ANUASA Submission to Crawford Review

Below are selected parts of the submission of the ANU African Student Association (ANUASA) to the 2017 Review of the Crawford School of Public Policy at The Australian National University. More on the report of the review panel later.

Augustus Panton, a PhD Candidate |in Economics at the Crawford School, met with the review panel who congratulated ANUASA for its submission.

“As Australia positions itself as a key partner of Africa, the role of the Australian National
University cannot be overemphasized. As Australia’s National University and a top global
research institution, the lack of an established and coordinated research forum on Africa.

“ANU is a noticeable concern, particularly considering Australia’s strong economic partnership with Africa. Amongst several other functions, the proposed institute can champion the coordination of scholarly research on Africa, bringing together scholarly evidence aimed at informing public policy. This will greatly benefit Australian policymakers and private sector and their African counterparts in promoting trade and investment and sustainable development in Africa.

The proposed institute could also be instrumental in organizing scholarly events centered on African policy issues, greatly enriching the learning experience of African Students and others with interest in Africa.  Below are some student contributions.

The strength of the Crawford brand with external stakeholders
Currently, no Australian university has an African Studies Institute. The prospect of having
an African Studies Institute could bring together African studies and scholars, in Australian
foreign policy in Africa, provide many gains for both Africa and Australia, and aid policy decision making.

ANU is the leading university in Australia and part of the top 20 universities in the world,
therefore developing the institute of African studies will make ANU forward looking, as ANU
will be in a position to make positive influence not only to the Asia-pacific but Africa.

Impact on public policy
Governance, conflicts and lack of accountability are among issues hindering development in Africa, and having studies as well as research in these areas can assist in identifying policies and structures required for solving these issues.

The impact of our social media activities and areas for development
It is almost impossible to publish anything in the development policy blog. Having an Afric an Institute situated at the Crawford school could improve the visibility of the numerous work done by Crawford researchers and multidisciplinary research done on Africa”

 

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