Paper long abstract:

Background: The correlate between Eurocentric conceptualization of Afrocentric ideas, innovation and epistemology can't be shelved from the concept and reality of decolonisation being double-edged both during the colonial era and the postcolonial period. Notably, the European Union (EU) as a body have designed and implemented many knowledge support programmes in Africa, but Eurocentric perspectives of Afrocentric ideas and innovations within a broader epistemology are viewed as subaltern. One of the crucial arguments hitherto is that because of socio-economic, political and technological power, African minds have not been substantially decolonized just as many minds from Europe, Global North and Western still nurse theory and practicableness of seeing other forms of knowledge development invisible, irrelevant, useless, unnecessary, trivial and inconsequential.

Objective: This study aimed at investigating African knowledge development by Africans and the conceptualization of such development by the Global North within education ecologies.

Methodology: Using structured interviews, and in relevance to this study, two world-class scholars of African descent (Prof. Abdul Kareem Bangura and Prof. Wande Abimbola) were interviewed and content analysis of their relevant works were conducted, while the interviews were also analysed thematically in close relation to reviews from Global North.

Findings: The findings indicated that many Africans have wealth of knowledge to produce innovative excellent idea just as some Europeans but EU have not spread and emphasise such excellence despite sponsoring and implementing many knowledge support programmes in Africa. It was also discovered that two minds (the Global South scholars and the Global North scholars) differentially view and accept knowledge production from certain quarters. While many African scholars still have their mind colonized as they berate their capacity to produce globally acceptable knowledge; several Eurocentric scholars from the Global North underrate knowledge produced by many scholars from the Global South, usually at a glance without thorough review or evaluation. This study suggests the need for African scholars to show their ingenuity using the indigenous epistemological system and the European's only when the need arises as well. Many Europeans also need to decolonise their minds about products of African epistemology and review the ideas/ innovations scientifically without prejudice, and without sidelining the sociocultural or sociopolitical aspects of knowledge produced. It is recommended that the EU should encourage both Africans and Europeans to create mutual and sustainable understanding, respect for their knowledge ecologies, and remove any colonialization-related prejudices.

Keywords: Decolonisation, Eurocentric Conceptualization, Afrocentric Ideas, Epistemology,

Paper long abstract:

The EU is the most dominant model used to design and support regional integration in Africa. As such, the entire EU model can be considered as part of the knowledge infrastructure in Africa: not only does the EU provide the epistemic starting point for thinking about regional integration, it also contributes, financially and with expertise, to the process or regional integration. This paper critically reflects on this linkage, and asks which kind of knowledge infrastructure is needed in Africa to make regional, or pan-African, integration work better. As one mechanism to do so, it asks what the EU might learn from African experiences, and where Africa may leap-frog in the field of regional integration as well.

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Paper short abstract:

The new Africa - Europe Alliance was launched in 2017. The new rapport is to be bidirectional, horizontal and pursuing mutual interests. What will be the consequences in the field of knowledge development? Will the twin-continents move from knowledge transfer to knowledge sharing and co-creation?

Paper long abstract:

During his State of the European Union of 2017 the then European Commission President J.-C. Juncker launched the new Africa - Europe Alliance. The new Commission under Ursula von der Leyen decided to follow in the same direction and even to go further in reprogramming the relationship between Africa and Europe. This potentially is a game changer. The relationship so far has been asymmetric, vertical and build from a North-South perspective. The new rapport is said to be bidirectional, horizontal and pursuing mutual interests. This is supposed to be reflected in all policy areas: trade, investments, aid, geopolitics, etcetera. What will be the consequences in the field of knowledge development? Will Africa and Europe move from North to South knowledge transfer to knowledge sharing and co-creation? Will we see as many European Studies Centers in Africa as there are Africa Studies Centers in Europe? How must the rapport de force in the knowledge community change to realize this paradigm shift? Reviewing evolving policies and practices at macro, meso and micro-level we conclude that there are shifts in the direction of more co-creation on an egalitarian footing but that they are slowed down and even inhibited by vested views and practices that give pre-eminence to a North-South thinking that prescribes knowledge transfer as an inescapable precondition.

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Paper long abstract:

EU-Africa relations are at a critical juncture in terms of mowing towards a deeper, more balanced and mutually beneficial political partnership. However, progress in this direction has been rather limited, despite existing interdependencies, expanding cooperation and multiple institutional linkages between the two continents. An effective dialogue is often hampered by the legacy of the past, the asymmetry of power, mutual mistrust or biased policy positions. Building on concrete cases, also drawn from the Corona crisis, this paper argues that making better use of existing knowledge, particularly from African sources, could help to create a more conducive level-playing field for dialogue and cooperation between Europe and Africa.

Paper short abstract:

Decolonizing minds means Africa seeing the EU as a competing partner and the EU prepared to be other than an aid provider. Will a European prefer Africa to Canada for studying? Despite the speeches, we are far from that. This paper examines what is done to remove the numerous obstacles, if any.

Paper long abstract:

Pour décoloniser les esprits, il faut dépasser la perception que chaque partenaire (ACP-UE) a de l'autre : l'Union européenne est-elle prête à voir l'Afrique comme un adulte responsable et non un jeune mineur ? L'Afrique est-elle disposée à voir l'UE comme partenaire concurrent plutôt qu'un pourvoyeur d'aide ? L'Union européenne est-elle prête à se voir elle-même autrement qu'un pourvoyeur d'aide ? L'Afrique est-elle prête à se voir elle-même comme partenaire fiable ? Quand verra-t-on un jeune Européen préférer faire un Master à Kinshasa plutôt qu'à Montréal ? Est-ce qu'un jeune Africain diplômé sur place pourra avoir le choix de s'épanouir professionnellement en Europe ou en Amérique ? Les infrastructures de savoir mise en place par chacune des deux organisations régionales (UE et UA) s'inscrivent dans l'accomplissement de l'objectif 4 de l'agenda 2030 « assurer l'accès de tous à une éducation de qualité, sur un pied d'égalité, et promouvoir les possibilités d'apprentissage tout au long de la vie ». En dépit des bonnes volontés affichées et proclamées de part et d'autre, la jeunesse africaine a d'abord besoin d'un accès fiable aux données de bases en matière de connaissance : électricité, Internet, ordinateur, personnel compétent, sans parler de l'alimentation et du logement, le tout dans un environnement propice à l'acquisition des connaissances. Alors que la crise du covid-19 nous oblige à repenser nos modes de fonctionnement, cette communication examine ce que font concrètement les deux continents pour lever les nombreux obstacles qui empêchent un partage équitable des savoirs.

Mots-clefs : Afrique, Union européenne, Relations Afrique-Europe, Infrastructure d'éducation.

Leonard MATALA-TALA, Maître de conférences habilité à diriger les recherches en Droit public, IRENEE, Université de Lorraine, Nancy, France, leonard.matala@univ-lorraine.fr

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Paper long abstract:

The landscape of European Higher Education changed with the implementation of the European Higher Education Area, the so called Bologna Process, and the role of the European Universities Association. Erasmus programs have been highly efective in creating a common ground. In Africa, the basis of the harmonization of African higher education process was established by the Arusha Convention, adopted in 1981 in Arusha, Tanzania (UNESCO, 1981) that provides a framework for the recognition of studies and degrees of higher education in Africa. This was followed by the African Higher Education Harmonization Strategy (2007) to facilitate mutual recognition of academic qualifications and improve intra-African academic mobility. Agenda 2063, which includes the Continental Education Strategy for Africa (CESA 16-25)and the Continental TVET Strategy is a good starting point to look up at the leading lines orienting future changes. These strategies could leverage African-European cooperation in Higher Education. Knowledge infrastrucures in both continents, particularly within the EU and the AU, need to be addressed and strategically endorsed to improve this flow. In this communication I look at the main obstacles - and good exemples - that are obstructing these cooperation