| Chapter 1: | Africa's 21st-Century Renaissance in Higher Education: The Need for Strategic Planning |
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on four fronts that the Bretton Woods Institution believes are critical to Africa's progress during the 21st century, namely,
This chapter takes the view that education—especially higher education in Africa—is the common thread needed (but still largely unfulfilled) as many countries in Africa continue the urgent, broad-based, and yet complex quest for economic, social, political, and cultural transformation and development encapsulated in the four-pronged approach outlined by the World Bank. Indeed, the World Bank (2000) begins the fourth chapter of its report (“Investing in People”) with the bold—yet true—statement that “Africa's future lies in its people,” (p. 103) specifically the education and development of its citizens.
Given the large number of countries (some 54) that constitute Africa (to say nothing about the continent's large and growing population), it is understandable that the subject of higher education lends itself to different approaches and vantage points. While differences in educational systems can be expected among countries as diverse as Angola, Ghana, Chad, South Africa, and Zambia, there are differences even in individual countries pertaining to higher education needs and challenges in key sectors and areas of study, including but not limited to such fields/faculties/schools as education, law, social sciences, medicine, mines, journalism, business, engineering, library studies, economics, and schools of architecture in different universities. This chapter argues that for the higher education sector in Africa (especially universities) to experience major and meaningful strides during the 21st century, the place for (and role of) strategic planning cannot be overemphasized.
The chapter introduces a hypothetical higher education institution in the city of Livingstone (Zambia) called Victoria Falls University(VFU)