Extract of draft chapter 9, forthcoming in:Cloete N, Maassen P & Bailey T (2015). Contradictory Functions, Knowledge Production and Pacts in African Higher Education (AHED Series: No. 1). Cape Town & Maputo: African Minds.
Chapter 9: Student Engagement and Citizenship CompetencesA Framework for Enhancing the Contribution of African Universities to Development
Thierry M Luescher-Mamashela[1], Vincent
Ssembatya[2], Edwina
Brooks[3], Randall
S Lange[4], Taabo
Mugume[5], Samantha
Richmond[6]
The roles of higher education in a democratising society
Taking Castells’ notion of development as a starting point,
it is possible to appreciate the critical roles that universities play in the
development of citizenship and democratic leadership in Africa. According to
Castells, development as “the self-defined process […] by which humans, as a
collective, enhance their wellbeing by creating the structural conditions for
the expanded reproduction of the process of development itself” (Castells 2014:
3) involves a normative dimension that includes desirable values like “human
rights, animal rights, equality, gender, empowerment and gender equality,
solidarity, and the ability to live in a multicultural world [...], peace and
democracy ...[which] includes and presupposes all other business of development
(Castells 2014: 6). From a holistic perspective, the pursuit of social and economic
development is necessarily linked to human development and both are intrinsically
linked to the ability of the state which as the key collective agency of
development is charged with creating the required structural conditions for
development by means of different state initiatives and policies. The level of Africa’s
socio-economic development today must thus be understood as a function of the historical
and current weakness of its states to act as development agency for the
collective (Castells 2014: 16). Thus, political
underdevelopment remains a key structural constraint undermining all other efforts
at development. While there are, of course, variations between countries as to
the extent to which African states are weak, corrupt, inefficient or even
predatory (Castells 2014: 16), what is important is to realise the
interconnection between different elements of development and the primacy of
politics. As Ghana’s first president, Dr Kwame Nkrumah, famously argued: “Seek
ye first the political kingdom and all things shall be added unto you” (in Mazrui
2001: 128).
Over the course of history, universities have played various
functions in their contribution to political, social and economic development. While
not all universities fulfil all functions, and individual universities combine
and recombine them differently over their history, the university system of a
country has to combine somehow all of them. The functions have historically been
additive; especially flagship institutions are expected to play multiple roles,
which all involve elements of political socialisation. The first role is that as
ideological apparatuses and producers
of values and social legitimation. Then, especially flagship and elite
universities have always played a key role in the selection of elites; in their socialisation and the formation of networks
for their social cohesion. Universities play the crucial role of training high-skilled people, which includes
the highly skilled labour force to run the complex institutions of modern
society, including institutions of modern democracy, other state
institutions, and civil society organisations. And finally, there is
universities’ role in producing new
knowledge, whereby the socio-economic and political conditions are of
major importance to create the structural conditions for development (Castells
2009). In order to be able to fulfil these roles, universities have to be
connected simultaneously to the information economy and to the socio-cultural
challenges the society is undergoing (Cloete & Maassen, Chapter 1)
In political
development, democratisation and the consolidation and sustainability of
democracy, education has a special role with respect to political
socialisation, and universities have
been central in the process of shaping civic values, constructing a new
basis of belonging and citizenship, educating citizen leaders (Pascarella &
Terrenzini 2005), and “making possible equal opportunities for people” even in
the socio-political realm (Castells 2009). The notion of ‘elite’ socialisation has
a different meaning in a democratising society in that from a democratic
perspective - however utopian the democratic ideal – it is inclusive: any
citizen is potentially a citizen leader and member of the political ‘elite’.
The imperfection of political reality in the actually existing democracies of
our time is not to distract from this fundamentally egalitarian political ideal.
Citizenship education is with respect to these functions an
essential part of contextually relevant education in democracies. It is premised
on the complementarity of the notions that all individuals are entitled to
human rights and all citizens are entitled to civil and political rights equally.
In the words of UNESCO (2014: 1):
All forms of
citizenship education inculcate (or aim at inculcating) respect for others and
recognition of the equality of all human beings; and at combating all forms of
discrimination (racist, gender-based, religious, etc.) by fostering a spirit of
tolerance and peace among human beings. Thus when we speak of the purposes to
be ascribed to either citizenship education (producing citizens with moral
qualities) or human rights education (comprising a knowledge of the social and
political rights of all human beings, and their recognition) we inevitably end
up with the complementarity between citizenship and human rights. (UNESCO 2014:
1)
The purpose of citizenship education is therefore to further
democracy by educating people about their rights and the principles and
institutions that govern them, in exercising critical judgement, and in their
sense of self and responsibility towards others and their community (UNESCO
2014). This is meant to apply at all levels of education. Yet, citizenship
education is more widely studied as a role of general education than
specifically in relation to higher education; meanwhile, being placed at the
apex of the education system, higher education has immense potential to
contribute to the good of society by contributing to “the production and
consolidation of values – ethical values, personal values – and the formation
of flexible personalities” (Castells 2009: 4).
.... to be continued.......
