Partnership for skills in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology (PASET)

APPROACH

PASET is a unique Africa-led initiative that combines African ownership and leadership with global knowledge. It promotes partnerships between public and private sector as well as with new partner countries with a vision to build African capacity and skills in priority applied sciences, engineering and technology (ASET) fields for the region. PASET supports both regional and country-level initiatives through mobilization of funds, technical assistance and knowledge exchange. Its approach emphasizes good governance, mutual accountability and transparency and allows for broader stakeholder engagement.

PASET is committed to the following medium-term goals over a 10-year period as outlined in the Call to Action endorsed by key stakeholders in Dakar, Senegal in June 2014:

1. The training of at least 10,000 new Ph.D. holders in ASET programs;
2. Establishing a SSA-wide regional post graduate scholarship program in ASET programs;
3. Doubling the number of students in ASET programs in at least 10 SSA countries;
4. The emergence of at least 5 additional universities in SSA with high quality ASET programs and centers of postgraduate studies and applied research in ASET disciplines;
5. At least 5 regional TVET centers of excellence for training faculty of TVET institutions, to enable resource sharing/quality assurance and provide specialized training in emerging areas;
6. The development of a regional quality assurance mechanism for ASET programs, benchmarked to comparable systems globally;
7. Establishment of high quality data systems and benchmarking of ASET programs and institutions in at least 10 SSA countries.

PASET collaborates with partners to meet its goals. It seeks both financial and technical partners to invest in future researchers, innovators, workforces and universities and training institutions on the continent.  

GOVERNANCE

PASET’s governance structure was formalized by a Charter adopted in July 2016 and updated in December 2018. The Charter lays out the objectives, principles and norms for the efficient functioning of PASET. It highlights the following key bodies under PASET’s governance structure:

1. Governing Council (GC): The Governing Council comprises Ministers of Education, Higher Education or TVET of sub-Saharan African countries that contribute to the Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund (RSIF) or participate in the Regional TVET Initiative, and representatives of key donors and partners that contribute to PASET. The GC is a high-level body that provides strategic direction and thought leadership for PASET and takes major policy decisions. The current Chairperson of the GC is Hon. Amb. (Dr.) Amina Mohamed, Cabinet Secretary of Education for Kenya.
2. Executive Board (EB): The Executive Board comprises representatives of sub-Saharan African governments and donors that fully contribute to PASET’s regional initiatives. The EB serves as the Partnership’s key managing body responsible for overseeing implementation of PASET' activities. The Executive Director of the EB is Prof. Aminata Sall Diallo.
3. Consultative Advisory Group (CAG): The CAG is an advisory body that includes eminent scientists, academics, TVET experts, and private sector leaders appointed by the Executive Board to provide technical advice to the EB. It currently consists of 12 members from Africa and partner countries like Korea and China, who share their expertise and provide guidance to develop PASET’s various initiatives. The Chairperson of the CAG is Prof. Goolam Mohamedbhai and the Vice-chairperson is Dr. George Afeti.
4. Secretariat: The Secretariat, hosted at the World Bank at present, facilitates PASET’s governance and initiatives working closely with the EB. In this role, the World Bank provides technical assistance at the regional and country levels, convenes and organizes meetings of the PASET governing bodies, organizes knowledge sharing events, and works with the GC and EB to build partnerships with other sub-Saharan African and partner countries. 

 INITIATIVES

PASET aims to accelerate the creation of a critical mass of highly skilled scientists, researchers, technicians and innovators for priority sectors in sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) through several initiatives. These initiatives are implemented at the higher education as well as technical and vocational skills development levels with overarching technical assistance. 

PARTNERSHIPS

Korea: The Republic of Korea was PASET’s first partner country. It partners with PASET at the government, institutional and university levels. The Ministry of Strategy and Finance supports PASET’s operations through a Trust Fund at the World Bank. Senior officials of Korean institutions like the Korea Development Institute and Human Resources Development Korea are represented on the PASET Board of Directors and Consultative Advisory Group respectively. Universities like the Korea Institute of Science and Technology are international partner universities under the RSIF. Korea has participated in all four PASET Forums and has hosted several knowledge exchange activities for African countries at the higher education and TVET levels. Most recently, Korea’s Ministry of Strategy and Finance signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the World Bank in May 2018 to support PASET’s RSIF initiative through a Trust Fund hosted at the World Bank.

Articles and Press Releases

• November 2019,  Press Release: PASET Highlight Strong Partnership on Strengthening Technical and Scientific Capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa
• August 2018,  The Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund: World Bank, Government of Korea Investing in Better Quality Higher Education to Build Africa's Talent
• May 2018,  Press Release: Korea, World Bank Join Forces to Build World-Class Scientific Capacity in Sub-Saharan Africa
• September 2017,  Press Release: Korea Institute of Science and Technology, Four African Universities Partner to Advance Science and Technology Research
• December 2016,  Korea steps up to boost scientific progress in Africa
• November 2016,  Press Release: PASET and Korea Vow to Work Together to Strengthen African Capacity in Applied Sciences, Engineering and Technology

China: PASET has had numerous engagements with China since 2015 when PASET participated in the Investing in Africa Forum organized in Ethiopia and presented on skills development in Africa. The Ministry of Finance of China supports PASET through a Trust Fund managed by the World Bank to promote partnerships on higher education between Africa and China and support the preparation of PASET’s Regional TVET Centers of Excellence initiative. In September 2017, the Chinese Ministry of Finance, Ministry of Education and the World Bank signed a Memorandum of Understanding on a cooperation framework for support to African higher education, science and technology and TVET and there has been an ongoing tripartite collaboration among China, Africa and the World Bank in these areas. There are several vibrant bilateral engagements at the institutional level and Chinese private sector companies have also demonstrated interest in supporting PASET’s activities. In addition, African universities have visited China to learn from their experience in higher education, science and technology.

• Articles and Press Releases
  • July 2017, First Africa China World Bank Education Partnership Forum: Higher Education, Science and Technology
  • September 2018,  Technical and Vocational Education and Training: Lessons from China

Japan: PASET has been engaging with Japan since 2018. The 1^st Africa-Japan Higher Education Partnership Workshop was held in Japan in 2018 during which 2 MoUs were signed between PASET RSIF host universities and a Japanese university and company, respectively. Subsequently, 3 MoUs were signed between PASET RSIF host universities and a Japanese universities. This successful result led the Ministry of Finance of Japan to provide US$1 million to strengthen the Africa-Japan higher education partnership leveraging PASET and the Africa Centers of Excellence (ACE) project through a Trust Fund at the World Bank in June 2019. Under this grant, PASET and ACE were showcased at an official side event of the Seventh Tokyo International Conference on African Development (TICAD7) in August 2019 in Yokohama and 2^nd Africa-Japan Higher Education Partnership Workshop was organized in September 2019 in Tokyo. Follow-up discussions are ongoing to have Japanese universities and research institutes as partner institutions for the PASET RSIF. In addition, commercialization of research and technology transfer pilot and the study on scientific research fund will be implemented under this grant.

• Articles and Press Releases
  • October 2019,  2nd Africa-Japan Higher Education Partnership Workshop along with TICAD 7
  • August 2019,  Press Release: World Bank, Japan to Support Human Capital Development Through Education in Africa
  • December 2018,  1st Africa-Japan Higher Education Partnership Workshop hosted by Japan

India: PASET has engaged with India at the TVET and higher education levels. In 2017, India hosted a high-level knowledge sharing visit on skills development for African countries to exchange experiences on the common challenges in skills development across the two regions and approaches to address them. Since then, a formal partnership between the Ministry of Skills Development and Entrepreneurship of India and African countries has been in discussion under the PASET umbrella. A similar partnership dialogue is also ongoing at the higher education level with India’s Department of Science and Technology. India has regularly participated in the PASET Forums.

• Articles and Press Releases
  • November 2017,  India Hosts 6 African Countries for Knowledge Exchange in Skill Development

Brazil: PASET has collaborated with Brazil to learn from its experience in TVET. Brazil hosted African countries in Sao Paulo in 2015 for a TVET-focused learning event co-organized by Servico Nacional de Aprendizagem Industrial (SENAI) and PASET. Brazil has also participated in the PASET Forums to share its unique TVET model.

RESOURCES

• March 2018,  Science and Innovation in Africa: International Funding and Cooperation , The ITB newsletter, prepared by Kooperation International on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research (BMBF) featuring Prof. Aminata Sal Diallo’s article.
• April 2017, African countries wanting to become knowledge economies need human capital, Op-ed in the East African, authored by Keith Hansen (former Vice President of Human Development at the World Bank Group), Dr. Fred Matiang’i (former Cabinet Secretary of Kenya’s Ministry of Education), and Lutz Ziob (Dean of the 4Afrika Academy, Microsoft)  

Relevant Materials

<Publications>

• 2016,  China's contribution to skills development in Sub-Saharan Africa
• 2014,  A decade of development in sub-Saharan African science, technology, engineering and mathematics research
• 2014,  Growth and equity in tertiary education in sub-Saharan Africa

<Briefs>

• 2014,  Human capital for agriculture in Africa
• 2014,  Human capital for oil, gas, and minerals industries
• 2014,  Meeting Africa’s health worker crisis: the role of education systems and incentives
• 2014,  What will it take to turn around higher education in Malawi?
• 2014,  Mozambique’s sustained efforts on higher education, science and technology

<Presentations>

• 2019, Financing Sustainable Education in Africa: The PASET Regional Scholarship and Innovation Fund

Last Updated: Dec 11, 2019