Lessons for universities as diaspora scholars return home

Completing doctoral studies in Germany and returning home was never a dilemma to us. It seemed the natural thing to do. However, for our colleagues in Ethiopia, Cameroon and other parts of West Africa, there was an understandable hesitation to return home after the doctoral degree. For some, it was the hostile political situation at home, and for others, it was a dominant discourse that made it natural to pursue an academic career in the West. For several others, the superior working conditions in the West are irresistible. In the 90s, countries such as Kenya, Ghana and Nigeria faced a haemorrhaging brain drain of their top academic. Recently, countries such as Zimbabwe and Togo have seen hordes of scholars pursue academic careers in countries such as South Africa, Canada, France and the United Kingdom. For countries like Cameroon, their most decorated academics have little motivation to return home even today.

However, the tide is changing, and more and more diaspora-based academics are finding it useful to develop some kind of relationships with local universities. The usefulness of African academics in the diaspora to African universities is obvious for two main reasons. First, many African universities are short of teachers and researchers with doctoral and post-doctoral qualifications and expertise. Most African countries are currently facing a shortage of highly qualified personnel in the fields of natural, applied, medical sciences, technology and engineering, as well as agriculture and health. In Senegal, the largest university in the country is facing shortages in teaching staff due to large numbers of retiring professors, while in Kenya, universities are facing a shortage of professors, largely because of the low numbers of qualified lecturers with doctoral degrees in universities.