Partnership for African universities Four private US donor institutions have pledged a total of $100 mn over the next five years to strengthen the work of universities in Africa. Africans determined to tackle the daunting challenges facing the continent "recognize that their societies need a new generation of well-educated leaders trained in many fields," declared President Vartan Gregorian of the Carnegie Corporation at the launch of the "Partnership to Strengthen African Universities" in New York on 24 April. The Carnegie Corporation and the Rockefeller, Ford and MacArthur foundations will decide individually how to allocate the resources, with each initially focusing on countries and universities where they already are involved. In the case of Carnegie, Mr. Gregorian specified, this would include Makerere University in Uganda, the University of Dar es Salaam in Tanzania and Eduardo Mondlane University in Mozambique, with particular attention to the physical and social sciences. The foundations will select universities that encourage innovation, especially through the use of new technologies, in countries that have undergone systematic political reform. In addition, they have pledged to help establish regional and inter-country education leadership links. Noting at the partnership launch that the World Education Forum would open in Dakar, Senegal, just two days later, UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan emphasized, "Universities provide the logical extension to basic education for all. The university is equally a development tool for Africa.... It holds the key to something we all want and need: African answers to African problems; the capacity to address the most pressing issues both at the theoretical and practical levels."

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