For human development specialists, population growth is no laughing matter.
By November 2022, the global population was projected to reach eight billion, inspiring many analysts across the board to speculate on what the future holds.
Whereas industrialised nations are worried about declining fertility, the Global South has been warned about high birth rates.
As usual, the tone is more alarmist when it comes to Africa.
For decades, development reports have called out African countries for their “unsustainable” demographic growth.
This growth tends to be viewed as a strain on almost all developmental capabilities.
Today, more than 60 percent of Africa’s population is under the age of 25.
By 2030, young Africans are expected to constitute 42 percent of global youth.
For any policymaker, this is obviously seen as a challenge: more mouths to feed, more bodies to keep healthy and millions of jobseekers waiting in line.
Importantly, there are concerns about how to equip youth for an increasingly evolving knowledge economy.
Now more than ever, universities are front and centre in the continent’s development battle.
Youth equals dynamism
Let us consider how youth itself is perceived in public narratives.
When the United States, Japan or South Korea register declining birth rates, they mostly register missed potential for active participation in the workforce.
On the other hand, Africa’s burgeoning young population keeps being characterised as merely a recipient of human development infrastructure, including higher education.
When it comes to creating value, Africa’s youth is anything but passive.
The millennial generation has lived through the continent’s meteoric rise in mobile and internet penetration rates.
Today, African youths are increasingly taking an active role in shaping their future.
In Accra, Nairobi, Cairo or Benguerir, fully fledged start-up scenes are disrupting how we think about African agriculture, industry, IT and sustainability. In the majority of cases, these businesses are spearheaded by Africans under the age of 35.
In fact, 2021 was a record-breaking year for Africa’s start-up scene, which secured over US$2 billion in funding.
The African Development Bank (AfDB) attributes this mostly to “large economies and sizeable populations”.
Seizing the opportunity
The question is: How can the continent’s social engineers adapt their models to further catalyse this innovation?
Already, policymakers are taking notice.
During the eighth Tokyo International Conference on African Development last year, AfDB president Akinwumi Adesina announced the launch of the African Education Science, Technology and Innovation Fund, stating: “Together, we have a unique opportunity to reach millions of youth with education.”
There is growing recognition that Africa’s education programmes must be reimagined to nurture the entrepreneurial spirit that benefits society.
This means removing the top-down curricula that have for years restricted the potential of African youth within the confines of theory.
Gone are the days when a university education was just a stepping stone.
Because it serves to encourage the demographic potential of youth, higher education in Africa must first and foremost help to shape the continent’s future.
This begins with recognition that African academia does not exist in a vacuum, but it is one variable in the developmental dynamic.
Africa’s higher education systems do not necessarily have to go through a wholesale reinvention, nor do they require replication of models foreign to the continent.
The temptation for such replication is usually what leads to curricula that are disconnected from the continent’s realities.
After all, a university’s utility is in anticipating and solving legitimate dilemmas on the ground.
On the ground in Africa, the ingredients for more impactful education are already in place. The continent is facing developmental challenges of food security, healthcare, sustainability and infrastructure that urgently need tackling.
Only through embracing their drive can Africa truly reach its potential. – weforum.org
◆ Hicham El Habti is president of the Mohammed VI Polytechnic University, OCP Group, Morocco.
