ISSUE46: JUNE-AUGUST 2007
network of research and training centres/programmes
FRONT PAGE | ARCHIVE |
Third seminar on Africa-Asia education dialogue held in Tokyo
Africa-Asia University Dialogue for Basic Education Development is a project designed to complement the New Partnership for Africa’s Development (NEPAD) by “twinning” African and Asian universities to promote a self-reliant approach to improving and expanding basic education.
The project aims to provide African experts – including university and government representatives – with space for research, dialogue and reflection. It draws on the experiences of the UNITWIN/UNESCO Chairs, Centre for the Study of International Cooperation in Education (CICE), Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) and United Nations University.
This year, 12 African university experts and national policy-makers from Zambia, Nigeria, Madagascar and Burkina Faso were invited to undertake a five-week study mission to Asia to enable them to develop a more self-reliant policy perspective for basic education development.
The group first went to Thailand, where they participated in training at Chiang Mai University, exchanged views and experiences with Thai counterparts and policy-makers and learned about Thai best experience and practice in basic education.
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The Nigerian team makes its presentation. |
The group then went to Japan for four weeks of intensive work in developing a joint policy-oriented research framework in basic education and preparing a work plan for project implementation at country level. While in Japan, the group spent a week at UNU and three weeks with CICE. During their time at UNU Centre in Tokyo, the group held in- depth discussions with UNU staff on their research proposals and participated in presentations on priority issues.
On 9 March, the group’s last day at UNU, the African experts presented their research proposals on teacher training during an open seminar with policy-makers and Japanese and other Asian university-based experts.
The Zambian team focused on “The Quality of Basic Education Provided by Rural Community Schools in the Northern Province of Zambia” while the Nigerians highlighted issues related to “Teacher Training Quality and Effectiveness in the Context of Basic Education: A Case Study of the Federal College of Education, Kano State of Nigeria”.
Madagascar analysed “Factors Affecting Teaching Time in Primary Schools: A Case Study of the Local Education Authority (CISCO) of Toamasina II”. The presentation by the team from Burkina Faso Team focused on “Identifying and Analysing Good Classroom Practices in Primary Schools: An Explanatory Study in Selected Grade 5 Classes (CM1), in Burkina Faso”.
Back in their respective countries, the African experts will organize seminars in which the study mission participants can share the results of their work with their colleagues, policy-makers, educational administrators and teachers. They will then conduct agreed-upon national-level research and other activities. The findings of that research will be discussed in group seminars organized by the research teams later this year.
A reflective dialogue meeting is tentatively planned in Paris in November 2007, so that the universities participating in the project over the past three years can share the results of their research among themselves and with other researchers, as well as with a wider audience of policy-makers, educational administrators and teachers. It is envisaged that the effort will move towards creation of a network on the issue of the partnership between higher and basic education in Africa.
© 2007 United Nations University