Partnership in Higher Education in Africa: Communications Implications beyond the 2000s

Abstract

To date, the possibilities for African countries to use information and communication technologies to respond to the challenges and the demand of higher education have been limited. An assessment and analysis of the development, state, and usage of telecommunications in Africa constitute in fact an indication of Africa's overall marginalization in the global system. Communication technologies do not operate independently of the global economic system, which is characterized by structural inequality. Various initiatives devised by governments and development agencies to address the effective and productive integration of telecommunications technology into the educational system have been hindered by the contextual and structural impediments to harnessing and fulfilling their promise, especially for higher education. The paper explores innovative and multi-stakeholder partnership strategies to enhance the development and relevance of new telecommunications technologies to the African education system, especially higher education, for long-term and rooted socioeconomic development.