KEY CONCLUSIONS
Dynamic
development of Africa and its demography create conditions for cooperation in education
and technology
«Today two thirds of the African continents population
are youth. This fact greatly defines our vector of cooperation and contributes
to the importance of scientific and educational components,» Mikhail Kotyukov,
Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
«Africa has changed, it is rapidly developing. We also
observe massive digital transformation. Just imagine: over the last decades the
number of mobile phone users exceeded 500 million, and by 2025 it is expected
to reach 650 million, with around 400 Internet users at the moment. I believe
that this huge number of young people is a trend that we need to take into
account in our educational programmes,» Igor Morozov, Deputy Chairman, Committee
for Science, Education, and Culture of the Federation Council of the Russian Federation.
«Russia has a lot to share with the African continent.
You have science, research centres, technologies. So we believe that interaction
between African countries and Russia will be of great importance for both
Russian companies and African countries. Russia has accumulated a lot of
knowledge in the mining sector, in fishing, in agriculture and many other areas,»
H.E. Mohamed Methqal, Ambassador, General Director, Moroccan Agency for
International Cooperation.
«Africa is not satisfied with the catching-up development.
Just like Russia, it needs breakthroughs in development of new technologies,
science and education,» Irina Abramova, Director, Institute for African Studies
of the Russian Academy of Sciences; Corresponding Member, Russian Academy of
Sciences.
Russia
and Africa have extensive experience of cooperation in humanitarian and scientific
areas
«We have a rich history of cooperation in education.
Today over 17,000 students from the African continent are studying in Russian
universities. As a result of the latest enrollment campaign, almost 2,000
people from 49 countries became students of Russian universities,» Mikhail
Kotyukov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
«Scientific cooperation also has a rich history. We have
joint research programmes. Some projects are implemented by our universities as
part of interuniversity cooperation. There are joint departments, joint laboratories,»
Mikhail Kotyukov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian
Federation.
«We have interacted very actively, including in
20142015, when we were fighting Ebola. This virus did a lot of harm to peoples
health in Guinea, in Sierra Leone, in Liberia; and Russia helped us to contain
this epidemic. We reequipped our laboratories that worked on medicines against this
infection. Also, we created a laboratory for epidemiological research that studies transmission of
infectious diseases,» H.E. Abdoulaye Yero Balde, Minister of Higher Education
and Scientific Research of the Republic of Guinea.
PROBLEMS
Rapid
growth of African population poses risks for the labour market and ecology
«Of course, there are problems. Among them are climate
change and demography, security and peacekeeping. To respond to the first two challenges,
we need to think about education. Today there are 500 million young people in Africa,
but the population is to grow further. By 2040, there will be many problems, there
is no doubt about that. Each year more and more jobs are needed. At the moment,
only 6,000 jobs are created annually,» H.E. Mohamed Methqal, Ambassador,
General Director, Moroccan Agency for International Cooperation.
Rapid
global changes challenge the existing educational system
«As for the school education, the key question that we
need to answer together with our African colleagues and that nobody in the world
can answer yet is what the world will look like in 1520 years, what we should
prepare out schoolchildren for. School education implies 10-year planning, and
due to the current global and technological changes 1015-year period can be
really unpredictable,» Pavel Zenkovich, First Deputy Minister of Enlightenment
of the Russian Federation.
SOLUTIONS
Implementation
of joint scientific, educational and technological projects
«Less than a year ago we [Russia and Uganda] signed a cooperation
agreement, and by now we have already developed two scientific and educational initiatives
in agriculture and in development of mineral resources base. These projects do not
exist just on paper, they are almost implemented,» Mikhail Kotyukov, Minister
of Science and Higher Education of the Russian Federation.
«This February we signed a memorandum of understanding
with Mikhail Kotyukov, Minister of Science and Higher Education of the Russian
Federation. This memorandum included six areas. One of them is technologies for
geological exploration and subsoil resources development. We are now establishing
an research institute that will study our countrys geological structure; but we
also need to know our resource base and the true value of these deposits, and
how these resources can be used,» Hon. Elioda Tumwesigye, Minister of Science,
Technology and Innovation of the Republic of Uganda.
«I believe that we need to think and discuss together with
our Ministry of Science and Higher Education and representatives of African countries
a possibility to create permanent establishments of the Academy of Sciences in
African countries <...> Second, we need to employ young researchers with
degrees in Russian institutes <...> And, finally, create some kind of
foundation for scientific initiatives, embracing at least ten research areas to
begin with,» Yuriy Balega, Vice-President, Russian Academy of Sciences.
Expansion
of humanitarian cooperation
«If we return to Africa for a long time, we need to redistribute
these resources and invest some of them in humanitarian cooperation. Then we can
work together with our main operator Rossotrudnichestvo (Federal Agency for
the Commonwealth of Independent States, Compatriots Living Abroad and International
Humanitarian Cooperation). Today we have eight centres in African countries,
very few, because before 1991 there were 31 of them,» Igor Morozov, Deputy
Chairman, Committee for Science, Education, and Culture of the Federation
Council of the Russian Federation.
Digitalization
of education
«The best area of cooperation with our colleagues in education
is digitalization. It is not just a trendy idea, it is a necessity, because digital
technologies and online education, as well as educational platforms offering
best local and global practices provide access to best methods for teachers and
to best knowledge, best lessons, and best additional education for students,»
Pavel Zenkovich, First Deputy Minister of Enlightenment of the Russian
Federation.
«As digitalization is developing really fast and young
people are so into it, we have created a virtual university, and it has a lot
to offer. I mean online education for our young people, for the African continent
in general. I believe this is one of the most important issues that we need to
jointly work on with our Russian colleagues,» H.E. Hala Helmy Elsaid Younes,
Minister of Planning, Monitoring and Administrative Reform of the Arab Republic
of Egypt.
Expansion
of masters and postgraduate programmes for African students in Russia
«We would like as many students to enroll in
postgraduate studies as possible. So now the Angolan government is trying to send
at least 300 Angolan students to the best worlds universities each year. We
are happy to see that these students study in Russia quite successfully,» H.E.
Maria do Rosario Braganca Sambo, Minister of Higher Education, Science,
Technology and Innovation of the Republic of Angola.
«We need to consider the quality of selection of African
students. This means that we need to help gifted schoolchildren, create a system
of enrollment of those numerous bachelors degree holders in postgraduate and
masters programmes. We need to enroll students not only in Russian bachelors
studies, but masters and postgraduate programmes as well,» Vladimir Filippov,
Rector, Peoples Friendship University of Russia.
«We would like Russian government to work with us more
closely, help us develop our studies not only in medicine, but also in other areas
<...> What does it mean for us? Our students studying abroad. <...> We
need to develop masters and postgraduate programmes, so that they can receive
grants and continue their scientific work,» Aiah Gbakima, Minister of Technical
and Higher Education of the Republic of Sierra Leone.
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