The National Universities Commission (NUC) is collaborating with the National Accreditation Board (NAB), Ghana and Sussex University, United Kingdom, to develop a proposal to reposition higher education for sustainable development.
This is contained in a current NUC bulletin made available to the News Agency of Nigeria (NAN) in Abuja on Wednesday.
Prof. Abubarkar Rasheed, Executive Secretary, NUC, said the collaboration was with a view to winning the Strategic Partnerships for Higher Education Innovation and Reforms (SPHEIR) Grant.
The SPHEIR Grant is a creation of the UK Department for International Development (DFID) programme, geared towards the transformation of higher education in Sub-Saharan Africa, Asia and the Middle East.
Rasheed expressed hope that the collaboration would go beyond the current initiative.
He said that the myriad of challenges bedeviling the African continent could be attributed to the lack of investment in higher education and research.
He said this was responsible for the prevailing level of socio-economic development vis-à-vis the global ranking of African Universities and African nations in the committee of universities and nation.
The NUC scribe underscored the importance of trans-border collaboration amongst higher education institutions in the continent, particularly in the areas of teaching and research.
He noted the uniqueness of Ghana and Nigeria within the West-Africa Sub-Region, saying that the collaboration would no doubt rekindle the Pan-African spirit among higher education within the region.
He further called for the streamlining of curriculum and adoption of a common policy on credit transfer to encourage academic mobility of students and faculty in the continent.
He assured the delegation from Ghana that the management of NUC would always be ready to welcome laudable ideas and support the on-going synergy.
In his response, the leader of the delegation and Executive Secretary, NAB Ghana, Prof. Kwame Fatty expressed delight for the willingness of the commission to partner NAB in accessing SPHEIR grant.
He said that only academic cooperation and collaboration between both countries would promote academic excellence and elevate the continent above its challenges.
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