World Bank Policies On Research Capacity Building Of African Universities

Since the 21st century,with the development of the knowledge economy and the economic globalization,the World Bank has recognized the importance of the capacity of knowledge production and innovation in achieving the Goals of poverty reduction and common prosperity.The World Bank has placed increasing emphasis on the building of universities research.capacity in its published higher education reports,especially in those on African higher education,which thinks highly of the importance of researches in African universities for national development.The World Bank’s policy on research capacity building of African universities is a significant aspect of furthering the study on the policy of African higher education and has a profound impact on the development of higher education in Africa.In addition,China may learn experience from the World Bank’s policies on African universities.This paper is mainly composed of five parts:The first part concerns the evolution of the World Bank’s policy on African universities research capacity-building,which can be divided into four periods,namely,human resources planning period,human capital theory period,structural adjustment period and knowledge economy period.The second part introduces the background of the World Bank’s policy on research capacity building of African universities,including the changes of the times and the World Bank concepts,the development of African universities and their research functions,the level of African research and the problems in building the research capacity of African universities.The third part compiles and analyzes the policy,which found that the World Bank’s policy on African universities research capacity-building can has three levels:first,the environmental level,including the making of research policy,the establishment of partnerships,the strengthening of regional cooperation in research and the carrying out researches to meet the needs of national development;Second,the organizational level,including building world-class universities,introducing innovative funds,encouraging universities-enterprise research cooperation and improving the research infrastructure;Third,the individual level,including strengthening the training of graduate students and attaching importance to the career development of researchers.These three levels over lap substantially with no clear boundaries.most interventions do not try to act at all levels,but may intentionally or unintentionally spill over to effect changes at other levels.The fourth part,taking the project of higher education excellence center as an example,introduces the policy practice of the World Bank from the aspects of project background,target and structure,implementation and management and effect.The fifth part discusses the characteristics,shortcomings and implications of the policies on research capacity building of African universities.The study found that the World Bank policies have the following characteristics:First,the policy takes into account both the economic value and human needs from its concept;Second,the policy concerns hardware building and software support from its content;Third,the diversification of policy impact;Fourth,there is an additional purpose hidden behind the direct purpose from the policy purpose.The main shortcomings of the policies are as follows:forcing African countries accept the concepts,ignoring local development needs,unequal partnerships and lacking of overall system planning.In addition,the policies have some implications for China-Africa research cooperation including:developing a detailed China-Africa research cooperation policy,strengthening the software assistance,paying attention to African local demands;giving full play to the role of enterprises in research capacity building.In conclusion,the research policy made by the World Bank in the environment,organization and individual builds a relatively complete framework for research capacity building of African universities and has a significant effect on the development of African research.The World Bank still has a long way to go to achieve the desired results of its policies on research capacity building of African universities.