Towards a New Vision for Higher Education in Developing Countries

Patrick Oseloka EZEPUE

User Research, Statistics, Data Science, Business Analytics, Entrepreneurship and The Digital Economy, The Pedagogy of Mathematical Sciences

AfriWorld Higher Education and Oselux Analytics UK | https://linktr.ee/ssgsacademy

INTRODUCTION

In a recent valedictory keynote paper presented by the author and entitled Mathematical Sciences for Development and Relevance: Links With the African Union Agenda 2063, we reiterate the need for a new vision in higher education which will be driven by next-generation global corporate academics. In this article, we summarise the key ideas by way of the abstract and key terms on the paper. We reiterate the new vision, fondly called the Oselux Vision, and depict the character of corporate academics who drive the vision. This character is foreshadowed in the above Word Cloud. Related papers are provided at the end of the article.

Abstract

'This paper confronts the realities of technological and scientific advancements in Africa and developing countries from the standpoints of mathematical sciences and socio-technical systems. These systems structure how such advancements are effectively organized and underpinned by data, digital, and technology-driven innovations. The paper illustrates the key ideas with snapshots of societal problems and studies in the STEM disciplines, especially mathematics, statistics, and computer science. These understandings are further interrogated regarding the nature of collaborations and knowledge dissemination across academia, public services, industry sectors, and wider society, that will significantly enhance the envisaged technological and scientific advancements. The paper distils key gaps in higher education research, integration of knowledge, applications, and teaching, framed as the RIAT Fabric in Higher Education. These gaps militate against scientific and technological advancements, thus accounting for why Nigeria, Sub-Sahara African, and developing countries remain underdeveloped many decades since their independence. The paper, therefore, explores how the gaps could be closed based on a Corporate Academic Model of Higher Education which supersedes traditional higher education'.

Key Terms

Mathematical Sciences; Impact and Relevance; Societal Problems; Socio-Economic Development; Socio-Technical Systems; Scientific Advancements; Nigeria, Africa and Developing Countries; Data, Digital and Technology-Driven Innovations; The Corporate Academic Model; Global Corporate Academicism; A New Vision for Higher Education

The Oselux Vision

To Live a Spirit-Led Project-Based Life, Transforming and Democratising Global Education and Change, By Continually Up-skilling People, Creating Innovative Products, Services, Digital Firms, Wealth, Jobs, Enhancing the Peace, Prosperity, Joy and Happiness of Individuals and Countries, Especially Nigeria, Africa, and Developing Countries?of the Global South, and Publishing the Ideas Through Multimedia Channels Across Academia, Public Services, Industry Sectors and Wider Society (the Global Quadruple Helix).

The Questions at Issue

1. How can traditional academics who mainly limit their research, integration of knowledge, applications and teaching, fondly called the RIAT FABRIC in higher education, to within-university work, become corporate academics who impact society maximally in line with a new vision for higher education, stated above?
2. In doing so, how can they socialize their wealth by doing the utmost good in the world?

The Character of Global Corporate Academics

Understanding higher education as a specific type of sociotechnical system in order to champion the Oselux Vision in their institutions, as the above Word Cloud shows,

Global Corporate Academics master the dynamics of impacting the Global Q-Helix (academia, government departments, industry sectors, and wider society) with a ferociously intensive, offensive, and multidisciplinary body of RIAT work; a programme for maintaining their RIAT Innovation Edge, preferably running their own Me.coms or digital platforms; alternatively leading departmental Centres for the Application of Every Discipline as default Me.coms; leapfrog traditional academics in excellence and impact; passionately ‘socialize’ resulting wealth by making their offerings accessible and affordable by millions and billions of users globally; use a Corporate Academic Celebrity Business Model to bring the Entertainment Mystique into the creation of all offerings in the Oselux Vision (possibly owning or producing HE TV and shows, film studios, military-sports like academies, publishing firms, for example); continually master the mechanics of a 5 Forces-7Es Research and Enterprise Development System at the heart of all these; maintain inimitable RIAT excellence using an Oselux Research Methods Canvas ?; ensure that key RIAT ideas are creatively translated into PhDTechs which are easily spun off into digital and hybrid firms that create wealth, jobs and joy, and support the overall Oselux Vision; and convert the research and enterprise development systems to enabling Corporate Academic Systems and Technologies for automating these endeavours.

For this, corporate academics see classrooms as workshops and labs that generate the affordances of the Oselux Vision. Consequently, they conceive higher education as a socio-technical system primed to reposition traditional pedagogy akin to medical education model, in which all graduates irrespective of discipline produce meaningful results, including products, services, wealth and jobs, through workshop-style classrooms and networks for knowledge production, by which all academic departments become specially-designed Centres for the Application of Every Discipline.

Fundamental Components of the Socio-Technical System

Each Centre for the Application of Every Discipline should basically run an integrated research and enterprise development system that manifests profound excellence in research, integration of knowledge, applications and teaching (the RIAT Fabric). This system consists of some 5 Forces and 7Es of proactively innovative higher education. The 5 Forces consist of

• An overarching Corporate-Academic Research and Enterprise Development Philosophy, whereby some topic areas are deeply researched up to PhDTech levels, with the PhD theses directly spun-off into digital platforms that continually resolve challenging problems in the area, the Tech side of the research;
• Corresponding excellence in all RIAT spheres of the topic area, enabling us to innovatively consult in and train others in the area;
• A base Integrated Business Model Template (IBMT) for spinning off digital internationalizing firms from the efforts, which profoundly extends current capabilities in the Business Model Canvas;
• Deep-seating user-centred design (UCD) expertise with masteries in core UCD practices, for example user experience (UX) research, service design, interaction design, product ownership, delivery management, prototype development, design thinking, related expertise in business development, business analysis, marketing, UCD leadership and excellence; and
• Translation of emerging ideas to skills development within a Skills for Students, Graduates and Start-Ups (SSGS) Academy, to raise an army of academics, students and professionals who swarm on myriad user and organisational problems.’

The 7Es use the 5 Forces to coerce the following elements of a modern academic enterprise - Expertise, Experience, Entrepreneurship, Enterprise Development, Employability, Emotional Intelligence, and Execution - into a corporate academic industrial complex for which academic departments double up as advanced research and production centres. see more details in the selected references.

Selected References

These references explore different ramifications of the Corporate Academic Model, especially as regards excellence, impact, socio-economic development, and relevance of mathematical sciences and higher education disciplines generally in the real world.

1. Ezepue, P. O. (2024) Mathematical Sciences for Development and Relevance: Links With the African Union Agenda 2063, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/384332187
2. Ezepue, P. O. (April 2024) The Story of an Unassuming Global Mathematical Scientist, His Grace Professor A R T Solarin With Supplementary Debates And a Truce on Meeting and Dominating Global Publishing Standards, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/379448070 .
3. Ezepue, P. O. (February 2024) The Ecology of Work, Creative Resilience and Continuous Never-Ending Improvement in the Oselux Corporate-Academic ‘Military’ Industrial Complex: Perspectives from Oselux Masterclasses, Events and Publications, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/378522797 .
4. Ezepue, P. O. and Veronica N. Okaro (April 2023) The Many Faces of Publishing: Conversations on Global Corporate Academicism, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370068626 .
5. Ezepue, P. O. and Janet Ijeoma Ejegbu (April 2023) Personal Conversations on Global Corporate Academicism: Sharing My Ideas for a Better World With the Co-Lead ICT and Digital Marketing at Oselux Global Education, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370006113 .
6. Ezepue, P. O. (April 2023) Is Traditional Higher Education in Sub-Saharan Africa a Tool for Economic Subjugation? If So, What Must Be Done To Counteract This? https://www.researchgate.net/publication/370003224 .
7. Ezepue, P. O. (April 2023) Reflections on Hyper-Performance Coaching Services in Oselux Global Education, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369946508 .
8. Ezepue, P. O. and Godfrey Udo (March 2023) Conversations on Global Corporate Academicism: Corporate Academic Responses to a Nature Article on Burnouts and Quiet Quitting By Overworked, Sometimes Underappreciated and Underpaid Academics and Professionals, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/369063119 .
9. Ezepue, P. O. (February 2023) The Raven-Eagle Metaphor for Understanding the Relationships Among Traditional and Corporate Academics in Higher Education, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/368309138 .
10. Ezepue, P. O. (January 2023) Subordinating RIAT Excellence to Societal Growth and Economic Development in Corporate Academia, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/367188578 .
11. Ezepue, P. O. (August 2021) Mind the Gaps: Addressing Some Failings in Effective Research Design and Execution Using a Research Methods Canvas, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/353953984 .
12. Ezepue, P. O. and Amaka Metu (January 2021) Challenges Faced By Students Studying Abroad and Possible Solutions, https://www.researchgate.net/publication/348705200 .