1. Becoming Universities of Excellence
Using Funding, Partnerships and Benchmarking
26 October 2016

2. Background
PASET addresses a key challenge facing sub-Saharan Africa (SSA): the dearth of African capacity and knowledge in Applied Sciences, Engineering, & Technology (ASET) fields.
Not just in higher education, but also in technical-vocational training
Without a critical mass of technical-scientific-managerial skills, along with sound economic policies, it is difficult for economies to diversify

3. Africa’s Growth: Recovery in Last 20 Years, Driven by Natural Resources
Source: World Development Indicators.
Africa’s Transformation: Leveraging the Partnership with Korea

4. Rationale for PASET
By 2050, Africa will house the largest youth population in the world1
Africa has enormous:
Natural resources
Land
Energy Sources
Image: World Bank
1. Generation 2030|Africa: Child demographics in Africa—UNICEF (2014) Generation_2030_Africa.pdf
Africa’s Transformation: Leveraging the Partnership with Korea

5. But Qualified Human Capital is Low
Evidence from countries that have successfully transformed their economies in recent years (Korea, India, Brazil, China, etc.) underscores
importance of quality education at all levels
need to find a healthy balance between the scientific disciplines and social sciences/humanities.
Tertiary enrollments in Africa
heavily skewed toward humanities and social sciences
less than 25% of students opting into STEM disciplines.
Africa currently lacks critical mass of graduates in scientific disciplines:
1 or less scientist/engineer per 10,000 people, compared with 20 to 50 in industrialized countries

6. Africa’s Share of Enrolment in Engineering is Low
African Countries %
Burkina Faso 4
Cameroon 5
Côte d’Ivoire 8
Ethiopia 7
Ghana
Malawi
Mozambique
Rwanda
Tanzania
Mauritius
South Africa 10
Comparator Countries %
Finland 25
Singapore 28
Estonia 15
Malaysia 23
Costa Rica
Chile 18
Thailand 10

7. PASET: Changing Africa’s Trajectory
Continuum of skills
Strategic focus on growth sectors
Operates at two levels
Post Compulsory
Tertiary or Higher Education
Upper Secondary
Post Secondary
Certificates Diplomas Associate Degrees
Bachelors
Masters
Doctorate
Regional-Level
Country-Level

8. Need to move beyond declarations and country level initiatives on STI
PASET should become an operational regional platform
technical vocational AND higher education, research
Africa-led governance leveraging high quality technical expertise
Public-private partnership

9. 10 Year Goals of PASET Overarching Goals
To accelerate the creation of a mass of highly skilled workers for socio-economic development in Africa
To help fill skilled jobs locally in rapidly growing, priority sectors of African economies
Dakar ‘Call to Action’ in June 2014 created specific 10-year goals of:
Training at least 10,000 new PhD holders in ASET programs
Establishing a SSA regional-wide post graduate scholarship program in ASET programs
Doubling the number of students in ASET programs in at least 10 SSA countries
At least 5 additional universities in SSA with high quality ASET programs and centers of postgraduate studies and applied research in ASET disciplines
Development of a regional quality assurance mechanism for ASET programs, benchmarked to comparable systems globally
At least 5 regional TVET centers of excellence for training faculty, enabling resource sharing, quality assurance, and providing specialized training
Establishment of high quality data systems and benchmarking of ASET programs and institutions in at least 10 SSA countries

10. Africa-Led PASET Governance Structure
Board of Directors
Responsible for strategic direction, policy-making and oversight of PASET operations. Composition: Ministers of SSA countries that are PASET contributors; Reps. of other Contributors; EC Executive Director; Manager of institute hosting Secretariat. Chair is SSA Minister.
Third Party Verification (Ombudsman)
Provides independent grievance mechanism with investigative & mediation roles for transparency & accountability.
Reports to Board
Consultative Advisory Group
Only advisory capacity; provides scientific/other guidance with knowledge and expertise to Board and EC. Constituted by EC
Executive Committee of Board (EC)
Responsible for execution of PASET initiatives, with full delegated authority from Board.
Composition: 5 Members; 1 from institution hosting Secretariat; Executive Director.
Secretariat
Responsible for implementing technical assistance, knowledge sharing & convening of Board/EC meetings. Managed by host institution.
Reports to EC.
RSIF Implementation Unit
Implements RSIF according to guidelines set by Board.
Reports to EC and works with Secretariat.
NOTE: Arrow = Direction of reporting. Dotted arrow: Not directly reporting but collaborating closely.

11. How do new members join?
Any SSA government, private sector group or development partner (or its designated agency) may join PASET and its governance structure if it:
Agrees with PASET Charter
Contributes to PASET, i.e. financially to PASET RSIF or by financing or providing technical assistance to any PASET initiatives
Commits to participate in PASET’s governance meetings
Agrees to mobilizing support and funds for PASET activities

12. Towards Universities of Excellence

13. Bring together three strands:
Universities capable of developing competitiveness in knowledge economies
Funding for Ph.Ds and research in ASET areas
Partnerships with international universities
Centres of Excellence
Benchmarking

14. Africa Centers of Excellence by Sector/Country
EXAMPLES OF BANK-SUPPORTED RESULTS IN 2011& 2012
Africa Centers of Excellence by Sector/Country
Rwanda
IT (1); Energy (1) Education (1); Statistics (1)
Cameroon
IT (1)
Nigeria
Agriculture (3); IT (1); Extractives (1); Material Science (1); Health (1)
Senegal
IT (1)
Health (1)
Uganda
Agriculture (2)
Material Science (1) Health (1)
Ethiopia
Agriculture (1); Water (1); Transport (1); Health (1)
Burkina Faso
Water (1)
Kenya
Agriculture (2)
Energy (1)
Tanzania
Agriculture (2; Water (1); Health (1)
Ivory Coast
Agriculture (1)
Statistics (1)
Extractives (1)
Ghana
Agriculture (1)
Water Mgt. (1)
Health (1)
Malawi
Agriculture (1) Health (1)
Benin
Health (1)
Togo
Agriculture (1)
Mozambique
Extractives (1)
Zambia
Extractives (1);
Health (1)

15. Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund

16. Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) – Flagship Program of PASET with Three Windows
The PASET Regional Fund will have three windows:
Window 1: PhD Training aimed primarily at existing faculty/academic staff in priority Applied Sciences, Engineering & Technology (ASET) fields & new students entering such fields
Window 2: Research Grants to facilitate scholarship recipients / faculty to undertake continuing research
Window 3: Innovation Grants to provide funds that enable scholarship recipients to establish enterprises

17. RSIF’s Key Objectives
Build capacity in Africa to provide relevant ASET training and to ensure continued investment in scaling up ASET education and workforce
Help create a stock of highly skilled scientists, professionals and innovators in Applied Sciences, Engineering & Technology (ASET) areas.
Address imbalances in the number of women and disadvantaged groups in ASET fields in Africa

18. Beneficiaries The target groups for RSIF are:
African faculty of African universities who lack PhD training;
Young African scientists and engineers who will enter academia, industry, or the business world
African universities which will train the PhD students and become internationally recognized in ASET disciplines

19. Funding
Initial funding commitment of US $6 million from 3 African governments ; 2 more governments have made commitments
Additional funds to be mobilized by the PASET Board through other African governments, private sector, non traditional partners, and donors
Goal: Raise US $100million in seed funds and ultimately make the fund sustainable

20. Operating Model of RSIF
Full arrow indicates direction of reporting.
Dotted arrow indicates close collaboration & guidance.
Consultative Advisory Group
Board of Directors
RSIF Host Universities
PASET Secretariat
Executive Committee
Student
RSIF Implementation Unit at Association of African Universities (AAU)
Student
Student
Third-party verification ensures transparency & administrative excellence

21. Partnerships

22. Partnerships with International Universities
Aim: enhancing quality of the Ph.D programs in PASET host university
Improve the curriculum
Upgrade the faculty’s teaching competencies (not just qualifications)
International faculty take some of the courses
Students undertake sandwich courses in partner university
Partnership is not in name, but should have specific objectives and processes to achieve those objectives

23. Establishing and Monitoring Partnerships
Partner Universities identified by PASET Executive Committee, with inputs from Consultative Advisory Board
MoU signed with PASET Board
Detailed agreement between PASET host university and partner university
Monitoring quality of programs, student outcomes
Third Party verification

24. Benchmarking

25. Adapting Shanghai Jiao Tong methodology
Scaling up the pilot benchmarking conducted in 2014
more Sub-Saharan African institutions across more countries
using a larger set of benchmarking indicators;
Training participating African institutions in effectively using the results of benchmarking to assess and improve their performance;
Creating the capacity, within an interested Pan-African institution as well as within national tertiary education agencies, to carry out benchmarking on a regular basis.

26. The Benefits
Allow universities to compare their results with the performance of other universities, understand the main factors explaining differences in performance, and follow the evolution of performance and its determinants over time.
Universities will be able to identify their strengths and areas for improvement, and take action to work on these areas.

27. The Timeline Launch Meeting
NOV 9-10, 2015:
Launch Meeting
Set methodology and call for participation
NOV 30, 2015:
Sign up to participate in the initial round by universities
FEB 17, 2016:
Data forms were sent to 48 universities signed up
APR 1, 2016:
Deadline for submitting data
7 universities submitted their data
MAY 15, 2016:
Extended Deadline for submitting data
21 more universities submitted their data
JUN 14-16, 2016:
PASET Regional Benchmarking Capacity Building Workshop

28. Participating Universities
University
Country
Université Dan Dicko Dankoulodo de Maradi
Niger
Institut Universitaire de Technologie de Tahoua
Université de Lomé
Togo
Redeemer's University
Nigeria
Institut National Polytechnique Felix HOUPHOUET-BOIGNY Yamoussoukro, Côte d'Ivoire
Côte d'Ivoire
University of Rwanda
Rwanda
Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (KNUST)
Ghana
École National Supérieure de Statistique et d’Économie (ENSEA)
University of Mines and Technology
Sokoine University of Agriculture
Tanzania
Ashesi University College
Jimma University
Ethiopia
African University of Science and Technology, Abuja
Ardhi University
University of Zambia
Zambia
Ahmadu Bello University
Institut International d'Ingénierie de l'Eau et de l'Environnement (2iE)
Burkina Faso
Université Polytechnique de Bobo Dioulasso
Université d'Abomey-Calavi
Benin
University of Ghana
St. Augustine University of Tanzania
Makerere University
Uganda
University of Benin
Université Gaston Berger
Senegal
University of Medical Sciences, Ondo
Federal University of Agriculture, Abeokuta
Bayero University, Kano
University Aube Nouvelle, Burkina Faso

29. Performance Indicators
Dimension
Number of Indicators
Inclusion & Equity 2
Learning Achievement
1+5
Labor Market Outcomes 1
Research Results 5
Technology Transfer Results 3
TOTAL 17

30. Health Indicators TOTAL 48 Dimension Number of Indicators
Inclusion & Equity 6
Quality of Teaching & Learning
7+5
Relevance 3
Internationalization 5
Research 9
Service to the Community &
Technology Transfer
Governance & Management
Financing 2
TOTAL 48

31. Bringing it together..

32. 5 -10 SSA universities that are ‘world class’
Does not mean that others are not important
But having universities of excellence pulls up the others
Provided they serve needs of society
And produce graduates that are excellent
Cognitive achievement, ICT skills and with capacity to use knowledge in “problem solving”
Team work and communication
Intercultural understanding
(Adapted from Tayeb, Zahed, Ritzen, Becoming a World Class University)