International Education

International Education: Reflections on the Fulbright Opportunity and the Challenge of Africa.

Keynote Address by Dr. Zacharys Anger Gundu. Senior Fulbright Fellow. University of Texas at Austin at the International Education Week (IEW). Chicago State University, Chicago. November 12, 2007.

What we intend to accomplish in this keynote address.  Share

our perspective of the Fulbright Program.  Share experiences of our short stay in the US.  Reflect on the upside of American society.  Reflect on the downside and  Urge for a greater understanding between America and the rest of the world especially Africa. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

The Fulbright Philosophy.  ‘The

Fulbright Program aims to bring a little more knowledge , a little more reason, a little more compassion into world affairs and thereby to increase the chance that nations will learn at last to live in peace and friendship’- Senator J. William Fulbright.

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

The Fulbright Program.  Signed

into law by President Harry S Truman on August 1, 1946.  More than ¼ of a million from about 155 have benefited from the experience.  It’s a flagship International Education program of the US Government.  One is proud to be associated with its noble goals. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

The Fulbright Program and Global Challenges.  



The Fulbright Program has a huge impact on the US and other participating countries. Yet more remains to be done in view of the major challenges the world faces in terms of poverty, environment, security, hunger and disease. To what extent are we self reflective and ready to listen to each other? Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Impressions of a first timer in the US.  Arrived

on September 2nd through Memphis for a five months stay.  From a Nigerian/African perspective: – – –

America has a huge and efficient infrastructure. It has a way of providing for expectations. It has reached a stage where its citizens take for granted many things that are still challenges in Africa and other parts of the developing world.

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Impressions of a first timer in the US (Cont).

– – – – – – – –

Record keeping is valued and taken seriously. There is a comparatively excellent and supportive learning environment (at least in the colleges I have been to). Strong work ethics. High level of automation. Society driven by the profit motive. Colleges are highly integrated with communities. Gender inequalities are significantly reduced. Individualism and early independence is the norm. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Impressions of a first timer in the US (Cont). – – – – – –

Concerted attempts are made at accountability. There is pride in being American. There is hope for the hard and conscientious worker. American interest is at the core of every single step the US takes especially in dealing with other countries. There is a huge gap between technology and social values that undermine community and care. The US government is an ‘outlaw’ and insists on treating other people as underlings, expecting that other countries should get US approval even for the use of their space.

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Understanding these impressions.  As

a first timer in the US, these impressions lead me to the following: –

–

If Americans do not travel out of the US and interact honestly with other people and cultures, their understanding and respect for others will be very skewed. While the US is eager that the world ‘learns’ from them and understand their role, Americans come across as desiring only to ‘experience’ other countries and cultures. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Understanding these impressions (Cont). –

– –

The US government’s understanding of many parts of the world seems to me skewed (deficient) and cannot properly support a stable and prosperous world. Counter productivity / irony in issues like gender equality, individualism and lack of community. What the media feeds the people with is a disconnect from reality.

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Downside experience/impression.

 Wastefulness

expressed in discard and shopping/consumerism.  Cutting edge evangelism in the areas of: – – – –

Food. Dress. Perspective (media). Values.

 Disintegration

of the family.

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Reading Africa in the eyes of America. 





Compared to other parts of the world especially Asia and Europe, Africa seems low on the scale of the US. From the Fulbright point of view, this is reflected in the small numbers that are accepted every year for the Fulbright experience. African Studies Centers in American Universities and Colleges are also comparatively few and not adequately funded. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Questions that come to mind.  

 

Why is the US reading of Africa low? How can African countries learn from the US through opportunities in international education offered by programs like the Fulbright.? What peculiar challenges does Africa face today? How can Africans redesign their education to be competitive and drive the common good including the interest of their people?

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Africa: A continent at the cross roads.       

Poorest continent. Receives 1% of global FDI. 80% of the FDI goes to extractive industries in 5 countries on the continent. Receives 1% share of world trade. Instability and turmoil. Half of the continent(340 million people) leave on less than $1 per day. The continent has only 3% of the world’s installed capacity of electricity. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Africa: A continent at the cross roads (Cont).   

 

70% of HIV positive people are in sub Saharan Africa. 92% of AIDS orphans worldwide are in sub Saharan Africa. In the last 20 years, HIV/AIDS has killed 10 times more than all wars in Africa in the past 100 years. Has received more than $400 billion in aid since 1980. 70% of every $ that comes to Africa as aid goes back.

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

The African promise.  

10% of world’s population is in Africa. Abundant natural and mineral resources. – – – – –



DRC alone has 13% of world’s hydroelectric potential. 18% of the world’s reserve of cobalt. 18% of the world’s industrial diamonds and 6% of the world’s copper deposit. Nigeria on the other hand is a huge market and the 4th largest supplier of oil to the US.

A huge market (dumping ground).

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

How not to engage Africa. International education and programs like Fulbright can only benefit Africa if there are honest attempts at engaging the African challenge.  Doing this will require in our opinion: 

– –

A willingness to learn more about African values. An acknowledgement of the fact that the skewed interest in African raw materials and minerals is at the root of underdevelopment. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

How not to engage Africa (Cont).  To

be more honest in giving support to Africa.  To show a willingness to restructure trade relations currently skewed against Africa.  To resist the assumption that the African challenge can be met through a wholesale adoption of western systems and values.

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

The significance of the Fulbright Program to the African Scholar.  



An opportunity to rethink evangelistic values that masquerade as global values. Engage with the systems of knowledge in the US and the international community in such a way as to be able to also put an African perspective on the table. To catalyze change, enlarge perspective and organize to hold those who do business with Africa to the same degree of accountability in use in other parts of the world. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

Conclusion. 



If the vision of Senator J. William Fulbright to increase the chance that nations will at last learn to live in peace and friendship is to be fully achieved, both the US and other people drawn into the vision through international education must be prepared to engage each other more openly and honestly. Other countries especially from Africa must be prepared to take their destinies into their hands knowing that no country can do this for them. Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.

End.

Zacharys Anger Gundu. PhD.