Challenges are universal, but there are also particular ones for developing countries like ours. We are in the state of nation building and there are many challenges that need to be addressed. One is the inclusiveness, which means the need to create services for all people. Other challenges are to broaden access to education and peace building. In the sixties, soon after Independence, higher education institutions were basically colonial. There were not a lot of them and they were restricted to a few people. The new leaders, under democracy and working to respect human rights, worked to make education available to the bulk of the population. That created an explosion of higher education institutions. When there was one or two institutions it was easier to get quality staff, keep all the resources and so on; now, with more universities it is difficult to maintain morale of staff or give research funds. University’s mission is to teach but also to answer the unanswered questions.

 

I think they are doing their best in the existing circumstances, but with given additional resources and support they could do a lot more. It is true that you have to be like Harvard or Stanford if you want to be a bona-fide professor, but there are also demanding issues of teaching and also research that is not at the cutting edge but that has a lot of social impact locally. So, in this sense, politicians of course quarrel to make sure that those institutions provide at least minimal services.

If you talk to the vice-chancellors they will tell you that there are many local solutions to local problems, for example problems of river blindness or cholera. Pharmaceutical companies are not working for the group of people with cholera, because is not economically viable so, what we do is to investigate which traditional cures use the local population, like herbal medicine, and then try to determine the scientific basis of those remedies.

 

Policy-makers are also trying their best, and we are overcoming the problem of brain drain that begun after the Independence. At that moment, the leaders imposed by colonialism were not highly educated, so they saw university students and professors as a threat. Universities were left out, so a lot of intellectuals left Sudan to continue their career in other countries. Today, there is a new generation of people in government, who have gone to universities, have a higher degree. They appreciate the value of higher education, so they are fighting against the odds and trying to broaden access to higher education and to strengthen the research. Nevertheless, there is the pressure of multinational institutions. In the sixties and seventies, the standard of those universities was extremely high, but it was unnecessary in relation to the demand, so we focused on basic education. This change is still taking place.

 

Well, at this moment local knowledge can be converted into economic power. Years before, you –a European- and I could be at the same class in an international university and, even if I was better than you, you could be a consultant to advise my country about some issues. This is changing now, and local people can re-think about country issues. Knowledge is money and power.