By Orlando L. Taylor and Wayne Patterson

　

　

Orlando L. Taylor is the dean of the graduate school at Howard University and chairperson of the university's SYLFF Steering Committee. Wayne Patterson is the special assistant to Dean Taylor. Orlando and Wayne describe a major collaborative initiative that is a spin-off activity of the SYLFF Program−an activity that began within the SYLFF network and has moved far beyond the borders of this growing network.

　

　Howard University, in collaboration with several other SYLFF universities, including the University of the Western Cape and the University of Nairobi, has provided opportunities for universities throughout both the continent of Africa and the United States to develop meaningful collaborative programs for building graduate-education opportunities in Africa and America. Indeed, the extraordinary success of this collaboration has provided a model for other international university-linkage projects.

　The project, called Collaborative Africa America Graduate Schools, bas been supported by the United States Agency for International Development, the Association Liaison Office of Howard University, and several other participating universities. It grew out of initial discussions among the program directors of several SYLFF universities.

　Collaboration is developed through a series of international forums bringing together graduate educators from almost 100 universities, approximately one-half from 27 participating African countries and one-half from the United States.

　The series of forums began in February 2000, and up to now forums have been held on two SYLFF campuses, the University of the Western Cape in February 2000, and the University of Nairobi in April 2001. The Nairobi Symposium was honored to have Tokyo Foundation Executive Director Ellen Mashiko in attendance.

　Already one dozen new programs are underway as a result of this collaboration, and twice as many are under development.

　The most recent symposium, "Implementing Collaboration Between African and American Graduate Schools: Presenting Results of Collaborative Efforts," was held April 9-11, 2001, in Nairobi, Kenya. Hosted by the University of Nairobi, the symposium attracted 110 participants, including representatives from 20 American universities and 26 African universities and associations. The participants included G.O.S. Ekhaguere, senior programme officer of the Association of African Universities, the organization in Africa that corresponds to the American Council of Education. Orlando Taylor is the project director, and Wayne Patterson, special assistant in the graduate school at Howard University, is the project coordinator.

　The symposium, which began with Orlando Taylor's presentation of a keynote address and an overview of the project, was a follow-up to a symposium held in Cape Town, South Africa, in February 2000. At that earlier symposium, more than 100 participants, including 24 representatives of African countries and 20 representatives of American universities, met to plan strategies for developing collaborative graduate programs in areas of need in African countries.

　

　

　The Nairobi conference consisted of presentations concerning the progress of collaborations formed last February in Capetown. The session topics at the Nairobi conference were: Agricultural and Environmental Sciences, Education and Social Sciences, Health and Life Sciences, Physical Sciences and Engineering, Mathematical and Computational Sciences, Language and Communications, Certificate Programs, and Distance Education. Distance learning will be a primary component in implementing collaborative programs.

　Session presenters from African educational institutions were: Firmino Mucavele, of Eduardo Mondlane University (Mozambique); Patrick McLaren, Peninsula Technikon (South Africa); Francis Fakoya, Obafemi Awolowo University (Nigeria); Comfort B. S. Mndebele, University of Swaziland (Swaziland); Charmaine Villet, University of Namibia (Namibia); Olive Mugenda, Jomo Kenyatta University (Kenya); Adelani F.Ogunrinade, University of the Witswatersrand (South Africa); Funmilayo D. Onajobi, Obafemi Awolowo University; Roland Fray, University of the Western Cape (South Africa); Yaovi Nuto, Universite du Benin-Lome (Togo); Ezra Kirunda, University of Venda (South Africa); Philip Nyaga, University of Nairobi (Kenya); Al Mtenje, University of Malawi (Malawi); and Joelisoa Ratsirarson, Universite d'Antananarive, (Madagascar).

　Presenters from American institutions were David Slocum, New York University; Marcia Watson-Whitmyre, University of Delaware; Mitchell Land, University of North Texas; Howard Johnson, Syracuse University; Charlena Seymour, University of Massachusetts; Susan Albin, Rutgers University; Gwen Hillesheim, Walden (on-line) University; and Wayne Patterson, Howard University.

　In addition to the representatives from the countries of the universities mentioned above, participants at the symposium included representatives from Gabon, Ethiopia, Ghana, Cameroon, Botswana, Uganda, Rwanda, Lesotho, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo.

　As with the Cape Town symposium in February 2000, it is clear that this project has addressed a deeply felt need in higher education in Africa, namely, the desire to develop collaborative programs at the post-baccalaureate level with American institutions of higher education. Again as with the Cape Town symposium, more than 200 applications to attend this symposium were submitted. Support was provided to approximately 50 academics, roughly one-half from the United States and one-half from 19 other countries. A total of 58 universities and other institutions participated. Also, the number of participants who paid their own way was about the same as in the previous symposium. For example, the University of Swaziland sent a delegation of 9 academic leaders to the meeting, most of them completely at their own expense.

　That the proceedings were well received was corroborated by participants such as Dr. Cecil Abrahams, former rector of the University of the Western Cape, who wrote, "[I wish] to express my warm and sincere thanks for the superb work you did in making our Symposium a very successful event. . . . As it now stands we have [made progress] and will continue to make progress." Dean Lwandle Kunene of the University of Swaziland added, "This Symposium was an eye-opener to all of us and each member of the team was inspired to work harder on the graduate programs that they are offering in their respective departments."

　Both Dr. Abrahams and Dr. Nyaga, another member of the project's steering committee, are former directors of SYLFF programs.

　Many of the collaborative programs are already underway, with courses being offered for credit by institutions on both sides of the Atlantic, and efforts are being made to obtain resources to support these joint programs. Howard University's Graduate School will have a Website designed to publicize these collaborative programs.

　The project's steering committee has also pledged to make this event an annual one. There is a preliminary plan for a 2002 Symposium to be held in the United States, in the Washington, D. C. area.