Review

. 2021 Jan 7;21(1):36.

doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02471-0.

Understanding the key processes of excellence as a prerequisite to establishing academic centres of excellence in Africa

Abebaw Fekadu^{1

2}, Claire Oppenheim³, Tsegahun Manyazewal⁴, Corey Nislow^{4

5}, Yimtubezinash Woldeamanuel⁴, Asrat Hailu⁴, Anteneh Belete⁴, Dawit Wondimagegn⁶, Charlotte Hanlon^{4

7}, Tsige Gebremariam⁸, Asha Collins⁴, Christopher J Larson⁹, Wondwossen Gebreyes¹⁰, Eleni Aklilu¹¹, Adamson S Muula¹², Sabina Mugus¹³, Conor R Caffrey¹⁴, Mirutse Giday^{4

15}, Getnet Yimer^{4

16}, Gail Davey¹⁷, Girmay Medhin^{4

15}, Eyasu Makonnen⁴

Affiliations

¹ Center for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa), College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. abebaw.fekadu@aau.edu.et.
² Global Health & Infection Department, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK. abebaw.fekadu@aau.edu.et.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Boston University, School of Medicine, Boston, USA.
⁴ Center for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa), College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁵ University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁶ College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁷ King's College London, Centre for Global Mental Health, Health Services & Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London, UK.
⁸ Department of Pharmaceutics and Social Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁹ Development, Aging & Regeneration Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, California, USA.
¹⁰ The Global One Health initiative, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
¹¹ Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Laboratory of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹² Department of Public Health, School of Public Health & Family Health, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi.
¹³ Department of Pharmacology, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
¹⁴ Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
¹⁵ Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹⁶ Ohio State Global One Health Initiative, Office of International Affairs, the Ohio State University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹⁷ Global Health & Infection Department, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK.

PMID: 33413297
PMCID: PMC7792348
DOI: 10.1186/s12909-020-02471-0

Review

Understanding the key processes of excellence as a prerequisite to establishing academic centres of excellence in Africa

Abebaw Fekadu et al. BMC Med Educ. 2021.

. 2021 Jan 7;21(1):36.

doi: 10.1186/s12909-020-02471-0.

Authors

Affiliations

¹ Center for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa), College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia. abebaw.fekadu@aau.edu.et.
² Global Health & Infection Department, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK. abebaw.fekadu@aau.edu.et.
³ Department of Psychiatry, Boston University, School of Medicine, Boston, USA.
⁴ Center for Innovative Drug Development and Therapeutic Trials for Africa (CDT-Africa), College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁵ University of British Columbia, Vancouver, Canada.
⁶ College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁷ King's College London, Centre for Global Mental Health, Health Services & Population Research Department, Institute of Psychiatry, Psychology and Neuroscience, London, UK.
⁸ Department of Pharmaceutics and Social Pharmacy, College of Health Sciences, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
⁹ Development, Aging & Regeneration Program, Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute, San Diego, California, USA.
¹⁰ The Global One Health initiative, Ohio State University, Columbus, OH, USA.
¹¹ Division of Clinical Pharmacology, Department of Laboratory of Medicine, Karolinska Institute, Stockholm, Sweden.
¹² Department of Public Health, School of Public Health & Family Health, University of Malawi, Blantyre, Malawi.
¹³ Department of Pharmacology, Muhimbili University of Health and Allied Sciences, Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania.
¹⁴ Center for Discovery and Innovation in Parasitic Diseases, Skaggs School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences, University of California San Diego, La Jolla, California, USA.
¹⁵ Aklilu Lemma Institute of Pathobiology, Addis Ababa University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹⁶ Ohio State Global One Health Initiative, Office of International Affairs, the Ohio State University, Addis Ababa, Ethiopia.
¹⁷ Global Health & Infection Department, Brighton and Sussex Medical School, Brighton, UK.

PMID: 33413297
PMCID: PMC7792348
DOI: 10.1186/s12909-020-02471-0

Erratum in

Correction to: Understanding the key processes of excellence as a prerequisite to establishing academic centres of excellence in Africa.
Fekadu A, Oppenheim C, Manyazewal T, Nislow C, Woldeamanuel Y, Hailu A, Belete A, Wondimagegn D, Hanlon C, Gebremariam T, Collins A, Larson CJ, Gebreyes W, Aklilu E, Muula AS, Mugus S, Caffrey CR, Giday M, Yimer G, Davey G, Medhin G, Makonnen E. Fekadu A, et al. BMC Med Educ. 2021 Feb 10;21(1):97. doi: 10.1186/s12909-021-02523-z. BMC Med Educ. 2021. PMID: 33568098 Free PMC article. No abstract available.

Abstract

Background: Africa's economic transformation relies on a radical transformation of its higher education institutions. The establishment of regional higher education Centres of Excellence (CoE) across Africa through a World Bank support aims to stimulate the needed transformation in education and research. However, excellence is a vague, and often indiscriminately used concept in academic circles. More importantly, the manner in which aspiring institutions can achieve academic excellence is described inadequately. The main objective of this paper is to describe the core processes of excellence as a prerequisite to establishing academic CoE in Africa.

Methods: The paper relies on our collaborative discussions and real-world insight into the pursuit of academic excellence, a narrative review using Pubmed search for a contextual understanding of CoEs in Africa supplemented by a Google search for definitions of CoEs in academic contexts.

Results: We identified three key, synergistic processes of excellence central to institutionalizing academic CoEs: participatory leadership, knowledge management, and inter-disciplinary collaboration. (1) Participatory leadership encourages innovations to originate from the different parts of the organization, and facilitates ownership as well as a culture of excellence. (2) Centers of Excellence are future-oriented in that they are constantly seeking to achieve best practices, informed by the most up-to-date and cutting-edge research and information available. As such, the process by which centres facilitate the flow of knowledge within and outside the organization, or knowledge management, is critical to their success. (3) Such centres also rely on expertise from different disciplines and 'engaged' scholarship. This multidisciplinarity leads to improved research productivity and enhances the production of problem-solving innovations.

Conclusion: Participatory leadership, knowledge management, and inter-disciplinary collaborations are prerequisites to establishing academic CoEs in Africa. Future studies need to extend our findings to understand the processes key to productivity, competitiveness, institutionalization, and sustainability of academic CoEs in Africa.

Keywords: Africa; Centre of excellence; Excellence; Higher education; Participatory leadership.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that they have no competing interests.

Figures

**Fig. 1**
Foundation and progress towards achieving objectives of excellence

**Fig. 2**
Three interactive processes of excellence

See this image and copyright information in PMC

References

1. African Union Commission . Agenda 2063: the Africa we want. Addis Ababa: African Union; 2015.
1. African Union . On the ings of innovation: the AU science, technology and innovation strategy for Africa 2024, 2024 strategy (STISA-2024) Addis Ababa: AU; 2014.
1. Juma C. Education, research, and innovation in Africa: forging strategic linkages for economic transformation, discussion paper. Cambridge: Belfer Center for Science and International Affairs, Harvard Kennedy School; 2016.
1. World Bank Group . ACEII - the eastern and southern Africa higher education centers of excellence project. Washington, D.C: World Bank Group; 2016.
1. Machekano R, Young T, Rusakaniko S, Musonda P, Sartorius B, Todd J, et al. The Africa Center for Biostatistical Excellence: a proposal for enhancing biostatistics capacity for sub-Saharan Africa. Stat Med. 2015;34(27):3481–3489. doi: 10.1002/sim.6572. - DOI - PMC - PubMed

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Understanding the key processes of excellence as a prerequisite to establishing academic centres of excellence in Africa

Affiliations

Understanding the key processes of excellence as a prerequisite to establishing academic centres of excellence in Africa

Authors

Affiliations

Erratum in

Abstract

Conflict of interest statement

Figures

References

Publication types

MeSH terms

Grants and funding

LinkOut - more resources

Full Text Sources

Other Literature Sources

Research Materials