Higher Education in Science and Technology is Critical for Africa’s Development

STORY HIGHLIGHTS
A high-level Africa forum on Higher Education for Science, Technology and Innovation co-hosted by the Government of Rwanda and the World Bank opens in Kigali.
Senior representatives from government, academia and business will discuss ways to meet Africa’s need for millions of engineers, scientists, health professionals and technicians.
Africa’s higher education systems need to be upgraded to align with private sector needs and help address pressing development problems.

As Sub-Saharan Africa develops rapidly, it is estimated that the continent will need millions of engineers just to reach a single Millennium Development Goal, that of access to safe water and improved sanitation. However, there is a serious shortage of engineers—and also of scientists, health professionals and technicians—in nearly all of Sub-Saharan Africa’s 48 countries.

To help address this gap, the Government of Rwanda, a champion of science and technology, and the World Bank, one of Africa’s largest partners in higher education, are co-hosting a high-level forum on Higher Education for Science, Technology and Innovation in Kigali this week.

See full Press Release: http://www.worldbank.org/en/news/feature/2014/03/12/higher-education-in-science-and-technology-is-critical-for-africas-development