The University of Liberia: Priorities for the Transitional Period and Beyond
By Al-Hassan Conteh, Ph.D.
President, The University of Liberia
The Perspective
Atlanta, Georgia
September 1, 2004
Introduction
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Dr. Al-Hassan Conteh
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Assumptions
The University will generate some of its revenues for post-medium
term operation. In the past, the institution's income generating capacity
included a university forest located in Sinoe County, tuition and
fees, rents and donations (especially from the Trustees of Donations
for Education in Liberia of Boston, MA, USA). As a public institution,
the Government of Liberia will continue to supplement the University
in the short and medium terms, as it did in the past by providing
between 85 and 90% of the university’s financial needs. The
University plans to be self-sufficient in the long run. The UL Family
will be fully rehabilitated and motivated to work as a team in seeking
external, multilateral and bilateral partners of government under
the current RFTF. We will together work with institutions abroad to
find complementary funding and resources that would begin to retain
and improve the current faculty on the ground, and attract an internationally
competent faculty in the nation’s reconstruction drive. The
Trustees of Donations for Education in Liberia would be willing to
consider an immediate request for the replenishment of personal computers
and photocopiers to help with registration, data analysis and rebuilding
the University’s records and database. The University has the
efficient absorptive capacity of new resources based on new demands
occasioned by a prolonged civil war. This will create a multiplier’s
effect in the post-war economy and help to generate jobs and increase
the welfare of its faculty, staff, and students in a self-sustaining
manner.
The University as a Catalyst for Post-war Reconstruction
and Development
The University of Liberia should take the lead in providing solutions
to the residual problems of history and transitional problems and
solutions. Throughout its 142 years of existence, Liberia College
and the University of Liberia have produced the human resources necessary
to meet all sectors of nation building. It must now build upon this
traditional role by waking up to the new reality of a post-war society
in a global economy. Its structure, functions and mission, give it
a national comparative advantage in contributing new knowledge bordering
on science and technology, conflict resolution, and sustainable development.
The ultimate aim of resolving these problems is to increase the welfare of the Liberian people. These and other issues require reflective research, where the problems are clearly formulated, careful observations made and data collected in a policy context. Research must not be done simply for the sake of research. It must cover practical aspects of Liberian life, including oral history, ethnology, music, languages, and literature. This will enable a better understanding of our national culture and heritage. Research findings can be widely disseminated by the University through public forums, seminars and workshops. Ordinary Liberians and public and private sectors will be the natural consumers of the results of basic and applied research.
Science and Technology
Science and technology are relevant to our competitiveness as a nation
in today’s global economy. Basic researches in the sciences:
chemistry, biology and physics, must be invested in and carried forward.
Before the war, huge investments had been made in these fields. These
are the foundations of our medical doctors who can be trained at home
with greater effect and affordable costs than abroad. In the aftermath
of massive looting, we now lack the science laboratories that can
provide the basic research that is necessary in stimulating inventions
or at least offering creative ways of preserving, managing and marketing
our scarce natural resources. Our schools of medicine and pharmacy
must resume their roles as centers of excellence in West Africa. This
was one of the ideas behind the long-rage plan formulated in the Eighties.
Many of the war related health problems pertaining to water and sanitation
could be solved by a cadre of scientists trained by a well-grounded
curriculum in the sciences. There is no reason why other tropical
countries with similar natural endowments should be well off than
us. If Brazil can cut its gas imports by half by transforming sugar
cane juice to fuel, Liberia, with a comparable endowment in sugar
cane should have the capability to do the same or better. Forest preservation
and environmental protection in an ecologically balanced region will
also benefit from investment in science and technology. Here, then,
lies the pivotal role of our College of Agriculture and Forestry.
Support of the scientific foundations in the curriculum will enable
research into new and better varieties of rice, our staple food and
other vital crops.
Education
It should be remembered that the University is where our high and
elementary school teachers are trained. A strong, vibrant University
in the sciences will create a multiplier effect on our schools. When
the scientific method is firmly rooted in our schools, they in turn
will feed the University with the potential doctors, chemists, biologists
and computer specialists, among others whose contribution will be
vital in keeping Liberia alive as a competitive nation in the global
economy. It must be stressed that communications and telecommunications
aspects of science and technology must be fully utilized. In pursuing
the objectives and related goals of its mission, the University cannot
afford to reinvent wheels. Global information links on the Internet
provide instant results on what is available in foreign libraries,
resources and research centers. By this means the University will
share its own ideas and cut down costs in pushing the frontiers of
knowledge in those critical and strategic fields of national security
and survival.
Conflict Transformation
Conflict resolution is another salient area requiring leadership from
the University. Coming out of a protracted civil war, new and innovative
methods are required for reconciliation and nation building. The University
is the natural place to search for solutions to the current problems
related to history: for example, perceptions of the settler-native
divisions and problems finding expression in the ethnic dimension
of factional politics. The curriculum as the basic unit of instruction
should be utilized by the University to impart in students about the
conventional and alternative methods of dispute resolution. Through
didactic methodologies, role-playing, searching for common grounds,
tolerance, and computer simulation of practical conflict scenarios,
the university’s curricula can serve as the touchstone of conflict
transformation and reconciliation. Trained graduates from the University
will impart knowledge based on teaching modules on reconciliation
in the elementary and high schools. This is the sure way of gaining
national consensus on our national identity as a people, united and
strong.
University of Liberia Youth Corps
There is no reason why University students cannot be part of a national
youth corps program, modeled on those of Nigeria, the United States
and elsewhere. Senior students will be encouraged to collect their
data and write their theses or senior projects on counties other than
their own. By so doing, they will get to appreciate national problems
better in ways dissimilar from those to which they are accustomed.
Practical steps will be undertaken by the University through the implementation
of a vibrant counseling program to ensure that war affected and traumatized
youth of the University are not alienated from the society. The University
will continue to find practical avenues of bridging the gap between
academic and entrepreneurial ventures.
Support of Civil Society and the Private Sector
The University should collaborate with the public, private and NGO
sectors to solve the manifold postwar problems. Our past training
strategies included student teaching in education, the moot court
in law, internships in medicine and field expediencies in the fields
of agriculture and forestry, industrial experience in science and
learning by doing by the engineering students.
Sustainable Development
The University must also take the lead in public education and debate
on protecting our environmental resources. Such resources are the
things that will accord us economic utility now and in the future.
And their prudent uses will ensure that the future generations of
Liberians also
enjoy a high quality of life. The task is not only limited to our immediate environment. Because of its systemic nature, global awareness is required that draws on a University level discipline. Systematic forest preservation, garbage disposal and recycling, pollution reduction should all be part of the new education that will make development sustainable for the betterment of society. We are obliged to implementing these measures in order to prevent “The Tragedy of the Commons,” which has already been documented by international agencies as exacerbating our natural resources and human development.
Capacity Building & Skills Repatriation
The pantheon of other endogenous, national problems must begin to
find solution in the realization that the University has the largest
concentration of skilled manpower in the country. The University is
not necessarily an opposition force to government as usually assumed.
Although freedoms of speech and of opinion are its hallmarks, these
will continue to be manifested with responsibility and in the national
interest. University professors and students must henceforth be engaged
in all aspects of our national life to find true solutions to our
problems.
There is no reason why we should continue to rely on expensive international
experts when we have the human resources both at home and abroad who
can tackle our problems more efficiently, particularly with their
greater understanding of local issues. Thus, the University must take
the lead repatriating these nationals to help with the formulation
of government reform, and postwar national reconciliation, promotion
of national social and economic stability, educational development
and the integration of traditional and modern life.
Global Objectives of the University in the Medium and Long-terms
· Generate strategic plans for the five undergraduate colleges, three professional schools, three graduate programs and all the administrative and support departments of the University to guide its way forward through the 21st Century;
· Create a framework for devising new academic programs, centers and institutes in response to the post-war challenges in Liberia;
· Reexamine the Long Range Plan of the University
by comparing it with realities of
the transitional period with the view of updating it to an implementable
program for the relocation of the University to its Fendall Campus
by the Year 2011;
· Review the current resource support and input arrangements by identifying sources and means of supporting the University through workable mechanisms;
· Review the current framework of the administration of the Graduate Programs by reassessing their structures and relationship to the existing colleges with the goal of organizing a new, graduate administrative structure;
· Review the Charter of the University and recommend changes
in the purview of the postwar needs of the country;
· Review the current scope of regional and international cooperation in order to recommend new institutional arrangements, in the context of current, global trends and needs of the University.
Immediate Objectives and Activities (August,
2004 - October, 2005)
To refurbish and secure the physical plant, furnish and equip the
academic programs of the University so as to facilitate the resumption
of classes for more than 10,000 students in the 5 colleges, 3 graduate
programs and 3 professional schools by October 1, 2004. The following
key activities will be implemented:
1. Commence the renovation of the Main, Medical and Fendall Campuses.
2. Start a series of sensitization workshops, and programs to assist
with the rehabilitation of the faculty, staff and students.
3. Start supplying water and electricity to all vital areas of the
University including the Medical College, by procuring and installing
generators, working with the LEC, LWSC and other accomplished NGOs
in these sectors.
4. Renovate classrooms, restrooms, cafeteria, and related facilities
and space to accommodate more than 10,000 students nationwide and
from refugee centers outside the country;
5. Procure and replace essential equipment, machinery, furniture,
computers, laboratory supplies and consumable chemicals, photocopiers,
office equipment and supplies, student armchairs, chalkboards.
6. Rebuild the University’s main library, and procure its main
reference books , including up to date textbooks in fields reflecting
the constituent curricula of the university: social sciences and humanities,
medicine, law, dental medicine, science and technology, teachers education,
business and public administration, agriculture and forestry, regional
planning, international studies, and educational administration
7. Provide adequate working facilities for the faculty, and pay salary
arrears, and a comprehensive health insurance plan;
8. Start a feasible and sustainable transportation system for deans,
faculty , staff, and students;
9. Commence the voluntary repatriation of University faculty and staff
who are still abroad with the assistance of the UNHCR and the LRRRC.
10. Provide facilities to strengthen post-war teaching and research
activities at the University;
11. Enhance security on all campuses of the university.
12. Publication of the University Catalogue
13. Work with the Joint Council and Senate sessions to formulate an
accelerated education plan to remove the high student retention rates
occasioned by the civil war.
In order to attain adequately the above objectives and
activities, the costs of the resource requirements of the University
will be prepared in August and September 2004.
Medium-term Objectives (November, 2005 - August, 2007)
1. Continue the renovation of buildings on its Main, Medical and Fendall
campuses.
2. Start Relocating to the Fendall Campus;
3. Continue the replacement of equipment, machinery, furniture, computers,
laboratory supplies and consumable chemicals, photocopiers, office
equipment and supplies, student armchairs, chalkboards and books.
4. Secure assistance for information technology, particularly computers
with CD-ROMS capable of setting up a Local Area Network amongst the
university’s constituent administrative units, colleges and
professional schools;
5. Launch the University’s IT and Internet Program and service;
6. Strengthen the transport system including utility vehicles for
operation, student, faculty and official uses;
7. Reopen the University Book Store;
8. Extend the social rehabilitation , conflict resolution, and long-term
readjustment programs;
program to the public through workshops, seminars, symposia.
9. Start reorganizing existing programs (based on internal and external
evaluations), and setting up relevant centers and institutes.
Long-term Objectives (September 2007 - December, 2011
1. Complete relocation to the Fendall Campus;
2. Secure a stable supply of consumable chemicals and equipment for
its laboratories in chemistry, physics, biology and engineering (e.g.,
civil, mechanical, electrical) and a Poly Laboratory for its School
of Medicine;
3. Secure the recruitment and tenure of eminent scholars in the fields
of education, medicine, agriculture, conflict transformation, engineering,
the basic and life sciences, geology, environment, among other fields
urgently needed for national reconstruction. This network of scholars,
whose curriculum vita shall be made available to the University for
scrutiny and selection, shall assist with the preparation of feasibility
studies in their areas of expertise, according to terms of reference
jointly determined between their institutions and the University of
Liberia, and serve as visiting lecturers and professors in their fields
of expertise.
4. Negotiate with universities abroad for the establishment of a multidisciplinary
life sciences and science and technology curricula at the University
of Liberia;
5. Secure scholarships and internships for newly University of Liberia-trained
Medical doctors for further specialization, at the Master's level,
in the basic sciences, including parasitology, immunology, and tropical
medicine among others;
6. Finalize administrative, faculty and student exchanges between
the University of Liberia and a consortium of Africa, U.S. and European
Universities in mutually agreed fields of interest.
Conclusion
In closing, the ideas of Dr. Edward Wilmot Blyden, in 1862, when Liberia
College, the precursor of the University, was founded, are very relevant
today in charting a new role of the University as Lux-in Tenebris.
Blyden believed that the University must be a regenerative force for
the nation, which must send down, through all the ramifications of
society, the streams of wholesome and elevating influence. The University,
therefore, must benefit those who attend it as well as the society
and the nation.
