Why Ruto wants more Africans to acquire doctorate degrees

President William Ruto has called on more Africans to pursue doctorate degrees in Africa, without compromising on the quality of studies.

He said that while universities were rapidly expanding, the pace of PhDs is unable to meet her needs, noting that the number of PhDs enrollment against total student enrollment in universities in the continent is generally low at 2 per cent of the total university student population.

“The World Bank intimates that African universities should produce more than  100,000 PhDs in the next few years to help reverse challenges facing Africa today,” said Ruto.

His remarks were read on his behalf by Prime Cabinet Secretary Musalia Mudavadi yesterday at the start of the sixth Partnership for Skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET) forum in Nairobi.

Ruto said PASET is the key to Africa’s needs of addressing challenges hindering Africa’s research output and quality, especially in Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) subjects.

He noted that nothing speaks to the challenges facing research in Africa more than the fact that only about 29 per cent of research in sub-Saharan Africa — with the exception of South Africa — emanates from applied STEM.

The President also said it is further worrying that STEM research in Africa has been declining by 0.2 per cent annually since 2002, according to a World Bank data.

Similarly, he said statistics indicate that Africa is estimated to have 198 researchers per million people compared with 428 in Chile, 4,260 in Canada, 4,269 in the United Kingdom and 4,663 in the United States.

Data also show that only about 7 per cent of the population in Africa is pursuing higher education, compared to 30 per cent worldwide while less than 1 per cent of academic journal articles come from academic institutions in Africa.

“This unimpressive situation calls for an urgent increase in the pool of graduates with PhD, without compromising on the quality of studies,” he stated.

The President also announced that under the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF), aimed at supporting PhD scholarships and research projects in priority areas, Kenya, through its initial contribution in 2017/2018, has leveraged additional funding to benefit a significant number of scholars and institutions.

“The Government of Kenya contributed US$2 million to the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund in 2018, a contribution that supported 18 PhD Scholarships,” he said.

According to the President, these students benefited from high quality PhD training with advanced research and training institutions across the United States, UK, Europe, Korea, and Africa.

To date, Ruto said 25 Kenyan PhD scholars have benefited from Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund, 68 per cent of them women.

He explained that the scholarship beneficiaries are equipped with advanced technologies, research skills, and relevant international, regional, and national networks.

“We expect that the beneficiaries of these scholarships will enhance positive growth in their respective institutions and develop centres of excellence in their areas of study,” he added.

Two Kenyan Universities, the University of Nairobi and Kenyatta University, said Ruto, were competitively selected as African Host Universities (AHUs) to train Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund PhD students and are currently hosting a total of 41 students.

He said selection as African host universities is an important stamp of approval that universities in Africa are globally competitive.

Ruto said the economic challenges facing the world today is a big risk to the sustainability of the PASET programme, which calls for urgent need to establish a PASET Permanent Fund as well as develop sustainable structures to manage this initiative.

“Kenya is conscious of the tremendous promise in the exploration of innovative funding mechanisms, new sources of revenues and partnership with the private sector, including through the sale of carbon credits,” he noted.

Education Cabinet Secretary, Ezekiel Machogu there is optimism that PASET programmes in universities and TVETs in Africa will continue to avail a platform for millions of youth in universities and tertiary institutions to advance their knowledge and skills in scientific research and innovation, and be part of this future success story of Africa’s renaissance.

“This forum is a perfect example of African countries taking the lead and providing African solutions to address unique African challenges, through collaboration. I am happy to report that Kenya has gained immensely from her membership to PASET,” Machogu said.