Acceptance Speech by His Excellency, the President of the Republic of Sierra Leone, Dr.
Ernest Bai Koroma, on his Investiture with the Degree of Doctor of Letters (D.Litt.) (honoris
causa) at the First Graduation Ceremony of University of Makeni on 11th February 2012,
Makeni, Sierra Leone
PROTOCOLS
This, indeed, is a historic occasion, the import of which is not lost on me – to be invested with the first
honorary degree, at the first graduation ceremony of the first private university in Sierra Leone.
My acceptance of this honour, and the initial support my government had given to the establishment
of University of Makeni as a private university underscore our firm belief, and resolve, that higher
education must play a critical role in the promotion of good governance and sustainable development
in Sierra Leone. In my acceptance speech, therefore, I wish to dilate on three interrelated themes
relating to higher education: i) the role of higher education in development; ii) the need for relevance
in our higher education curricula; and iii) partnership in higher education.
Role of Higher Education in Development
It is now a well established fact that knowledge rules the contemporary world. Our globalised world is
driven by a 'knowledge economy' which determines in very profound ways how well a country thrives.
No more is our rate of development and our prosperity as a nation determined solely by our natural
resources. Rather, it is also determined by how knowledgeable, skilled, trained and competent our
people are. This is because in the end, these are the factors that determine how effectively and
efficiently we utilise the natural resources we have, and the governance structures we put in place to
regulate our development.
Sierra Leone, like many other African countries, has made significant strides in primary and
secondary education in the past decades. But it has become increasingly evident, however, that
higher education can make a significantly more proximate impact on economic growth and on
mitigating poverty. Knowledge drives economic growth and development, and higher education is the
main source of that knowledge.
We expect our universities to take the lead in generating new ideas, and in accumulating and
transmitting knowledge. We recognise that with the phenomenal developments in information and
communication technologies and the emergence of new 'knowledge communities', universities may
no longer be the sole generators of knowledge needed for development. Nevertheless, we expect
that through the exercise of their mandate of research, teaching and service, they will help to produce
a high level expertise that will manage development, engineer social transformation, and preserve
social values and cultural ethos.
What then are our precise expectations of higher education in Sierra Leone? We expect that both in
design and delivery, higher education should aspire to actualise the following:
• Preparation of a high quality workforce equipped with the robust skills needed to adapt to changing
job requirements, and to 'hold its own' in a highly competitive globalised world: One of our critical
challenges as a nation is how best to provide strategically the human capacity needed to strengthen
economic development. With the current and anticipated technological and industrial changes, more
positions will require some higher education, and there will be an on-going need for continuing
education to meet the demands for new skills. Our universities should design programmes to meet
this need.
• Dissemination of research and promoting technology transfer: Our pace of development will be
measured by the extent to which we contribute to technological innovation, and how we harness the
vast potentials of technology to transform our society. In other words, we have to transcend our
current status of 'technology consumers' to become 'technology innovators'. This can only be
achieved through a higher education system with a vibrant research and development (R&D)
structure. Our universities must take a lead in building this structure in partnership with our fast
growing industrial sector. Our university graduates should not only be more aware of and better able
to use new technologies. They should also be more likely to develop new tools and skills themselves,
using the local resources available.
• Improving teaching and learning at all levels of the education sector: It is the business of higher
education, and the universities in particular, to nurture and strengthen all other levels of the education
system – from pre-school to graduate level. By producing top quality teachers, they can enhance the
quality of primary and secondary education systems while also giving secondary graduates greater
opportunities for economic advancement. By also carrying out high quality, situation-specific research
into our education system, they can proffer solutions to the current inefficiencies and imbalances in it
that manifest in poor performance at public examinations, a high drop-out rate, gender inequality in
enrolments, and the spate of graduate unemployment that has become noticeable.
• Providing lifelong learning opportunities: In a globalised world in which the quantum of knowledge
increases at a phenomenal rate, and new skills and competencies are continually being required, our
universities should be structured to provide opportunities for lifelong learning. This requires
developing mechanisms for identifying or anticipating current, emerging and future personal and
societal needs, as well as the needs of business and industry.
• Championing societal transformational by nurturing good governance and leadership skills: Our
universities should be the 'incubators' for talented individuals imbued with good attitudes, good
decision-making skills, respect for the rule of law and for fair play and justice. They should be the
places where students graduate with a deep appreciation of fair legal and political institutions, and of
the values of transparency and accountability. Our graduates should be people skilled in addressing
environmental problems and in improving security against internal and external threats. In this light, it
is profoundly regrettable that our universities and other tertiary institutions now seem to have become
'incubators' of cultism and other unwholesome social behaviours.
In summary, our higher education should help us, in the knowledge economy of today's world, to
keep up with more technologically advanced societies. The knowledge, skills and competencies they
provide, and the values and attitudes they nurture should help not only to accelerate our
development pace, and to take our place once again as a respectable member of the global
community. Higher education can produce both public and private benefits. The private benefits for
individuals include better employment prospects, higher salaries, and a greater ability to save and
invest. These benefits may result in better health and improved quality of life.
But all these benefits are hinged on the quality and relevance of the knowledge generated in our
higher education institutions. Let me now address the issue of relevance.
Need for Relevance in Higher Education Curricula
There is the well known saying that "no nation can rise above the quality of its educational system".
This quality, very often than not, is determined by how relevant the content of education is to the
current, emerging and future needs of the country.
Firstly our curricula must embed harnessing science and technology. In a knowledge economy, a
science and technology-based higher education can help our economy gain ground on more
technologically advanced societies, as our graduates are likely to be more aware of and better able
to use new technologies.
I am not, by any means, implying here that higher education should be all about science and
technology. Rather, my position is that higher education, and our universities in particular must
respond to national and regional needs, and must also be proactive in identifying national and
regional strategies for development, and supporting them. Our universities must increasingly be ones
that are entrepreneurial, and that create the capacity for people to directly relate research to what
happens in our society, and in everyday life. Increasingly, they should be producing graduates with
the capacity to create jobs, for themselves and for others. Our universities can no longer remain
'ivory towers', enjoying a state of privileged seclusion from the practicalities of the real world.
Partnership in Higher Education
Higher education is called upon, among other things, to provide the expertise that feeds into business
and industry, as well as the public sector. There are many ways by which higher education can serve
as a critical resource for business and industry.
It is not surprising, therefore, that university-public/private partnerships have become an important
item on national policy agendas of many countries. These partnerships underscore the growing
importance of knowledge as a production factor. Sierra Leone needs a viable partnership between
higher education, business and industry in order to create a robust educational infrastructure that
would support a thriving economy. This calls for a shared commitment by all sectors, private and
public, to increase the value placed on education and to improve the educational programmes that
would assure the steady flow of expertise from higher education into business and industry.
Vital collaborations among government, academia and industry are being championed by my
government in key research areas relating to agriculture and food security, human resource
development, medicine and good governance, among others. Such collaborations have served to
promote greater interaction among key partners, and create a friendly and conducive environment for
innovation. It is the wish of my government to continue and intensify this collaboration.
The recently concluded Sierra Leone Conference on Transformation and Development greatly
emphasized education as an engine of transformation. Nothing transforms the lives of individuals,
communities and nations more than relevant education. With education we can transform the natural
resources of this nation into great wealth for the benefit of all of us.
Conclusion
Let me end by thanking the Council and Senate of the University of Makeni for honouring me with
this investiture. I see it as a significant symbol of appreciation for the role my government has played,
and will continue to play, in repositioning and enhancing higher education to better serve our
development aspirations. Let me also thank the Catholic Mission for establishing this premier centre
of learning. Christ is the greatest teacher, and He also healed the sick and fed the hungry. May this
University and its graduates live up to the ideals of teaching, healing, feeding, and transforming our
nation. May the first graduates of this institution be examples of faith, service and relevance to their
communities, the nation and the world. The world may sometimes be a tough place, but your
education should enable you to overcome challenges; your education must make you tougher, but
more compassionate; and more importantly, your education should enable you to lift this country,
with God's Grace, higher and higher and higher.
I THANK YOU ALL