By Felix Khanoba
The Vice Chancellor of University of South Africa (UNISA), Professor Puleng Lenkabula, has challenged universities in the continent to up their games in the area of research.
Lenkabula, who gave the challenge while delivering the 12th convocation lecture of the National Open University of Nigeria (NOUN) on Friday in Abuja, lamented the poor investment in reserch and innovation in Africa.
“The Pan-African University must influence higher rates investment in research, development and innovation (R&DI). Presently, we have a very few African countries that invest more than one per cent of their GDP in R&DI. And we also need to reclaim our research agenda from foreign lands,” she said.
Speaking on the title of the convocation lecture, ‘Volatility & Opportunities in Higher Education,’ the UNISA Vice Chancellor went down memory lane on the colonial, post colonial and contemporary African higher education realities and how to address present challenges in the sector.
” The African universities must deal with legacies of colonialism, racism and apartheid, and cultural imperialism, from curriculum transformation to development of infrastructure, partnerships and sustainable funding. And the same time, face up to the pressures in producing knowledges for a rapidly changing Africa and the world.
” These are the twin challenges of African University ; a university that must remember Africans and Africa in the global community of equals,” she said.
Professor Lenkabula, who is the first woman principal/ vice chancellor of the 150-year-old UNISA, also harped on the need for universities to meet the expectations of the people.
Her words : ” Today in the imagination of Africa, institutions like NOUN and UNISA, whether acting individually or collectively as partners, must satisfy a variety of public expectations in so far as teaching, learning, research and engaged scholarship is concerned. And they do so in increasingly volatile, uncertain, complex and ambiguous world.”
Earlier, Vice Chancellor of NOUN, Professor Olufemi Peters, expressed delight over the massive experience of Professor Lenkabula, particularly in the area of open and distance learning.
” For us, we are here to see you, we are here to hear from you, for us to learn from the experience of UNISA,” the NOUN VC said.
Also speaking, pro-chancellor of NOUN, Professor Peter Okebukola, lavished praise on Professor Peters for building and consolidating on the landmark achievements of the University, even as he described him as one of the best Vice Chancellors in the country.
On the convocation lecture, Okebukola, who is a former Executive Secretary of the National Universities Commission (NUC), commended Professor Lenkabula for the high intellectual delivery, adding that NOUN would explore possible area of collaboration with UNISA.
