British Academy: The UK's National Academy for the Humanities and Social Sciences

Appendix 2 The product of experience: contributions to the debate

This evidence base is drawn from the written submissions received immediately prior to the Nairobi conference. However, many of the ideas and experiences which underpin this report were generated verbally during discussions in Nairobi and as such are not recorded here.

Institutional foundations – improving structures, systems and governance

On the problem of weak institutions and a lack of research cultures…

“Good research in many African universities is still circumscribed by inadequate access to current journals and books as many university libraries are reportedly finding it difficult to stock new and current volumes. Not even the emergence of on-line journals has helped the situation as many of such journals require subscription fees, and this has posed other problems as well.”

“Infrastructural impediments include a lack of research culture – including lack of awareness of need for dedicated ‘research writing time’, lack of technical facilities, limited mentoring by senior staff, limited motivations by institution (e.g. reward and time allocations).”

“Currently, there is a dearth of academic culture among African scholars because of the constraining need for survival and a lack of information.”

“Senior academics are over-burdened with teaching and administrative responsibilities and this has further reduced their abilities to engage in well funded and involving research programmes.”

“Many lecturers in African universities would like to do research. However, the environment is not enabling enough for them to design projects and effect them. Sometimes when they manage and draft projects, access to funding causes a problem. Universities first of all do not allocate reasonable sums of money for research, at least for what filters down to researchers.This then pushes lecturers to either seek administrative appointments or get into other forms of business that could keep them afloat with living costs.”

“Eastern Africa's social science faculties are increasingly training students to write reports for NGOs, and laying down their role as incubators for a politically critical citizenry. In consequence, the range of research conducted in the arts and social sciences is increasingly narrow, geared to answer the immediate, pressing questions that donor organizations ask.There are very few Africa-based scholars who find it possible to conduct a cosmopolitan, broad programme of research.”

…and on strengthening them

“Donors should have more faith in African institutions by allowing them to assess their own needs and encourage their participation in the design and awarding of scholarships to their staff.The scarcity of funds has also now necessitated a change in the way funding for capacity building should be managed. It is prudent for African institutions to now be empowered to identify their own needs and request for funding to deliver their programmes with those needs in mind.”

On the need for research management structures…

“My suspicion is that not all individuals and departments in African Universities access funding information.This is due to a variety of reasons. Key among these is the lack of proper research management

in many African universities.Among the many responsibilities of well functioning research management system is the responsibility for tracking available research funding, appropriate sources of research funds and matching them with the needs/specific researchers and departments.A well functioning research management office should facilitate the preparation of the research funding proposal, particular in the non-content aspects… that require more than just subject knowledge. Few academics have access to or are aware of sources of funds.They often do not have the time to sift through the many sources of information about funding and collate them for their needs.”

“A key problem… is where the UK university holds the budget and African universities claim in retrospect with receipts.African bank charges are extremely high and African recipients lose out double-fold – in the exchange rate and in bank charges.The need to provide funds up-front is extremely difficult. If funds could be released on invoice direct to African universities – to be justified retrospectively with receipts this would make a huge difference to cash-flow problems.”

“In my experience, and when the project is sufficiently large, a dedicated financial manager should be included.The shared use of a university employee’s time is not conducive to excellence in financial reporting, and the project may not fit comfortably within the university financial structure, requiring some informed integration.”

“The best modality is to work through central university authorities. Dealing with departments directly creates problems for management and accountability at central university level, because while departments have control for scientific delivery, central administration organs are in charge of crucial services and if they feel sidelined they may lose interest in departmental issues.”

“Assessment of existing capacity can best be done through needs assessment and delivery gap analysis. In a needs assessment staff can point out the skills they feel they lack. But they may not be aware of their gaps as it relates to capacity to deliver. Hence a gap analysis can be conducted on various issues: leadership – capacity to provide intellectual leadership for research: programme management capacity; governance structures, related to quality assurance and managing resources; financial resources mobilization capacity; infrastructure (hardware and soft ware management and physical infrastructure); networking capacity and capacity to mobilize and manage intangible assets including social capital.”

…and access to funding information

“Speaking from personal experience, the information about vacancies, funding, research are made available only to the individual universities after the deadlines would have expired. In many other cases, researchers become aware of such opportunities through embedded gatekeepers within such bureaucracies (e.g. friends, cousins, old-boy social networks, etc); as such the opportunities circulate within a small cabal of individuals who are able to negotiate access to such information.The web made it possible for individual researchers to be aware of networks and funding opportunities around the world.”

“A significant number of calls for grant proposals are internet-based and communication links (phone, internet) at African universities are notoriously poor. It might be argued therefore that information on funding does not filter through to individuals and departments as frequently and effectively as it does outside Africa.”

“Dissemination of funding information at university level is bureaucratised and problematically slow. Recently a DELPHE call for funding proposals routed through the university administration was forwarded to departments and institutes one month before the deadline. It would help if institutions and departments had a named contact in charge of disseminating funding information to staff and researchers by email, through pigeonholes or other appropriate modes of dissemination that reach all members.”

“It is a fact that information on funding and related matters does not filter through easily to departments

and their members.There are two reasons for this: 1) often the information is held up at one of the offices of the Registrar for so long that by the time it reaches the department it is no longer useful. 2) It is likely that funding agencies do not make enough allowance for the inefficiency of the internal postal systems of countries.”

“Often the deadlines are very close, as if overseas applicants are an afterthought, and the problems they may have accessing the internet in order to meet that deadline are not understood.”

“Information does not filter through to individuals. It is frequently withheld – for a variety of reasons. Electronic information is very difficult to access and browsing is too expensive and time-consuming.”

On the importance of research agendas

“We have a Faculty of Education research plan that is rooted in the university-wide research strategy. More recently, the dean’s office has requested the departments to come up with their research plan and our department has been able to articulate its research plan together with the teams that would come up with collaborative research agendas in the nearest future.This whole arrangement is to complement individual research interests and activities. In most cases, the agendas being pursued respond to local needs and issues that are perceived as very crucial to the nation.”

“The result of the lack of coordinated “research agendas” is often individual research ideas that are uncoordinated and addressing limited interests and “individual” goals. Of course individual researchers are expected and should be given the freedom to address their own identified problems and issues. However, the failure to have national research agendas and effective mechanisms to facilitate the processes of national agenda setting results in the inability of African countries to collectively address big issues, invest in research areas that are most appropriate/relevant and or take advantage of those areas in which they have comparative advantage.A country with readily available research agenda is more likely to use such an agenda to negotiate with donors as to where research funding should be invested.A country would use such an agenda to match available donor funding and it is likely that donors will be more also be aware in advance as to what research priorities a country has in place.”

On the need to engage at national level…

“In Ghana an unexpectedly large number of new universities have been created during the last decade and a half, and the likely probability is that the expansion will continue to increase since governments do not seem to show any inclination or willingness to exercise control over this new wave of enthusiasm for the establishment of institutions of higher learning.The new trend has compounded the problem of shortage of teaching staff.Teachers from the older, better established universities are induced to take up informal part-time teaching appointments in the newer ones.The quality of their teaching and research is badly affected.”

“To assess the needs of African institutions in the area of staff development, there is a need for a country­wide survey, whereby the need of African institutions will be identified and the means of delivering them will be generated within their institutional framework.”

… And to demonstrate the value of research

“Scientific or scholastic publications are important for researchers but there is also need to give popular and concrete meaning to dissemination of research findings to make it more relevant to those who need the results most. In order to achieve this, there is need to strengthen the skills of scientists and researchers on how to package research findings in other user friendly formats such as policy briefs and news releases that will encourage the public to read and understand the issues and also influence policymakers to use them to make decisions and implement policy for the ultimate benefit of the people.”

Communities and networks – forging collaboration within Africa

On intra-African collaboration....

“African Universities are very weak in regional and continental linkages, and therefore there is an imperative need for these institutions to engineer regional and continental linkage, by establishing more collaborative research… among these institutions within Africa.”

“I feel that the best way to develop staff is through institutional partnerships.This broadens the horizons of the individuals, exposes people to different institutional cultures and processes, and prevents nepotism.”

“The potential exists for collaboration between institutions in Sierra Leone and between Sierra Leonean institutions and institutions in other sub-regional countries such as Ghana or the Gambia but these are often not explored either because of lack of funding or because such collaborative frameworks do not exist.”

On professional associations and research networks…

“There are some academic networks and associations in Africa. Unfortunately, many of them do not have the resource base to hold regular meetings. Most [academics] look forward to sharing their ideas in ‘foreign’ journals and fora leaving behind a very wide communication gap on the continent. For example, there is no regular and viable professional association for adult educators in Southern Africa. In some instances, the national professional associations are either non-existent or simply mentioned on paper.”

“There are some online networks to be found within my domain in Africa but limited in Cameroon. One handicap is that since there is limited access to the internet researchers tend to check their mail and reply to the urgent ones rather than spend time on these possibly important but not urgent emails.We have had experience organising regional meeting but again, researchers need to be funded to attend these meetings as their basic salaries cannot even pay for an air ticket.”

“Professional networks are very limited.The few that begin do not survive for long, possibly due to lack of funds and therefore sustainability measures. Often a visionary leader starts such an organization but subsequent leadership fails to manage it. University conferences lack the academic rigor that is promoted through professional associations. Instead we see too much ‘in-breeding’. Professional associations provide more diversity and growth of ideas across time/decades.”

“I have organised three international conferences inYaoundé in a bid to bring together colleagues so as to establish a solid network.This however has been with little support from the university and the ministry. It is difficult to use money from your pocket when you do not have enough! These conferences brought together researchers from all over the world and have yielded two publications, one in progress. If funders could encourage this initiative, I think research in Africa would be greatly accelerated... Donors could cater for the transportation and accommodation of conference attendees and may be, support the publication of the proceedings of the conference.”

“Networks are always useful for new academics but they may not always have funding to attend events etc. Greater (and more regular) publicity of these networks and websites would be useful – especially since poor internet access sometimes prevents immediate follow up of such information.”

“There is a dearth of professional academic networks and associations in Sierra Leone, especially in the social sciences and humanities. Some research networks have been encouraged and fostered by external agencies such as the Nordic African Institute’s Sierra Leone Research Network on Post-conflict Societies. But such networks are often tied to specific projects which last for a specific number of years. Opportunities for meetings in the broad discipline of political science, for instance, are few and far between.

The need for support of professional associations becomes critical in such areas as they have the potential of encouraging regular meetings to promote active research in the discipline.”

“It is very important that donors encourage the holding of international professional meetings in African countries but this should be well coordinated with African institutions playing a major role. In 2006 the (US-based) African Literature Association held its annual meeting in the Ghanaian capital Accra.This meeting attracted six hundred scholars from Africa, Europe and North America.This gave African professionals in the discipline a greater opportunity to attend, network and present papers at a gathering that is closer to home.”

“There is no substitute for face-to-face meetings, and there is a need to ensure that more meetings take place on African soil.There is everything to be said for creating regular fora in which research ideas and findings can be discussed. In the UK, there are already funding streams that facilitate conferences and workshops. But there are limits to what can be achieved in a format that presumes the existence of a common research agenda in the first place.”

“What is needed is the kind of funding that allows for meetings that go beyond the standard conference and permits the time and resources to work up a common research agenda that can secure funding for the longer term.... Funding for ‘smart networks’ should ideally be multi-layered and embody a sense of progression. By the former, I mean that there is a need for standard workshops; meetings to work on honing research agendas, formulating funding proposals and agreeing on joint outputs; and graduate summer schools. By a sense of progression, I mean that the basis on which networks should be funded is not merely that academics have some interesting research they would like to share ideas about, but that researchers have a clear strategy for how an agenda can be developed over a 5-10 year period. Initial funding for a network could provide start-up costs for 2 years, at which point the networks could be continued or be wound up, depending on progress.”

“Attention should also be paid to how best to strengthen the existing relationship with UK academics while at the same time encouraging a triangular collaboration of two African Universities and one from the UK.This presents a case for building capacities at horizontal levels and I would suggest that funding agencies... design programmes that could bring African academics of similar interest together... Funds to encourage an academic to present a research result in another African university could be a seed for collaboration and horizontal networking.”

“Regional associations and networks tend to work best when they are supporting researchers with strong research communities and networks in their countries, or helping researchers build such country-level communities and networks. It helps if activities are specific and regular, for example disciplinary and/or interdisciplinary conferences and journals, small grants or awards for fellowships and travel.The multi-level dialogue and exchange between local academics, their institutions and regional facilitators can reshape the structure and administration of local institutions.”

On the potential of collaboration…

“Our partnership project ran exchange workshops and designed training material to address research and writing capacity building needs, followed by small scale research activities where partners developed research questions collectively. Capacity needs were assessed informally, based on expressed needs of partner institutions.”

“The 13-year old Legon-Trondheim Linguistics Project funded by NUFU has transformed the image of the Department of Linguistics through capacity building, infrastructure and research output. I believe the success of this project was due largely to the careful preparation that went into the initial planning.” “I am currently involved in a research network involving co-operation between African universities and German universities,funded byVolkswagen Foundation.The focus of the research provides insight into how media facilitates transformations in popular culture in African societies.This research agenda would never have been supported in Nigeria, simply because such esoteric issues are not seen as part of a social curriculum.”

“We have since 2002 run a programme of academic exchange, called the 'Cambridge/Africa collaborative research programme'. Each year we have invited four or five Africa-based university scholars, chosen out of a competitive process, to come to the Centre of African Studies for six months, to pursue research on a shared theme.This programme has proven to be markedly successful in stimulating African scholars' research, while also cultivating intra-Africa networks of academic co-operation.To date the thirty African scholars involved in the programme have published some twenty-five articles and books, and many more works are in preparation. Moreover the programme has opened up channels of collaboration that have developed their own momentum. Ex-visiting fellows are today writing comparative essays together and pursuing shared programmes of research.”

“Partnerships between UK and African institutions could be strengthened by granting the latter access to electronic resources (e.g., e-periodicals) available to UK institutions. Unavailability of such resources at African institutions is a major drawback in furthering research agendas and production of knowledge.”

“All players must understand the quality of what they can offer to a partnership as well as what they can get. In my experience this talks to joint ownership in the partnership, joint decision-making, and clear funds reporting so that all the partners can see how they have benefitted in comparison with all other partners. Ongoing monitoring/research should also be carried out, in order to better understand the ‘softer’ benefits as well as the more measurable ones.”

“Research collaboration is beneficial if and when it brings together a mix of partners for mutual benefit.... For example collaboration ensures that while using external expertise it also provides an opportunity for local led approaches and creates a shared understanding of the problem and/or situation being studied… In order for research collaboration to work…in good faith therefore, equal partnership is an important process issue that has to be tackled from the onset and built into the partnership. Having partners come together to design the project is one way to inject some equality but it may not necessarily provide the antidote to equal partnership if certain conditions prevail such as having partner(s) on one side (usually the north) be the main or only principal or lead investigator and the principal grant holder.”

“Joint research projects involving many universities in the UK and Africa, within Africa and within the Commonwealth present one realistic way forward. Such projects should be for about five years, with a major conference out of which a good publication should be produced.There could/should be an evaluation conference in the third year of the project.The research projects should include teaching exchange programmes. Graduate research and supervision and co–supervision should be a high priority.“

On mobility within and outside of Africa

“Acquiring visas is a major headache…. for Nigeria this is a major problem and can be very stressful getting permission. Sometimes permission does not come through in time.”

“I and some of my colleagues have had experiences both in the British, French and American Embassies in obtaining visas.The problems range from booking appointments to obtaining the visas themselves.”

“Travelling especially to continental Europe to attend academic functions is frustrating. I was unable to obtain a visa to Italy to go to the Bellagio centre.More recently,myVC was also denied a visa to Italy to attend a conference for which he had a proper invitation.”

“Sometimes colleagues do not want to go to some embassies, especially some Western embassies because of maltreatment.You first of all have to line up for long hours, and then may be wait the whole day to have an appointment to be attended to on another day when you are not excused not to line up on that day! If you go away without someone really talking to you, thank God.”

On getting research published…

“The expectation in many African universities is that at least one-third of your publications must be in outlets outside Africa and/or your country.Yet many of these scholars do not have the motivation to do research. It is to be observed that the few who venture to seek publish in Europe and American outlets get ‘frustrated’ obviously because of the wide differences in writing styles and interests.”

“Getting internationally published requires negotiating a whole raft of intimidating obstacles [so] that most young academics do not aspire to be international.These might include research that is genuinely interesting and captivating and promises to provide significant insights into unchartered waters.There are plenty of these areas; but the conditioning of researchers in this part of the world is geared towards producing ‘relevant’ research that would be seen as an aid to policy making.”

“Kano has a series of independent publishers that make it possible for academics to get their books printed, if not published, at the local level and to meet some promotion requirements.The university, however, frowns at these publications, even when accepting them because the ‘publishers’ lack an effective peer-review editorial policy; everything is cash-and-carry, and so long as the author is willing to pay, the publishers – or more accurately, printers – are not too worried about the quality of the work.”

“The policy in my university as it is with most others is that an appropriate publication that earns promotion is one that is published in local and international peer reviewed journals. Invariably, the preference for scholars has been to seek and publish in international journals to be assured of making the standards for earning recognition and promotions.The situation appears to have led to a trend where… flow of research results has been over concentrated, relatively speaking in the academic community and less and less with the people and policy makers [for whom] research findings often also hold direct and most benefit. Of course one can also talk about other unintended effects where local journals fail to attract best local articles in the face of competition.And sometimes the publications circulate in the international domain to the deprivation of the local community where the data for publication was obtained. In my own experience I have two publications that are marketed and sold in the Netherlands but not available in Ghana yet the issue in one of them is more relevant to Ghana.”

“The central problem of academic publishing is distribution.The related problem is the small size of print run.The origination of academic books is expensive. Intra-African trade is difficult and the movement of printed paper from country to country is expensive.The cost of moving small amounts of money from one banking system to another erodes all margins. Modern technology enables new forms of co-publishing which would allow publishers of academic books in Africa to develop new ways of working together. Electronic distribution coupled with short run print on demand could help break the hold of the old trade routes which up until now have meant that it is easier to get books into Africa from Asia, Europe and America rather than from one African country to another.”

“Getting published in acclaimed international journals has been a problem and is one that is stifling the potential of young researchers who often struggle to get their works recognized.They lack the networks and skills required to successfully go through the rigorous refereeing process employed by reputable international journals.There is also the lack of domestic journals that can serve as a training ground for young researchers to enable them crack the international scene.”

“Local journals play an important role in the advancement of a young African scholar’s career since it is from publishing in such journals that he/she graduates into publishing in regional and international journals.”

“The problem(s) -from the Editors’ perspective: Journals want contributions from Africa – especially from countries and institutions which do not regularly publish, and from younger scholars; journals also want editorial board members based in Africa, especially if they can help us solicit submissions! At present we get a lot of submissions from Nigeria and South Africa and very few from (or about) other parts of the continent. Many submissions are rejected without even being sent to review (This does not just apply to

authors from Africa, but all of our authors) – because they are empirically weak (general overviews of recent politics, drawing on author’s own knowledge or newspapers) or because they are consultancy reports, which have not been revised. Often authors have identified really great topics, but haven’t carried out the level of research or analysis required – so the paper is more at the level of lecture notes, or newspaper coverage – and we expect more than this.Although we are very sensitive to concerns about our role as ‘gatekeepers’, we also have a responsibility to past and future authors, to maintain high standards. From our perspective, the problem is not with making an article publishable –wehelpallour authors do that – but in getting the original research project right, and in encouraging authors to send the results to us. So researchers need more support in setting up research (finding a problematic, writing an analytic study), but also in writing it up and targeting the right journal.”

“Statistics about scholars based in Africa publishing in Africanist journals are not all negative – but there is a lot of variation from year to year, between journals, and between regions. Some journals either don’t collect these statistics or don’t publicise them. Perhaps leaving African scholars feeling at a disadvantage. Contributors need to be realistic, but not unduly pessimistic. Journal editors are willing to work with contributors to make pieces more publishable, but papers need to ‘fit’ the journal, and have a strong basis – either empirical or theoretical. If there is a good case study, then, even if the secondary literature is a bit out of date… the author’s analysis should be publishable. So, in our experience, it is nearly always possible to turn good data from a PhD, or a thorough consultancy, or an externally funded research project into an excellent article.”

Investing in individuals – the early research career

On research training…

“Discussions are under way within the university to develop a postgraduate training programme… by making available some limited sponsorship to those admitted, especially for doctoral studies, to serve as Graduate Teaching Assistants.These Graduate Teaching Assistants would get tuition waivers from the university.This would facilitate a considerable number to take up doctoral studies and contribute to both teaching and research within the university.Another attraction to this proposal is that senior academics within the university will have enough time on their hands to be able to carry out research.”

“Increasing staff development must take place in Africa because this is relatively less expensive than overseas scholarship. But there is need for the universities to provide the staff with an environment that is conducive to research and teaching if brain drain is to be reduced. Developing staff locally is important also because staff are likely to do much of their research and teaching on African issues/problems and to publish their research findings in local journals. Currently, there is greater flow of staff on training programmes, from the South to the North.There is need to increase the flow from the North to the South, so that more staff from the North can use their expertise to train staff in Africa.”

“African universities know best what their training needs are.To assess their needs they need to look at the needs/priorities areas for the university to fulfil its mandate; and the development needs/priorities of the country. Institutions must identify their staff for training. Donor funding must be channelled to the staff through the institutions. Universities should get a proportion of the funding for ‘managing’ the award.They shouldn’t be mere surrogate mothers. In some countries, there is a perception that overseas (Western) training is better than domestic (African) training. Since most African universities have poor resources, this appears true, yet some of them have strong MA and PhD programmes and they have trained internationally-recognised academics.”

“A central aspect of any programme of PhD training lies in the expansion of post-graduates' network of academic contacts, and in their immersion in an cosmopolitan academic environment where seminars, conferences and other programmes of academic exchange are frequent. Many of eastern Africa's universities

are at present unable to provide the intellectual environment in which junior scholars can mature in their research and writing.”

“It is very important that staff development should take place in Africa rather than overseas – this is more cost effective, enables continuity, less disruption of families and other concerns and facilitates the strengthening of African dissertation supervision skills etc. Donors should encourage applications that demonstrate the ability to be supervised in Africa.This should include capacity building funding for developing masters and doctoral supervision skills within African HEIs.There are examples of split-site scholarships, but mostly the opportunity arises when African universities supplement their staffing with expatriates – this could also be a way of funding African support – providing staff exchanges and overseas secondments for academic development needs.”

“Since it would not be possible to engage in massive training at PhD level in UK universities, for instance, due to cost implications, it may be advisable to identify a number of African universities for targeted capacity building to an internationally acceptable level. Such institutions could then engage in meaningful staff development for a significant number of master’s degree holders working in African universities.This arrangement could be of great help to African institutions where academic staff who require training have young families (with school-going children) and may be unwilling to train outside Africa. Furthermore, the cost to the universities concerned would be significantly lower and more attractive to the candidates and/or their sponsoring institutions. In order to guard against in-breeding in the select African institutions offering PhD programmes, it will be desirable to continue offering training opportunities for some up-coming African scholars overseas.”

“Given limited resources, the training of PhD students should be given a first priority. It is expected that, ultimately, the majority of African university teachers will be trained locally. Hopefully, with support from governments and donor agencies human capacity will continue to be enlarged and infrastructure improved to make this possible.At the present time,however,mostAfrican universities are not sufficiently equipped in terms of capacity and infrastructure to train enough PhD students for available teaching positions.The older, more established African Universities could, with considerable assistance, expand their PhD programmes to accommodate their own needs and those of some of the newer universities.”

“The need is greater for a PhD because there are very limited resources in carrying out a PhD in Cameroon.What I personally suggest is to continue with the split site PhD programme. I think it works out well as it reduces the chances of brain drain as the candidate does their viva in their home country and has a job guarantee as well. However, scholars lack a support system post PhD and move from a very sophisticated system to a rudimentary one. I suggest the funders make it possible to extend library access for scholars upon completion.”

“Most African universities now have the capacity to deliver training at masters’ level but training at PhD level is still problematic due to lack of adequate infrastructure and the required human and financial resources. It is therefore my considered view that priority should be given to doctoral provision but with an increase in local provision and other modes such as the split-site one already been implemented by some UK institutions.A major shortcoming of this programme,however,is the lack of resources at home institutions which impedes the progress of researchers enrolled under this programme. Institutions participating in this scheme should therefore be provided with the necessary resources, particularly access to the internet, online journals and books.”

“Many opportunities for staff development are provided through overseas scholarship programmes but I strongly believe there is now the urgent need to increase the proportion of staff development taking place in Africa, particularly in those countries that have proven capacity to deliver internationally acclaimed courses. Universities which lack the capacity to deliver certain staff development programmes should take advantage of emerging centres of excellence elsewhere in Africa rather than continue to send staff to often expensive European or American institutions.”

“I think that it is essential that academic staff development take place in Africa. Perhaps an accreditation system could be developed for institutions, or, which would be more useful, for specific departments in universities.The working, living, and research environment in Africa is so far removed from that of other continents that research supervision elsewhere by academics ignorant of this environment is inadequate and without insight. If the opportunity is only available overseas, then I suggest that it be made a split-site scholarship.The research project should be relevant to the home country with fieldwork to be carried out at home.The overseas supervisor or contact should be required to visit the home country.”

“The PhD provides opportunities for the first publications for ‘young serious academics’, not those who would like to return immediately and directly into the administrative straight jacket of headship or deanship. In order to reduce wastage (particularly for part-time candidates), it is imperative for quality assurance strategies to be in place:Team supervision (including supervisors from other adjacent institutions) as opposed to single supervisor, recording by the candidate of all supervisory meetings, periodic checks through the differentiation of‘enrolment’,‘registration’,MPhil / PhD as opposed to straight to the PhD,in order to certify that there is a PhD substance in the research.”

“Masters degrees should emphasise research methods, though a systematic empiricist approach should be avoided in favour of one that can cater for both political and social scientists and those in the humanities.A good grasp of methodology is the gateway to completion of the PhD as well as writing up good research proposals. By basing the teaching in Africa, it will help not just in developing local infrastructure and ensuring spread effects, but it will also impact upon the curricula for relevance in terms of case studies, examples and general ideas.”

“Without competent faculty the university’s very existence will be threatened. Doctoral provision should therefore be given the priority, with a focus on relevance of study areas and the quality of study programmes which in turn will reflect on the quality of doctoral products.To ensure that HEIs in Africa contribute meaningfully and extensively to development on the continent, staff development should be provided for on home ground – nationally or regionally. Undertaking more staff development programmes within Africa may ensure that such development is more demand-driven with higher target institution or country ownership and therefore higher commitment and greater payoffs.”

“Staff development opportunities should take place both within the continent and abroad, with a bias towards encouraging greater cooperation amongst universities within the African continent. I can't see any way out of retaining qualified academics than creating a proper environment for conducting effective research and teaching. Poorly resourced institutions will invariably stunt the growth of even the most committed of scholars.African institutions must determine their needs and agenda,they know best.This does not mean that their decisions cannot be discussed and scrutinised – this can only strengthen THEIR case. On the whole, the main problem with staff development in many African universities is lack of resources and heavy teaching involving a large number of students who are often ‘under-prepared’.This makes it difficult for effective research to take place.”

On supervision and mentoring…

“Mentoring is not common because the few seasoned academics… are often unwilling to share their skills, such as on how to develop a research proposal, with young scholars. It is as if PhDs and Professorships, for example, are exclusive positions.”

“The overstretched cadre of lecturers holding PhDs already finds it difficult to find time to train doctoral students. Postgraduates sometimes find themselves waiting for months or years for feedback from their dissertation supervisors. Supervisors based at African universities cannot be asked to take on an added burden in training doctoral students (unless salaries are vastly raised, allowing supervisors to spend the time required to adequately supervise postgraduates).”

“Academic mentoring becomes an important route to career independence and enhancements considering the current learning condition in most African universities. But mentoring does not end when funding ends. For me, the very first day I got the Commonwealth split-site doctoral scholarship was a great opportunity most particularly in networking.When the scholarship ended, that was when the real mentoring opportunities came up, especially during proposal writings, requesting for relevant materials on specific topics, links to some funding opportunities, reading drafts of articles and offers for supports through refreeing or referrals.That has been keeping my career on.”

“The University of Botswana initiated an official mentoring scheme between senior staff and junior staff in its adult education department.This should be possible, along with a programme to develop a research culture – eg seminars, workshops, mentoring, research seed funding incentives, reward systems for publications, timetabled allocation for writing and short sabbaticals/study leave.”

“Supervisions of PhD theses/dissertations of African postgraduate students – in the UK and in select African institutions – could also be organised in a manner that promotes a mentorship process that outlives the studentship. For example, supervisors/advisors could be UK-and Africa-based senior scholars.The Africa-based scholars could be encouraged to continue with the mentoring process in order to nurture continued interest in research and publishing among fresh graduates, thus ensuring continuous production of knowledge.”

“Mentoring schemes are a very practical way of developing staff at African universities but these are lacking in institutions of higher learning in Sierra Leone.There is often a wall between young and upcoming researchers and the more research-established staff of, particularly, Professorial rank.This wall is often too difficult to breach and so ideas fail to cascade down to junior staff.There is also an acute shortage of well established research staff in Sierra Leonean institutions of higher learning which makes it very difficult to implement an effective mentoring scheme.”

“My experience becomes relevant in the area of mentorship.When I joined University of Ibadan service in 2000, I was unable to write for publication in journals published in UK, US and other advanced countries. But my visit to UK in 2005 as a recipient of ESRC fellowship exposed me to [two academics] at the University of Birmingham.They reshaped my writing skills and in conjunction with mentorship enjoyed from [other academics] who always offer to read my manuscripts before sending them for publications, I have been able to overcome my initial difficulty. I therefore suggest that African scholars should imbibe the culture of mentorship.”

On postdoctoral careers…

“Donors should design programmes that are closely linked to the staff development programmes of African institutions. One of the ways this can be achieved is for African institutions to be accorded the opportunity actively participate in the design of such externally funded programmes.”

“A hybrid career track for junior academics seems to be the best way to provide this assurance. New PhDs trained in British universities might be granted a five or ten year fellowship, under which they would return to the institution at which they completed their graduate training for one or two months per year, there to conduct further research in company with other scholars. By this means junior scholars' energy as teachers would be dedicated to African university students, while they themselves would be able to carry forward the research and writing work they commenced in graduate school.”

“African HEIs must be the institutions that identify training needs.African universities should be invited to initiate proposals (perhaps in partnership with UK HEIs),rather than be the subsidiary institution.An example of this happening is the European EDULINK initiative which allows lead institutions to be in a developing country.”

“UK universities could enter into partnerships with African institutions that promote staff and student exchanges for between a semester/term and a year, with transferable credit.”

“Donors could tie funding of programmes or staff development opportunities to proven centres of excellence in Africa.The German donor, DAAD, for instance funds the University of Dortmund’s Masters Degree in planning that requires students to complete part of their programme at the Department of Planning, Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology, in Ghana.This Programme which is now in its 20th year is one of the most successful models of international academic cooperation between a developed nation and a developing country.Another example which can serve as a model for donors is the multi-donor funded African Economic Research Consortium’s capacity building scheme for training and research in economics for Sub-Saharan Africa.The collaborative PhD which started in 2002 has four host universities which deliver the core courses covering the four regions of Africa.The programme supports 21 students from Sub-Saharan Africa each year.”

“UCT has a programme called the Emerging Researchers Programme, and has a book for sale at R50 which describes the programme content.This kind of initiative should be relatively easy to introduce in other institutions, if not already there.”

“The Academy and other funding agencies should make resources available for British and African academics to be available to lend their expertise, in the manner of the now defunct British Council collaboration programme. I am aware of Prof. Beinart’s work on the Masters programme in the University of Fort Hare, which I gather draws on a large number of students from the Southern Africa sub-region.”

“Donors should collaborate on programmes among themselves where interests are mutual, to ensure that limited resources are not scattered, to facilitate sustainability and to increase scope, impact and efficiency. The AAU Study Programme on Higher Education Research Management benefited from such collaboration.The Swedish and Netherlands Governments together supported the first two phases of the Programme which spanned a period of close to 14 years. Over 66 research projects were supported and 138 individual researchers were exposed to the methodology and processes of higher education research under African conditions.A special feature of the scheme was that experienced resource persons of international repute, supervised the projects and grantees were given intensive, often personalized, training in various aspects of HE research through workshops and seminars within Africa. Participation in these training workshops was a condition for disbursement of tranches of the grant.When appropriate, grantees undertook short attachments at recognized centres for higher education research in Europe to help raise the quality of their work.After the completion of their projects,grantees were selectively sponsored to participate in international HE conferences as part of their professional development.”

“Many colleagues have had to benefit from staff development funding provided through overseas scholarship programmes…These have been very resourceful programmes that many of us have benefited from but ironically, very few colleagues return to their home universities on completion of their training. This raises the question as to whether this training cannot be offered locally, and what can be done to reinforce local training in African and other developing world universities. Donor organisations involvement here may do the trick especially if this is linked with projects initiated in the department, projects to which PhD students should be associated.”

“Considering research carried out on brain drain among Commonwealth Scholars one of the problems was lack of postdoctoral support. It was suggested that if former scholars and fellows had opportunities to frequently travel abroad for research, it could considerably reduce problems related to brain drain as most of the push factors related to lack of infrastructure and access to publications and publishing facilities.”

On donor coordination and collaboration…

“I think that the best path to take is to meet, and to interact regularly (by email) with a donor representative, in order to build up better insight and trust on both sides.This would depend on what the donor wants. From my perspective I think it should be at project management level, and yes, it would involve a bit more administration at the level of regular proactive communication. Listen, learn, and support. The most successful programmes are often those that are small but very well supported and very well understood by donor, recipients, and management.”

“Improved donor coordination is the best especially in areas of common interest. Donor competition undermines outcomes.What makes donor coordination difficult is for example in science donors may have their own subject specializations. NORAD may for example be interested in geology and energy while Sida has medicine and engineering as its favourites and DfID may be interested in economics while USAID is more into governance. Once these subject specializations are taken as flagships, coordination may be difficult. I think coordination is best done through consultative mechanisms. Regular meetings of the stakeholders are the best.The UNESCO working groups on education are the best examples of participatory mutually reinforcing systems of coordination involving all stakeholders.There is no blue print.”

“Greater collaboration between donors and researchers is necessary in order to ensure that access to funds is facilitated at the right time.This will also enable most of the funds to be geared towards the project, not for administration. Coordination should involve less administration.This could be assumed by a joint body.”

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