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African Ivy 24 Drayton Park Highbury London NS 1NF s.labo@lse.ac.uk Dear, £P ty„ As a supporter and philanthropist of higher education in the United States I thought I would reach out to see if your foundation could be of any assistance to an initiative to improve higher education in Africa. I recently penned an article (attached) stating why I thought Africa needed an elite 'Ivy League' higher education institution to reverse rock bottom standards and assure fts future. I received good feedback and subsequently decided to set up an initiative to explore turning this into reality. For a novice this is obviously daunting but immensely exciting thinking of the potential end result. I am thus in the process of reaching out to organisations or philanthropists who may consider supporting this initiative. Not necessarily financial at this stage but contacts who may be interested in a new project or simply advice from organisations/foundations who have been involved in funding and higher education about potential courses of actions I do hope you get a chance to read the article and let me know your thoughts. Sincerely, Sharif Labo. EFTA00600724 MS9322O01 ---iL 7s kgx.: vi - EFTA00600725 Why Africa Needs Its Own Ivy League Institution Attica is suffering from high graduate unemployment and many of its best students and researchers are flocking overseas. Could an African elite university turn this around', NO haft: APIkt MIS. 4 WV SMART Litho Casual readers of optimistic headlines stout Africa's high • growth rates and record levels of foreign nvestment might be forgiven for ituniong as is well on the continent - or at least that, with 'Africa Rising', all will be well before too long. But many of the perspectives and figures underlying these simplistic narratives obscure the complex reality of rising inequality, success in only tertian specific sectors, and - crucially -IgkieagrceKtb. .▪ Asaw r,.' 30 as% W bonitos rGN • Vmtw knnr.v. • runia,..lVt Indeed, on the continent itself, there is a rising sense that Africa's growth isn't creating enough jobs for the MIlions entering the labour market midi year, By some estimateS. IgYs of young people In South Africa, and 1-Zig 'n Kenya and the ORC, at unemployed. In Nigeria, 3COM/0mM* 30 million youths are jobless And the International Labour Organisation estimates Owl in 2012, 247 million workers in sub-Saharan Africa were in vulnerable en1Ployrnern. Also worrying is the fad that having an education does not seem to help. In response to an advert for 100 drivers in Nigeria last year, the Dangote Group received 13.000 applicants including 6,480 with bachelor degrees. 704 with masters and 6 with PhDs. Wth Africa's youth population expected to geode by 20,q, this co Ad prove to be a ticking lime bomb, one only needs to look at the tikes of Tunisia and Egypt for a forewarning of what a growing numbers of highly-educated unemployed young people can lead to. Broadly-speaking, there are two ways of looking at the problem: 1) the economy's demand for labour isn't suffioently strong to generate enough jobs because growth isn't fast enough andrd the sectors which are growing are not labour intensive enough; or 2) the supply of potential workers isn't appropriate). educated and skilled for the jobs that maid be available. In reality, both are true. However, the latter can influence the former, and it is the latter to which we will now turn. Seeking studies overseas As high levels of unemployment amongst graduates suggests, African universities are Churning out armies of job seekers rather than job creators. Higher education does not even appear to be correiated with higher employment in a number of places. In Uganda, for example, 19% of Ugandan graduates are lippitcaseLeg, compared to 7% of secondary school leavers. And in Nigeria, graduates are 5% less likely to be employed than those with just a basic education. On top of this. many of Africa's best students are choosing to study abroad. According to figures from 2006. one out of every sixteen students in sub-Saharan Africa is enrolled outside the continent, and some countries even have more students abroad than at home. Nigerian students are estimated to soma 5500 million annually in Western universities. a staggering 70% of the national university budget. 10/05/2013 EFTA00600726 Why Africa Needs Its Own Ivy League Institution I Think Africa Press Page 2 of 4 But it's not Just students wno have Red. Half the continent's researchers, according to estimates. are n Europe. driven abroad by poor faciibes and salaries up to 20 limes lower Unsurprisingly then. Africa's output of research is amongst the lowest globally. So what's gone wrong? To start with. investment has not kept up with the growth in student numbers Between 1991 and 2006, the number of students in higher education exploded from 2 7 million to 9.3 million, a grcnitth of 16% annualty. but expenditure only grew by 6%; investment has remained al jg% or educational budoeta Meanwhile. funding from international donors has increasingly concentrated on basiC education. teievirg this is the best way to alleviate poverty. In the late-1980s. 17% of ttse World Bank's global educational spending used to be focused on higher education, but this had declined to 7% by the tate-1990s. This might suggest that the solution to Africa's higher education problems is simply more funding. This is undouttecIty important, but alone will not be sufficient Giving campuses a fresh lick of paint and new computers isn't suddenly going to attract leading scholars and students ahead of the global competition. Africa's Ivy League Instead, a more radical daft is needed to give Africa's tertiary education a boost. One possibility is building an African 'Ivy League' institubon. The US is what 4 is today in large part because 4 advances the most revolutionary science and is home to groundbreaking firms. Institutions like Stanford University and the Massachusetts Instill/a of Technology (MIT) have been instrumental in this process by attracting the brightest from aeross the globe to solve the hardest problems. If Africa had such an elite institution, it could potentially attract leading scholars, tram students with the skills society needs. and help reverse the brain drain and capital eight Perhaps most importantly. 4 cord also act as a beacon of excellence for others coaeges on the continent. Many will no doubt question the wisdom of concentrating funds on one university when it could be disbursed amongst merry. but the anent system clearly does not seem to be working. and the benefit or elite institutions elsewhere - economically. socially and in raising Me standard for education more broadly - is plain to see. Stanford University's alumni, for example, have founded companies that oenerate more than S2 7 trillion in annual revenue - equivalent to the 10th largest economy in the world - while MIT's alumni have an of $2 trillion. Crucially, these benefits are spread nationally and gleballY. Furthermore. there are strong pragmatic reasons an African elite university should be appealing Al the moment, the most prestigious African journals are putished in Oxford and Yak but surely would be more practical to do research on Africa in AM:a. Studies into tropical diseases, agriculture and public policy would surely be best conducted on the continent so academics can work with professionals at the coalface. A worthy challenge The battleground of the future will be fought on ideas and technology. Many Countries are preparing for this by investing in institutions modeled on the world's best. ()alai invited and funded Georgetown and Cornell Universities to set up satellite campuses in Oohs. The King Abdullah University of Science and Technology in Saudi Arabia Opened in 2009 with a )10 balion endowment and has femated its leaders from institutions such as the California Institute of Technology (currently the leo-nail university globally). China is investing $250 bilbon a year in building a world-class education system. and he nse of Asia has notably been accompanied by a corresponding as to prominence of Asian universities Meanwhile, in Africa, only one university - the University of Cape Town - is rank✓q in the world's top 200. Creating an African elite university able to compete van the world's best will undoubtedly be immensely challenging. Many millions would need o be rased, and the funnelling of resources into one institution could necessarily mean less funding for other initiatives. In fact politically and financially, a regional institution may make more sense than a national or pan-continental one. Furthermore, given intense global competition, it is hardly a foregone conclusion that the best students and researchers would immediately rush to enrol. Building a gleaming campus is one Mina but buildiAO a reputation for excellence is necessarily a lono•term oroiect EFTA00600727 Why Africa Needs Its Own Ivy League Institution Think Africa Press Page 3 of 4 However, despite the challenges. this wou'd be a project worth striving for. In a global marketplace where human capital is incea3 ngly the demo:tato'. Aftice needs its ovat incubator of ideas to compete and kick-Start the reform of higher education An elite university that Africans can be proud Or could make a real susla nable difference to the continent and provide a lasting legacy for the fume of Africa Think Alnce Press welcomes monnes regarding the reptiokabon Of ifs *moles. If you 'makd kite to republish this or any other arenas for ra-pnnt apnh.akon Of eduCarlonal purposes. fttaSe Contact OditOngthinkatngapress coot For further reading around the sutkect see. Africa's 'Dernographe dividend'-. The Youth Wit Decide Africa's Jobless Growth" About Ln• Avthee • Shari( Lao Africa's T.vo Speed Education and Classrooms without Walls Sheol is a MSc student at the LSE with a BSc in Economics from the Urvversity of Surrey He Can be contacted at !agonise ac.uk ADD NEW COMMENT Comments • when., sone en 23 April 2013.9 49pm Mud about South Africa's Business Schools . GIBS. UGT GSB, Stelianoosch GsB and VATS Business School are all wOrld•Class and exttemely sigh ly regarded eternationalty. GIBS normally does attn.:VOW/a well el the FT rankings by Saint Lobo on 25 Apri 2013 • s Morn Dew,: The snit)* does men bon UCT is in Inc lop 200 Times Global University ranking but generally South Africa does tend to be the exception rather than the role in Sub•Saharan Mica on a range of issues including education by Lon or 24 APnl 2013 - a Stem Thanks tor your ands, Shang. The AfroCan Regional Initairee n Science and Education (RISE) works towards the same goals of reversing brain drain and SuppOill no • culture or research excellence On the comment RISE uses the swore., model and leverages the strengths of science departments al mulatgo universities and ins:Mules to Vain students. If you're interested, you can reed more stout it at hop I/Sog isseeluMse. EFTA00600728