Month: September 2019

Title: Programme Officer (Higher Education Programme)

Location: Nairobi, Kenya

 Open to: Kenyan Residents and Nationals

Type of contract: Fixed Term

Application deadline: Monday, October 14, 2019 (1700hrs Kenyan Time)

Background

The Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) is an independent, non-partisan pan-African not-for-profit organization established in 2011 and located in Nairobi, Kenya. PASGR works to enhance research excellence in governance and public policy that contributes to the overall wellbeing of all.

PASGR is the lead partner in Pedagogical Leadership in Africa (PedaL). PedaL is one of nine partnerships supported by Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education Innovation and Reform (SPHEIR). SPHEIR was established by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) to deliver systemic and sustainable change within higher education systems, enabling them to meet labour market needs and generate the job-ready, entrepreneurial graduates needed to accelerate development, build inclusive societies and promote strong economic growth.  SPHEIR partnerships seek to transform the quality, relevance, access and affordability of higher education to achieve sustainable, systemic change.

In support of its work, PASGR seeks to recruit a Programme Officer to work within the Higher Education Programme. The right candidate should provide programmatic and technical support for successful implementation of programme activities in universities across the continent. S/He will report directly to the Director of Higher Education Programme (HEP).

Summary of Key Responsibilities

  • Support programme development and implementation: work closely with partner universities and an array of experts to design and roll out relevant programmes by undertaking background work, research, curricula reviews and writing strategy papers and presentation materials, and review and report progress in programme implementation;
  • Promote partnerships: as primary contact between stakeholders and the partners, the officer will work collaboratively with partners to create, implement and sustain project initiatives and will support a rapidly expanding Community of Practice. S/He will undertake outreach to specific partner institutions as well as relevant regional and international organizations;
  • Organize consultations and convenings: identify issues, information needs and consultation activities associated with development of the program; initiate and supervise consultative activities;
  • Support Higher Education communications: provide technical support
  • Any other duties assigned by PASGR Leadership.

Minimum Qualifications:

  • A Masters in Education or Social Sciences related field as a minimum; PhD qualification would be an added advantage;
  • Minimum of five years’ experience in developing, implementing and evaluating programs/ projects in knowledge institutions and systems of which at least two must be at a national or regional level;
  • Sound knowledge of issues in African Higher Education and Development gained from working experience in the African region;
  • Ability to solve problems creatively, pay attention to detail and exercise good judgement;
  • Hands-on experience in new forms of Information Communication Technology particularly Technology Enhanced Learning;
  • Excellent interpersonal skills and ability to work well in a diverse team, and interact professionally with partners, donors stakeholders and staff at all levels of the organization

Salary:

This position attracts a competitive package and benefits.

Application process:

Applications must be submitted electronically via email to PASGR(recruitment@pasgr.org) by Monday 14, October 2019 at 1700hrs. Canvassing will lead to disqualification.

All applications must contain:

  1. Application letter stating why you are best suited for this role
  2. Curriculum Vitae with a list of 3 references

PASGR is an Equal Opportunity Employer

The need for university lecturers to possess the pedagogical skills that can empower students to acquire 21st century skills and take responsibility for their learning in a process of co-construction of knowledge was highlighted at the opening plenary session of the Partnership for Pedagogical Leadership in Africa (PedaL) West African hub training which took place in Accra, Ghana in August.

Over 140 academic staff from African universities representing all Sub-Saharan regions attended the training hosted by the University of Ghana and co-convened by the Nairobi-headquartered Partnership for African Social and Governance Research (PASGR) and PedaL partners: Institute of Development Studies and the University of Sussex in the United Kingdom; African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA); University of Ibadan; University of Dar es Salaam; Uganda Martyrs University and Egerton University.

Participants called for regular updates and refresher training in pedagogical leadership for teaching staff to ensure that teaching and learning are adequately responding to the challenges of globalisation, while also addressing local needs.

African-led initiative

PedaL is an African-led initiative and one of nine programmes supported by Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education Innovations and Reforms (SPHEIR) under the United Kingdom’s Department for International Development. Since its launch last year, it has witnessed unprecedented growth as university academics from across the continent seek to enhance their teaching practices.

To date, PedaL has trained over 800 academic staff drawn from 40 universities across Africa. It is evident that PedaL’s target of training 1,000 teaching staff in three years will be surpassed due to demand.

The pedagogy encompasses varied approaches aimed at transforming the learning experience and achieving improved outcomes in graduate social science programmes. The skills gained include technology-enhanced learning, constructive alignment of courses, a range of student-centred pedagogies such as case study teaching, threshold concept tools, as well as a range of problem-based learning strategies and innovative assessment strategies.

Commenting on the importance of the training, Dr. Beatrice Muganda, PASGR’s director for higher education and PedaL team leader, said: “The emphasis placed on 21st century skills means that teaching excellence espoused in PedaL for faculty development has become even more central for attainment of university missions.”

Professor Tade Aina, PASGR executive director, described PedaL as a home-grown solution that promotes excellence in teaching and learning based on global standards.

“PedaL is subverting teaching and learning in African universities and the policy environment on the continent is ripe for this transformation,” he said.

Mainstreaming

Highlighting PedaL’s multi-stakeholder approach, Professor Kwame Offei, pro-vice-chancellor for academic and student affairs from the University of Ghana, said African universities need to produce graduates who can respond to the needs of the continent and contribute to its social and economic development. He urged other African universities to embrace pedagogical innovations to broaden and deepen learning outcomes. Offei said PedaL was gaining popularity across Africa and that plans were already underway to mainstream PedaL in academic programmes at the University of Ghana.

Professor Kwesi Yankah, Ghana’s minister of state for tertiary education, said improving the quality of teaching in African universities will produce excellent researchers to drive the continent’s development agenda. Yankah, who is a professor of linguistics and oral literature, and a fellow of the Ghana Academy of Arts and Sciences, said African universities should include effective teaching in the criteria used to promote academics.

He noted that African universities almost exclusively concentrate on research and publication when it comes to promotion, and sometimes consider effective teaching only as an afterthought. “We need to shift,” Yankah said, arguing for more partnerships between academia and the private sector to help bridge gaps between academia and industry.

Modern technology

PASGR’s Founding Chairman and ARUA Secretary-General Professor Ernest Aryeetey urged universities to increase investments in modern technologies that could help to meet the expectations of students.

“Every African university should realise that the way students are trained globally has changed from simply lecturing,” said Aryeetey, adding that Africa has to catch up with the rest of the world.

Professor Samuel Agyei-Mensah, provost of the college of humanities at the University of Ghana, said creating an environment for teaching excellence required leadership, the allocation of resources, improvement of facilities and the provision of robust technology.

He revealed that plans were underway for the University of Ghana to open a centre for teaching and learning that will enhance student-centred innovative teaching and learning. “My hope is for faculty development to flourish and be seen as critical to the goals of higher education,” said Agyei-Mensah. He said PedaL will be critical in the new centre.

Professor Idowu Olayinka, the vice-chancellor of the University of Ibadan and ARUA chairman, said every university on the continent needs to put its academic staff through PedaL training. He said his university had fully embraced PedaL and had started cascading the PedaL training to various faculties. He said all the university’s postgraduate programmes were undergoing review to incorporate PedaL innovations.

Professor Sulyman Abdulkareem, vice-chancellor of Nigeria’s University of Ilorin, said faculty development was important because good learning can only happen after effective teaching. “Just giving pieces of information or knowledge through lectures should not be considered teaching,” he said.

Blend of tradition and global best practice

Speaking to University World News, Abdulkareem said the strength of the PedaL approach was that it blended traditional methods of teaching in Africa with global best practice, helping with self-assessment and improved teaching. He argued for the use of student assessments of lecturers as one of the tools to measure learning effectiveness. “Such assessments should not be used to punish lecturers but to help them improve,” he said.

Abdulkareem said PedaL strategies helped students with practical learning and to conceptualise what they are taught. “If teaching is done properly, African universities will churn out graduates who can innovate and create solutions to the problems affecting the continent.”

He urged universities to shun abstract teaching and embrace simulations and practicals in their academic programmes.

“I came here with a problem and found a solution; I will be a PedaL champion in Nigeria and beyond”, Abdulkareem said.

On the future of PedaL, Muganda said the programme had successfully mobilised resources from participating universities to broaden access for a larger number of academic staff than was initially planned and with additional resources.

“The potential to shake every part of this continent with pedagogical innovations is imminent,” she said.

This has been reposted from https://www.universityworldnews.com/post.php?story=20190918130200403

Vice-Chancellor, University of Ilorin (UNILORIN), Professor Sulyman Age Abulkareem, has said the high level of poverty in Africa is the biggest disadvantage to advancing higher education.

He noted that: “We definitely have never had the adequate tools to do the right type of teaching and learning at the university level.”

Professor Abulkareem said this at the ongoing workshop tagged, ‘Western hub training,’ jointly organised by the University of Ghana (UG), Legon and Pedagogical Leadership in Africa (PedaL) and Master of Research and Public Policy (MRPP), supported by the United Kingdom Department for International Department (DFID), under the Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education Innovation and Reform (SPHEIR), at the Swiss Spirit Hotel and Suites, Alisa, Accra, Ghana.

Speaking further, he said: “African governments must work on harnessing educational aid from international organisations to put us on the same platform with the Western and other developed countries.”

He said that the methods of teaching and learning, especially in Nigeria, would have to go through serious changes, such that facilitators of teaching and learning at all levels must lookout for the best ways to communicate their teachings through and with relevant technologies.

“Today, lecturers are deficient in needed skills and technologies to actually take the students to the top, where they can compete favourably with their colleagues in the rest of the world, hence the need for them to improve and equip themselves in some certain skills,” he said.

He expressed joy for being part of the pedagogical leadership crusade that is ongoing on in Africa through PASGR’s PedaL team, saying that, “the innovation was timely and necessary at such as time as this in the history tertiary education in Africa.”

He enjoined participants who were drawn from African countries with the University Ghana playing the host, including other 12 participants universities in the sub-region to take the training seriously, as as to equip themselves with relevant innovations and methodologies to enhance effective teaching and learning in their various universities.

The vice-chancellor, University of Ibadan, Professor Abel Idowu Olayinka, who doubles as the chairman of the African Research Universities Alliance (ARUA),  on the occasion,  said it was imperative that researches carried out by the academic staff in universities must begin to influence teaching and learning, otherwise, the university will not be different from a glorified secondary school.

He charged university teachers to leverage more on technology to aid teaching and learning, noting that “the world outside there is becoming competitive by the day; therefore, lecturers need to challenge the students on the usage of technology, rather than for them to be engaged in radical unionism alone.”

Dr. Paul Effah, the president of Radford University College, Legon, Accra while speaking on the topic: ‘Faculty development’ advised university teachers to be deliberate about producing “students who can change the world, as well as activity-concerned citizen, who will turn out to be critical thinkers and ethical leaders.”

This has been reposted from https://tribuneonlineng.com/high-level-poverty-killing-education-in-africa-unilorin-vc/