Maxwell African Scholars Union presents: N’Dri T. Assié-Lumumba

Maxwell African Scholars Union Presents N’Dri T. Assié-Lumumba on
Gender, Higher Education and Human Resource Development in Africa: Past Policies and Implications of the New Strategic Planning

Human capital theory guided the national development planning policies of African countries from the beginning of the post-colonial period. This period has been also characterized by unequal educational opportunity along gender lines, especially at higher education level. While most of the institutions of higher learning built after independence are predominantly public, the current higher education landscape is characterized by the increased presence of private institutions. These private institutions, especially the secular establishments, tend to enroll larger numbers of female students than their public counterparts. After several decades of neglect, African states are returning to strategic planning and have adopted national long-term visions. The emerging issues to be discussed include the dynamics in the interface of the gendered distribution of higher education and the priority areas in national economic and human resource development planning and the implications for the labor market and gender equality.

N'Dri T. Assié-Lumumba is Professor of Africana Studies with the Africana Studies and Research Center of Cornell University. She has been a Fellow of the World Academy of Art and Science since 2006 and was this year elected to the Presidency of the Comparative and International Education Society (CIES). She holds the doctorate in Comparative Education, Economics and Sociology of Education from the University of Chicago, as well as degrees in History and Sociology from the Université Lyon II, and has published extensively on African educational policy and systems, gender and power in Africa, and family and social institutions in Africa.