African governments have concluded that they must invest in the skills of their people to develop lasting capacity to reduce poverty, accelerate economic growth, and provide better services to their citizens. At the same time, many countries fear that educating Africans at the tertiary level simply leads to "brain drain" and may divert resources from other spending priorities.
Organized by WBI and HDNED, this BBL focused on whether or not tertiary education should be considered as an essential area for a multi-pronged development strategy in Africa. Moving away from the traditional issue of tertiary vs. primary education and reflecting the capacity development perspective, the discussion answered the question: "Do African countries need tertiary education to succeed in sustainable capacity development?"
Peter Materu, Senior Education Specialist in the Africa region started off the discussion by providing evidence of why tertiary education is important for economic development in Africa. His presentation was followed by Ms. Maria Nunez, Senior Transport Specialist in EAP, who elaborated on the lessons learned in Lao PDR’s case of investing in long-term capacity building. Ms. Agata Powlowska Senior Economist for Africa brought in the private sector’s perspective on the importance of improving the business environment and strengthening support for technical and business management skills to facilitate investments. Mr. Graglia, Projects Officer at IFC, shared his experience with IFC's Global Business School Network initiative which helps to create PPPs to strengthen the skills of managers in emerging markets by expanding and enhancing opportunities for management education and training. Finally, Mr. Benno Ndulu, Adviser in the Africa region made comments on the presentations focusing on the main challenges lying ahead.
The BBL was chaired by Mr. Jamil Salmi, Lead Education Specialist in HDNED.
Presentation: Tertiary Education in Africa by Peter Materu
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For further information please contact Natalia Agapitova at nagapitova@worldbank.org or Nansia Constantinou at nconstantinou@worldbank.org
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