Changing Role of Higher Education Institutions on Research and Innovation in Africa

Abstract

Research and innovation are crucial in the process of achieving sustainable development goals. Given the significant role Higher Education Institutions (HEIs) play in research. Africa is still grappling with both the changing higher education global landscape and fostering of a research culture that addresses its own societal needs. This study explored the changing role of HEIs on research and innovation and the bottlenecks to its’ realisation in Africa. E-literature was searched from online databases mainly Google Scholar, PubMed, ScienceDirect, Embase and African Journals Online. The search strategy considered relevant content on the subject by use of keywords, purpose of the study and year of publication (2010 to 2021). Overall, the search yielded 889,264 results. From Google Scholar, 805,000 were found, ScienceDirect; 9196, PubMed; 1168, Embase; 63100, and African Journals Online; 10800. The Cochrane review protocol and the PRISMA flowchart were used to assess the relevance of these articles. Eventually, 107 full articles were critically analysed for legibility resulting in 16 studies, which were included. Research and innovation as well as the role of HEIs to the two are keywords of the time. This role has been changing to meet up with globalization demands and increase in population. While their indigenous role was co-creation of knowledge and transfer, they have of recent past surged to create innovation ecosystems, transfer technologies, promotion innovation and research and its’ management. They have gained an ascendancy in sustainability debates as engines of innovation most especially in science, technology, and human progress. This changing role has been compounded by shortcomings such as inadequate competences in the use of emerging ICTs, inadequate funding, curriculum content that does not clearly spell out practical life skills, innovation opportunities, and corporate social responsibility that is still very low. The changing role of HEIs in research in Africa is evidently clear and has been from creation of new knowledge and its transfer to one that is need-driven, entrepreneurial, transformational, and able to reconfigure the status of innovation systems for regional socio-economic transformation. The limitations to its realization could be mitigated through institutional collaboration, funding and customization of research.