Governments should wake up and support Internationalization of higher education in Africa

By Willy Chwoo

Gulu/Uganda

MY TAKE ON THE INTERNATIONALIZATION OF HIGHER EDUCATION IN AFRICA

Internationalization is a worldwide phenomenon that requires increased regional and international cooperation accompanied with workable policies, strategies and ethical standards.

Africa has also experienced an expansion in the numbers and types of providers of higher education, while this can be beneficial, it also presents several challenges in areas such as quality assurance, commercialization and commondification as well as relevance.

The quality of the degrees that university awards to their graduates is still a big challenge, some universities are under scrutiny by the education bodies on how they award master degrees or PhD to their students yet they do not meet the minimum requirements. This still raises a big quality assurance question, such universities most of them are private which are commercial in nature, and there is need for common standards to be in place to regulate both government aided and private universities in Africa to attract cross-border movement of students to study either way.

Most African Universities do not have enough Research facilities, hence making them do few publications compared to other world.  African Universities need to invest much more in research; this can be done through strengthening on the existing research facilities to improve on the university visibility through publications that address the common needs of the societies in Africa. The Human research capacity of the university is low, most university dons are young in the field and they need support to enhance their capacities to become leading researchers. This can be done through mentorship of the young researchers, supporting them to stay, and addressing their needs.

The trained professionals are running away from working the African Universities due to poor pay and lack of motivation created a wide human resource gap in most African universities. African governments need to invest in these universities to maintain and develop the full time lecturers through motivating them (sending them for further studies, promotions etc), pay them well and in time, this will reduce the burden of the trained professionals leaving African Universities and going for the “greener pasture” in other continents like in Europe, Asia, America creating human resource gaps.

Most African Universities if not all are gripped with the problem of underfunding and delay in release of finances by the government to support their university activities. This has at most times resulted into strike by lecturers over their salary delays, students striking because they are not being taught, and lecturers failing to supervise students who are in their final years coupled with delay in releasing the results.

As much as been said about the internationalization of higher education in Africa, the institutions still have poor infrastructure, this might include, water and electricity system, Internet and social media system, few or no furniture for the students etc,  which compromises  academic performance, quality and their visibility.  A university which does not provide reliable Internet for her students to enable them do research; will not be able to cope with international standard.

Dr. Emilio Ovuga, a professor of Psychiatry and Mental health of Gulu University recently told me in an interview that African University AU should have a high quality curriculum in their universities and should make them relevant to their communities

Dr.Ovuga adds that to improve  on  AU visibility , they  should invest a lot in ICT, Internet and social media as based mode of making them visible, this well help them do a lot of research relevant to the communities, share research publications and lecturers will be able to access conference facilities.

Governments in Africa need to wake up and begin supporting their universities financially to meet the goal of realizing the internationalization of higher education in Africa.

Gulu University community counselors helping to improve on mental health services in Northern Uganda.

By Willy Cho woo

In Gulu/Gulu University.

The protracted armed conflict between the rebel Lords’ Resistance Army LRA and Uganda government that lasted for over two decades in the north has led to destruction of infrastructures and lives. Worst among others is the health service.

Notably there have been rampant cases of outbreak of diseases such as Ebola, Hepatitis C and Hepatitis B, Suicide and Epilepsy (Nodding syndrome) in the region which claimed dozen of f lives.

Gulu University which started in the year 2003 to transform the region that has been  ravaged by the armed confirmed  has now embarked on  doing a number of research  works to help bridge the gaps have been left by this burden

Emilio Ovuga, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Gulu University says this is the only way to support the health, social and psycho-culture in the region.

Dr.Ovuga who is also a lead consultant for ongoing Research support works at the university says at moment they are involved in doing a number of research works related to mental issues

Some of the research being done include Post-conflict mobility: opportunities for primary health care in post-conflict Northern Uganda.

This study is to determine the patterns of migration and mobility in Northern Uganda in relation to morbidity patterns and the provision of services for non-communicable diseases at community level.

“We are also testing and replicating the feasibility of lay community counselors being able to prevent suicide by providing psychological first aid to individuals in crisis at household level.”, he adds.

The University under this study has so far trained 88 primary health care providers at rural health facilities in Amuru and Districts in Northern Uganda, 54 volunteer lay counselors in Gulu District and 14 research field assistants attached to the Primary Health Care Project in order to promote access to essential basic mental health services in the district and successfully implement the mental health promotion and suicide prevention strategy.

To enhance the success of our initiative, “we have developed district wide referral system from household level to the regional referral hospital in Gulu. We earlier were able to reduce suicide rates in Adjumani district, another post-conflict district in the West Nile region of Northwestern Uganda by 87% over a three year period using volunteer community counselors in 2004-2007.”,Dr.Ovuga narrates.

The ongoing study in Gulu district indicates that trained volunteer lay peer counselors (Village Helpers) are able to reduce suicide rates by at least 75% in less than one year and to have created awareness among the population about the feasibility and effectiveness of early mental

Health care intervention using lay members of the community under the supervision of mental health professionals.

The university is also doing a research on Nodding syndrome: a possible relationship with mycotoxins?

This study is to find the potential role of food contamination with fungi that are known to contaminate foodstuffs at the time of harvest and or storage in Northern Uganda.

Under the Medical Education Partnership Initiative (MEPI-MESAU is to contribute to increased number of health workers by contributing to increased undergraduate students admissions to Ugandan medical schools, contribute to retention of doctors in under-served rural areas of Uganda, contribute to increased access to basic health care and to improve the quality of medical education by standardizing medical education at Ugandan medical schools.

The university has completed a number of research among which it include; Neurocysticercosis – a neglected disease in Sub-Saharan Africa under German Research Foundation Project

This was to determine the prevalence, risk factors for epilepsy in Northern Uganda .determine the prevalence of neurocysticercosis among individuals with epilepsy and   to develop a diagnostic serologic test for the diagnosis of neurocysticercosis among individuals with epilepsy in Northern Uganda.

Dr.Emilio Ovuga is a raging professor of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Gulu University

 Written By Chowoo WIlly

Dr. Ovuga speaking at the Faculty of Medicine at Gulu during an interview with Chowoo Willy

Emilio Ovuga, PhD, is Professor of Psychiatry and Mental Health of Gulu University. A medical practitioner and psychiatrist by profession, Dr. Ovuga holds a joint Doctor of Philosophy in Suicidology and Suicide Prevention, and Psychiatric Epidemiology of Karolinska Institutet and Makerere University.

Dr. Ovuga served as Dean of the Faculty of Medicine at Gulu University from February 2007 to June 2012. He is the founding Chairman of the Forum of Research and Ethics Chairpersons in Uganda (FRECU) and served in that capacity from 2009-2015.

Dr. Ovuga has held various positions of responsibility at Makerere University from 1989-2006. Prior to that Dr. Ovuga worked as Psychiatrist at Mathare Mental Hospital in Nairobi, Kenya (1981- 1982); as Provincial Psychiatrist at Kakamega Provincial Hospital in Western Kenya (1982-1984); and as Senior Psychiatrist in the Transkei Homeland of South Africa (1984-1989).

Dr. Ovuga is a researcher, medical practitioner and educator, administrator, mentor, and has conducted research in wide-ranging fields in health and social sciences related to population, health promotion and in peace building.

Dr. Ovuga, in the service of Makerere University, revitalized the Department of Psychiatry from near-collapse to a vibrant department, and his work led to the recognition of psychiatry as an important clinical discipline that became examinable in its own right for the award of the medical degree of Makerere University.

Dr. Ovuga’s negotiations with the Ugandan Ministry of Health led to the rapid scale up of the strengthening of the Department of Psychiatry, and the subsequent training of psychiatrists to PhD levels. Dr. Ovuga has developed curricula for training medical undergraduate students in basic psychiatry, graduate students in psychiatry at master’s level, and lay community members in lay peer counseling of people in crisis.

Dr. Ovuga currently trains, supervises and mentors doctoral and post-doctoral fellows in psychiatry and mental health for psychiatrists, psychologists and social workers. Dr. Ovuga believes in, and practices multidisciplinary and multi-professionalism in teaching and research so as to enhance a university’s relevance and responsiveness to the needs of communities.

As a Principal Investigator or Co-PI on 7 research grants that he attracted to Gulu University, Dr. Ovuga has promoted a sustainable research culture at Gulu University, which was established in Northern Uganda in 2002. As a strategic tool, Dr. Ovuga established a Grants Management Unit (GMU) at the Faculty of Medicine in 2009 to support young investigators at

Gulu University in the processes of developing, submitting grant applications, and subsequently managing grants.

Dr. Ovuga has been an instrumental member of the NIH-funded Ugandan MEPI-MESAU consortium in Uganda as well as a member of the Welcome Trust-funded THRiVE project consortium in East Africa. Dr. Ovuga actively advocated for the training and mentor-ship of undergraduate students in research as a strategy to build health research capacity in Uganda. In an effort to impart practical skills in students, Dr. Ovuga has developed guidelines and provided training opportunities for young investigators and students in research.

In his work with communities, Dr. Ovuga has empowered communities to take charge of, and responsibility for their social and health situations, and in improving their relations with government departments. A key example of this empowerment is Dr. Ovuga’s contribution to mental health promotion and suicide prevention using trained lay community counselors (Village

Helpers) in Adjumani district in the early 2000’s and Gulu district (ongoing) where suicide rates dropped by more than 75% within less than a year.

During the course of his teaching and research career, Dr. Ovuga contributed to the establishment of the African Program for Onchocerciasis Control (A.P.O.C.) as a member of the WHO/TDR research team on the psycho-social importance of, and treatment of onchocercal skin disease in Sub Saharan Africa (SSA). Shortly thereafter Dr. Ovuga contributed to the development of the concept of community-directed distribution of Ivermectin, the drug used in the control of onchocerciasis in endemic areas of SSA, for the WHO through a pilot study in Uganda. As a peace builder, Dr. Ovuga also made a humble contribution, as a social scientist on the Northern Uganda Peace Initiative (NUPI), to the initiation of peace talks between the Government of Uganda and the terrorist rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army of Joseph Kony, which eventually ended the 20-year-long rebel insurgency in northern Uganda in 2006.

Overall, Dr. Ovuga’s research work and philosophy has led to the enhancement of community empowerment to enable them assume responsibility for their welfare in collaboration with professionals in all fields of social services.

Dr. Ovuga believes that this can best be achieved through creating “expertise” among lay non-professionals including community members that might have no formal classroom education. Dr. Ovuga achieves this goal by using and integrating his professional background training knowledge and skills into traditional knowledge attitudes beliefs systems, and cultural practice systems of rural communities to address local health problems without antagonizing traditional views and perceptions; in doing so Dr. Ovuga’s approach has so far not jeopardized the success of health intervention outcomes in communities where this need has been expressed.

Dr. Ovuga is a family man, married to Elizabeth Nandaula, and has raised nine children with six grand children so far. His love for his children has earned the perception that his “children are daddy’s children”. His relationship with his children earned his the Xosa name, Mzwandile, while his love for peaceful coexistence among people of different social backgrounds earned him the additional Xosa name, Mxolisi.

Raised as an only child in a poor remote corner of northwestern region of Uganda in Adjumani district, Dr. Ovuga actively supported his peasant parents in cultivating their land, fishing and selling produce to raise school fees for his early education. Dr. Ovuga loves the green environment and continues gardening as a hobby in his backyard.

As a researcher, Dr. Ovuga has supported and mentored one of his sons, Dr. Alexander Bombom to pursue research in agricultural genetics and biotechnology with promising results. Dr. Ovuga is humble, polite and has been described as honest and “soft-spoken” by his colleagues and students. Dr. Ovuga loves country music, jazz, and Lingala songs of the sixties to eighties.

Gulu University establishes more master degree programs

 

Gulu University has  established  two new master programs in sciences which have already kicked off.

The new Programs are master program in medical Anthropology and infrastructural Health, master in Medicine and surgery and diploma in pharmaceutical technology. These courses are in the Faculty of Medicines.

Gulu University is situated in Gulu town northern Uganda, it was established in 2002.

The University has been doing a lot of research works, some of the published ones include; ENRECA project, UN Peace Project and German research Foundation project.

The going research include the following, Post-conflict Mobility, Nodding Syndrome, etc

By Willy ChoWoo

In Gulu/Uganda.