I 112th CONGRESS 1st Session H. R. 2792 IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES August 2, 2011 Mr. Payne (for himself, Mrs. Christensen, Ms. Bass of California, Mr. Carnahan, Mr. Jackson of Illinois, Mr. Rush, Ms. Woolsey, Mr. Lewis of Georgia, Mr. Towns, Ms. Lee of California, Mr. Cohen, and Mr. Fattah) introduced the following bill; which was referred to the Committee on Foreign Affairs A BILL To amend the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 to provide assistance to expand, improve, support, and promote higher education in the countries of sub-Saharan Africa, and for other purposes.

1.

Short title

This Act may be cited as the African Higher Education Advancement and Development Act of 2011.

2.

Findings

Congress finds the following: (1)The demand for higher education in Africa has been increasing at very high rates and is rapidly overtaking the capacity of current infrastructure and staffing capability. (2)Africa’s challenges in higher education are substantial and have important social, economic, and stability dimensions. (3)Despite increasing enrollments, sub-Saharan Africa’s gross tertiary education enrollment ratio in 2007, the most recent year for which comparable data is available, was just under 6 percent as compared to 13 percent in India, 11 percent in South Asia generally, and 22 percent in China, and 66 percent in high-income countries. In many African countries the ratio hovers between 2 and 3 percent. (4)According to a 2008 World Bank report, university staff position vacancy rates often run between 25 and 50 percent and are notably common in engineering, applied sciences, and business administration, which are disciplines commonly linked to innovation and economic growth. Staff development, nurturing and retention are therefore important elements of higher education programming. (5)In 2005, only 28 percent of African university graduates completed their degrees in science and technology fields, including agriculture, engineering, health sciences, and general sciences. (6)African higher education institutions have the potential to address many critical development challenges in collaboration with regional and international counterparts, such as the United Nations, the International Agricultural Research Centers, and bilateral and regional assistance agencies, and other United States based foundations. (7)Higher education has expanded to provide more opportunities for advanced education to graduates of the secondary school systems and it has sought new ways to achieve university collaboration across national and regional boundaries. (8)Africa has made important strides as public universities have increased from roughly 100 to 500 from 1990 to 2010 and private tertiary institutions have increased from around 24 to an estimated several thousand during this same period. (9)Historically, sub-Saharan Africa was marked by several centers of excellence in higher education. Linked to former European sponsors, institutions such as Makerere University in Uganda, Kenyatta University in Kenya, Cheik Anta Diop University in Senegal, and the University of Ibadan in Nigeria graduated scholars and professionals that were highly prized around the globe and that served the interests of their respective nations well. (10)These universities serve as centers of excellence that also have major positive impacts on other universities in their respective regions, and are currently making substantial progress in regaining their national and international prominence. (11)Increasing rates of higher education in developing countries is a critical component in efforts to achieve long-term economic growth and stability and poverty reduction. (12)Studies indicate that relatively small increases in tertiary education can exponentially increase national incomes and gross domestic product output within the span of a few years, that individuals with higher education are more likely to engage in entrepreneurial activity, and that more highly educated entrepreneurs create larger numbers of jobs than those with less education. (13)Research has found a positive and statistically significant correlation between higher education enrollment rates and good governance indicators, including the absence of corruption, higher standards and rates of adherence to the rule of law, fewer incidents of ethnic tension, increased bureaucratic quality, a lower risk of repudiation of contracts by governments, and a lower risk of financial malfeasance. (14)In most African countries, sharply increased rates of access to higher education, advanced technical training, and specialized skills development are necessary if transformational socio-economic development success—notably in efforts to alleviate poverty, expand economic growth, combat disease, improve governance, and to increase respect for the rule of law and human rights norms—is to be achieved. (15)Exchange programs which bring Africans to developed countries for advanced training, while essential for improving higher education in Africa, will not by themselves reach enough students and scholars to bring about fundamental institutional capacity improvements and the attainment of world-class standards of excellence across African higher education systems.

3.

Sense of congress

It is the sense of Congress that— (1)support for primary, secondary, and tertiary education is vitally important in achieving transformational state and socio-economic development in sub-Saharan Africa, and that assistance for such ends should be increased; (2)it is cost-effective and in the self-interest of the United States and other development partners to respond to the increasing need for qualified teachers and demands for greater access to higher education created by expanded access to primary and secondary education in sub-Saharan Africa, a long-standing United States policy objective, by providing commensurate assistance to sub-Saharan African colleges and universities; (3)effective and sustained partnerships between United States and sub-Saharan Africa colleges and universities are an important means through which increased access to quality tertiary education can be achieved; (4)members of the African diaspora have a crucial role to play in improving the capacity of sub-Saharan African colleges and universities; (5)the international development community must help build indigenous basic and applied advanced research and academic capacities in sub-Saharan Africa in order to expand and enhance the ability of sub-Saharan Africans to achieve economic growth, improve social welfare, foster political stability, and to address critical challenges, such as the HIV/AIDS pandemic, climate change, conflict prevention and mitigation, and poor governance; and (6)the United States must commit to providing long-term assistance to build the capacity of sub-Saharan African systems of higher education and increase the number of annual higher education student and professional graduations, in particular— (A)in social, humanities, natural, biological, agricultural, life, computer, and health sciences, technology development, business, engineering, mathematics, economics, and education; and (B)by targeting such support toward efforts to improve and expand sub-Saharan African higher education institutions’— (i)administrative and management capabilities, including accounting and reporting transparency and accountability; (ii)program and budget planning, development and execution capacities; (iii)access to advanced technology and improved infrastructure; (iv)curriculum development capabilities; (v)advanced basic and applied research capabilities; and (vi)instructional training and quality of staff and faculty at the undergraduate, graduate, and post-graduate levels and within professional training programs.

4.

Statement of policy

It is the policy of the United States to provide long-term assistance to expand, improve, support, and promote higher education in sub-Saharan Africa by building the capacity of sub-Saharan African colleges and universities, through partnerships with colleges and universities in the United States, in order to expand teaching, research, and innovation opportunities for sub-Saharan African and United States students and staff.

5.

Assistance to expand and improve higher education in sub-Saharan Africa

Chapter 1 of part I of the Foreign Assistance Act of 1961 (22 U.S.C. 2151 et seq.) is amended by inserting after section 105 the following new section:

105A.

Assistance to expand and improve higher education in sub-Saharan Africa

(a)

Authorization

The President, acting through the Director for Higher Education in sub-Saharan Africa (designated pursuant to subsection (c)), is authorized to provide long-term assistance to expand, improve, support, and promote higher education in sub-Saharan Africa. (b)

Activities supported

Assistance provided under subsection (a) shall, to the maximum extent practicable, be used to— (1)build the capacity of sub-Saharan African colleges and universities, including through the development and use of internships and other tools, in the areas of— (A)professional and academic training, faculty development, and technical expertise, with particular emphasis on mentoring and retention of young and new faculty; (B)development and strengthening of educational administrative capacity; (C)undergraduate, graduate, and graduate curricula development; (D)improving infrastructure of academic and institutional facilities; (E)technical capacities and expertise, especially in the areas of basic and applied research and institutional development, including strategies for cost-effective procurement of advanced scientific research equipment and maintenance strategies for such equipment; (F)vocational training, including professional development, behavioral courses, information technology courses, job placement, and financial aid; and (G)development and use of internships and other tools; (2)establish, expand, and promote linkages and partnerships between sub-Saharan African colleges and universities and United States colleges and universities, with special attention to the inclusion of historically Black colleges and universities in the United States, including— (A)student exchange programs between sub-Saharan African colleges and universities and United States colleges and universities; (B)internship programs between sub-Saharan African colleges and universities and United States colleges and universities, including community engagement activities; (C)interactive and collaborative instructional programs, employing Internet-based and other networked digital telecommunications technologies, between sub-Saharan African colleges and universities and United States colleges and universities; and (D)collaborative and reciprocal degree awarding programs based in sub-Saharan African partner institutions, supported by United States faculty working with sub-Saharan African colleagues to help design curricula and serving as visiting lecturers for periods of at least a semester; and (3)assist with efforts to recruit and retain women students, faculty, and administrators at sub-Saharan African colleges and universities. (c)

Director for Higher Education Development in sub-Saharan Africa

(1)

In general

Not later than 60 days after the date of the enactment of this section, the Administrator shall designate a Director for Higher Education in sub-Saharan Africa, who shall report directly to the Administrator, and who shall carry out the responsibilities described in paragraph (2). (2)

Responsibilities

The responsibilities referred to in paragraph (1) include— (A)ongoing consultations with and the provision of technical advice to sub-Saharan African governments, particularly ministries of education, regional organizations, and public tertiary and related educational institutions, and education and educators’ organizations with respect to carrying out the activities described in subsection (b); (B)coordination and administration of long-term assistance authorized under subsection (a) in support of the activities described in subsection (b); and (C)coordinating with other bureaus within the Agency, with other relevant United States Government agencies, with the United States and sub-Saharan African private sectors, with the higher education community and relevant research organizations in the United States and sub-Saharan African countries, and with other bilateral and multilateral development partners to maximize the gains and impact of activities carried out under subsection (b)(1). (d)

Sub-Saharan African Higher Education Advisory Board

(1)

Establishment

There is hereby established within the Agency a sub-Saharan African Higher Education Advisory Board. (2)

Membership

(A)

Number and appointment

The Board shall be composed of members appointed by the Administrator in consultation with the Speaker and the minority leader of the House of Representatives and the majority and minority leaders of the Senate. (B)

Qualifications

The Board shall include seven members drawn from individuals with private sector experience, three of whom shall have demonstrable knowledge of sub-Saharan Africa and the field of higher education or higher education in sub-Saharan Africa, three of whom shall currently be affiliated with or have career-length associations with one or more sub-Saharan African higher education institutions drawn from a list submitted jointly by the Association of African Universities (AAU), Southern African Regional Universities Association (SARUA), and Inter-University Council for Eastern Africa (IUCEA), and one of whom shall be a president of a historically Black college or university in the United States. (3)

Duties

The Board shall— (A)advise and assist the Director in carrying out the responsibilities described in this section; (B)not less than twice a year, meet with senior officials of the Agency in order to fulfill the duty described in subparagraph (A); and (C)once a year, submit to the Director and Administrator a report, which shall be made publicly available, which evaluates the implementation of this section for the preceding year, including the extent to which— (i)the requirement of subsection (b)(2), relating to participation of historically Black colleges and universities in the United States, was met; (ii)the requirement of subsection (b)(3) was met; and (iii)outlines a plan of specific interventions to support the recruitment and retention of young and new professors, scholars, and researchers at sub-Saharan African colleges and universities that identifies barriers to such ends and proposes programmatic interventions to overcome such barriers. (e)

Public-Private partnerships

The Director and the Board shall seek, to the extent practicable, to use any funding appropriated for the purpose of carrying out the duties, goals, and functions described in this section to leverage equal or greater sources of private sector funding for such purposes, and shall undertake and prioritize efforts to identify such sources of private sector funding. (f)

Reports to Congress

(1)

Initial report

Not later than one year after the date of the enactment of this section, the President shall transmit to the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of Representatives and the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate a report that contains— (A)benchmarks for measuring the long-term impact of activities carried out under this section; and (B)a proposal for enhancing opportunities for the African diaspora to engage in activities to improve the capacity, on either an on-going or short-term basis, of sub-Saharan colleges and universities. (2)

Annual report

Not later than one year after the date of transmission of the initial report under paragraph (1) and annually thereafter, the President shall transmit to the congressional committees specified in paragraph (1) a report that contains a description of the activities carried out under this section for the preceding fiscal year and the progress made toward achieving the benchmarks outlined in the initial report, and any program adjustments undertaken to improve efforts to achieve such benchmarks. (g)

Definitions

In this section— (1)the term Administrator means the Administrator of the Agency; (2)the term Agency means the United States Agency for International Development; (3)the term Board means the sub-Saharan African Higher Education Advisory Board established pursuant to subsection (d); (4)the term Director means the Director of Assistance for Higher Education in sub-Saharan Africa designated pursuant to subsection (c); and (5)the term higher education means post-secondary undergraduate, graduate, and postgraduate academic training. (h)

Authorization of appropriations

To carry out this section, there are authorized to be appropriated to the President such sums as may be necessary for each of fiscal years 2012 through 2016.

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