By Foday Moriba Conteh
The University of Sierra Leone (USL) in collaboration with the Nigerian Association for Educational Administration and Planning (NAEAP), Lagos State University Branch, Lagos State Chapter has on Thursday 25thMay, 2023 concluded a Four-day Education Conference on the theme: “Educational Research in Sub-Saharan Africa”. The four-day conference which features presentation of papers, including virtual/online presentations by academics and educationists on eleven sub-themes, was held at the Multipurpose Hall on Fourah Bay College Campus in Freetown.
In his welcome address during the opening of the conference, the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sierra Leone, Brig. Gen. Prof. Foday Sahr, who acted as the Chief Host of the conference, expressed appreciation to the Nigerian Association for Educational Administration and Planning (NAEAP) for choosing the University of Sierra Leone to play host to the International Education Conference.
He said when the University of Sierra Leone was approached by the Nigerian Association for Educational Administration and Planning (NAEAP) with the idea of hosting the said conference the University wasted no time but gave approval to the proposal of which they immediately drafted a Memorandum of Understanding in order to guide the conduct of the conference.
Brig. Gen. Prof. Foday Sahr said that the theme for the conference is “Educational Research in Sub-Saharan Africa” which he said resonates with what the University of Sierra Leone is doing in their various institutions, adding that their curriculum is now been designed to reflect innovative learning in order to support development and that this can only be done when there is security in the Sub-Region.
He said that the importance of educational research cannot be overemphasized, stating that research serves as a bedrock of the mission of the University of Sierra Leone and it increases the prominence of the University in the world.
The Vice-Chancellor and Principal concluded by stating that the University of Sierra Leone will continue to encourage its staff to engage in scholarly writings to enhance their career paths.
Declaring the conference open, the Former Vice Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sierra Leone, Prof. Ekundayo Thompson, described the theme, “Educational Research in Sub-Saharan Africa” as very appropriate.
He added that the conference is very important as it provided the opportunity to energize all in the rubrics of research and to pay attention to the important role of educational research, which according to him is very important in any higher educational entity.
Prof. Ekundayo Thompson maintained that educational research is centered and that centrality, he said, will be overwhelmed as they forge links and partnerships to expand the frontiers of knowledge not only to generate and analyze useful data but to also inform policies.
Delivering the keynote address, Chairperson of the Nigerian Association for Educational Administration and Planning (NAEAP), Lagos State Chapter, Dr. Ayoola Oyeyemi Iyabo(Mrs.), said the objective of the conference is to inspire discussion that will lead to regional policy recommendations that may form the basis of collaboration towards a sustainable educational research that will generate innovation promotion, security networking and socio-economic development in sub-Saharan Africa.
She added that they will also extrapolate, using the analysis of publications by researchers in sub-Saharan Africa, with the objective of raising educational research’s visibility and its potential to inform policy and practice in the region.
Dr. Ayoola Oyeyemi Iyabo revealed that the region is experiencing significant social, political, land ,economic transformations over the past few decades; as a result, the educational landscape of the region has also evolved with increased access to education and growing concerns about educational quality vis a vis the relevance of education.
She maintained that development of innovation, science and technology in sub-Saharan Africa is exposed to numerous difficulties from the budgetary stage adding that Research and Development attracts considerably less public investment in Saharan Africa than the defense ,education or health sectors.
The Chairperson said that the proportion of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) attributable to research and development averages about 0.3% in the region, seven times less than that spent by industrialized countries on that sector of which she added that South Africa spends most on research and development with its investment rising from 73% in 2001 to 94% in 2006 and has a proportion of its GDP, that is Gross Domestic Expenditure on Kenya (81%), Nigeria (5%) and Sierra Leone (0%).
She underscored that collaboration between researchers, policymakers, educators and communities may assist the development of evidence-based strategies that can address the region’s most pressing challenges, involvement of stakeholders in the research process may help to ensure that research findings are widely disseminated and the developed strategies for implementation are shared.
Dr. Ayoola Oyeyemi Iyabo concluded by stating that collaborative research is a critical means of promoting security and development in Sub-Saharan Africa adding how it is possible to develop strategies that can address the region’s most pressing challenges through stakeholder’s promotion of contextually relevant and evidence-based research.
Closing the opening ceremony of the conference was an Award presentation of which the Vice-Chancellor and Principal of the University of Sierra Leone, Brig. Gen. Prof. Foday Sahr and the Chairperson of Nigerian Association for Educational Administration and Planning (NAEAP), Lagos State Chapter, Dr. Ayoola Oyeyemi Iyabo received awards.
The Goodwill messages by special Guests and Heads of Delegation from other higher institutions of learning were also delivered which was followed by the presentation of papers, including virtual/online presentations by academics and educationists on eleven sub-themes during the conference.
