CAPACITY BUILDING FRAMEWORK FOR DEVELOPING RESEARCH IN TERTIARY INSTITUTIONS IN AFRICA

ABSTRACT

Tertiary institutions often called Higher education institutions (HEIs) have been experiencing a growing demand for research that can contribute to the continent's socio-economic development, especially in African society. However, these HEIs are facing significant challenges in building the necessary capacity for research development. The lack of resources, expertise, and institutional support has resulted in a research deficit, which has hindered the development of Africa. To address these challenges, a comprehensive capacity-building framework is proposed to develop research in African HEIs. The proposed framework has three elements consisting of building institutional capacity, enhancing researchers’ capacity, and creating an enabling environment. These elements were selected due to their high-ranking preferences and promising growth index from extant literature. The first element which focuses on building institutional capacity entails the provision of resources such as financial, technical, and human resources. The second element provides for a training/support programme that will enhance the researchers' capacity to conduct impactful research that translates into socio-economic advancement. The final element focuses on the creation of an enabling environment through strong partnerships between institutions, stakeholders, industries etc., and promoting the dissemination/application of research findings to the immediate environment to generate the expected innovative change. To implement the proposed framework, a range of strategies and interventions are discussed. The strength of this framework is that it provides a simplified approach to developing research capacity and innovations in African HEIs. The effective implementation of this framework requires the commitment and support of governments, institutions, and stakeholders.

Keywords: Africa, Higher Education, Innovations, Grants, Research Development