertiary education systems since independence, these systems remain inadequate for fulfilling the demands being placed on them. Indeed, in many cases, the progress made has been set back by war, disease, and natural catastrophe. Various forms of non-traditional delivery are required, and several examples of distance networking are detailed, including the African Virtual University. A strategic approach to the expansion of access to and opportunities in tertiary education is required making use of assistance from the international partners of African universities.     

Introduction to the special issue on Economic Research for Education Policy

This special issue of Economics of Education Review is a collection of papers presented at the 2nd Conference on the Economics of Education Policy, organized jointly by Dhurakij Pundit University (DPU), Thailand, and the Australian National University (ANU). The issue illustrates and promotes the role of empirical research for critical policy questions for government. The papers represent a shared commitment by an international group of economics of education researchers to the value, indeed necessity, of methodologically strong empirical evidence as a basis for all policy reform. The selection of papers has been guided by judgments concerning two issues: (i) is the research question posed of central importance to education policy-makers, in terms of its contribution to the effective operation of the labor market or for its relevance to equity and access? and (ii) are the methods and data used in the analyses characterized by both outstanding quality and careful application?