- Parce qu’une transformation profonde et durable des systèmes et des pratiques politiques, économiques, sociaux, environnementaux et culturels dans les pays d’Afrique de l’Ouest et au-delà exige l’existence et la croissance d’une masse critique de femmes et d’hommes disposant de savoirs, de savoir-faire, et de capacité à appréhender des situations complexes et à innover dans tous les domaines et que l’enseignement supérieur est la clé de la formation de ces ressources humaines indispensables.
- Parce qu’avec la population la plus jeune au monde, le taux d’accès à l’enseignement supérieur n’est que de 7 % en Afrique, contre 76 % dans les pays occidentaux. L’enseignement supérieur accuse plusieurs retards car seuls 5% des personnes en âge d’aller à l’université y ont accès et aucune université d’Afrique occidentale ne figure dans le classement des 500 meilleures universités du monde.
- Parce qu’avec la pandémie de la Covid-19, seuls 29 % des établissements d’enseignement supérieur africains étaient en mesure de passer rapidement à l’enseignement et à l’apprentissage en ligne, contre 85 % en Europe. De nombreux établissements d’enseignement supérieur africains n’étaient pas prêts à faire ce passage au numérique les obligeant ainsi à suspendre les cours.
- Parce que les universités africaines ne sont pas assez outillées pour être des pôles de recherche dynamiques. D’ailleurs, l’Afrique ne consacre que 0,59 % de son PIB à la recherche et au développement, contre une moyenne mondiale de 1,79 %. Par conséquent, l’ensemble du continent africain, qui compte 1,3 milliard d’habitants, produit moins de publications scientifiques (1,01%) que le Canada (3,60 %), qui compte 37,7 millions d’habitants.
- Parce que, sachant que l’Afrique comptera environ 2,5 milliards d’habitants, soit 25,5 % de la population mondiale en 2050, l’un des défis majeurs de l’enseignement supérieur est d’avoir des offres transformatrices afin de faire de cette croissance explosive un dividende démographique plutôt qu’une catastrophe pour l’Afrique.
- Parce que l’enseignement supérieur en Afrique de l’Ouest est soumis à l’exigence de se réinventer pour inscrire le processus de digitalisation dans le renouvellement des pédagogies et la facilitation de l’accès aux enseignements.
- Parce que l’enseignement supérieur africain connaît des difficultés dans le respect de l’équilibre sur le genre. En effet, dans toute l’Afrique subsaharienne, 75 % des filles commencent l’école, mais seulement 8 % la terminent, et elles sont encore moins nombreuses à poursuivre leurs études dans l’enseignement supérieur. Seules 64 femmes pour 100 hommes sont inscrites dans l’enseignement supérieur.
Pourquoi ce thème ?
Quels sont les principaux sujets à explorer ?
- Quelles sont les modalités d’accès à l’enseignement supérieur, le modèle d’organisation des facultés, et le processus de sélection des offres de filières?
- Quelles sont les conditions d’apprentissage dans les universités/centres de formation?
- Quels sont les défis liés à la qualité des enseignements, de la gestion du personnel enseignant et administratif à l’entretien et la maintenance des infrastructures en passant par les systèmes d’évaluation?
- Quels sont les modèles de financement des universités dans les pays de l’Afrique de l’Ouest?
- Quels sont les modèles de financement des bourses des étudiants et les défis liés au respect des critères de mérite et de transparence?
- Comment améliorer l’adéquation entre l’offre de formation des universités et école de formation et la demande des entreprises?
- Comment intégrer les alternatives proposées par le numérique pour la mise à jour des logiciels pédagogiques et l’amélioration de l’accessibilité à l’enseignement supérieur?
Comment participer au débat ?
- Les contributions des experts des questions débattues sont bienvenues mais les observations, témoignages, points de vue et propositions de tous les citoyens le sont tout autant.
- Nous souhaitons recevoir en particulier des articles qui font référence à un ou des pays précis, s’appuient sur des exemples et qui font émerger des propositions de réforme.
- Vous êtes également invités à envoyer une courte interview audio/vidéo, ainsi qu’un récit oral de vos expériences sur ce sujet et de vos suggestions sur de possibles réformes.
- Vous pouvez demander à ce que votre identité ne soit pas publiée même si elle doit être connue de WATHI ; dans ce cas choisissez un pseudonyme et envoyez une biographie qui donne une idée de votre domaine d’expertise ou de votre activité professionnelle.
- Vous pouvez soumettre des articles courts (500 à 1000 mots) ou plus longs (1500 à 2000 mots). La taille maximale des contributions est de 2000 mots. Les articles courts ont cependant plus de chances d’être sélectionnés et publiés par le WATHI. Tous les articles doivent être accessibles au grand public, structurés et soignés.
- Nous vous invitons à accompagner la soumission de votre article d’une biographie de 50 mots maximum et, de préférence, d’une de vos photos de très bonne qualité.
- Envoyez vos articles à partir d’ ici ou à l’adresse: infowathi@wathi.org
- Le Débat se passe aussi sur les comptes Facebook et Twitter de WATHI :
Why this theme?
- Because a profound and sustainable transformation of political, economic, social, environmental and cultural systems and practices in West African countries and beyond requires the existence and growth of a critical mass of women and men with knowledge, know-how, and the capacity to apprehend complex situations and to innovate in all fields, and higher education is the key to the training of these indispensable human resources
- Because with the youngest population in the world, the rate of access to higher education is only 7% in Africa, compared to 76% in Western countries. Higher education is lagging behind as only 5% of university age people have access to it and no West African university is listed in the top 500 universities in the world.
- Because of the Covid-19 pandemic, only 29% of African higher education institutions were able to move quickly to online teaching and learning, compared to 85% in Europe. Many African higher education institutions were not ready to make the transition to digital, forcing them to suspend courses.
- Because African universities are not adequately equipped to be dynamic research hubs. Moreover, Africa devotes only 0.59% of its GDP to research and development, compared with a world average of 1.79%. As a result, the entire African continent, with a population of 1.3 billion, produces fewer scientific publications (1.01%) than Canada (3.60%), with a population of 37.7 million.
- Because, knowing that Africa will have about 2.5 billion people, or 25.5% of the world’s population in 2050, one of the major challenges for higher education is to have transformative offerings to make this explosive growth a demographic dividend rather than a disaster for Africa.
- Because higher education in West Africa is subject to the requirement to reinvent itself to include the process of digitalization in the renewal of pedagogies and facilitation of access to education.
- Because African higher education is experiencing difficulties in the respect of gender balance. In fact, in the whole of sub-Saharan Africa, 75% of girls start school, but only 8% finish, and even fewer of them continue their studies in higher education. Only 64 women per 100 men are enrolled in higher education.
What are the main topics to be explored?
- What is the modus operandi of access to higher education, the organisational model of faculties, and the selection process for course offerings?
- What are the learning conditions in universities/training centres?
- What are the challenges related to the quality of teaching, from the management of teaching and administrative staff to the maintenance of infrastructure and evaluation systems?
- What are the funding models for universities in West African countries?
- What are the funding models for student grants and the challenges of meeting merit criteria and transparency?
How to participate in the debate?
- Contributions by experts in the issues discussed are welcome. So are observations, accounts, opinions, and recommendations from all citizens.
- We particularly welcome articles that refer to one or more specific countries, are based on concrete examples and include recommendations for action and reform.
- You can submit short articles (500-1000 words) or longer ones (1500-2000 words). Although the maximum length of a contribution is 2000 words, short articles are more likely to be selected and published by WATHI. All articles must be accessible to the general public, well written and structured.
- Without having to write a structured article, you can send your comments, observations, and recommendations to infowathi@wathi.org. The most relevant contributions will be published on the website.
- You can also submit a short audio or video recording to share your experiences and concrete reform proposals.
- We invite you to send your article with a 50-word biography and preferably a good picture of yourself.
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