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Sudanese agricultural college teachers who are on a training program at Yangzhou University visit the school's experimental field. Provided to China Daily

Sesame Lyneldah Ndlovu from Botswana (left) and Xu Yanru, both students at Jiangsu University, don the traditional dress of local rice farmers in Zhenjiang, Jiangsu province, on July 10. Students from the university used their summer vacation to experience traditional culture. Zi Mo / for China Daily

The College of Humanities and Development Studies at China Agricultural University often organizes field studies in rural China for African students. Provided to China Daily

Educational exchanges between China, Africa set to gather momentum

After making impressive strides in economic cooperation during the past decade, China is now getting ready to further enhance its role in Africa by stepping up the pace of educational exchanges.

Evidence that China is exploring new avenues of cooperation in Africa came to the fore during President Xi Jinping's recent trip to Africa, when progress was made with several African countries on furthering educational alliances.

Li Xiaoyun, dean of the College of Humanities and Development Studies at China Agricultural University, says Xi's visit was a milestone of sorts as many African nations are now keen to team up with China for educational alliances, especially in subjects like development and poverty alleviation.

Li, who has been conducting an international masters and doctoral program since 2008 linking international development theories and experiences with development and poverty reduction experiences in China, says more such study programs are on the way to facilitate cross-country exchanges.

"The existing program is largely dedicated to analyze and study the problems pertaining to poverty and late development in China," he says.

The idea of launching such a study program came after several African countries expressed interest in learning about China's strong economic growth and its impressive record in alleviating poverty.

Nearly 60 million people have come out of extreme poverty in China during the past decade. "Such impressive achievements are an eye-opener for African nations desperately trying to reduce poverty and achieve economic growth," Li says.

Apart from the desire for increased exchanges, there are also other factors that necessitate such alliances. China is the largest developing country in the world, while Africa is home to the largest number of developing countries. Similarly, the combined population of China and Africa accounts for more than one-third of the world total.

"Promoting economic development and social progress is a common task for both China and Africa," Li says. "Since many African countries have been suffering from extreme poverty they are keen to learn how China overcame the problem."

"Similarly, African students can go anywhere in the world to study advanced sciences and technology. But the only place they can learn about China's development is in China itself.

"Through our education programs we hope that more African students will learn about China's development experience so they can use it in Africa."

The main attraction of these programs are that students are required to participate in academic seminars, workshops and conferences pertaining to development studies as part of the curriculum, he says. The duration of course is two years for the masters program and three years for doctoral students.

The program has so far attracted nearly 68 overseas students from 30 countries in Africa, Asia, Europe, and South America .

Government departments, scientific institutes and non-profit organizations in Africa are the main beneficiaries of such educational programs as successful students often take up positions at these places and put their theoretical knowledge into practice, says Wang Libin, director of the international program in the university.

Wang, who is responsible for teaching China's development model to overseas students, says his courses largely focus on China's experience in social and economic development.

"Participating in such a course in China gave me the opportunity to understand and appreciate the real depth of Nigeria-China relations," says Rosemary Eneji, a doctoral student from Nigeria who began studying in China in 2008. "My enthusiasm has inspired many other fellow Nigerians to join such programs."

George Wah, a second-year masters program student from Liberia at the university says the China experience will be of great practical use in his native country.

Wah, who is studying in China on a Chinese government scholarship, says such scholarships have opened the doors for many deserving African students and it is something for which there is intense competition in Africa.

"In Africa, especially where I come from, we need lots of knowledge on how to help rural people. I plan to go back to my country to contribute in the field of rural development when I graduate," he says.

Wah says besides course material and study classes, he has also gained first-hand experiences in rural development through a field study in the Guangxi Zhuang autonomous region, a less developed region in China that has many similarities with his country on development.

Abigail Aryeh, a third-year doctoral student from Ghana, says she has gained deeper understanding and wider knowledge about China during her stay in the country.

"I am hopeful of running a consultancy in Ghana as I have gained some useful insight and experiences during my tenure in China. I also plan to introduce several new industries, such as massage parlors operated by blind masseurs, in Ghana, to create more employment opportunities for the disabled people."

African experts agree that China is the ideal development model, as it believes that enhancing development capacity is the most important task for African countries. Unlike Western countries, China and Africa have been gradually transforming their donor-recipient relation into a real partnership, with cooperation bringing tangible benefits for both sides, the experts say.

Since no country can become prosperous by receiving aid, experts say it is important to empower Africans and put African countries in the "driving seat" of their own development.

It is exactly the same message that former Chinese premier Wen Jiabao delivered at the Ministerial Meeting of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in Egypt in 2009.

"Many people are trying to offer prescriptions for Africa's development ... yet it seems to me that Africa's development should be based on its own conditions ... In the final analysis, the development of a country depends on the efforts of its own people," Wen said in his address.

Since the 1950s, China has worked with several African nations on human resources and sent experts to improve the technical skills of African people.

China and Africa have conducted many fruitful educational exchanges and cooperation. Over the years, African students in China have studied agriculture, economics, education, languages, management and medicine, the Ministry of Education says.

There were over 328,000 overseas students in China last year, and out of this some 27,000 or 8.2 percent were from Africa, compared with 16,403 in 2010. This indicates that China is fast becoming one of the most desired overseas study destinations for African students.

By the end of 2009, nearly 29,465 African students had received Chinese government scholarships to study in China. Since then, the Chinese government has offered about 5,000 scholarships to students from African countries each year. In 2012, the Chinese government offered 6,717 scholarships to students from African countries to study in China, according to the Ministry of Education.

Meanwhile, to narrow the educational quality gap on the African continent, China launched an $8 million program in 2012 with the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to support educational development.

The project, named "Enhancing Teacher Education for Bridging the Education Quality Gap in Africa", aims to provide a sufficient number of qualified teachers in Africa through training programs.

The country's initial support to UNESCO educational activities in Africa came in 2007 with a contribution of $1 million that benefited the UNESCO International Institute for Capacity Building in Africa based in Ethiopia, and the International Center for Girls and Women's Education in Burkina Faso.

At the Ministerial Meeting of the China-Africa Cooperation Forum in Beijing last year, the Chinese government proposed to further strengthen cooperation with African countries in areas such as training people with expertise in various fields and higher education.

In the field of higher education, a special program, the 20 Plus 20 Project, launched in 2010 by the Ministry of Education, will continue this year as a major effort to promote cooperation in higher education between China and Africa, Zhang Xiuqin, a ministry official in charge of international cooperation and exchanges, said earlier this year.

The program partners 20 universities from China with 20 universities in Africa. Through the program, the Chinese universities will provide student and faculty exchange opportunities, government scholarships and Chinese-language training to African students.

The program covers prestigious universities in more than 10 provinces and municipalities in China. Under the program, China has also sped up its overall educational cooperation with African countries.

At present, educational cooperation between China and Africa is not limited to just exchange visits of students and teachers, but has expanded to many other fields, such as joint research, teacher training, development of courses, as well as establishing associated labs, research institute, and Confucius Institutes, according to the Ministry of Education.

Guo Li, dean of the College for Overseas Education in Yangzhou University in East China's Jiangsu province, says her college has established relations with 18 African universities and worked with them on scientific research and training programs for faculty and postgraduate students in the past three years.

The educational cooperation fields covered administrative management, agriculture, animal science, biotechnology, engineering and mathematics - all of which are advantage disciplines in Yangzhou University.

For instance, the university organized a training program for Sudanese agricultural college teachers, a training program for Sudanese university management staff, and launched a joint scientific research program on breeding new oil crops and developing high-yielding agronomic techniques in 2010.

The university began sending its experts and professors to Africa for aid work as early as the 1970s. The most well-known of those experts is Ling Qihong, an expert in rice breeding, who worked at the Bordeaux Agricultural Experiment Center in Guinea for five years. He later served as the vice-governor of Jiangsu province.

"We (the university) have set up a smooth system to implement and develop cooperation with African universities over the past years. For instance, we realized it is necessary to find the university's important and well-developed subjects and then develop quality joint programs," Guo says.

Before launching a program, the university works with a major African university and then expands cooperation to other universities, she says.

"We have also found that it is very important to set up a team that is familiar with African affairs, as it will make cooperation with African counterparts more effective and sustainable," she says.

Nearly 101 African students from 22 countries have studied in Yangzhou University in the past five years, including students from Ethiopia, Somalia, Sudan and South Africa. Among them, 53 students enjoyed financial support from the Chinese government, Jiangsu provincial government and the university itself.

Since 2010, the university has offered an annual scholarship of about 1 million yuan ($162,000) for students from developing countries.

Nahla Ibrahim, a doctoral student from Sudan at Yangzhou University says she went to study in China because of the good relations between Yangzhou University and Khartoum University in her country.

"I studied computer science and technology in China. During the first year of my study, I also attended Chinese classes which has made my life much more easier," she says.

She says the study experience is helpful, and the excellent facilities at Yangzhou University make the study comfortable.

"I was a teacher at Khartoum University before I came to China. I will return to my country and continue my work there when I graduate," she says.

"Besides cooperation and exchanges in fields of traditional advantage disciplines, such as agriculture and animal sciences, Yangzhou University will also strengthen its research in African studies this year. In the future, more Chinese experts and teachers will be invited to join related research programs at the university," Guo says.

Analysts say China and Africa, both on the road to development, have established a deep friendship of more than half a century based on equality and mutual benefit.

"Through Sino-Africa cooperation and exchange programs in higher education, China has helped train many talents for African countries in fields of scientific research and management. Such moves will play an important role in helping African countries develop their local economy and improve people's living standards," she says.

Li Xiaoyun, the expert on development studies, suggests more educational cooperation and exchange programs focused on practical skills, such as food processing and agricultural sciences.

"Besides, both China and Africa are in the process of learning from developed countries in higher education. Therefore, to share experiences on how to learn from well-developed universities in developed countries should be a focus between China and Africa in the educational sector in future," he says.

jinzhu@chinadaily.com.cn

(China Daily Africa Weekly 07/12/2013 page1)