Call for Papers: Centre of African Studies, Edinburgh,
04/2005
Every year in May, the Centre of African Studies hosts a major international
conference. Experts from all over the world are gathered to debate topical
issues relating to Africa. This two-day conference provides a lively forum
of debate with participants from the academic, political and NGO community.
Papers delivered at the conference are edited and published as a monograph
by the Centre. Volumes from previous conferences are available from our
bookshop.
27-28 April 2005
RE-INTEGRATING EDUCATION, SKILLS AND WORK IN AFRICA:
Towards informal or knowledge economies? Towards autonomy or dependency in
development?
The Conference takes place in a crucial year for focusing on Africa. The
Commission for Africa will have reported in March 2005, and the UN¹s
Millennium Summit will have developed an evaluation of progress towards the
Millennium Goals, including those relating to Education. In preparation for
the G8 meeting in Scotland in July 2005, there will have been a good deal of
rethinking about the new modalities in development cooperation for Africa.
Education and human development both for poverty reduction and growth
are expected to be central to these debates in and on Africa. On the one
hand, the enormous national energies expended in the last several years on
securing free primary education for all children in Africa are building up
huge pressures upon the still very limited secondary education systems. On
the other, the absolute shortage of formal sector job opportunities in most
African economies is raising new levels of concern about the outcomes of
schooling. For many families, the notion that basic schooling leads in
reality, for most children, into Africa¹s burgeoning informal economies has
not been fully accepted. Hence, there are new initiatives to ensure that
skills development adds value to older images of self-employment in the
informal sector.
In the more economically fragile states of Africa, the momentum for
post-basic expansion of education and training generated by the dramatic
scale of universal primary education has produced a real dilemma. With very
high levels of external aid reaching to as much as 50% of the entire
recurrent budget in some cases there is a real challenge of sustaining
primary education let alone moving towards those levels of secondary and
further education necessary for the new demands of the knowledge economy. By
contrast even those states with sufficient post basic provision to aspire to
the status of knowledge economies also need to develop flexible higher
education systems if they are to adopt and adopt new technologies all this
at a time when public sector salaries in universities and research centres
make it hard to retain in Africa the necessary creative talent in science,
technology and applied research.
The Conference expects to challenge these dilemmas of education, skill and
work, and to examine new, sector-wide solutions that secure quality and
sustainability.
Speakers and participants from academic and policy positions within and
outside Africa, as well as from cooperation agencies and NGOs, are invited.
Doctoral students working on themes relevant to this Conference are warmly
encouraged to apply to attend and participate.
The Centre of African Studies and the School of Education in Edinburgh have
had a long tradition of working on education, training and work, and on the
role of aid in relation to national ownership of education policy.
Papers are being encouraged in any of the areas related to these themes
above, and particularly the following:
- The sustainability of the Millennium Development process in education
- After Education for All What??
- Post-basic education and training for poverty reduction and for knowledge
development
- Aid for greater autonomy in the education and training sectors
- New conceptual approaches to integrating education, skills and work in
urban and rural Africa
For more information, email, phone or fax to:
Centre of African Studies, 21 George Square, Edinburgh EH8 9LD
Tel: 0131 650 3878, Fax: 0131 650 6535, Email:African.Studies@ed.ac.uk
REGISTRATION FORM
CENTRE OF AFRICAN STUDIES INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE
27-28 April 2005
Re-integrating Education, Skills and Work in Africa:
Towards informal or knowledge economies?
Towards autonomy or dependency in development?
Please return the completed registration form by post to the address below,
no later than Monday 11,April. On registration, more information about the
conference programme and accommodation in Edinburgh will be sent.
The conference will begin at 1.00 on April 27th and finish at 6.00 on April
28th.
On the evening of Wednesday 27th there will be a Royal African Society
Scotland Lecture and a conference dinner.
Full Conference Fee: £ 60.00
Edinburgh Staff: £ 40.00
Student: £ 25.00
A special concessionary fee is available to those who are retired or not in
full time employment: £ 40
The Conference Fee, whether for students, Edinburgh staff, or other
participants, includes a full folder of the conference papers, teas, coffees
and a reception.
Tickets for the Conference Dinner cost an additional 16.00
Re-integrating Education, Skills and Work in Africa
Conference Registration
Centre of African Studies
University of Edinburgh
21 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LD, Scotland.
Tel. +44 (0)131 650 3878; Fax: +44 (0)131 650 6535; Email:
African.Studies@ed.ac.uk
Please Complete
Name:
Organisation:
Address:
Phone:
Fax:
E-mail:
I enclose a cheque, made payable to the Centre of African Studies, for £ ___
[remember to include £16 for the Conference Dinner if attending]. Please
register me for the CAS conference under the following category:
Full conference fee
Edinburgh staff
Student
Retired or not in full time employment:
(Evidence of student status required, such as a photocopy of your current
student card. You will be asked to show your proof of student status on
arrival)
I do / do not wish to attend the conference dinner on April 27th. Delete as
applicable
I am / am not a vegetarian. Delete as applicable
--
Pravina Khilnani King
Centre of African Studies
21 George Square
Edinburgh EH8 9LD
Tel: 0131 650 3878
Fax: 0131 650 6535
Centre website: www.cas.ed.ac.uk
Page Editor: Ali B. Ali-Dinar, Ph.D.