Knowledge production in the African university

Often University know-how in African universities has come about through studying texts which are relevant in the US or Europe but not in Africa. Whether Africans are studying abroad or at an African university they normally... [ view full abstract ]

Often University know-how in African universities has come about through studying texts which are relevant in the US or Europe but not in Africa. Whether Africans are studying abroad or at an African university they normally meet the same theories developed in the North and expressed in the languages of the former colonial masters. It is important to develop an African counter-expertise through a strengthening of the African universities. Such strengthening would have as an aim the restoration of African languages and culture and stop the curriculum dependency of the South on the North. Such strengthening would stop the flow from global producers in the North to local consumers in the South and would ensure a more sustainable and multidirectional intellectual flow, such as flows going South – South or South – North. Values and knowledge creation, particularly through independent and basic research, is critically important in order to develop the African continent as a creator of science and technology and not simply a consumer of imported versions. This knowledge creation has to be produced together with the local people. African researchers are in a better position to do this than researchers from the North who often do not speak African languages and do not know African culture and thinking. Mere translations of books produced in the North into African languages would not suffice. Tests from the North like TIMSS and PISA are likely to counteract the development of curricula based on African world-views.