Are African degrees of value abroad? The simple answer is, “Of course they are! Why won’t they be?” It may be simple to answer this question for anyone with any real knowledge/experience of this vast and beautiful content but it seem puzzling/shocking to see the word ‘value’ associated with Africa (or anything related to the continent). For Africa has become a place more common with hunger, diseases and war than anything else. The stereotypes of ‘helplessness’ of Africa continue to be perpetuated by the media especially in the West. This is not to suggest that hunger, diseases and war aren’t part of Africa but the key word is ‘part’. These unfortunate conditions do not sum up Africa in its entirety. With that in mind we move on to the question on hand.

To answer this question let’s first look at the Africa education system and the students affected. In most African countries education costs for the public schools and universities are substantially cheaper compared to Western countries. This is of course due to the fact that the majority of the people have lower incomes. In fact in East African countries such as Kenya and Tanzania, education was free up to primary school (GCSE). The parents were responsible for school uniforms, stationeries and so on. These policies may have changed over the years, thanks partially to the governments feeling the strain of ‘Unpayable debt’ (commonly known as Third World Debt) the fees have remained reasonably low. The governments’ restrained budgets against the countries growing populations have also complicated matters further, for most African countries. Thus African public schools today are not only overcrowded but also have very restricted facilities. This of course has a knock-on effect on the quality of education in Africa. It is true that for those African graduates in fields such as sciences, where lab practises are essential to performance the African student may be at a disadvantage.

This is not the case however due to primarily two factors. The first is the increase in private schools/universities. It was long recognized that there are many African students who missed a chance to contribute and make success of their lives simply because of the very high standards required by public education route. This is specifically the case at higher education levels including universities. Private schools were therefore born and have retained similar standards and at the same time provide education opportunities to many Africans. Private schools/university expectedly charge higher fees than those offered by their public counterparts. This point also illustrates the diversity of the people in Africa in that not all are in dire poverty!

The private education sector in African countries also contributes to pressurizing the government public education to improve. In fact most of these private universities offer better facilities/resources than the public ones thus attracting more students. Political pressure forces some countries to do more for the public education. The resulting competition helps the student, now to point two.

The private universities have seen the success rate of the graduates maintained at very high level. The students that scored ‘A’ grade under limited resources are constantly reaching scores higher than those found even in Western countries! Such is the success of this system that a surge of ‘joint-ownership’ universities has sprung all over Africa. These are universities that are co-owned by (or liaise with) top universities in the West such as Cambridge, Harvard and so on. Naturally these foreign top universities are keen to attract the top students. It seems that in Africa the top universities are spoilt for choice.

The African governments are not to be beaten as most public universities in Africa have introduced training programmes with top foreign university. This is especially essential for the scientific fields because the African graduates get a chance to brush up on lab skills. A good example is the relationship between both Bristol University and U.W.E (the university of west of England) in the United Kingdom and the universities in Ghana and Botswana. The named governments agrees to send it’s students to the universities for a fee, whilst the universities provides the students with the necessary experience/knowledge. Such symbiotic relationships have become common place both in the U.K, U.S.A and even Australia.

With the backing of these top universities, the resulting competitions between public versus private education the faith in the African student couldn’t be higher. It is not the “degrees” per say that have made the African education valuable but rather the very characteristics and principles that lay within most African students that are so alluring to many who seek excellence. Education indeed is a very serious matter for most African students (poor or not); the African students must succeed. For the African students the very possibility of a better life lies within this success. University for the African student is not a place to party or pass time; it is a privilege and honour taken very seriously. The limitations faced in public education (lack of computers, few microscopes etc) haven’t discouraged the poor African student instead he/she has been forced to be more creative and self-reliant to succeed. I have seen stones used to aid mathematics by seven year olds: no calculators? No problem! The attitude of ‘if you don’t have/can’t afford find an alternative’ is very true for many African students. As a result most African countries have (and continue to) produced among the most determined, self-motivated, focused, adaptable and intelligent students in the world. This attitude to learning creates individuals who are also capable of working under considerable pressure with a thirst for learning and achieving higher goals. The perfect employee in every sense. A fact not missed by an increasing number of foreign companies who target these graduates.

The number of employers targeting these African graduates in various sectors has soured so much in the last ten years that a ban was introduced. This ban is aimed at preventing what has been termed ‘Brain drain’ in Africa. It was feared that the rising costs to African countries in loosing their graduates to overseas companies would eventually cripple Africa’s growth & development. In fact despite this ban the UK still employs a high number of nurses from African countries. Such is the value of not only the African degrees but also the African graduates.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/1605242.stm

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/health/3083041.stm