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Background
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What is SEMCA?
Sustainability, Education and the Management of Change in Africa (SEMCA) is a Community of Practice bringing together networks, individuals, universities agencies and others interested in transforming African higher education to ensure that it is relevant to sustainable rural development. SEMCA through the ILN platform is a spiderweb linking together African universities, rural communities, faculty, students, recent graduates and change agents working in the field; policy-makers, bilateral and multilateral development agencies, research organizations, the private sector, NGOs and all those who are interested in university education and have something to contribute to developing capacity in Africa. Initially SEMCA is directed at faculties and universities with a focus on agriculture and environment. Once this spiderweb is established we will then link it to other disciplines.
"African universities must strive to create an institutional environment that fosters the development of the mind and the ennobling of the spirit, inculcating responsible citizenship and the will to serve."
The central core of the SEMCA Community of Practice is to transform higher education in Africa and develop “change agents” with both the will and capacity to drive engines of development. Capacity constraints are widely recognized as the main bottleneck to achieving the Millennium Development Goals. Higher education has a key role to play. The information age, globalisation and modern technology offer both greater opportunities and greater challenges for sustainable rural development in Africa.
We need to support institutional reform and change management so that the education system:
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Is guided by diagnostics for understanding the dynamics of poverty and rural communities and is responsive to the labor market
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Reviews the curriculum and pedagogy so that they respond to the needs of the external environment
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Supports life long learning and encourages students to be creative, confident knowledge seekers, focusing on adapting and using information rather than simply acquiring it
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Addresses the following critical issues:
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Leadership values and ethics (integrated into the curriculum and in activities)
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Relevance to resource-poor farmers and to the changing employment markets and globalization
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Entrepreneurial skills and job creation
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Communication and teamwork skills
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Quality and strong sector skills
How do we achieve this?
That is the objective of this Community of Practice. We all need to share ideas, learn from each other and network. We can also share resources and information and work together to achieve our objectives. We will continually update the information available in the resources section.
Anyone who would like to:
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Contribute:
relevant papers, news, information, ideas, announce forthcoming meetings, etc.
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Participate:
in a discussion group, attend training workshops or provide feedback on the website
is asked to email
Also please let us know if you would like to subscribe to the SEMCA bi-monthly newsletter which will go out on a list-serve by email, serving those with poor connectivity.
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Click on any of the active Millennium Development Goal (MDG) icons below to see which items published on this community space relate to a specific MDG.
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