Developing Nations' Universities at Risk

A United Nations University scientist says the survival of many developing country universities, especially in Africa, is at risk.

Speaking Wednesday at the U.N.'s Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's Paris headquarters, Professor A.H. Zakri appealed for international help in fostering relevant research programs in the developing world where "the pressures are greatest, the need most acute and it is really a matter of life and death."

Zakri, director of UNU's Yokohama-based Institute for Advanced Studies, said many universities in developing nations are not relevant. He cited Dutch research showing a major disconnect between research in developing country universities and regional economic development priorities, as well as weak linkages between knowledge producers and users and between knowledge production and innovation.

A universal characteristic of university success is "relevance" or "research utility," Zakri said. "Universities and the research they undertake needs to be relevant -- to their government's policy, to their people's educational needs and to their community's needs. Universities that are not relevant will not survive.

"Should we fail our responsibilities, research will wither, universities fail and the poor will remain rooted in poverty and inequity," he said.