A European agenda for higher education cooperation with Africa: building understanding

As Europe sharpens its HE profile in the world, it cannot afford to ignore such a vast continent as Africa; awareness and sensitivities about higher education challenges in this region will be crucial for the success of European-African HE cooperation and exchange. Europe must not only be an attractive and accessible destination for African students, but also a credible partner for African institutions and governments.

As such, the Access to Success project attempted to build a framework for sustainable higher education dialogue, focusing specifically on a question of common interest to both regions: access. Under the ‘social dimension' of the Bologna Process, ‘access is a constituent part of the EHEA and a necessary condition for the attractiveness and competitiveness of the EHEA'. In 2007, education ministers stated they ‘therefore renew (our) commitment to making quality higher education equally accessible to all, and stress the need for appropriate conditions for students so that they can complete their studies without obstacles related to their social and economic background' (London Communiqué). However, a study completed by the Bologna Process Working Group revealed that statistics about access to higher education are lacking and variable across European countries. Bologna ministers have thus committed each country to developing its own strategy, including an action plan, for the social dimension. Widening access is also a crucial precondition for realising the ambitious goals under the Lisbon Agenda.

In contrast to Europe and the developed world, Sub-Saharan Africa has only five percent average enrolment in tertiary education (UNESCO statistics 2007). While in Europe, the access debate revolves around widening access for social class, gender and minorities, in Africa, the first priority is to create sufficient resources and capacities for building student enrolment. The access questions are no doubt of different scale and focus in Europe compared to Africa. Whereas Europe's priorities are to widen access within a perspective of meeting lifelong learning challenges, and to address challenges for the socio-economically disadvantaged, as well as in terms of equality of sexes and people with disabilities, Africa is dealing with a basic societal access crisis due to intervening forces of environment, resources and institutional absorption capacity, and political instability.

Enhancing the attractiveness of Europe as both a partner to Africa and a feasible and advantageous destination for African students will depend first and foremost on building a mutual understanding of the higher education access challenges the continent faces, sharing experiences and reform agendas, and creating trust in the advantages of Euro-African partnerships.

The project has aimed to bring awareness about the current conceptions and realities of HE access in both Europe and Africa, improve information about European HE opportunities for African students and vice versa, and foster sensitivity in the European ‘attractiveness' and promotion campaign on issues such as brain drain. The policy recommendations resulting from the project has been published in a White Paper of Project Recommendations: Africa-Europe Higher Education Cooperation for Development: Meeting regional and global challenges.