Advancing entrepreneurial universities in Africa: Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa

Abstract

Universities have been increasingly expected to transcend their conventional teaching and research missions to incorporate a third mission, which emphasizes enhanced external engagement and direct contributions to the socioeconomic development of their localities. The third mission expands the active role of the university as a catalyst for entrepreneurship and thus for the socioeconomic development of countries, thereby paving the way for the development of entrepreneurial universities. The present report is aimed at enriching the understanding of the status of development of entrepreneurial universities in Africa. A survey was administered to collect data from respondents in selected universities in four African countries: Algeria, Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa. The seven broad areas assessed are: leadership and governance; organizational capacity, people and incentives; entrepreneurial development in teaching and learning; pathways for entrepreneurs; business/external relationships for knowledge exchange; the entrepreneurial university as an international organization; and impact measurement. A synthesized analysis of the survey results of Ethiopia and Ghana appear in Part I, while the individual national-level analyses and findings of three countries – Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa – appear in Part II. The key issues observed are highlighted and discussed, based on which the implications for policy and institutional practice of universities are presented. The present report contains a research methodology that countries can use to assess their universities. It also provides the outcome of research findings using the framework for selected universities in Ethiopia, Ghana and South Africa.