ABSTRACT
The university is a remarkably enduring social institution with a very long history. As an institution, it has shown a high level of adaptivity with respect to the changing expectations and demands in its political, economic, cultural, and social environments. Currently, the university is also facing changing environmental expectations and demands related to the emergence of the concept of the “knowledge economy/society.” Worldwide reforms aimed at “modernizing” the university in order to make it a more effective “knowledge institution” have been initiated. Important new stakeholders, both public and private, have become interested in the university and university policy from the perspective of its potential contribution to socio-economic development. As a consequence, the university has become simultaneously more important and less special politically. The traditional bilateral, “protective” relationship between university and sector Ministry has changed into a multi-actor policy arena where the university is increasingly treated like any other policy sector. This includes the international dimensions of the university, implying the need to strengthen the international connectivity in all aspects of the university. Overall, the current situation concerning the expected role of the university can be described as a transition period where policies are aimed at integrating the university structurally into national strategies with respect to socio-economic development. Examples of countries that have made progress in this integration process include China, Denmark, Finland, Ireland, Malaysia, and South Korea, as well as certain German Länder (e.g., Bavaria) and US states (e.g., North Carolina and Massachusetts). In addition, regional integration efforts are taking place that are aimed at stimulating cross-border university cooperation and creating open higher education systems. The most obvious example is the European Bologna Process, but “supra-national” integration initiatives in Africa, Latin America, and Asia can also be mentioned. The university increasingly is being approached as an engine for socio-economic development, nationally as well as internationally. The traditional bilateral steering mode by a national governmental Ministry is being replaced by a multilevel governance approach linking, if not integrating,
university policy to other policy areas such as innovation policy, labor market policy, health care policy, security policy, economic policy, etc. The reforms of this period have a common core consisting of strengthening university autonomy, professionalizing university management and leadership, introducing more competitive elements of university funding, and stimulating a research focus on science, technology, and the life sciences. Strikingly, there is one major university policy area that is hardly affected by these developments: the university and “North-South” development cooperation. The aim of this chapter is to contribute to a better understanding of this “disconnectedness” of the university as a policy issue in development cooperation, as well as its consequences. In our discussion we will focus mainly on the African university, since this institution, in particular, seems to be affected by the specific policy approach of the public donor institutions in the North and their responsible sector ministry, that is, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This chapter will begin with some general aspects of the current debates on development, followed by a presentation of four political models with respect to the role of the university in development cooperation. These models are presented as analytical tools for helping us to understand the dynamics of the rationale used for developing specific university-oriented development cooperation policies and the actual donor investments made in university (-related) development projects in the South. We will then present data on donor support and conclude with some interpretations.
