Out of Africa: Brain Drain

by P.D. Lesko and Ann Brucklacher

The over reliance on part-time faculty
at colleges and universities is a truly global phenomenon. In North America, more than 60 percent of college faculty hold temporary appointments. In South America, the percentage, according to higher education researcher Dr. Philip Altbach, is also near 60 percent. In Africa, according to various studies funded by American foundations such as the Ford, Rockefeller and McArthur Foundations, between 40 to 60 percent of college faculty hold part-time, temporary teaching appointments. The reason behind the over reliance of African institutions on large numbers of part-time faculty has to do with financial pressures, of course.

However, one can trace the increase in the use of part-time faculty at colleges and universities throughout Africa to what one World Bank official calls the “push-pull factor,” as well as to investment strategies of the international money-lending industry. In short, African academics are pulled to opportunities in Europe, Britain, Canada and the U.S. These same academics are pushed to emigrate by repressive governments and crumbling economies. In addition, international lending institutions have, until only relatively recently, viewed investment in primary education as more attractive (as providing a better return) than investment in higher education.

William Saint is the Lead Education Specialist, Africa Region, for the World Bank. When asked why banks and donors have encouraged African countries to invest in primary education as opposed to higher education, he explains, “The answer lies in rate of return analyses that were carried out in the 1980s and early 1990s. At that time…studies in various African countries concluded that the financial return on an investment in primary education was higher than a similar investment in higher education, and among the best investments that could be made by an African country.”

Out of Africa

“It breaks your heart,” says Dr. N’Dri Assié-Lumumba, Associate Professor of Africana Studies at Cornell University, as she describes the decay of university facilities and shattered dreams for university development in Africa. Political and social conflicts, the vast economic disparities between developed and developing regions, and the search for better opportunities have led to a severe “brain drain” of African academics. This academic diaspora, as well as the rise of private colleges, has led to a greater reliance on part-time faculty. As elsewhere in the world, these temporary faculty often face poor pay, low prestige, and uncertain job security. In Africa, however, part-time instructors also face the factors that have created and arisen from Africa’s brain drain.

The brain drain of educated, skilled professionals is neither new nor uniquely African. Developed and developing countries alike have experienced waves of such out-migration. Canada, for example, loses approximately 10,000 skilled professionals to the U.S. each year, but it is also the destination of increasing numbers of skilled migrants from Asia and Africa. In Africa, however, no inward flow counterbalances losses. Numbers alone do not fully depict the problem, but they do suggest its depth.

The United Nations Economic Commission for Africa estimates that some 27,000 African professionals left for developed countries between 1960 and 1975. The exodus rose to 60,000 from 1985 to 1990 and has since drawn away approximately 20,000 annually. The International Migration Office estimates that one third of Africa’s human capital has left the continent. In Ethiopia, 75 percent of the skilled workforce left in one decade alone (1980–1990).

According to Munzali Jibril, one of the contributors to African Higher Education: An International Reference Handbook (Damtew Teferra and Philip. G. Altbach, eds., Indiana University Press, 2003), “The take-home pay of a full professor in Nigeria, which is only about $1,000 per month, is still low even by African standards. This, of course, explains why so many Nigerian academics and other professionals have migrated to other countries.”

Dr. David Shinn, a former U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia and Burkina Faso and currently an adjunct professor at George Washington University’s Elliott School of International Affairs, has researched the brain drain and reports disturbing figures: approximately 30,000 sub-Saharan African Ph.D. holders now live in Europe and North America; more African-born scientists and engineers work in the U.S. than in Africa, and 35 percent of African professionals sent abroad for training between 1982 and 1997 did not return.

Part-time Trends

As the brain drain has siphoned away faculty, some institutions, such as the University of Zimbabwe, have turned to part-time hiring to fill the gaps. Declining or inadequate salaries have also prompted full-time instructors to take part-time teaching jobs at other institutions. Newly formed private institutions, the still small but fastest-growing sector in higher education, provide many of these part-time jobs.

The Guide to Higher Education in Africa (2004) lists a number of particularly part-time heavy institutions.
• In 2000, for example, Daystar University in Kenya had an academic staff of 180, of which 71 were employed part-time.
• At South Africa’s University of the Free State, approximately half of the 1,300 faculty members were part-time.
• Part-time faculty also far outnumbered full-timers at the DR of Congo’s Catholic University at Bukavu (90 part-time, 30 full-time) and at Cameroon’s Catholic University of Central Africa (205 part-time, 40 full-time).
• In Chad, at the country’s only university, 50 percent of the faculty hold part-time, temporary faculty appointments.

According to Dr. Arlindo Chilundo, Director of Planning at Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, in 1999-2000, the whole Mozambican system of higher education had 1,357 teaching staff members, of which 539 (39.7 percent) were part-time lecturers. Private institutions in Mozambique, writes Chilundo, rely mainly on part-time faculty.

Egypt has a one of world’s largest higher education systems. Over 1.53 million students study at 22 colleges and universities around the country. According to the Web site of the International Network for Higher Education in Africa ( http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/soe/cihe/inhea/profiles/Egypt.htm):
“The main method of hiring academic staff in the current system is from the pool of graduating students at the bachelor’s level. Often graduate students, who lack experience, and the expertise, serve as undergraduate teachers. Salaries of academic staff are very low.”

A survey of private sector vocational training institutes in Zimbabwe echoes these data: at three-quarters of such institutions, part-time faculty made up over half of the teaching staff. Interestingly, however, UNESCO notes that in many cases, the higher the number of part-timers at private institutions, the higher the number of doctoral-level educators, reflecting the tendency for private colleges and vocational schools to draw their staff from the full-time ranks of nearby national or state universities.

Dr. Nelson Akpotu is Director of Academic Planning at Delta State University in Abraka, Nigeria, and has researched brain-drain and educational issues. His university, he notes, now discourages part-time hiring in favor of full-time hires from the large pool of local, well-qualified professionals seeking university jobs. However, Drs. Akpotu and Shinn also note a trend in part-time “moonlighting” by full-time faculty. Private facilities, in particular, Dr. Akpotu notes, “may not be able to cope without part-time staff.”

Dr. Assié-Lumumba, an expert on higher education in Africa, also points out that some former government employees, encouraged to retire early during structural adjustment programs, were given inadequate “golden parachutes” and have returned to work part-time in education.

Some observers have argued that part-time teaching allows scholars to earn extra income in their fields, while the new schools meet student needs, create competition, and broaden scholarly networks. Undeniably, these new institutions have many positive aspects. However, those that rely heavily on lower-paid part-time labor raise concerns. Dr. Assié-Lumumba reflects on the possible implications for universities and faculty. Hiring part-timers, she says, is a “matter of economic constraints,” which may be detrimental in the long run.

Universities need faculty members with a “vested interest in long-term investment in the institution.” Part-time instructors do not receive sufficient pay or benefits, generally cannot participate in curricular or hiring decisions, and have relatively less voice university community overall.

William Saint of the World Bank offers a different perspective. He says, “Numerous experts have encouraged African universities to seek part-time staff from relevant sections of the labor market as a way of introducing a little more practical experience and problem-solving competency into the classroom. Used in this way, part-time teachers can be a positive contribution to the quality of higher education.”

Global and Local Factors

At the institutional level, 2005 was marked by political instability at numerous universities across Africa. A violent, pro-government student group terrorized the Cote d’Ivoire’s main university campus in Abidjan. In Zimbabwe, a professor contacted for this story politely declined to respond, citing fears for his family’s safety if he spoke about the university. Faculty strikes, mostly over low or unpaid salaries, also disrupted various universities in Kenya, Nigeria, Zimbabwe, Burundi, Zambia, Uganda, Angola, the DR of Congo, and Sierra Leone.

Political turmoil, failing economies, and lack of educational opportunities are powerful push-and-pull factors that draw African scholars abroad. Dr. Assié-Lumumba places these factors, and the exodus of African academics, in a global historical perspective. Recent educational crises such as a lack of funding for education, poor facilities, and dissatisfaction among faculty and students, she notes, have long roots in the colonial period, which did little to develop Africa’s educational systems. At independence, universities sprang up across Africa, supported by considerable funding and high hopes for strong universities serving as springboards for development.

However, as Dr. Assié-Lumumba points out, financial crises of the 1970s and 1980s left African governments bereft of funds and dependent on international lenders. World Bank loans came with requirements that governments focus on primary education and restrict salaries and hiring in government sectors, previously a main employer of university graduates. Severe cuts in university funding led to stagnating or falling faculty salaries, cuts in journal subscriptions, and crumbling dormitories, labs, and classrooms.

University Demands

Funding deficits have coincided with a surge in desire for university education, particularly among Africa’s rising young urban populations. World Bank estimations indicate that university enrollments increased six-fold from the mid-1970s to the mid-1990s. However, in Nigeria, fewer than 20 percent of qualified applicants in recent years have been admitted to university. The higher education system lacks the space, instructors, and funds to admit more students.
Aspiring graduate students also encounter difficulties in securing placements and in accessing current technology, journals, and other resources. For Dr. Isaac Mwase, Associate Professor of Philosophy at the National Center for Bioethics in Research and Health Care, Tuskegee University, educational opportunities unavailable in his native Zimbabwe led him to continue his education abroad. Dr. Mwase, who taught at and earned a bachelor of theology degree from the Baptist Theological Seminary in Zimbabwe, wanted to explore issues of faith and philosophy, but the most suitable programs were in Kenya and the U.S.

“I chose to go to the farther place,” Dr. Mwase explains, “because I knew I could always move back closer.”

Personal savings, private funding, and scholarships from his alma mater helped support Mwase’s study abroad. While completing M.B.A., M.Div., and Ph.D. degrees in the U.S. Mwase also worked part-time and taught as an adjunct and visiting instructor in theology and philosophy. Throughout all these periods, he says, “I always thought I would return to Zimbabwe.”
However, his Zimbabwean alma mater had suffered funding cuts from its main supporter, and had no funds to offer him a job or to pay for his travel to teach there as a summer visitor.

“I enjoy teaching in Zimbabwe…I wish I could teach there every year,” he says, commenting on his return to teach one summer. “The international aid community needs to focus more on higher education,” Mwase urges, “to encourage people like me to go back,” people who have a true “love for the place.”

Low Pay, Low Prestige

In 2005, six Zimbabwean universities opened with barely a class in session as lecturers held out on strike, demanding raises that for many would still keep their salaries below the nation’s per capita income of $1,900 per year. Faculty at the University of Liberia also ended the year with their salaries already four months in arrears.

Low salaries and lack of prestige for university teaching have contributed to the brain drain, observes Dr. Akpotu at Delta State University in Nigeria. Oil revenues in the 1970s fueled spending in higher education. However, the economic crisis of the 1980s led to slashes in university funding. Once-attractive faculty salaries and research funds plummeted to the point where, after compensating for inflation, full professors received only $2,000 to $3,000 per year (US$) and new and part-time faculty made significantly less. Instructors were forced to take outside jobs, and many left for better paying jobs abroad or in other industries.

Dr. Akpotu notes that the situation in Nigeria has improved in recent years: “Salaries and allowances for university staff have almost tripled.” Most full-time lecturers make at least 180,000 naira monthly (approximately 1,300 US$). However, university salaries are still “very low compared to their counterparts in the private sector, [and] improvements in facilities are only partially better, particularly when viewed in relation to student enrollment.”

In Zimbabwe, however, the situation for university lecturers is not as promising. Salaries in the millions of Zimbabwean dollars (~1 million ZIM$ = ~ 10 US$) mean little due to triple-digit inflation. The average pay for a new full-time lecturer is approximately 9–11 million ZIM$ per month, and falls short of the estimated 17 million set as the basic amount needed to support a family. The nation, once considered a forerunner in education, has suffered from six years of severe recession, food and fuel shortages, high unemployment, political disputes, and annual inflation of 585 percent for 2005. As reported by NEAR, Zimbabwean universities have “lost their glamour,” both to students and faculty, many of whom have either abandoned university employment or moved to the U.K., South Africa, Botswana, and the U.S. In this case and others, the brain drain is drawing professionals not only to Western countries but also to other African countries.

The Future: Brain Drain or Gain?

Will the brain drain continue to siphon talent away from Africa, or will universities in Africa and worldwide reap benefits from what has been called “brain circulation” or “brain gain?” Despite problems in many African university systems, great demand exists for higher education. The fast-growing private sector presently accommodates relatively fewer students and staff than the public sector. In Africa, as in other parts of the world, this sector also tends to rely more heavily on part-time faculty members.

The brain drain has undoubtedly harmed African universities, and is one part of a long and complex history. If there is a positive outlook, it is certainly what Dr. Assié-Lumumba calls “brain gain.” Although brain drain represents a loss, she notes, “as long as [scholars] can relocate, become productive, and still connect with Africa, it is a gain for Africa.”

William Saint of the World Bank postulates about the problem in dollars and cents: “In the 21st century era of globalization, the world’s economy is more linked and integrated than ever before, and is increasingly based on competitive advantages in creating and accessing global knowledge. Productivity and competitiveness (rather than natural resources or cheap labor) have progressively become the basis of economic growth. In this context, higher education is now playing a more important role in determining national development prospects…..The Bank is steadily increasing its financial support to higher education in Africa and elsewhere, and will likely continue doing so.”
What remains to be seen will be whether future improvements in Africa’s higher education system will translate to improvements in conditions for part-time faculty.